A year has passed since the Grass Valley and Slide Fires swept through the mountain communities, destroying 450 structures and damaging 65 others. Over the course of that year the fire survivors have dealt with insurance companies, architects, contractors and real estate agents. They have attended countless meetings offering advice on how to struggle through the whole process.

Some have rebuilt and are already in their homes while others are just beginning the design process. Others have bought new homes, opting not to go through the rebuilding process.

We caught up with a few of these families. Here are their stories:

JOAN AND PHILIP BARKDULL

Joan and Philip Barkdull hope to be in their new home on Del Norte Lane within a few weeks. Of course, Philip said, they’ve had that hope for some time now. But their contractor, Ben Naraghi, is making good progress with only some interior work left to finish.

“This new home is quite different from the one we lost,” Philip said. “Our old home was more formal. We decided we wanted a house with more of a mountain feel.” What the Barkdulls did was modify one of Naraghi Construction’s standard homes, something Philip said they’ve accomplished with “some success.”

Both Joan and Philip said they’ve had to make a certain number of compromises throughout the building process, but in the end “it will be a very nice little house. I’m sure we’ll grow to love it,” Philip said.

Philip, a former potter, has worked with natural materials all his life so they are very important to him. His first choice for the fireplace was ledge rock, but he and Naraghi couldn’t find the right material. Philip and Joan settled for river rock; they’re still getting used to the look.

The mantle over the fireplace is impressive. Philip wanted a log mantle and that’s what he got. The first tree they tried, Joan said, wasn’t quite right. The second one worked just fine.

The house the Barkdulls lost had a pine ceiling with a red tone, something Philip wanted to duplicate. “The only pine we could find now had too much yellow in it,” he said. Finally Naraghi suggested cedar, a suggestion the Barkdulls agreed to.

The Barkdulls never really considered doing anything but rebuilding on their lot. “We were in survival mode,” Philip said. “We did the first thing that seemed reasonable—we built on our own lot. I think it will prove to be the best choice.”

Joan added it would have been very difficult for them to have found a house and a location they liked as much. “We love the view from our house,” she said.

Philip and Joan described the whole experience as an emotional nightmare. Joan seemed surprised to say it has actually gotten harder. “The shock carries you through the first wave,” she said. She suspects her current feelings of unease will wear off once they’re in the new house. “It may just be the stress of building a house.”

After a disaster like losing your house, she said, “There’s the initial frenzy of activity, which then subsides. Just like after a death in the family, everyone else goes back to their normal lives and there you are.”

The Barkdulls have found their dealings with their contractor and their insurance company to be as pleasant as they can be under the circumstances. Naraghi, Philip said, told them, “Once I give you a firm price, I’ll take care of any problems that come up.” He’s been true to his word.

Farmers Insurance, the Barkdulls agreed, “did right by us. We’re happy with the treatment we received.” And many retailers have been very generous, with Country Furniture, Crate & Barrel and Pottery Barn all offering discounts. “It was embarrassing to ask for those discounts,” Philip said, “but I had to do it.”

Joan and Philip found the shopping experience to be “mindnumbing.” “There are too many choices, too many decisions to make,” Joan said. What some people see as a fun outing—selecting new tableware, for example—became a chore.

There’s something to be said for simplicity, Joan said, quoting Henry Kissinger: “The absence of alternatives clears the mind marvelously.”

Philip attended most of the recovery meetings sponsored by Rebuilding Mountain Hearts & Lives. “All those meetings paid off,” he said, adding he knew what questions to ask his insurance company.

All in all, the Barkdulls said, “We are very fortunate. Everyone has been incredibly kind and generous.”

GARY AND

DEBBIE HARPER

Gary and Debbie Harper lost not one, but two homes on their Chicago Drive lot in Running Springs. The loss of those homes also meant the loss of their two businesses—Gary’s construction business and Debbie’s signmaking business.

To add insult to injury, as the Harpers began the rebuilding process, someone broke into the storage container on their lot and stole Gary’s tools—the means to his livelihood. Gary wasn’t down for long, however, as Pat McCumber from Rim Forest Lumber arranged for donations of tools from several manufacturers.

Gary resumed work on their new home, a 2,100-square foot beauty with lap siding. On July 23 Gary and Debbie hosted an open house at their new home, proud to be one of the first to be back up. Guests had a chance to tour the interior of the home, which was sparse on furniture back then.

At the open house, Gary thanked everyone involved with making the couples dream of rebuilding come true.

