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"content": "\u003cp>Late-night negotiations between Gov. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/gavin-newsom\">Gavin Newsom\u003c/a> and Democratic leaders in the state Legislature produced a flurry of agreements on Wednesday on pivotal \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12052825/whats-next-for-californias-landmark-climate-program\">climate\u003c/a> and energy programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“After months of hard work with the Legislature, we have agreed to historic reforms that will save money on your electric bills, stabilize gas supply, and slash toxic air pollution — all while fast-tracking California’s transition to a clean, green job-creating economy,” Newsom said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On their own, each of the deals to extend the state’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12040286/how-california-cap-and-trade-works-and-how-newsom-wants-to-change-it\">cap-and-trade\u003c/a> climate program, ease regulations on \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101910826/california-considers-more-drilling-and-other-concessions-to-big-oil-as-gas-prices-rise\">oil and gas\u003c/a> production, reform utility spending and advance regional energy sharing is a controversial and complex endeavor. Taken together, they present lawmakers with a series of monumental choices over California’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12027878/california-lawmakers-aim-lower-electricity-bills-but-theyll-face-tough-choices\">energy transition\u003c/a> with just a few days left in the legislative year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re at this point where we are paying for the effects of climate change, while we’re also trying to transition to the new future we want to see,” said Merrian Borgeson, a policy expert from the Natural Resources Defense Council. “But I think we’re standing up to the challenge.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While many environmentalists praised the agreements for advancing the state’s climate goals with an eye on \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12053867/affordability-concerns-at-center-of-cap-and-trade-renewal-debate\">affordability\u003c/a>, environmental justice and consumer advocates slammed many of the provisions as a sellout to the oil and gas industry. Numerous participants in the negotiations agreed they had rarely seen a collection of high-stakes climate policies come together in such a whirlwind of last-minute negotiations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12040806\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12040806\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250506-SACRAMENTOFILE-04-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250506-SACRAMENTOFILE-04-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250506-SACRAMENTOFILE-04-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250506-SACRAMENTOFILE-04-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250506-SACRAMENTOFILE-04-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250506-SACRAMENTOFILE-04-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250506-SACRAMENTOFILE-04-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The California State Capitol in Sacramento on May 6, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“This was a wretched process,” said Katie Valenzuela, a consultant for environmental justice groups. “This was the most closed-door, hardest-to-influence process from a community perspective that I’ve ever seen.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state Senate and Assembly will not be able to vote on the bills until Saturday morning, due to a state rule requiring all bills to be in print for 72 hours before a final vote. Lawmakers will need to extend the session, currently set to recess on Friday at midnight.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Cap-and-trade extension\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>After months of talks, lawmakers reached an agreement on an extension of cap-and-trade — the landmark program designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The initiative, renamed cap-and-invest, sets a limit on the planet-warming pollution that refineries, power plants and other factories can release — a cap that is lowered every year. Companies can either reduce their emissions or bid on allowances that give them permission to pollute. The auctions for those allowances raise billions of dollars for the state every year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12055464\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12055464\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250509-BeniciaRefinery-32-BL_qed-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250509-BeniciaRefinery-32-BL_qed-1.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250509-BeniciaRefinery-32-BL_qed-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250509-BeniciaRefinery-32-BL_qed-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Valero Benicia Refinery in Benicia, on May 8, 2025, which processes up to 170,000 barrels of oil a day, making gasoline, diesel, and other fuels for California. Valero plans to shut down the Benicia refinery by April 2026, citing high costs and strict environmental rules. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://legiscan.com/CA/text/AB1207/id/3136896\">Assembly Bill 1207\u003c/a> would extend cap-and-invest through 2045, sending a signal of stability to the carbon markets that supporters hope will increase auction returns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is extended in a manner that will help ensure we actually meet our 2045 [greenhouse gas reduction] goals,” said Katelyn Roedner Sutter, California state director for the Environmental Defense Fund. “It addresses affordability concerns, and it maintains California as a climate leader.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>AB 1207 shifts the California Climate Credit to summer months, when higher air conditioning use causes electricity bills to spike. A companion measure, \u003ca href=\"https://legiscan.com/CA/text/SB840/id/3191153\">Senate Bill 840\u003c/a>, detailed how the revenues from carbon auctions will be spent — including setting aside $1 billion a year for the state’s high-speed rail system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Environmental justice advocates said capping statewide emissions does little for residents living near refineries and other pollution hotspots. A \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12050096/californias-clean-air-program-for-polluted-communities-faces-crossroads\">program created\u003c/a> during the last cap-and-trade reauthorization in 2017 was supposed to reduce local air pollution through community-designed plans, but has been criticized for having little teeth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Valenzuela said a proposal to give the local pollution reduction plans more staying power was left out of the final agreement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Disappointing doesn’t honestly feel like it describes it,” she said. “This is a terrible outcome for our communities, and we are incredibly frustrated.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>New incentives for the oil industry\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Environmental justice groups were further incensed by \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB237\">Senate Bill 237\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bill aims to loosen some of California’s environmental regulations to hedge against rising gasoline prices and respond to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12036695/shocking-news-valero-announces-plans-to-end-operations-at-benicia-refinery\">planned closure\u003c/a> of two oil refineries in the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California is the only state in the nation that requires motorists to shift to a lower-emissions fuel in the summer. The state’s fuel standard has reduced smog and improved air quality for decades, but consumers continue to pay higher prices for it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bill, if passed, would require the Governor to suspend the higher fuel standard whenever prices spike for more than 30 days, or appear likely to do so.[aside postID=news_12053867 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/230921-VALERO-BENICIA-REFINERY-MD-01_qed.jpg']Jamie Court, president of Consumer Watchdog, called it a “deregulation bonanza.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s all about retreating on the things that have worked in this state,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bill would also remove regulatory and legal obstacles for thousands of oil wells in Kern County by exempting them from a final review under the California Environmental Quality Act.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oil companies and environmentalists have clashed for more than a decade over challenges that have effectively stalled the permitting process for drilling new oil wells in Kern County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The politics of this are that everyone’s really worried,” said Deborah A. Sivas, director of the Environmental and Natural Resources Law & Policy Program at Stanford Law School. “We’re seeing affordability issues all over the place in the energy sector … so that’s the hook for the industry to say, ‘oh, you need to let us drill more because then we’ll feed more crude oil to the refineries.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sivas worried that more drilling would lead to more abandoned wells that threaten to taint water supplies and create other environmental hazards, because she said drilling for oil in California is just not sustainable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The future is not in oil production in California,” she said.“That was the past.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Utility reform and wildfire fund\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB254\">Senate Bill 254\u003c/a>, authored by state Sen. Josh Becker, D-San Mateo, and Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris, D-Irvine, tackles several angles of climate and energy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among them is a proposal to have the state fund some power-grid investments with revenue bonds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state’s three large investor-owned utilities, Pacific Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric, typically pay for grid improvements with capital expenditures, which allow them to earn a guaranteed profit for shareholders. Proponents of the bills say financing these improvements publicly, through bonds, would bring down costs to ratepayers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11660347\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11660347\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/RS30321_GettyImages-860975008-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/RS30321_GettyImages-860975008-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/RS30321_GettyImages-860975008-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/RS30321_GettyImages-860975008-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/RS30321_GettyImages-860975008-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/RS30321_GettyImages-860975008-qut-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/RS30321_GettyImages-860975008-qut-960x640.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/RS30321_GettyImages-860975008-qut-240x160.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/RS30321_GettyImages-860975008-qut-375x250.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/RS30321_GettyImages-860975008-qut-520x347.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">PG&E workers work to repair power lines in the Coffey Park neighborhood following the damage caused by the Tubbs Fire. \u003ccite>(Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Mark Toney, executive director of The Utility Reform Network, said the bill could save Californians billions of dollars over the next decade and was “a small step in the right direction for ratepayer affordability.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Utilities initially opposed the bill and said public financing threatened their ability to attract private investors, and pushed back with a public relations campaign \u003ca href=\"https://raterealities.com/\">criticizing\u003c/a> the proposal. But they praised the addition of new money for the state’s wildfire fund, which was nearly depleted by the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1998021/socal-edisons-liability-from-the-eaton-fire-threatens-to-gobble-up-states-safety-fund\">January blazes in Los Angeles\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Utilities can draw on this money to cover liability if their electrical equipment starts a damaging wildfire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The legislation proposes that utilities and ratepayers would each cover half of the nearly $18 billion fund.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PG&E, SCE and SDG&E issued a joint statement saying the wildfire fund would “help victims and communities recover and rebuild, without raising customer rates. While this legislation represents progress, more work is needed to create comprehensive and permanent solutions to address wildfire risk in California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A final bill, Assembly Bill 825, would enable California to join a new, Western electricity market. Supporters touted the plan as a way to ensure the reliability of California’s grid by letting the state buy and sell power across the region. At the same time, opponents warned California’s participation in an interstate grid would loosen state control over energy supply and cost.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Late-night negotiations between Gov. