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Wildfires have pushed thousands of Northern California residents into shelters for days on end, left to ponder the possibility that their house was claimed by one of three major infernos.

More than 700 homes were reduced to rubble in the last week by fast-moving wildfires that sprang up quickly and gave residents very little time to plan an escape. At least five people have been killed by the flames, and some 23,000 residents fled – many into shelters opened in safe spots.

As authorities deem some areas to be safe from the fires, homeowners are being permitted to return to their homes and see what remains. Some found their homes reduced to ash, while others were overjoyed to discover their houses spared.

(MORE: Latest News on the Fires | Images | How You Can Help)

In the evacuation centers, where there is usually an understandable lack of hope and energy, residents have felt the community band together around them, Mashable said. Food trucks have arrived to provide evacuees with free meals, while the Humane Society has shown up with toys, pet food and everything else needed to keep the animals happy, the report added.

And if the spirit of these evacuees has been broken by the fires, you wouldn't know it. At some camps, there's singing and dancing as the residents do whatever it takes to keep their spirits high.

"We have our lives," a woman who only gave her first name, Brigette, told Mashable. "Everything else is fixable."

For now, all these evacuees have are each other, and amidst all the distractions, worries about their property and memories left behind creep back in.

“Not knowing has been one of the most pressure-filled moments for a lot of these families,” Red Cross worker Romina Cervantes told KRON-TV.