Sierra Foothills Community Could Provide Blueprint For Building Homes In Era Of Megafires

Here are the morning’s top stories on Wednesday, January 28, 2026

• With insurance companies reluctant to back fire-prone parts of the state, officials and builders are looking for ways to get people into homes designed to survive wildfires. Those efforts are now extending to entire developments. In El Dorado County, that includes the opening of a “wildfire-prepared neighborhood” – the first in Northern California.
• A lawsuit filed this week claims people held at the federal immigration facility in Adelanto lack basic necessities like clean water, healthy food and medical care. 
• Democrat Ro Khanna is demanding the Trump administration turn over health and safety records for the California City immigration detention facility in the Mojave Desert, after a recent oversight visit that he described as “alarming.”

Living With Fire: Inside Northern California’s First ‘Wildfire-Prepared Neighborhood’

In the small Sierra foothills community of Cameron Park, state officials, Cal Fire leaders, members of the insurance and construction industries, and a group of “El Dorado Roses” gathered around a yellow ceremonial ribbon. The Roses — mature women in Victorian dresses with large hats festooned in artificial flowers who serve as ambassadors for El Dorado County’s Chamber of Commerce — had come to celebrate the opening of new model homes for a unique neighborhood.

The 24 single-story homes planned for the Stone Canyon development in Cameron Park, now under construction and up for sale, will form Northern California’s first “wildfire-prepared neighborhood.” Developers and policymakers hope the designation from the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety could offer a blueprint for building — and insuring — homes in an era of megafires. With insurance companies reluctant to insure fire-prone parts of California after a string of catastrophic blazes, state officials and builders are increasingly looking to fire-hardened construction to keep housing both insurable and habitable. “Fire-hardened homes are the future of the state of California,” El Dorado County Supervisor George Turnboo said. He bemoaned the plight of Caldor Fire survivors in his district who find insurance difficult to obtain — including himself. He said he now pays $10,000 a year for insurance that once cost $900.

The construction company leading the Stone Canyon project, KB Home, is betting that fire-prepared construction will attract buyers seeking peace of mind — and make it easier for them to obtain insurance. Nam Joe, Sacramento division president for KB Home, said buyers in the company’s first wildfire-prepared neighborhood, in fire-prone Escondido, enjoy more insurance options than owners of non-prepared homes nearby.

Roy Wright, CEO of IBHS said in examining homes that burned in last year’s L.A. fires, he and his team found that houses within range of fire had a 90% chance of damage or destruction if burnable material was within five feet of the home. They published their post-fire investigation findings last month.

Clearing flammable material within that perimeter is one of the most effective ways of hardening a home — and among the most accessible to homeowners. The practice is now the subject of a much-debated policy under review by the California Board of Forestry and Fire Protection for high fire-risk areas.

Congressman Khanna Demands Records From California City Detention Facility

Bay Area Congressman Ro Khanna is demanding the Trump administration turn over health and safety records for the California City immigration detention facility, after a recent oversight visit that he described as “alarming.”

In a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Khanna called on the agency to produce logs of its use of force and solitary confinement, and how long detained people had to wait for medical care. He said the mistreatment of detained immigrants and the two fatal shootings by immigration agents in Minneapolis are part of what he calls “a human rights issue of our time.”

During his visit earlier this month, Rep. Khanna described what he called the “systemic neglect” of more than 900 people currently held at the California City Detention Facility. “We’re treating these people like animals, not like human beings … It’s an embarrassment for the country,” he told KQED. “Whatever you think about the consequences for people who are undocumented, we should all agree that you treat people with dignity.”

Advocates have raised alarms over poor conditions in ICE detention as the number of in-custody deaths surged to its highest level in more than 20 years, with 32 people dying in 2025.

Lawsuit Alleges Inhumane Conditions At Adelanto ICE Facility

The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights announced a new lawsuit Monday against federal immigration agencies for claims of inhumane conditions at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center in San Bernardino County.

The organization claims people detained in the Adelanto facility lack drinkable water, healthy food, clean clothes, places to sleep and access to medical care. Failing to provide these basic necessities, CHIRLA says in court documents, amounts to punishment — violating detainees rights to due process. “ We are really at a moment where we are seeing a human rights crisis right before our eyes,” CHIRLA policy director Jeanette Zanipatin said at a news conference Monday. “And the detention centers, especially the one at Adelanto, is where we are seeing it unfold in real time.”

Immigrant Defenders Law Center, Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP and Public Counsel are assisting in the case against Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security. “We’re asking both that the judge force Adelanto, the detention facility, to ensure that basic medical care is being provided, that basic hygiene and sanitary conditions, food and water are provided, and that oversight is conducted over the facility,” said Alvaro Huerta, director of litigation and advocacy at Immigrant Defenders Law Center.

The concerns raised by CHIRLA as they announced the lawsuit closely resemble the findings of Disability Rights California, which also claimed detainees were not provided adequate medical care, food, water or clean clothing. The organization also reported that some people had limited access to communication with their loved ones.