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/gavin-newsom\">Gavin Newsom\u003c/a> and Democratic leaders in the state Legislature produced a flurry of agreements on Wednesday on pivotal \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12052825/whats-next-for-californias-landmark-climate-program\">climate\u003c/a> and energy programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“After months of hard work with the Legislature, we have agreed to historic reforms that will save money on your electric bills, stabilize gas supply, and slash toxic air pollution — all while fast-tracking California’s transition to a clean, green job-creating economy,” Newsom said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On their own, each of the deals to extend the state’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12040286/how-california-cap-and-trade-works-and-how-newsom-wants-to-change-it\">cap-and-trade\u003c/a> climate program, ease regulations on \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101910826/california-considers-more-drilling-and-other-concessions-to-big-oil-as-gas-prices-rise\">oil and gas\u003c/a> production, reform utility spending and advance regional energy sharing is a controversial and complex endeavor. Taken together, they present lawmakers with a series of monumental choices over California’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12027878/california-lawmakers-aim-lower-electricity-bills-but-theyll-face-tough-choices\">energy transition\u003c/a> with just a few days left in the legislative year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re at this point where we are paying for the effects of climate change, while we’re also trying to transition to the new future we want to see,” said Merrian Borgeson, a policy expert from the Natural Resources Defense Council. “But I think we’re standing up to the challenge.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While many environmentalists praised the agreements for advancing the state’s climate goals with an eye on \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12053867/affordability-concerns-at-center-of-cap-and-trade-renewal-debate\">affordability\u003c/a>, environmental justice and consumer advocates slammed many of the provisions as a sellout to the oil and gas industry. Numerous participants in the negotiations agreed they had rarely seen a collection of high-stakes climate policies come together in such a whirlwind of last-minute negotiations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12040806\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12040806\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250506-SACRAMENTOFILE-04-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250506-SACRAMENTOFILE-04-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250506-SACRAMENTOFILE-04-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250506-SACRAMENTOFILE-04-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250506-SACRAMENTOFILE-04-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250506-SACRAMENTOFILE-04-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250506-SACRAMENTOFILE-04-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The California State Capitol in Sacramento on May 6, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“This was a wretched process,” said Katie Valenzuela, a consultant for environmental justice groups. “This was the most closed-door, hardest-to-influence process from a community perspective that I’ve ever seen.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state Senate and Assembly will not be able to vote on the bills until Saturday morning, due to a state rule requiring all bills to be in print for 72 hours before a final vote. Lawmakers will need to extend the session, currently set to recess on Friday at midnight.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Cap-and-trade extension\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>After months of talks, lawmakers reached an agreement on an extension of cap-and-trade — the landmark program designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The initiative, renamed cap-and-invest, sets a limit on the planet-warming pollution that refineries, power plants and other factories can release — a cap that is lowered every year. Companies can either reduce their emissions or bid on allowances that give them permission to pollute. The auctions for those allowances raise billions of dollars for the state every year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12055464\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12055464\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250509-BeniciaRefinery-32-BL_qed-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250509-BeniciaRefinery-32-BL_qed-1.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250509-BeniciaRefinery-32-BL_qed-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250509-BeniciaRefinery-32-BL_qed-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Valero Benicia Refinery in Benicia, on May 8, 2025, which processes up to 170,000 barrels of oil a day, making gasoline, diesel, and other fuels for California. Valero plans to shut down the Benicia refinery by April 2026, citing high costs and strict environmental rules. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://legiscan.com/CA/text/AB1207/id/3136896\">Assembly Bill 1207\u003c/a> would extend cap-and-invest through 2045, sending a signal of stability to the carbon markets that supporters hope will increase auction returns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is extended in a manner that will help ensure we actually meet our 2045 [greenhouse gas reduction] goals,” said Katelyn Roedner Sutter, California state director for the Environmental Defense Fund. “It addresses affordability concerns, and it maintains California as a climate leader.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>AB 1207 shifts the California Climate Credit to summer months, when higher air conditioning use causes electricity bills to spike. A companion measure, \u003ca href=\"https://legiscan.com/CA/text/SB840/id/3191153\">Senate Bill 840\u003c/a>, detailed how the revenues from carbon auctions will be spent — including setting aside $1 billion a year for the state’s high-speed rail system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Environmental justice advocates said capping statewide emissions does little for residents living near refineries and other pollution hotspots. A \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12050096/californias-clean-air-program-for-polluted-communities-faces-crossroads\">program created\u003c/a> during the last cap-and-trade reauthorization in 2017 was supposed to reduce local air pollution through community-designed plans, but has been criticized for having little teeth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Valenzuela said a proposal to give the local pollution reduction plans more staying power was left out of the final agreement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Disappointing doesn’t honestly feel like it describes it,” she said. “This is a terrible outcome for our communities, and we are incredibly frustrated.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>New incentives for the oil industry\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Environmental justice groups were further incensed by \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB237\">Senate Bill 237\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bill aims to loosen some of California’s environmental regulations to hedge against rising gasoline prices and respond to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12036695/shocking-news-valero-announces-plans-to-end-operations-at-benicia-refinery\">planned closure\u003c/a> of two oil refineries in the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California is the only state in the nation that requires motorists to shift to a lower-emissions fuel in the summer. The state’s fuel standard has reduced smog and improved air quality for decades, but consumers continue to pay higher prices for it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bill, if passed, would require the Governor to suspend the higher fuel standard whenever prices spike for more than 30 days, or appear likely to do so.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Jamie Court, president of Consumer Watchdog, called it a “deregulation bonanza.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s all about retreating on the things that have worked in this state,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bill would also remove regulatory and legal obstacles for thousands of oil wells in Kern County by exempting them from a final review under the California Environmental Quality Act.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oil companies and environmentalists have clashed for more than a decade over challenges that have effectively stalled the permitting process for drilling new oil wells in Kern County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The politics of this are that everyone’s really worried,” said Deborah A. Sivas, director of the Environmental and Natural Resources Law & Policy Program at Stanford Law School. “We’re seeing affordability issues all over the place in the energy sector … so that’s the hook for the industry to say, ‘oh, you need to let us drill more because then we’ll feed more crude oil to the refineries.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sivas worried that more drilling would lead to more abandoned wells that threaten to taint water supplies and create other environmental hazards, because she said drilling for oil in California is just not sustainable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The future is not in oil production in California,” she said.“That was the past.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Utility reform and wildfire fund\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB254\">Senate Bill 254\u003c/a>, authored by state Sen. Josh Becker, D-San Mateo, and Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris, D-Irvine, tackles several angles of climate and energy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among them is a proposal to have the state fund some power-grid investments with revenue bonds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state’s three large investor-owned utilities, Pacific Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric, typically pay for grid improvements with capital expenditures, which allow them to earn a guaranteed profit for shareholders. Proponents of the bills say financing these improvements publicly, through bonds, would bring down costs to ratepayers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11660347\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11660347\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/RS30321_GettyImages-860975008-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/RS30321_GettyImages-860975008-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/RS30321_GettyImages-860975008-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/RS30321_GettyImages-860975008-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/RS30321_GettyImages-860975008-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/RS30321_GettyImages-860975008-qut-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/RS30321_GettyImages-860975008-qut-960x640.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/RS30321_GettyImages-860975008-qut-240x160.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/RS30321_GettyImages-860975008-qut-375x250.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/RS30321_GettyImages-860975008-qut-520x347.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">PG&E workers work to repair power lines in the Coffey Park neighborhood following the damage caused by the Tubbs Fire. \u003ccite>(Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Mark Toney, executive director of The Utility Reform Network, said the bill could save Californians billions of dollars over the next decade and was “a small step in the right direction for ratepayer affordability.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Utilities initially opposed the bill and said public financing threatened their ability to attract private investors, and pushed back with a public relations campaign \u003ca href=\"https://raterealities.com/\">criticizing\u003c/a> the proposal. But they praised the addition of new money for the state’s wildfire fund, which was nearly depleted by the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1998021/socal-edisons-liability-from-the-eaton-fire-threatens-to-gobble-up-states-safety-fund\">January blazes in Los Angeles\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Utilities can draw on this money to cover liability if their electrical equipment starts a damaging wildfire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The legislation proposes that utilities and ratepayers would each cover half of the nearly $18 billion fund.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PG&E, SCE and SDG&E issued a joint statement saying the wildfire fund would “help victims and communities recover and rebuild, without raising customer rates. While this legislation represents progress, more work is needed to create comprehensive and permanent solutions to address wildfire risk in California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A final bill, Assembly Bill 825, would enable California to join a new, Western electricity market. Supporters touted the plan as a way to ensure the reliability of California’s grid by letting the state buy and sell power across the region. At the same time, opponents warned California’s participation in an interstate grid would loosen state control over energy supply and cost.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "invasion-of-the-grub-snatchers-how-one-rich-guys-russian-boars-colonized-california",
