LOMA RICA (KTXL) — There are obvious signs of spring’s rebirth in the Cascade Fire burn area, while other signs are not so obvious.

The McLeod family lost their Loma Rica home in the destructive fire this past October.

“I stepped in my daughter’s bedroom and was like, ‘What’s going on?’ She said, ‘I smell smoke,'” Lloyd McLeod said. “She stepped out on the deck and we were on fire. The garage was already burning.”

With May winds blowing and dry brush growing, Kelly Sinn-McLeod and her father are trying to remain optimistic about giving themselves back to the spot where the fire took so much.

Just this week, their contractor — unbelievably the same one that first built their home here 26 years ago — has started work on laying electrical and irrigation lines for their new house.

Meanwhile, Cal Fire is issuing warnings about this year’s fire conditions compared to last year’s.

“They’re tracking to be very similar to last year, though we’ve had less rainfall,” Cal Fire Director Ken Pimlott said.

The McLeods are still wearing clothes they got from the Red Cross right after the fire, planning to get back to their lives but in a slightly different way.

“We’re going to be putting in a new venting system, requirements by county,” McLeod said.

Three of the four lives the Cascade Fire claimed in Yuba County were lost right behind their property.

How you can prepare: http://www.readyforwildfire.org/Wildfire-Awareness-Week/

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