It’s not often you have to write an obituary for a town. Yet that’s what Martha Mendoza and Jocelyn Gecker were tasked to do, with Gillian Flaccus producing a compelling video component. Their tribute to Paradise, California – leveled by a devastating wildfire that killed so many residents – painted a picture of all that was lost. Paradise was a gold prospector’s town, then a lumber town, and until two weeks ago was the home of 27,000 people “who lived and loved here; they built homes and businesses, schools and houses of worship, parks and museums that proudly honored Paradise's place in American history.”
The pace was relaxed. It was a lovely place to retire, where people had yards and dogs. Mendoza worked from the field, in the ashes of the town, with Gecker in San Francisco tracking down leads, helping to write the finished piece and finding photographs to illustrate “the town’s history and spirit, its seasonal colors and its many festivals.”
Gecker found the town’s de-facto photographer who allowed AP to use his images for powerful before-and-after visuals and create a photo transition of the town’s Gold Nugget Museum, using an earlier image on a blue-skied, flower-filled day that matched up perfectly with a picture Mendoza shot in ruins.
The Gold Nugget Days parade moves along the street in Paradise, Calif., in 2015. The festival marked the discovery of a 54-pound nugget in 1859, but the town of 27,000 was virtually wiped out in the Camp Fire beginning on Nov. 8, 2018, the deadliest, most destructive wildfire in California history.
Glenn Harrington via AP
People walk the Honey Run Covered Bridge in Butte Creek Canyon in Paradise, Calif., in an undated photo. The bridge above a creek was built in 1886 after the discovery of gold in Butte County. It was put on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988 and was the only covered bridge in America with three unequal sections. It too, is now gone, in the deadliest, most destructive wildfire in California history.
Glenn Harrington via AP
The Gold Nugget Museum in Paradise, Calif., shown in an undated photo, was destroyed along with most of the town by the Camp Fire beginning Nov. 8, 2018.
Glenn Harrington via AP
A home burns as the Camp Fire rages through Paradise, Calif., Nov. 8, 2018. The town of 27,000 was virtually destroyed in the deadliest, most destructive wildfire in California history, leaving survivors with memories of a friendly place where the pace was relaxed, where families put down roots and visitors opted to stay.
AP Photo / Noah Berger
Patrick Knuthson walks along his property near trees burned in the Camp Fire in Paradise, Calif., Nov. 10, 2018. Knuthson,a fourth-generation local, struggled to make sense of what he was seeing. He pointed out what used to be a saloon-style pub, his favorite Mexican restaurant, a classic California motel, the pawn shop, a Real Estate office, a liquor store, entire trailer parks and other sites.
AP Photo / John Locher
Deer walk past a destroyed home on Orrin Lane, Nov. 10, 2018, after the devastating Camp Fire burned through Paradise, Calif.
AP Photo / Noah Berger
Reporters stand in an area burned by the Camp Fire in Paradise, Calif., Nov. 13, 2018.
AP Photo / John Locher
A sign stands at an affordable housing community destroyed by the Camp Fire in Paradise, Calif., Nov. 13, 2018.
AP Photo / John Locher
Smoke hangs over the scorched remains of Old Town Plaza following the wildfire in Paradise, Calif., Nov. 15, 2018. Most homes in Paradise are gone, as are hundreds of shops and other buildings. The town quite literally went up in smoke and flames in the deadliest, most destructive wildfire in California history.
AP Photo / Noah Berger
A statue still stands, Nov. 14, 2018, in the remains of the Gold Nugget Museum, which was demolished by the Camp Fire in Paradise, Calif.
AP Photo / Martha Mendoza
Vintage typewriters sit on sagging shelving, Nov. 14, 2018, in the remains of the Gold Nugget Museum, which was totally demolished by the Camp Fire in Paradise, Calif.
AP Photo / Martha Mendoza
In Paradise, Calif., a spiral staircase stands over the remains of a destroyed home in the aftermath of the Camp Fire, Nov. 10, 2018.
AP Photo / John Locher
A tattered flag flies over a burned-out home in the aftermath of the Camp Fire in Paradise, Calif., Nov.11, 2018.
AP Photo / John Locher
Mendoza and Gecker’s careful, nuanced reporting, along with that of many colleagues, drew forth tales of town holidays – the Golden Nugget Days and Johnny Appleseed days – and residents ruminating whether those staples of small-town America would continue. The preparations for an outdoor ice skating rink and rehearsal for the local “Nutcracker” ballet have now turned into crews pulling human remains from homes and a toxic, smoky air that covers the wreckage. They worked with newsfeatures editor Jerry Schwartz in New York, who told them, “This is not a story about the fire. I would like to know what it was like living in this town. And what the world has lost when it loses a town like this.”
A senior editor called the text piece “pure poetry.” The accompanying video by Gillian Flaccus of a long-time resident describing what used to stand where buildings now lie in rubble, was emotional and unique. The video, recorded during a ride-along with the resident, complemented the text piece by showing street after street of utter devastation over the man’s narration.
The text story had 26,388 pageviews, and an average engaged time on AP News of nearly a minute. It also was used widely by California customers, and the video was used widely by international customers.
Paradise is gone, and until it rebuilds in some fashion, Mendoza, Gecker and Flaccus have given the world the definitive piece on what it represented. For their deft depiction of the town behind the headlines, the trio wins AP's Best of the States.