"title": "Invasion of the Grub Snatchers: How One Rich Guy’s Russian Boars Colonized California",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"#episode-transcript\">\u003ci>View the full episode transcript.\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wild pigs \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/quest/17488/hog-wild\">roam on the loose\u003c/a> in 56 of California’s 58 counties. Travis Mowbray of Menlo Park hasn’t seen them in the flesh here in the San Francisco Bay Area, but he’s read all sorts of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101887861/feral-pigs-rampage-bay-area\">headlines\u003c/a> about the trouble they stir up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[baycuriouspodcastinfo]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve read that invasive wild boars present big problems for endemic wildlife, and for farmers, and for homeowners in the Bay Area. Do mountain lions or perhaps coyotes hunt these wild boars? Could they be convinced to try?” he asked.“I was thinking maybe recipe cards or a sauce?\u003cem>”\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While there are edge case stories of wild boars killing humans, and they opportunistically scavenge animal carcasses, many of us might be surprised to learn that boars prefer vegetables.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Primarily, we’ll see them go after grubs that are in the soil, insect larvae, acorns and bulb plants,” said David Mauk, a Natural Resource Technician at the Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority. Mauk took me and Mowbray on a tour of wild boar-disturbed areas in the \u003ca href=\"https://www.openspaceauthority.org/whats-new/mayyan-ooyakmas-rare-serpentine-soils-enchanting-find-bay-area\">Máyyan ‘Ooyákma — Coyote Ridge Open Space Preserve\u003c/a>, which sits on 1,859 acres in the Diablo Range south of San Jose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The preserve used to be ranchland and still bears the marks of human development, like grasses planted for grazing. Mauk’s job is to help the native flora and fauna bounce back, but the wild boars make it difficult. The common joke is that they’re \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Kf8gJzWSrw\">rototillers\u003c/a> that poop, creating excellent conditions for invasive grasses and plants that love setting up shop in disturbed soil.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12051714\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250808-WILDPIGS_00271_TV-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12051714 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250808-WILDPIGS_00271_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250808-WILDPIGS_00271_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250808-WILDPIGS_00271_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250808-WILDPIGS_00271_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">David Mauk, a natural resource technician at Open Space Authority, drives through Máyyan ‘Ooyákma – Coyote Ridge, a preserve owned by Open Space Authority, in Morgan Hill on August 8, 2025. Wild Boars are an invasive species that endanger native plants and animals, as well as water sources. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The views are gorgeous in the Máyyan ‘Ooyákma — Coyote Ridge Open Space Preserve, everywhere you look in these rolling, yellow hills. That is, until you look down and see soccer pitch-sized stretches of soil wild boars have turned over in their search for tasty treats underneath.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Preserves like this one are special because they are some of the last protected areas for what’s called \u003ca href=\"https://protectcoyotevalley.org/serpentine-habitat-101-a-rare-world-in-our-backyard/\">serpentine habitat\u003c/a>. A very special set of plants and animals has developed over millennia to survive on this volcanic soil.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For example, the rare\u003ca href=\"https://www.openspaceauthority.org/whats-new/protecting-bay-checkerspot-butterfly#:~:text=Why%20is%20the%20Bay%20checkerspot,can%20still%20find%20the%20butterflies.\"> Bay checkerspot butterfly\u003c/a>, the official superstar species of this preserve, hangs out here because the ground hosts native flora like its favorite, the dwarf plantain. Many visitors come for the flora, too, especially during bloom season. In the spring, the fragrant fritillary’s flowers, for instance, hang down like tiny upside-down bells, and the petals also have a checkered or spotted pattern. The word “fragrant” is in its name because it gives off a sweet, gentle smell that attracts pollinators.[aside postID=news_12052988 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250804-BC-BIODIVERSITY-01-KQED.jpg']“The fragrant fritillary is one of our most sensitive species here on the ridge,” Mauk said. “There’s only a handful of spots where we have viable populations of them growing. The plant has a really short bloom window in the spring and can be sensitive to damage by, especially pigs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Boar poop poses another threat. It can spread more than 30 infectious diseases, 20 of which can be transmitted to humans, including \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-oct-27-me-spinach27-story.html\">E. coli\u003c/a>. Something to consider, as Mawk explains that, especially in warm weather, pigs love to hang out in streams and ponds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’ll wallow in the water sources, which is one of the types of damage they do,” Mauk said. “[It] harms the sides of banks, causes a lot of erosion, damages the vegetation in those riparian areas and really destroys the habitat for other animals that want to use those, like the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1941283/mark-twains-celebrated-red-legged-frogs-thriving-in-yosemite-valley\">California red-legged frog\u003c/a>.” The California red-legged frog, by the way, is another threatened species.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>So … how did the pigs get here?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In the early 1700s, Spanish and Russian settlers introduced domestic pigs to California as \u003ca href=\"https://wildlife.ca.gov/Conservation/Mammals/Wild-Pig#:~:text=Overview,livestock%20and%20many%20became%20feral.\">livestock\u003c/a>. Many became feral, roaming the state’s scrubby hillsides in packs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then, in the 1920s, a wealthy landowner with more money than sense introduced wild boar from the Ural mountains of Russia onto his property, Rancho San Carlos in the Carmel Valley south of Monterey.\u003ca href=\"https://www.ventanawild.org/news/se02/pigs.html\"> George Gordon Moore\u003c/a> wanted to start a preserve he could hunt in with his friends and business associates, as he proudly described in a letter to his neighbor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12051712\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250808-WILDPIGS_00140_TV-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12051712 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250808-WILDPIGS_00140_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250808-WILDPIGS_00140_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250808-WILDPIGS_00140_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250808-WILDPIGS_00140_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cows graze on the hills of Máyyan ‘Ooyákma – Coyote Ridge, a preserve owned by Open Space Authority, in Morgan Hill on August 8, 2025. The preserve used to be ranchland and still bears the marks of human development, like non-native grasses planted for grazing. Cows keep those non-native grasses in check. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>“He told me that in trapping them four hounds had been killed and one helper badly wounded…The biggest boar we ever killed on the ranch, when hung, measured 9 ft. from tip to tip. The skin on his neck was three inches thick; eleven bullets were found which over the years had been embedded in the fat,” Moore wrote.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>Before long, the Russian boars were mating with the Spanish domestic pigs, and they spread with abandon. Sows start breeding as early as four months old—yes, \u003cem>four months\u003c/em>—and the sows can pop out not one, but two litters a year. Most litters have four to 12 piglets, but some overachieving boars have cranked out 18. Fast forward to today, and wild pigs are now running loose in 56 of California’s 58 counties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At the time, people didn’t realize just how damaging it can be to bring in an animal from another ecosystem and let it loose,” Mauk lamented.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Hunters want to hunt wild boars, but it’s complicated\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>A young pig might be fair game for predators like coyotes and mountain lions, but adult pigs are another matter. Mature males weigh 200 pounds or more, females about 150–175 pounds. Where there’s a piglet, there’s a protective parent lurking nearby. Also, they travel in packs, called sounders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Their sounders can range from five to six, to sometimes, 10–12 pigs,” Mauk explained. “Their main predator where they originally came from in Eurasia were brown bears! We don’t really have brown bears here in the Bay Area anymore. So the job kinda falls to us.”[aside postID=news_12052889 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/9_Opt2-2000x1388.jpeg']Most coyotes and mountain lions know better than to risk an encounter with a big, fast animal that travels in packs and sports super sharp tusks. Which means, the wild pigs have the evolutionary advantage on all of us. Estimates put California’s feral pig population between 200,000 and 400,000, concentrated in central and coastal regions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wild pigs are a designated pest that can be hunted year-round without limit in California. According to the most recent Wild Pig Take Report from the state’s \u003ca href=\"https://wildlife.ca.gov/Hunting/Special-Hunts/Wild-Pig\">Department of Fish & Wildlife\u003c/a>, returned tags indicate hunters took 3,327 wild pigs \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/7773/25\">statewide\u003c/a> during the 2023–24 hunting season, a quarter of them from Monterey County alone. Because, of course, that’s where they started this party.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m compassionate towards the pigs, because they are an intelligent animal. It’s not their fault they’re here. It’s not their fault that they don’t have a predator like the brown bear here. We just need to do our role in the ecosystem to make sure they don’t cause the damage that they are causing,” Mauk said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, if you like to hunt, this sounds like it’s bacon time. But it will come as no surprise to learn that local authorities have local rules governing where and how you can go after wild boars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We get lots of calls, lots of hunters. ‘Hey, what are you guys doing about your pigs? I’d love to come to your park,’” said Dana Page, a natural resource program manager for Santa Clara County Parks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in a preserve, Page explained, authorities don’t want to risk the possibility that some hiker will get shot. For another thing, if you’re close enough to shoot a boar, you’re close enough to be noticed by the sounder and attacked.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Definitely, you don’t want to get close to a pig!” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12051717\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250808-WILDPIGS_00515_TV-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12051717 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250808-WILDPIGS_00515_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250808-WILDPIGS_00515_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250808-WILDPIGS_00515_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250808-WILDPIGS_00515_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A wild boar track indents the grass at Spreckels Hill, a protected property owned by Open Space Authority, in Morgan Hill on August 8, 2025. Wild pigs are a designated pest in California, and local agencies contract with professional outfits to trap and kill the feral creatures, which have poor eyesight and can be dangerous to humans if startled. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For a third thing, pigs are really, really clever. If they notice they’re being hunted, they’ll retreat into the night or move someplace nearby, probably across county lines just to create jurisdictional confusion. Also, they’ll breed more vigorously.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Page is hopeful science will eventually offer some solves, like maybe pig birth control. Whatever the case, she figures such strategies will only reduce the wild boar population, not end them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The population has gotten to a point where we have to realize that they are here and they’re never going to be eliminated from the landscape,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bay Area regional authorities know the local humans are getting fed up with the wild boars tearing up their lawns, defecating in their koi ponds, and treating their front yards like an all-you-can-root buffet. Multiple agencies are developing “a regional approach to feral pig management.” In plain English, officials are finally getting serious about tracking the boars’ whereabouts and even contracting with professional outfits to trap and kill boars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So if you spot wild boars, call the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sanjoseca.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/10933/636664045402970000\">local authorities\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[baycuriousquestion]\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 id=\"episode-transcript\">Episode Transcript\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> South Bay residents have been struggling with a weird garden invasion. Not hungry caterpillars, or cats pooping in the vegetable bed. No, think bigger. Think pigs.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>News Clip 1: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Wild boars are increasing their range across open spaces in the Bay Area this year. From parkland to backyards, to water district properties and hiking trails.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Wild pigs travel in packs, rip up suburban lawns and mess with sensitive habitats \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>News Clip 2: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">OK, it has plagued Morgan Hill for years, the periodic pig fest, as in wild pigs feasting on neighborhood lawns and fields…\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cb>News Clip 3:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Look at this big clump of lawn. We talked to one homeowner who says he woke up to this this morning, after pigs turned his lawn upside down.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Experts say the problem has gotten worse in recent years, especially after a series of wet winters has left moist soil teeming with grubs — a pig’s favorite food. Travis Mowbray of Menlo Park has followed these headlines. He’s never seen a boar, but he’s concerned about the effect they’re having on the natural spaces he loves.