Couple that lost home in California wildfire get pardons

A woman who lost her home in California’s most destructive wildfire ever says she and her husband are humbled to have received pardons from Gov. Jerry Brown for old drug crimes.

Heather Steels Burnett said Tuesday the pardons were bright spots in what has been a difficult period. Brown on Monday wiped away her conviction for possessing ephedrine with intent to make methamphetamine nearly 20 years after she was sentenced for the crime.

The governor noted that Burnett now worked as a drug counselor with Butte County.

Brown pardoned her husband, Jason, before Thanksgiving for his conviction on a charge of manufacturing a controlled substance.

Jason Burnett’s pardon came less than two weeks after the couple lost their home in Paradise in a wildfire that killed 86 people.