Four thousand acres burned and a lifetime of memories lost.
It's been two years since the Border 32 fire burned multiple homes in the Dulzura area.
ABC 10News was there at the scene of heartbreak and loss.
Now there’s a new county focus on fire prevention in the area specifically.
Dry brush and twigs crackle in the flames on Barrett Smith Road back in 2022.
Now what's left of the fire is charred trees, new growth, and painful memories.
“I'm standing on Barrett Smith road right now,” I said.
“Now that you actually said Barrett Smith Road, it just hits a hard chord on me,” said Steve Campbell, who lost his home on Barrett Smith Rd in the Border 32 Fire.
When the Border 32 fire swept through Dulzura, Steve Campbell rushed to save his dad, his medicine, and his bible.
“What I lost, you know, I had tons of sentimental stuff, not just of my own, but of my kids' stuff when they were little,” said Campbell.
ABC 10News was there when he first saw the remains of his home.
Now Campbell lives in Vegas with his brother.
He doesn't buy new belongings due to the fear of losing them again.
“I'm wearing the same pants that I ran out of the house with,” said Campbell.
The former stuntman relives his trauma everytime he sees fire on the television
“You know, I see a movie and see something burning. I've been on fire before, you know, in my stunts. Actually having to run for your life, just changed my feeling inside,” said Campbell.
The Dulzura area has a history of destructive wildfires
Abc ten covered the Harris fire in 2007 as it burned 90 thousand acres.
“Yeah, this is the first home hardening program in this county,” said Thomas Shoots, CAL FIRE Captain and Public Information Officer.
Now years later, a new program in 2024 aims to pay for homes to be restructured to be more fire defensible- like clearing brush nearby and getting new roofs and vents.
“And so, any kind of retrofits that we do to people's homes, it might not mean that their home survives, but hopefully, at least means that if they get trapped by a wildfire that they have opportunities to stay alive,” said Shoots.
Dozens have signed up so far, even campbell's father, who still lives in the area, is looking into it.
“So I did tree work. I did brush clearing and everything,” said Campbell.
Campbell’s fifth wheel went up in flames, but his father’s home is still standing.
Despite all the memories, good and bad, campbell says Dulzura is a place of the past.
“Do you ever have any plans of coming back here?” I asked.
“No, I, we, we, we want, we want my dad to move out, but I don't think he's going to. I can't see myself ever going back,” said Campbell.
For those in the Dulzura area, here is the link to the fire mitigation program.