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Travis Mowbray: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’ve read that invasive wild boars present big problems for endemic wildlife, and for farmers, and for homeowners in the Bay Area. Do mountain lions or perhaps coyotes hunt these wild boars? Could they be convinced to try?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He’s even got some ideas to help entice predators to take on the pigs.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Travis Mowbray:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> I was thinking maybe recipe cards or a sauce?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">All kidding aside, the boars ARE out of control. Today on the show, we’ll take a trip to see some of their destruction, learn how they got here in the first place, and gather some ideas on how to get rid of them. I’m Katrina Schwartz and you’re listening to Bay Curious. Stay with us.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sponsor message\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Wild boars have been wrecking havoc in communities like San Jose, Morgan Hill and Lafayette for years. They can do a number on a lawn, but they’re also causing problems for wildland protection in some of our nature preserves. KQED’s Rachael Myrow did some rooting around to find out more.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Rachael Myrow:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Our question asker, Travis, and I met up for a tour of wild boar damage at the Máyyan ‘Ooyákma\u003c/span> —\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Coyote Ridge Open Space Preserve, located in the Diablo Range south of San Jose.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cb>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/b>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Door slams sounds of driving in a truck over bumpy ground\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Rachael Myrow: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We’re with David Mauk, a Natural Resource Technician for the Santa Clara Open Space Authority, on a driving tour of this newish preserve, open to the public for only about two years. We rumbled up an old farm road in David’s truck.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>David Mauk: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Most of these grasses are actually non native, and these non native grasses were bred to be really hearty food for cows. So they grow a lot taller and denser than our native grasses would.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Rachael Myrow: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">David’s job is to help the native flora and fauna recover from this type of human intervention. The views are gorgeous everywhere you look in these rolling, yellow hills. That is…\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sound of door slam\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Rachael Myrow: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Until you look down and see soccer pitch-sized stretches of soil wild boars have turned over in their search for tasty treats underneath. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>David Mauk: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Primarily we’ll see them go after, like, grubs that are in the soil, insect larva, acorns and different kinds of you know vegetative material like that.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Rachael Myrow: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">All that vigorous digging boars do creates excellent conditions for invasive grasses and plants that love setting up shop in disturbed soil.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>David Mauk: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">They’ll also go after bulb plants. Like, our soap plant is a popular target for them. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Rachael Myrow: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That’s particularly distressing here…in this preserve..special because it’s one of the last protected areas for what’s called serpentine habitat. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A very special set of plants and animals have developed over millenia to survive on this volcanic soil. For example, there’s the rare\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.openspaceauthority.org/whats-new/protecting-bay-checkerspot-butterfly#:~:text=Why%20is%20the%20Bay%20checkerspot,can%20still%20find%20the%20butterflies.\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Bay checkerspot butterfly\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, the official superstar species of this preserve, with wings that look like they’re dotted with confetti in a host of harvest season colors. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There’s a host of native flora, too, like fragrant fritillary. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>David Mauk: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The fragrant fritillary is one of our most sensitive species here on the ridge. There’s only a handful of spots where we have viable populations of them growing. The plant has a really short bloom window in the spring and can be sensitive to damage by, especially pigs.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Rachael Myrow: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s not just that the wild boars tear up the soil. They um — there’s no nice way to say this — they poop in the water. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And their poop can spread more than 30 infectious diseases, 20 of which can be transmitted to humans. Something to consider, as David explains that, especially in warm weather, pigs love to hang out in streams and ponds.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>David Mauk:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">They’ll wallow in the water sources, which is one of the types of damage they do. Harms the sides of banks, causes a lot of erosion, damages the vegetation in those riparian areas, and really, destroys the habitat for other animals, like the California red legged frog.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Rachael Myrow: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Which is another threatened species. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So … how did the pigs get here? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In the early 1700s, Spanish and Russian settlers introduced domestic pigs to California as livestock. Many became feral. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Then, in the 1920s, a wealthy land owner named George Gordon Moore introduced wild boar from the Ural mountains of Russia onto his property south of Monterey, as he proudly described in a letter to his neighbor.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Voice reading letter: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The biggest boar we ever killed on the ranch, when hung, measured 9 ft. from tip to tip. The skin on his neck was three inches thick; eleven bullets were found which over the years had been embedded in the fat.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Rachael Myrow: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Moore \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">apparently\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> thought it was a great idea to release wild boars onto his property—because nothing says “wholesome weekend hunting trip” like importing a literal chaos pig from the Russian wilderness.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And shocker: it went exactly how you’d expect it to go. Some of those boars broke out—\u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">because of course they did\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">—and started getting very friendly with the now local Spanish pigs. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>David Mauk: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">At the time, people didn’t realize just how damaging it can be to bring in an animal from another ecosystem and let it loose.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Rachael Myrow: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sows start breeding as early as four months old—yes, \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">four months\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">—and the sows can pop out not one, but two litters a year. Most litters have 4 to 12 piglets, but some overachieving boars have cranked out eighteen\u003c/span>\u003cb>.\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Fast forward to today, and wild pigs are now running loose in 56 of California’s 58 counties. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So, that’s how they got here and why they’re so damaging. But our question asker, Travis, wants to know whether they have natural predators that could help keep their populations in check.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>David Mauk: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Their main predator where they originally came from in Eurasia were brown bears! We don’t really have brown bears here in the Bay Area anymore. So the job kinda falls to us.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Rachael Myrow: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A young pig might be fair game for predators like coyotes and mountain lions. But adult pigs are another matter. Mature males weigh 200 pounds or more, females about 150-175 pounds. And where there’s a piglet, there’s a protective parent lurking nearby. Because pigs travel in packs, called “sounders.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>David Mauk: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Their sounders can range from about, you know, 5-6 pigs, to sometimes, 10-12 pigs.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Rachael Myrow: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Most coyotes and mountain lions know better than to risk an encounter with a big, fast animal that travels in packs and sports super sharp tusks. Tracking and hunting these boars is difficult for humans too.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Estimates put California’s feral pig population between 200,000 and 400,000, concentrated in central and coastal regions. Wild pigs are a designated pest that can be hunted year-round without limit, but in 2023-24 hunters only reported killing around 3-thousand of them. Meanwhile, David says, they continue to devastate the delicate serpentine habitat he’s keen to protect.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>David Mauk:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’m compassionate towards the pigs, because they are an intelligent animal. It’s not their fault they’re here. It’s not their fault that they don’t have a predator like the brown bear here. We just need to do our role in the ecosystem to make sure they don’t cause the damage that they are causing.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Rachael Myrow: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Now, if you like to hunt, this sounds like… it’s bacon time. But it will come as no surprise to learn local authorities have local rules governing where and how you can go after wild boars. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Dana Page: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We gets lots of calls, lots of hunters. ‘\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Hey, what are you guys doing about your pigs? I’d love to come to your park.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">’\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Rachael Myrow: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That’s Dana Page, a natural resource program manager for Santa Clara County Parks. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In a park, she says, authorities don’t want to risk the possibility that some hiker photographing a \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.openspaceauthority.org/whats-new/protecting-bay-checkerspot-butterfly#:~:text=Why%20is%20the%20Bay%20checkerspot,can%20still%20find%20the%20butterflies.\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Bay checkerspot butterfly\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> will get shot. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Also, there’s a county ordinance against hunting in parks. For another thing, if you’re close enough to shoot a boar, you’re close enough to be noticed by the sounder and attacked. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Dana Page: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Definitely, you don’t want to get close to a pig. Hahah!\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Rachael Myrow: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For a third thing, Dana adds, pigs are really, really clever. If they notice they’re being hunted, they’ll retreat into the night, or move someplace else. Also, they’ll \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">breed more\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">She’s hopeful science will eventually offer some solves, like maybe pig birth control. Whatever the case, she figures such strategies will only reduce the wild boar population, not end them.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Dana Page:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The population has gotten to a point where we have to realize that they are here and they’re never going to be eliminated from the landscape.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Rachael Myrow: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Despite that sobering thought, local officials are finally getting serious about dealing with the problem. Multiple agencies are teaming up to track the boars and working with professional outfits to trap and kill them.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> That was KQED Senior Editor Rachael Myrow.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Thanks to \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Travis Mowbray for asking this week’s question. If you’ve got a burning curiosity that you think we should investigate, head on over to baycurious.org. Right at the top of the page there’s a spot to submit your questions. And don’t forget to vote on what we should cover next while you’re there!\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Bay Curious is made in San Francisco at member supported KQED.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Our show is produced by Christopher Beale, Gabriela Glueck and me, Katrina Schwartz.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">With extra support from Maha Sanad, Katie Sprenger, Jen Chien and everyone on team KQED.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by The Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. San Francisco Northern California Local.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Thanks for listening and have a great week.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Originally imported to Monterey County for sport by a wealthy landowner in the 1920s, wild boars now number in the hundreds of thousands, and they are destroying sensitive habitats and suburban lawns statewide. \r\n",
