Ron Howard working on Camp Fire documentary called 'Believe in Paradise'

ByABC7 News KGO logo
Wednesday, December 19, 2018
Ron Howard filming Camp Fire documentary
Oscar-winning director Ron Howard is working on a documentary on the Camp Fire in Butte County.

PARADISE, Calif. (KGO) -- Oscar-winning director Ron Howard is working on a documentary on the Camp Fire in Butte County.

RELATED: Before and after views of Camp Fire destruction in Paradise

"My longtime assistant at Imagine (Entertainment) and sometime associate producer said to me, 'Wouldn't this be a great story for our documentary group?'," Howard told the Paradise Post.

Howard tells the newspaper he took that idea to his documentary group and believed in the story enough to visit Paradise himself last weekend.

VIDEO: Dog survives Camp Fire, stays behind to guard burned property

The 64-year-old says the fire hit home. He has family who once lived in Paradise. He also has relatives in Redding where the Carr fire broke out in July.

"Even though I don't know anyone who lost anything in the Carr Fire or this one," he told the Paradise Post. "But I do have a sense of the drama."

Howard has been talking to firefighters, school officials, teachers and students.

RELATED: The evacuation of Butte County's Paradise from beginning to end

November's Camp Fire was the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California history to date.

Howard's vision is to follow what happens in the coming year. He doesn't have an official title yet. Right now, he's calling the documentary "Believe in Paradise."

Take a look at more stories about the deadly Camp Fire in Butte County.