“Without all of you we couldn’t have done this. For the past six months I’ve been working on the house and kept waiting for someone to stop me and say, ‘What are you doing?’ But they didn’t! It’s taken everything me and Debbie ever had (to rebuild) but it’s worth it.”

Following the ribbon-cutting celebration, Gary told reporter Joan Moseley from The Mountain News once everyone left, he and his friends brought in the bed and he and Debbie happily and gratefully spent their first night in their new home.

Throughout the entire process, the Harpers were amazed by the goodness of people and agencies. Shortly after the fire, when Gary and Debbie were sorting through the rubble, looking for anything salvageable, a man stopped and asked if they were hungry.

The man got out a portable barbecue and cooked some hamburgers. “It was amazing,” Gary said. He and Debbie agree it was the kindness of strangers that helped get them through the whole ordeal.

WALT AND BETH SWEET

A year after the Grass Valley Fire, Walt and Beth Sweet have settled into a rental home while they work with a home designer on their new home. The new home, Beth said, will be similar in size but a little different in design.

“We lost our blueprints in the fire,” she added, “so we had to start from scratch.”

Once they finalize the design, the Sweets will put the house out to bid to several contractors.

“We’re quite comfortable where we are,” Beth said. “We were lucky enough to get into a rental house similar to our old house. It’s a nice place to recover and recuperate.”

Asked when they might get into their new house, Beth said, “Any time in 2009 would be great. It depends on the weather and when the contractor can start.”

Just a couple of weeks ago the Sweets had a scare when a structure just a few doors down from them was destroyed in a fire. It was too close and too soon.

DAVE AND SHARON FOGAL

Dave Fogal describes himself as being “in limbo” when it comes to rebuilding the home he and his wife Sharon lost on Fredalba Road in Running Springs.

The Fogals’ insurance company—State Farm—cut them a check in January 2008 to pay off their mortgage. Dave sent a certified check for $275,000 to Ocwen Financial Corp. in Florida, the company that serviced their loan. “I made it very clear to them I wanted the loan paid off, that we wanted to be out of debt.”

Imagine Dave’s surprise when he received a bill for a house payment in February. And then again in March. “I wrote to Ocwen, telling them I had sent a check to pay off the loan. Their reply was I had sent the check to the wrong department.”

That would seem like an easy enough situation to fix, but the Fogals continued receiving bills from Ocwen until June, when he received a foreclosure notice. “Here we were,” Dave said, “going into foreclosure. We’d just lost our home. How do you foreclose on something that’s not there and that has been paid off?”

Dave had turned to Senator Barbara Boxer and Congressman Jerry Lewis for help. “I asked them how we can let a corporation get away with this. Why can’t someone step in and stop this nonsense?

“I didn’t want to sue,” Dave added. “I just wanted a clean title after our insurance company was gracious enough to give us the money.”

Dave contacted an attorney for advice. “I asked if I could buy just 10 minutes of his time,” Dave joked. After the attorney read through the paperwork, he told Dave he would handle the case for nothing. “He helped me write a letter to Ocwen, adding the appropriate legalese.”

That letter, Dave said, seemed to get Ocwen’s attention. “It made them aware they were messing with someone who would go into litigation,” Dave noted. Ocwen’s reply was a letter saying the deed would be reconveyed from Florida to San Bernardino County.

The whole ordeal, Dave said, has been a “living hell.” He and Sharon were unable to sleep. Sharon, in fact, told Dave this experience was “almost worse than the fire.”

Meanwhile, the Fogals are living in a Redlands condo owned by their insurance agent. State Farm, Dave said, will pay for it for two years. The Fogals will be rebuilding their Fredalba home, but Dave doesn’t feel any urgency to get it done.

“Sharon wants to rebuild yesterday,” he said, “but I’m dragging my feet due to the economy. What’s the rush? Is there a race to rebuild?”

The Fogals’ son and his brother-in-law will be doing the rebuild. The house plans have already been submitted and approved. “We were ready to pour cement and stopped,” Dave said. “I don’t have all the money to complete the house. I refuse to go into a project with half the money.

“Sharon would like a roof on the house,” he joked. “Windows and doors would be good, too. Then we can work on the inside.”

Dave said he and Sharon are feeling more confident now than they did three or four months ago. “I’m thankful for what we have right now. We have more stuff than ever before. We’ve been given so many clothes, gift cards, even antique furniture.

“Our blessings have outweighed our problems.”

Editor’s note: Joan Moseley contributed to this article.

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