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"title": "Invasion of the Grub Snatchers: How One Rich Guy’s Russian Boars Colonized California | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"#episode-transcript\">\u003ci>View the full episode transcript.\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wild pigs \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/quest/17488/hog-wild\">roam on the loose\u003c/a> in 56 of California’s 58 counties. Travis Mowbray of Menlo Park hasn’t seen them in the flesh here in the San Francisco Bay Area, but he’s read all sorts of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101887861/feral-pigs-rampage-bay-area\">headlines\u003c/a> about the trouble they stir up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003caside class=\"alignleft utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__bayCuriousPodcastShortcode__bayCurious\">\u003cimg src=https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/bayCuriousLogo.png alt=\"Bay Curious Podcast\" loading=\"lazy\" />\n \u003ca href=\"/news/series/baycurious\">Bay Curious\u003c/a> is a podcast that answers your questions about the Bay Area.\n Subscribe on \u003ca href=\"https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/bay-curious/id1172473406\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Apple Podcasts\u003c/a>,\n \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/podcasts/500557090/bay-curious\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NPR One\u003c/a> or your favorite podcast platform.\u003c/aside>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve read that invasive wild boars present big problems for endemic wildlife, and for farmers, and for homeowners in the Bay Area. Do mountain lions or perhaps coyotes hunt these wild boars? Could they be convinced to try?” he asked.“I was thinking maybe recipe cards or a sauce?\u003cem>”\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While there are edge case stories of wild boars killing humans, and they opportunistically scavenge animal carcasses, many of us might be surprised to learn that boars prefer vegetables.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Primarily, we’ll see them go after grubs that are in the soil, insect larvae, acorns and bulb plants,” said David Mauk, a Natural Resource Technician at the Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority. Mauk took me and Mowbray on a tour of wild boar-disturbed areas in the \u003ca href=\"https://www.openspaceauthority.org/whats-new/mayyan-ooyakmas-rare-serpentine-soils-enchanting-find-bay-area\">Máyyan ‘Ooyákma — Coyote Ridge Open Space Preserve\u003c/a>, which sits on 1,859 acres in the Diablo Range south of San Jose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The preserve used to be ranchland and still bears the marks of human development, like grasses planted for grazing. Mauk’s job is to help the native flora and fauna bounce back, but the wild boars make it difficult. The common joke is that they’re \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Kf8gJzWSrw\">rototillers\u003c/a> that poop, creating excellent conditions for invasive grasses and plants that love setting up shop in disturbed soil.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12051714\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250808-WILDPIGS_00271_TV-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12051714 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250808-WILDPIGS_00271_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250808-WILDPIGS_00271_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250808-WILDPIGS_00271_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250808-WILDPIGS_00271_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">David Mauk, a natural resource technician at Open Space Authority, drives through Máyyan ‘Ooyákma – Coyote Ridge, a preserve owned by Open Space Authority, in Morgan Hill on August 8, 2025. Wild Boars are an invasive species that endanger native plants and animals, as well as water sources. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The views are gorgeous in the Máyyan ‘Ooyákma — Coyote Ridge Open Space Preserve, everywhere you look in these rolling, yellow hills. That is, until you look down and see soccer pitch-sized stretches of soil wild boars have turned over in their search for tasty treats underneath.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Preserves like this one are special because they are some of the last protected areas for what’s called \u003ca href=\"https://protectcoyotevalley.org/serpentine-habitat-101-a-rare-world-in-our-backyard/\">serpentine habitat\u003c/a>. A very special set of plants and animals has developed over millennia to survive on this volcanic soil.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For example, the rare\u003ca href=\"https://www.openspaceauthority.org/whats-new/protecting-bay-checkerspot-butterfly#:~:text=Why%20is%20the%20Bay%20checkerspot,can%20still%20find%20the%20butterflies.\"> Bay checkerspot butterfly\u003c/a>, the official superstar species of this preserve, hangs out here because the ground hosts native flora like its favorite, the dwarf plantain. Many visitors come for the flora, too, especially during bloom season. In the spring, the fragrant fritillary’s flowers, for instance, hang down like tiny upside-down bells, and the petals also have a checkered or spotted pattern. The word “fragrant” is in its name because it gives off a sweet, gentle smell that attracts pollinators.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“The fragrant fritillary is one of our most sensitive species here on the ridge,” Mauk said. “There’s only a handful of spots where we have viable populations of them growing. The plant has a really short bloom window in the spring and can be sensitive to damage by, especially pigs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Boar poop poses another threat. It can spread more than 30 infectious diseases, 20 of which can be transmitted to humans, including \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-oct-27-me-spinach27-story.html\">E. coli\u003c/a>. Something to consider, as Mawk explains that, especially in warm weather, pigs love to hang out in streams and ponds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’ll wallow in the water sources, which is one of the types of damage they do,” Mauk said. “[It] harms the sides of banks, causes a lot of erosion, damages the vegetation in those riparian areas and really destroys the habitat for other animals that want to use those, like the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1941283/mark-twains-celebrated-red-legged-frogs-thriving-in-yosemite-valley\">California red-legged frog\u003c/a>.” The California red-legged frog, by the way, is another threatened species.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>So … how did the pigs get here?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In the early 1700s, Spanish and Russian settlers introduced domestic pigs to California as \u003ca href=\"https://wildlife.ca.gov/Conservation/Mammals/Wild-Pig#:~:text=Overview,livestock%20and%20many%20became%20feral.\">livestock\u003c/a>. Many became feral, roaming the state’s scrubby hillsides in packs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then, in the 1920s, a wealthy landowner with more money than sense introduced wild boar from the Ural mountains of Russia onto his property, Rancho San Carlos in the Carmel Valley south of Monterey.\u003ca href=\"https://www.ventanawild.org/news/se02/pigs.html\"> George Gordon Moore\u003c/a> wanted to start a preserve he could hunt in with his friends and business associates, as he proudly described in a letter to his neighbor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12051712\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250808-WILDPIGS_00140_TV-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12051712 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250808-WILDPIGS_00140_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250808-WILDPIGS_00140_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250808-WILDPIGS_00140_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250808-WILDPIGS_00140_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cows graze on the hills of Máyyan ‘Ooyákma – Coyote Ridge, a preserve owned by Open Space Authority, in Morgan Hill on August 8, 2025. The preserve used to be ranchland and still bears the marks of human development, like non-native grasses planted for grazing. Cows keep those non-native grasses in check. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>“He told me that in trapping them four hounds had been killed and one helper badly wounded…The biggest boar we ever killed on the ranch, when hung, measured 9 ft. from tip to tip. The skin on his neck was three inches thick; eleven bullets were found which over the years had been embedded in the fat,” Moore wrote.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>Before long, the Russian boars were mating with the Spanish domestic pigs, and they spread with abandon. Sows start breeding as early as four months old—yes, \u003cem>four months\u003c/em>—and the sows can pop out not one, but two litters a year. Most litters have four to 12 piglets, but some overachieving boars have cranked out 18. Fast forward to today, and wild pigs are now running loose in 56 of California’s 58 counties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At the time, people didn’t realize just how damaging it can be to bring in an animal from another ecosystem and let it loose,” Mauk lamented.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Hunters want to hunt wild boars, but it’s complicated\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>A young pig might be fair game for predators like coyotes and mountain lions, but adult pigs are another matter. Mature males weigh 200 pounds or more, females about 150–175 pounds. Where there’s a piglet, there’s a protective parent lurking nearby. Also, they travel in packs, called sounders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Their sounders can range from five to six, to sometimes, 10–12 pigs,” Mauk explained. “Their main predator where they originally came from in Eurasia were brown bears! We don’t really have brown bears here in the Bay Area anymore. So the job kinda falls to us.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Most coyotes and mountain lions know better than to risk an encounter with a big, fast animal that travels in packs and sports super sharp tusks. Which means, the wild pigs have the evolutionary advantage on all of us. Estimates put California’s feral pig population between 200,000 and 400,000, concentrated in central and coastal regions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wild pigs are a designated pest that can be hunted year-round without limit in California. According to the most recent Wild Pig Take Report from the state’s \u003ca href=\"https://wildlife.ca.gov/Hunting/Special-Hunts/Wild-Pig\">Department of Fish & Wildlife\u003c/a>, returned tags indicate hunters took 3,327 wild pigs \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/7773/25\">statewide\u003c/a> during the 2023–24 hunting season, a quarter of them from Monterey County alone. Because, of course, that’s where they started this party.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m compassionate towards the pigs, because they are an intelligent animal. It’s not their fault they’re here. It’s not their fault that they don’t have a predator like the brown bear here. We just need to do our role in the ecosystem to make sure they don’t cause the damage that they are causing,” Mauk said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, if you like to hunt, this sounds like it’s bacon time. But it will come as no surprise to learn that local authorities have local rules governing where and how you can go after wild boars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We get lots of calls, lots of hunters. ‘Hey, what are you guys doing about your pigs? I’d love to come to your park,’” said Dana Page, a natural resource program manager for Santa Clara County Parks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in a preserve, Page explained, authorities don’t want to risk the possibility that some hiker will get shot. For another thing, if you’re close enough to shoot a boar, you’re close enough to be noticed by the sounder and attacked.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Definitely, you don’t want to get close to a pig!” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12051717\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250808-WILDPIGS_00515_TV-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12051717 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250808-WILDPIGS_00515_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250808-WILDPIGS_00515_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250808-WILDPIGS_00515_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250808-WILDPIGS_00515_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A wild boar track indents the grass at Spreckels Hill, a protected property owned by Open Space Authority, in Morgan Hill on August 8, 2025. Wild pigs are a designated pest in California, and local agencies contract with professional outfits to trap and kill the feral creatures, which have poor eyesight and can be dangerous to humans if startled. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For a third thing, pigs are really, really clever. If they notice they’re being hunted, they’ll retreat into the night or move someplace nearby, probably across county lines just to create jurisdictional confusion. Also, they’ll breed more vigorously.