On Aug. 14, 2021, a cloud of smoke rose over El Dorado County. Within hours, strong winds and dry conditions transformed that plume into a raging firestorm.
The Caldor Fire would go on to burn more than 221,000 acres, level much of Grizzly Flats, and leave hundreds of families without homes, some without insurance or any clear path to rebuild.
Matt Nunley remembers the day he returned to see the damage. He braced himself for the worst.
“It’s amazing our house did make it. I wasn’t expecting that when we came back,” Nunley said.
Against all odds, his home was still standing, while both of his next-door neighbors lost everything. That luck became the driving force behind a mission he’s been on for the past four years: helping his community get back on its feet.
Before the fire, Nunley had spent 35 years working as a software engineer. Construction wasn’t part of his skill set, but he saw a resource all around him: wood from the countless trees the fire had knocked down.
“We still had piles of logs and I thought, one resource this community has is wood. So it was kind of a no-brainer to buy a mill, learn how to use it, and start building,” he said.
Nunley retired two years after the fire and now works full-time turning those burned trees into usable lumber. He’s built sheds to help displaced families store belongings they can’t keep in temporary RVs or trailers, and he lends a hand wherever construction help is needed.
“I can’t handle seeing my neighbors in RVs,” Nunley said. “You just have to do something.”
The rebuilding process in Grizzly Flats has been slow. Many residents are still living in temporary housing, and some lost homes without insurance, making recovery even harder. Nunley says his work isn’t done and won’t be for years to come.
“We’re seeing what we can do. It’s been a long four years, it really has,” he said.
His next big goal is building a community center, a place where residents can gather, share resources, and support each other through the ongoing recovery.
“I may not have lost my house in the Caldor Fire,” Nunley said, “but I consider everyone’s recovery part of my own story.”
