Caldor Fire Survivors Stay Focused On Healing Despite Recent Arrests

EL DORADO COUNTY (CBS13) - Caldor Fire victims are sharing their raw emotion with CBS13 after two men were arrested in connection with the devastating fire.

Sandy Mecham and Katrina Dawson are two women who share the pain of losing most of their community in Grizzly Flats.

Several homes in the town were leveled by the Caldor Fire.

"It's just all not there," Dawson said.

She is still processing her new reality following the arrests of David and Travis Smith. The father and son are accused of reckless arson.

Dawson says she doesn't feel anger towards the men and is staying focused on healing.

David Smith and Travis Smith (l-r) (credit: El Dorado County Sheriff's Office)

"I personally am pretty like past how it started. I've been through so much. I'm trying to move on...it happened and I'm trying my best every day to accept that it happened," she explained.

"Innocent until proven guilty but, god, we all lost everything," Mecham said.

Mecham feels the same way, though years of memories were lost inside her grizzly flats home.

"It's so much and everything else and me not working that stresses me out too and there's still so much to do and I mean it's hard, it's very, very, it's almost like a having a death in the family that's close to you," she explained.

Mecham has turned her pain into art transforming figurines that were once buried in debris and pieces of melted tire rims.

The two women now share in their love for their community, their shared experiences, and their new foundations.

"I am grateful, I love my home," Mecham said.

"There's a lot of people I work with that lost their homes and just the community is what has really gotten me through it," Dawson said.