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Page is hopeful science will eventually offer some solves, like maybe pig birth control. Whatever the case, she figures such strategies will only reduce the wild boar population, not end them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The population has gotten to a point where we have to realize that they are here and they’re never going to be eliminated from the landscape,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bay Area regional authorities know the local humans are getting fed up with the wild boars tearing up their lawns, defecating in their koi ponds, and treating their front yards like an all-you-can-root buffet. Multiple agencies are developing “a regional approach to feral pig management.” In plain English, officials are finally getting serious about tracking the boars’ whereabouts and even contracting with professional outfits to trap and kill boars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So if you spot wild boars, call the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sanjoseca.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/10933/636664045402970000\">local authorities\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-content post-body\">\u003ch2 id=\"episode-transcript\">Episode Transcript\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> South Bay residents have been struggling with a weird garden invasion. Not hungry caterpillars, or cats pooping in the vegetable bed. No, think bigger. Think pigs.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>News Clip 1: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Wild boars are increasing their range across open spaces in the Bay Area this year. From parkland to backyards, to water district properties and hiking trails.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Wild pigs travel in packs, rip up suburban lawns and mess with sensitive habitats \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>News Clip 2: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">OK, it has plagued Morgan Hill for years, the periodic pig fest, as in wild pigs feasting on neighborhood lawns and fields…\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cb>News Clip 3:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Look at this big clump of lawn. We talked to one homeowner who says he woke up to this this morning, after pigs turned his lawn upside down.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Experts say the problem has gotten worse in recent years, especially after a series of wet winters has left moist soil teeming with grubs — a pig’s favorite food. Travis Mowbray of Menlo Park has followed these headlines. He’s never seen a boar, but he’s concerned about the effect they’re having on the natural spaces he loves.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Travis Mowbray: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’ve read that invasive wild boars present big problems for endemic wildlife, and for farmers, and for homeowners in the Bay Area. Do mountain lions or perhaps coyotes hunt these wild boars? Could they be convinced to try?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He’s even got some ideas to help entice predators to take on the pigs.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Travis Mowbray:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> I was thinking maybe recipe cards or a sauce?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">All kidding aside, the boars ARE out of control. Today on the show, we’ll take a trip to see some of their destruction, learn how they got here in the first place, and gather some ideas on how to get rid of them. I’m Katrina Schwartz and you’re listening to Bay Curious. Stay with us.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sponsor message\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Wild boars have been wrecking havoc in communities like San Jose, Morgan Hill and Lafayette for years. They can do a number on a lawn, but they’re also causing problems for wildland protection in some of our nature preserves. KQED’s Rachael Myrow did some rooting around to find out more.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Rachael Myrow:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Our question asker, Travis, and I met up for a tour of wild boar damage at the Máyyan ‘Ooyákma\u003c/span> —\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Coyote Ridge Open Space Preserve, located in the Diablo Range south of San Jose.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cb>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/b>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Door slams sounds of driving in a truck over bumpy ground\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Rachael Myrow: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We’re with David Mauk, a Natural Resource Technician for the Santa Clara Open Space Authority, on a driving tour of this newish preserve, open to the public for only about two years. We rumbled up an old farm road in David’s truck.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>David Mauk: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Most of these grasses are actually non native, and these non native grasses were bred to be really hearty food for cows. So they grow a lot taller and denser than our native grasses would.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Rachael Myrow: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">David’s job is to help the native flora and fauna recover from this type of human intervention. The views are gorgeous everywhere you look in these rolling, yellow hills. That is…\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sound of door slam\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Rachael Myrow: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Until you look down and see soccer pitch-sized stretches of soil wild boars have turned over in their search for tasty treats underneath. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>David Mauk: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Primarily we’ll see them go after, like, grubs that are in the soil, insect larva, acorns and different kinds of you know vegetative material like that.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Rachael Myrow: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">All that vigorous digging boars do creates excellent conditions for invasive grasses and plants that love setting up shop in disturbed soil.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>David Mauk: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">They’ll also go after bulb plants. Like, our soap plant is a popular target for them. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Rachael Myrow: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That’s particularly distressing here…in this preserve..special because it’s one of the last protected areas for what’s called serpentine habitat. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A very special set of plants and animals have developed over millenia to survive on this volcanic soil. For example, there’s the rare\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.openspaceauthority.org/whats-new/protecting-bay-checkerspot-butterfly#:~:text=Why%20is%20the%20Bay%20checkerspot,can%20still%20find%20the%20butterflies.\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Bay checkerspot butterfly\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, the official superstar species of this preserve, with wings that look like they’re dotted with confetti in a host of harvest season colors. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There’s a host of native flora, too, like fragrant fritillary. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>David Mauk: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The fragrant fritillary is one of our most sensitive species here on the ridge. There’s only a handful of spots where we have viable populations of them growing. The plant has a really short bloom window in the spring and can be sensitive to damage by, especially pigs.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Rachael Myrow: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s not just that the wild boars tear up the soil. They um — there’s no nice way to say this — they poop in the water. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And their poop can spread more than 30 infectious diseases, 20 of which can be transmitted to humans. Something to consider, as David explains that, especially in warm weather, pigs love to hang out in streams and ponds.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>David Mauk:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">They’ll wallow in the water sources, which is one of the types of damage they do. Harms the sides of banks, causes a lot of erosion, damages the vegetation in those riparian areas, and really, destroys the habitat for other animals, like the California red legged frog.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Rachael Myrow: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Which is another threatened species. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So … how did the pigs get here? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In the early 1700s, Spanish and Russian settlers introduced domestic pigs to California as livestock. Many became feral. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Then, in the 1920s, a wealthy land owner named George Gordon Moore introduced wild boar from the Ural mountains of Russia onto his property south of Monterey, as he proudly described in a letter to his neighbor.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Voice reading letter: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The biggest boar we ever killed on the ranch, when hung, measured 9 ft. from tip to tip. The skin on his neck was three inches thick; eleven bullets were found which over the years had been embedded in the fat.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Rachael Myrow: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Moore \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">apparently\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> thought it was a great idea to release wild boars onto his property—because nothing says “wholesome weekend hunting trip” like importing a literal chaos pig from the Russian wilderness.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And shocker: it went exactly how you’d expect it to go. Some of those boars broke out—\u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">because of course they did\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">—and started getting very friendly with the now local Spanish pigs. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>David Mauk: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">At the time, people didn’t realize just how damaging it can be to bring in an animal from another ecosystem and let it loose.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Rachael Myrow: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sows start breeding as early as four months old—yes, \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">four months\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">—and the sows can pop out not one, but two litters a year. Most litters have 4 to 12 piglets, but some overachieving boars have cranked out eighteen\u003c/span>\u003cb>.\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Fast forward to today, and wild pigs are now running loose in 56 of California’s 58 counties. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So, that’s how they got here and why they’re so damaging. But our question asker, Travis, wants to know whether they have natural predators that could help keep their populations in check.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>David Mauk: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Their main predator where they originally came from in Eurasia were brown bears! We don’t really have brown bears here in the Bay Area anymore. So the job kinda falls to us.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Rachael Myrow: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A young pig might be fair game for predators like coyotes and mountain lions. But adult pigs are another matter. Mature males weigh 200 pounds or more, females about 150-175 pounds. And where there’s a piglet, there’s a protective parent lurking nearby. Because pigs travel in packs, called “sounders.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>David Mauk: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Their sounders can range from about, you know, 5-6 pigs, to sometimes, 10-12 pigs.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Rachael Myrow: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Most coyotes and mountain lions know better than to risk an encounter with a big, fast animal that travels in packs and sports super sharp tusks. Tracking and hunting these boars is difficult for humans too.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Estimates put California’s feral pig population between 200,000 and 400,000, concentrated in central and coastal regions. Wild pigs are a designated pest that can be hunted year-round without limit, but in 2023-24 hunters only reported killing around 3-thousand of them. Meanwhile, David says, they continue to devastate the delicate serpentine habitat he’s keen to protect.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>David Mauk:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’m compassionate towards the pigs, because they are an intelligent animal. It’s not their fault they’re here. It’s not their fault that they don’t have a predator like the brown bear here. We just need to do our role in the ecosystem to make sure they don’t cause the damage that they are causing.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Rachael Myrow: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Now, if you like to hunt, this sounds like… it’s bacon time. But it will come as no surprise to learn local authorities have local rules governing where and how you can go after wild boars. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Dana Page: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We gets lots of calls, lots of hunters. ‘\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Hey, what are you guys doing about your pigs? I’d love to come to your park.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">’\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Rachael Myrow: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That’s Dana Page, a natural resource program manager for Santa Clara County Parks. