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A year ago Lisa and Bruce Coats stood stunned in the wreckage of their home in Coffey Park, the Santa Rosa neighborhood so thoroughly burned by a firestorm that it looked as if it were carpet bombed. Their two-story home was one of 1,350 houses in the neighborhood destroyed by the fire.

A few weeks ago, the Coatses texted a photo of a new house they are building on the same lot. The cedar paneling, second-floor deck and plentiful large windows could have been taken from an architectural brochure. And they were. Mr. Coats came across the design on the internet and sent the image to his architect.

“We are making the best of what happened and we are getting a beautiful house,” Mr. Coats said last week. “But I would not wish on anyone what we went through to get it.”

A year after the most destructive fires in California’s history, it’s remarkable both how quickly some households are bouncing back and how difficult and scarring it has been for them.