The Santa Cruz County Long Term Recovery Group hosts a celebration on July 29 for the completion of its very first ground-up residential rebuild project following the devastating 2020 CZU Lightning Complex Fire. (Amaya Edwards — Santa Cruz Local/CatchLight Local)

BOULDER CREEK >> Tonia Weakland received the key to her new house on Wednesday after losing everything in the CZU Lightning Complex Fire six years ago. It was at her property that she gave an emotional speech during a dedication ceremony, sharing about the rebuild journey that started in 2020.

“We didn’t just fight to build, we fought government bureaucracy, endless battles with insurance companies, skyrocketing economic costs, and many, many roadblocks,” Weakland said. “There were moments when the mountain to recovery ahead looked too steep to climb, but I didn’t climb this mountain alone. This house stands today because of the relentless community that refused to let me or any of us give up.”

Tonia Weakland poses for a portrait on her property during a home dedication ceremony on July 29 hosted by Santa Cruz County Long Term Recovery Group. “I feel a strong connection to nature and the land. And more than a homeowner, I feel like I’m a steward of this land. I care about this land,” Weakland said. (Amaya Edwards — Santa Cruz Local/CatchLight Local)

The Santa Cruz Long Term Recovery Group celebrated the completion of its first ground-up residential rebuild project on Wednesday. It marks the ongoing recovery efforts that began shortly after large swaths of the Santa Cruz Mountains were burned after a devastating fire destroyed 911 homes. Since then, rebuild efforts have been slow going and not without setbacks. Initially, many homeowners struggled to receive permits for rebuilding. Other Santa Cruz Mountains residents faced increased home insurance rates and soaring costs for construction materials. 

The Long Term Recovery Group formed in 2020. Before officially forming a nonprofit, the group was a collaborative entity composed of federal, state, and local government, nonprofit, and mutual aid groups that came together and supported the recovery.

“In 2022, we were looking at the rates of rebuilds, and we were not happy with what we were seeing,” said Tonje Wold-Switzer, Executive Director of the Santa Cruz Long Term Recovery Group. “It was going much slower than we would have hoped, and so we started looking into volunteer rebuild programs.” 

The work on Weakland’s home continued, with multiple groups coming to her aid. 

Volunteers, including groups like Dykes with Drills, put in a total of 2,694 hours on this project. The Community Foundation of Santa Cruz County, Valley Churches United and The Home Depot Foundation funded the main portion of this rebuild, but many of the building materials were donated by groups such as Mennonite Disaster Services and Santa-Cruz based Nielsen Studios.

The cost for vendors and materials was roughly $215,000 of which $50,000 was covered by an Unmet Needs grant and the rest was covered by Weakland. According to Wold-Switzer, without the support of nonprofit staff, volunteers and in-kind donations, the estimated cost for Weakland’s rebuild would’ve been at least $700,000.

Residents qualify for support from the organization if they are disaster impacted and make up to or less than 80% of the area median income levels, set annually by state housing authorities. 

For those who are in need of help, a homeowner can fill out the Volunteer Rebuild Program interest form on the website. From there, a team member will reach out to verify qualification and later launch into creating a rebuild plan. 

The rebuild on Weakland’s home started last summer. Weakland commuted from San Francisco to her property almost every Tuesday within the last year, working alongside a team of volunteers. She salvaged and milled 15 Redwood Trees that fell due to the fire, repurposing them for use throughout the new house.

Mennonite Disaster Services donated the kitchen cabinet set to Weakland’s rebuilt home. (Amaya Edwards — Santa Cruz Local/CatchLight Local)

Dylan Childs, General Contractor with the organization, led volunteers through the construction process. Construction was difficult due to many factors, he said, including the home sitting on a steep hillside and moving heavy materials in rough terrain.

“We took about a year to build this house, working three days a week,” Childs said. “We built probably 70% of this house just off battery-powered tools because we didn’t have power on site until seven months into the project, and that was for budget reasons and accessibility with the terrain.”

Childs was hired as the construction project manager for the Long Term Recovery Group in June 2024. Since then, the group has worked on a range of different projects related to the CZU fire and 2023 atmospheric river storm, which caused widespread flooding and damage to homes, roads and other infrastructure. They are starting work on two other homes — one in Boulder Creek and the other in Bonny Doon.

Despite the challenges, Weakland said her newly rebuilt home symbolizes an important milestone in the ongoing recovery effort.

“To every donor, every neighbor, and every volunteer, you didn’t just rebuild a house. You restored my life, my home, my legacy,” Weakland said. “Thank you all from the bottom of my heart. Bienvenido.”

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