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In a park, she says, authorities don’t want to risk the possibility that some hiker photographing a \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.openspaceauthority.org/whats-new/protecting-bay-checkerspot-butterfly#:~:text=Why%20is%20the%20Bay%20checkerspot,can%20still%20find%20the%20butterflies.\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Bay checkerspot butterfly\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> will get shot. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Also, there’s a county ordinance against hunting in parks. For another thing, if you’re close enough to shoot a boar, you’re close enough to be noticed by the sounder and attacked. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Dana Page: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Definitely, you don’t want to get close to a pig. Hahah!\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Rachael Myrow: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For a third thing, Dana adds, pigs are really, really clever. If they notice they’re being hunted, they’ll retreat into the night, or move someplace else. Also, they’ll \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">breed more\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">She’s hopeful science will eventually offer some solves, like maybe pig birth control. Whatever the case, she figures such strategies will only reduce the wild boar population, not end them.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Dana Page:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The population has gotten to a point where we have to realize that they are here and they’re never going to be eliminated from the landscape.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Rachael Myrow: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Despite that sobering thought, local officials are finally getting serious about dealing with the problem. Multiple agencies are teaming up to track the boars and working with professional outfits to trap and kill them.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> That was KQED Senior Editor Rachael Myrow.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Thanks to \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Travis Mowbray for asking this week’s question. If you’ve got a burning curiosity that you think we should investigate, head on over to baycurious.org. Right at the top of the page there’s a spot to submit your questions. And don’t forget to vote on what we should cover next while you’re there!\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Bay Curious is made in San Francisco at member supported KQED.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Our show is produced by Christopher Beale, Gabriela Glueck and me, Katrina Schwartz.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">With extra support from Maha Sanad, Katie Sprenger, Jen Chien and everyone on team KQED.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by The Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. San Francisco Northern California Local.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Thanks for listening and have a great week.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>"
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"title": "Firefighters Race to Preserve Ancient Sequoia Grove at Risk From 55,000-Acre Blaze",
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"content": "\u003cp>Firefighters are racing to save some of the world’s largest trees from destruction, as a nearly 55,000-acre blaze tears through the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/sierra-nevada\">Sierra Nevada\u003c/a> forests.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Garnet Fire has exploded across Fresno County, with only 14% containment as of Tuesday. According to the U.S. Forest Service, the fire \u003ca href=\"https://inciweb.wildfire.gov/incident-publication/casnf-garnet-fire/incident-update-garnet-fire-09-09-2025\">ignited \u003c/a>Aug. 24 after a lightning strike in the foothills, triggering partial park closures and evacuation orders throughout the region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over 2,200 personnel have been summoned so far to combat a blaze that officials \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/reel/683626997383992\">say \u003c/a>has demanded “aggressive fire-fighting tactics.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Forest Service crews in late August, anticipating Garnet’s spread, surrounded the trees with a round-the-clock sprinkler system and deployed smoke jumpers to climb trees and extinguish any flames in their giant canopies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a Facebook \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/SierraNF/photos/garnetfirequick-factslocation-sierra-national-forest-fresno-countystart-date-aug/1234230398745436/\">post \u003c/a>last week, the U.S. Forest Service announced that strong winds pushed the blaze north toward McKinley Grove, which is home to roughly 200 ancient sequoia trees. Some of the giants are estimated to be upwards of 3,000 years old.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12055374\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12055374\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/McKinleyTreeGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/McKinleyTreeGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/McKinleyTreeGetty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/McKinleyTreeGetty-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The McKinley tree, a giant sequoia at Sequoia National Park, on June 25, 2019. \u003ccite>(iStock/Getty Images Plus)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Ben Blom, the director of restoration and stewardship at the Save the Redwoods League, told KQED that fire hasn’t touched the grove in nearly a century.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s burning in an area that has a lot of accumulated dead trees, accumulated fuel on the ground,” Blom said. “Conditions that are really hard to slow fire spread.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Blom stressed the precariousness of the situation, especially given that the Sierra Nevada’s Western slope is the only known place in the world where giant sequoias naturally grow — but the trees are increasingly under threat, as wildfire has destroyed a staggering number in recent years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Over the last 10 years, we’ve lost close to 20% of all of the old giant sequoias in the world — here in California,” Blom said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chris Field, director of the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, told KQED that although giant sequoias are environmentally adapted to wildfire, the trees are more vulnerable in a “new era of giant, intense fires.”[aside postID=science_1998209 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/08/GettyImages-1271601364.jpg']“Historically, we thought about giant sequoias as being almost fireproof with their thick bark and super long potential lifetimes,” Field said. “It’s not so much that the trees have changed. It’s that the ferocity of the fires has really changed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To protect the trees, firefighters have to “reduce the fuel on the ground,” said Field, referring to dead branches and natural litter, to prevent the fire from carrying upwards into the tree canopies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They also deploy a “pump system that can spray water across the forest.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Embers from the fire’s front did get lodged in some of the branches of several trees, the Forest Service said, although luckily, there hasn’t yet been an instance where a tree became fully engulfed by fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Joe Zwierzchowski, a spokesperson assigned to the Garnet Fire, told KQED that as of 1 p.m. on Tuesday, crews were awaiting smoke jumpers to arrive and begin work on the branches.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He reported that the fire has dropped to moderate levels within the grove, which is a promising sign for the trees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Blom celebrated the firefighters on the ground for their continuous efforts in combating the blaze.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They got in there, and right away, started working on protecting this grove,” Blom said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Forest Service crews in late August, anticipating Garnet’s spread, surrounded the trees with a round-the-clock sprinkler system and deployed smoke jumpers to climb trees and extinguish any flames in their giant canopies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a Facebook \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/SierraNF/photos/garnetfirequick-factslocation-sierra-national-forest-fresno-countystart-date-aug/1234230398745436/\">post \u003c/a>last week, the U.S. Forest Service announced that strong winds pushed the blaze north toward McKinley Grove, which is home to roughly 200 ancient sequoia trees. Some of the giants are estimated to be upwards of 3,000 years old.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12055374\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12055374\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/McKinleyTreeGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/McKinleyTreeGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/McKinleyTreeGetty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/McKinleyTreeGetty-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The McKinley tree, a giant sequoia at Sequoia National Park, on June 25, 2019. \u003ccite>(iStock/Getty Images Plus)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Ben Blom, the director of restoration and stewardship at the Save the Redwoods League, told KQED that fire hasn’t touched the grove in nearly a century.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s burning in an area that has a lot of accumulated dead trees, accumulated fuel on the ground,” Blom said. “Conditions that are really hard to slow fire spread.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Blom stressed the precariousness of the situation, especially given that the Sierra Nevada’s Western slope is the only known place in the world where giant sequoias naturally grow — but the trees are increasingly under threat, as wildfire has destroyed a staggering number in recent years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Over the last 10 years, we’ve lost close to 20% of all of the old giant sequoias in the world — here in California,” Blom said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chris Field, director of the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, told KQED that although giant sequoias are environmentally adapted to wildfire, the trees are more vulnerable in a “new era of giant, intense fires.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“Historically, we thought about giant sequoias as being almost fireproof with their thick bark and super long potential lifetimes,” Field said. “It’s not so much that the trees have changed. It’s that the ferocity of the fires has really changed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To protect the trees, firefighters have to “reduce the fuel on the ground,” said Field, referring to dead branches and natural litter, to prevent the fire from carrying upwards into the tree canopies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They also deploy a “pump system that can spray water across the forest.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Embers from the fire’s front did get lodged in some of the branches of several trees, the Forest Service said, although luckily, there hasn’t yet been an instance where a tree became fully engulfed by fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Joe Zwierzchowski, a spokesperson assigned to the Garnet Fire, told KQED that as of 1 p.m. on Tuesday, crews were awaiting smoke jumpers to arrive and begin work on the branches.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He reported that the fire has dropped to moderate levels within the grove, which is a promising sign for the trees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Blom celebrated the firefighters on the ground for their continuous efforts in combating the blaze.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They got in there, and right away, started working on protecting this grove,” Blom said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In August 2020, a dry lightning storm kicked off an unprecedented siege of wildfires. These firestorms lasted for months, destroyed 9,000 structures and killed 31 people. Millions of residents throughout the region breathed in toxic smoke as the sky turned orange and the pandemic raged on.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As we mark five years since the sky turned orange, we’re bringing you stories from people who lived through the 2020 fires, in their own words.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ci>Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by The Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. San Francisco Northern California Local.\u003c/i>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Links:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1998245/the-summer-that-changed-california-forever\">The Summer That Changed California Forever\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm?e=KQINC1752199076&light=true\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:00:00] I’m Alan Montesilio, in for Erika Cruz Guevara, and welcome to The Bay. Local news to keep you rooted. Five years ago, a dry lightning storm raged through northern California. After weeks of extreme heat, made worse by climate change, had dried out grass, brush, and trees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>George Morris III \u003c/strong>[00:00:23] We had a dry lightning event that was epic in proportion, so about 15,000 lightning strikes over a three-day period.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:00:31] The winds kicked up, and before long, there was fire and smoke.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Brian Watt \u003c/strong>[00:00:37] Live from KQED News, I’m Brian Watt. A fast-burning complex of fires in the North Bay has forced thousands of people from their\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Tara Siler \u003c/strong>[00:00:45] Lightning-caused fires burning in Santa Cruz and San Mateo counties have triggered widespread evacuations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erin DeMerritt \u003c/strong>[00:00:50] The areas most heavily impacted by smoke are South San Francisco, Pacifica, San Mateio, Redwood City.