Paradise is a town in Butte County, California, United States, in the Sierra Nevada foothills above the northeastern Sacramento Valley.

[7] On November 8, 2018, a major wildfire, the Camp Fire, destroyed most of Paradise and much of the adjacent communities of Magalia, Butte Creek Canyon, and Concow.

[11] For many years, the Butte County Railroad operated trains along the ridge, serving mines and sawmills.

According to GNIS, the community has been known in the past by four different names or spellings: Leonards Mill, Poverty Ridge, Pair-O-Dice, and Paradice.

However, no documentation has been found to prove the establishment existed, nor an explanation of the spelling of the town's name on the map.

[12] Gene Sylva, a former mayor of the nearby town of Oroville, has stated that the saloon story is false, and that the true etymology of the town's name can be traced to his great-great-grandfather, William Pierce Leonard, who named the town on a summer day in 1864, after a hot and dusty ride from the Sacramento Valley; arriving at his sawmill while the staff were on break, Leonard "took a deep breath of the cool, clean air, and exclaimed, 'boys, this is paradise.

'"[12] According to Snopes, Sylva's explanation may be "pleasingly inventive historical fiction", and it is more likely that the town was named for it being a pleasant place to live.

[12] In June 2008, a wildfire, named the "Humboldt Fire" for its point of origin, swept over 22,800 acres (9,200 ha) of land between Chico and Paradise.

[13] A month later, a fire burned on the northern side of Paradise in the canyon where the Feather River is located.

[17] Shortly after the fire erupted, the Butte County Sheriff's Office ordered the evacuation of the eastern quarter of Paradise, and the remaining portions one hour later.

"[22][23] A total of 85[24] people died in the Camp Fire, tens of thousands were displaced, and 18,804 buildings were destroyed.

Local public policymakers aimed to promote rebuilding with higher standards for fire-resistant construction, upgraded infrastructure, and using the recommended 2009 redesigns for enhanced fire safety, which include expanded road capacity to increase evacuation capacity and to provide better access for emergency equipment.

[27] Two weeks of rain in early March 2019 slowed removal of debris; it was prohibited to dump waterlogged waste in landfills.

[10] By 2024, the town had experienced a substantial influx of newcomers who had moved from the Bay Area and Southern California.

[31] One year after the fires, the town united behind the Paradise High School football team, which achieved an undefeated season.

[35] Paradise Recreation and Parks District (PRPD) and the Nature Conservancy teamed up to develop the idea of a Greenbelt defensible buffer zone which would make the town a better fire-adapted community by preventing future wildfires from reaching the town center.

[36] The greenbelt would be made up of managed parks and vegetation to allow firefighters to do controlled burns and create a barrier of land without fuel around the town (a firebreak) so future wildfires have no path inwards.

[36][37] The most pressing challenges moving forward included obtaining rights to the mostly private land the Conservation Biology Institute identified as the most ideal location for a greenbelt, and funding the purchase of these properties.

With the successful purchase of several properties so far, Dan Efseaff, district manager for PRDP, "hopes at least to create pockets or sections of that full vision.

"[36] If this becomes a successful model, the Nature Conservancy hopes to scale up lessons learned from Paradise and inspire other fire-threatened communities to implement their own buffers.

The Paradise area extends northward to include the unincorporated town of Magalia, as well as Stirling City, eleven miles (18 km) north.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 18.3 square miles (47 km2); over 99% of it is land.

[citation needed] Since the 2018 Camp Fire, the hospital has been permanently closed, with no plans to reopen at this time.

[49] Paradise's link with Chico, Skyway Road (referred to locally as simply "Skyway"), begins in the Sacramento Valley, at Highway 99 in Chico, and runs up the ridge as a four-lane divided highway until it reaches Paradise.

Through the town, it is a four-lane undivided highway, which becomes a two-lane road as it continues up the Sierra's ridge to Magalia and into numerous smaller communities to the north.

[citation needed] Paradise Skypark (FAA identifier: CA92) is an airport located parallel to State Route 191 and south of the town.