First home rebuilt in Santa Rosa's Coffey Park after North Bay fires
SANTA ROSA, Calif. (KGO) -- The first home in Santa Rosa's Coffey Park neighborhood has been rebuilt after the devastating wildfires swept through the North Bay last October.
It's a huge milestone for the North Bay. The 2017 wildfires burned thousands of homes to the ground.
Dan Bradford's home on Kerry Lane is the first to be rebuilt.
RELATED: Six months after North Bay fires, Coffey Park rises from ashes
"Little did I know when I left here on October 9, it would take me eight months to get back in," said Bradford.
Bradford officially moves in on Friday. He rebuilt on the same spot his old house once stood. He was one of the lucky few homeowners able to reuse the original foundation of his house because it was not contaminated by the firestorm.
Everything about the house is brand new, from door knobs to the kitchen sink.
"It's exciting to have hot and cold water and a kitchen sink, it's great," Bradford said.
Bradford and his two dogs have been renting a small place since the fires.
Construction started last December but there was lots of bureaucratic red tape to navigate.
"It's a big, prolonged process of getting funds to pay the contractors. That's the most frustrating because they work hard," Bradford said.
In Coffey Park, signs of life are now everywhere. There are 167 new homes currently under construction across the city.
On Friday afternoon, Santa Rosa city leaders will hold a ribbon cutting outside of Bradford's home to commemorate the first home rebuilt.
Click here for more stories, photos, and video on the North Bay fires.