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Julia McEvoy \u003c/strong>[00:00:58] If you were here, you’d be choking on the smoke right now, Brian. It’s very, very sick and the sun rose blood red just a few minutes ago. People are just waking up and trying to find their way to some sort of normality here right now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:01:10] Now, if you were living here in 2020, you remember how it felt. The smell of smoke in the air for weeks on end. That apocalyptic orange sky. And oh yeah, the pandemic was only in its fifth month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>George Morris III \u003c/strong>[00:01:25] For 2020, we recognized that as it was going on at this year in the middle of a historic event. It is the most consequential fire season of my career. I’ve been working for 29 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:01:42] In the end, these fires killed 31 people and destroyed approximately 9,000 structures. Overall, 4.2 million acres across California burned during the firestorms of 2020, the most in the recorded history of the state. So today on the show, as we mark five years since that orange sky day, we’re bringing you stories from the people who lived through the 2020 fires in their own words. Stay with us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nate Ericson \u003c/strong>[00:02:12] My name is Nate Erickson. I lived in the Bay Area, lived in South Bay up until 2016. Moved up to Sonoma County, lived in Santa Rosa and Petaluma. And then in 2020, I got a new territory. I was in sales in Livermore. I moved to Livermore March 1st, and then March 17th, everything shut down. So my birthday was August 14th. And I decided to go camping by myself up in Humboldt. So I put my phone away, had the best time that I could possibly have in the Redwoods, a very peaceful, amazing time. I was really enjoying myself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nate Ericson \u003c/strong>[00:02:55] But then Sunday came around, I pulled out my phone just to check my route, and that’s when I learned about the fires. I saw my stepmom posting that she was, she and my dad were being evacuated. All the alarm bells in my head went off. And so realized that there was a fire in Mendocino between me and home. And so just trying to figure out all of the details necessary to get home. So I just got on 101 South and started going. As I started to get close to Mendocin, I did start to see just this massive plume of smoke. As I kept getting closer to it, it was just such a surreal experience. And I think I also remember being on 101 and just seeing on the hill to my right, just seeing fire at the crest of that hill right there. And after the previous couple years of the previous fires, that was probably the closest that I had come to actually being face-to-face with the fire. I really just remember this seeing that plume of smoke and just not wanting to keep going. I mean, it’s kind of that fight or flight situation where I don’t want to go towards this anymore, but it’s between me and home. Also just thinking about my parents, my dad and my stepmom, just thinking what’s happening to them. They live still in the Santa Cruz mountains. I came to find out later the fire came within a half mile of their house. My parents got into a hotel, they told me to stay away. They were taking the COVID precautions very serious. They told me they were safe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nate Ericson \u003c/strong>[00:04:42] When I got home, I think that just became a time of doom scrolling and making phone calls. Finding out not just my dad and my stepmom, what’s going on with them, but just other friends with their shelter in place that was happening. I didn’t really have a lot of other options. That was kind of a. Helpless feeling too, because you have your friends that are potentially in danger, and during normal times, you would drive to them and try to support. But at that point, I didn’t really know what to do. Uh, it was very smoky, uh, in Livermore. That I think that was more of a hit to my psyche than just the fire itself. Just because after the previous couple of years of living through similar situations of just breathing in smoke for a couple of weeks, it’s just, it became to be a lot. The week of the orange skies, that was very surreal. Uh, I remember that day very specifically. I was sitting in. Parking lot and that was the day of my review with my bosses. I was so frustrated and just really upset and just like, are we really doing this right now? Does this, we still have to jump through these corporate hoops and fill out, check these boxes and the sky looks like the apocalypse or Mars or something and we’re talking about KPIs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nate Ericson \u003c/strong>[00:06:09] What led to the point of me wanting to move to Wisconsin, I don’t know if it was an exact moment where like a switch flipped, but it was a very quick decision. After the previous years of living through the fires and breathing in smoke and also just the cost of living, I had enough money to purchase a home, but never in the Bay Area. It’s that uncertainty, right? I didn’t know if this was gonna be an annual thing now. It was three years in a row, and then that was kind of the climax of that story, right? I definitely think about that time quite a bit. It’s definitely still like unresolved, unprocessed trauma. Moving here now with the Canada wildfires, pushing smoke into the Midwest. And I was back going to the hardware store to buy N95 masks again. That first time I was just. So upset and we had it again this year so it’s always like a constant annual reminder of just how I felt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>George Morris III \u003c/strong>[00:07:26] When I look back at that time and 4.2 million acres burned, it is the most consequential fire season of my career. I’ve been working for 29 years. My name is George Morris III, and I am the Northern Region Chief for CAL FIRE. My area of responsibility is from Monterey County up to the Oregon border.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>George Morris III \u003c/strong>[00:07:47] So leading into August 15th, which is when the lightning started, we had a heat dome laid over California for a significant amount of time, and some record temperatures were hitting. We were in the 110 degree range for weeks coming out of that It was a tropical storm, Fausto started to break up and this monsoonal moisture came up the Sierras. And everything came down to in those early moments, allocation of resources and trying to figure out, okay, we have finite resources, namely our incident management teams. Where do we deploy them? Where do commit them? We were on a continuous deployment of resources essentially through that time. And every time you thought you were gonna, you’re gonna get ahead, The original lightning-caused fires gave way to other mega-fires like the glass fire in Napa County and Sonoma County that just continued to stress the system over that period. In my career, every 10 years or so, there’s a lightning siege.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>George Morris III \u003c/strong>[00:08:55] You can look at 1999, 2008, and then 2020. But in the era of the megafire, that propagation of large and damaging fire has just been really pronounced. And for 2020, we recognized that as it was going on at this we’re in the middle of a historic event. Just dealing with the fires on the landscape was a challenge in and of itself, but they were also doing an incredible amount of damage to property. In the example of the North Complex, killing civilians as it moved into Berry Creek, they were significant complex events. It’s funny when I think back on it now, just how hard we were going and for how long. I’m happy that we could limit the damage to 4.2 million acres, given how difficult that operational reality was. So fast forward to today, you know, we learned a lot through that process too. Our technological capability has increased since 2020. We are, our predictive modeling is, is better. It’s at the, it’s at the fingertips of the firefighter now. So the next one we get, the public will be better informed to make good decisions and hopefully loss of life can be We’re in the era of the mega fire and we’re likely to see large and damaging fires in California for a variety of reasons. Climate change is one of those reasons. Encroachment into the wildland-urban interface. Most fires are caused by human activity. It was kind of a recipe there that are making fires larger and more damaging. In my early career, you could go on a 30,000 acre fire and you think I’ll never see anything like that again. But that is a naive thought as a young firefighter because the reality is it’s California, it’s a Mediterranean climate. It has always had a recipe for fire, and fire has always been part of its landscape. But there’s 40 million people on that landscape.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Danielle Venton \u003c/strong>[00:11:14] Tell me, tell me who you are.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alana Samuels \u003c/strong>[00:11:18] Alana Semuels. Right now I’m in New York City, but I live in the Hudson Valley in New york state. Um, so yeah, so I was living in San Francisco. I should start off by saying San Francisco is like my favorite place in the whole world. I love just walking around and seeing all the beautiful views. I remember I saw the went to went to ocean beach to see the sunset and the colors are really vivid and I kind of thought, Oh, that’s unusual. That usually happens when there’s a fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alana Samuels \u003c/strong>[00:11:46] And over the next couple of days, um, you know, there were, I think there were a couple of fires going on at the time. And the air quality got worse and worse. I was pregnant at the time, so I stopped taking walks outside, the air was really hazy, we didn’t have air conditioning, and it was just really unpleasant. We couldn’t open our windows. We lived in a west-facing apartment, so it got a lot of heat. And I don’t know if I would say sun, because the sun was kind of blocked by the haze and the bad air. But just kind of everything I loved about San Francisco was suddenly gone. My husband and I just kept having this debate of should we open the windows? He didn’t want to because he thought the air quality was too bad. I was just like, we’re suffocating in here. It feels like we’re in some box. And the air got a little cooler at night. So one night I got so desperate, I was so hot that I went outside to sleep on our deck chairs and get some relief, at least get a little breeze or a little cool air. And I remember waking up with just kind of a fine layer of grit on the chairs and on me. And just feeling filthy and going back inside and wanting to hide it from my husband that I’d been outside because he was so worried about the air quality. I think I was about eight months pregnant at the time. And I remember calling UCSF, which is where I was getting care and expecting them to be like, oh, you’re fine, don’t worry about it. And they were like, well, if you’re not breathing properly, then your baby’s not getting the oxygen or just the baby isn’t getting what it needs. And that’s when we decided to rent a hotel room to at least get some air conditioning to feel like I could breathe deeply. It just felt like there was no relief. There was nowhere you could go to get relief and to feel clean and to feel like you’re breathing clean air. And even, you know, I think even in LA it was happening. So it just felt like the world was burning. It wasn’t just San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alana Samuels \u003c/strong>[00:14:02] We rented Airbnb in South San Francisco, this was probably the worst day. And we woke up and it was like eight and it’s like the sun hadn’t come up. And I was like, did all the clocks fail? Or did what happened? We drove back to our house and it was just like people had their lights on. It was still dark out and it was that day that everything turned orange and for whatever reason, I guess it was the haze and the smoke, the sun just didn’t really come up and you took pictures and everything looked orange and that was when we were really like, this is not sustainable. I don’t know if we can continue to live like this. We had been talking about moving to the East Coast because both of our families are on the East coast, but San Francisco is my favorite place on the planet. And, you know, it’s just a place that kind of makes my chest relax and I just love it. And I think after that summer and after those days, we just felt like we couldn’t go through it again unless we had a lot of money. You know, you can probably install some sort of air purifying air conditioning system. To your house if you own your house, which we couldn’t afford to do. And it just felt like we couldn’t do that summer after summer after Summer. This place is ahead of the rest of the country in terms of what it’s gonna have to deal with, with the water as well. And we just thought it’s just too much of a sacrifice to make, which I’m really sad about. I wish that wasn’t the case because I love San Francisco and I’m jealous of people who are able to live there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Leigh-Anne Lehrman \u003c/strong>[00:16:05] I saw the lightning that night and I knew immediately that it was a high fire risk and then I couldn’t reach them because the power went out right away. I am Leigh-Anne Lehrman, and I am a CZU fire survivor, as are my kids. So I had actually just been diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer. So I was up, I was actually not staying there that August. I was staying up in Woodside with my fiance. My older daughter was in between her freshman and sophomore year. Of college at Berkeley and her younger sister was only 15 and they were holding out in the fort in Bonny Doon. It’s a rural area, really tight community. We had lived there since 2001 so we were very embedded in the community. The girls obviously grew up there. They were born there in the house that we had. I had just had a double mastectomy like a week before, and we woke up in the middle of the night to lightning strikes all over the place. It was beautiful but also terrifying.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Leigh-Anne Lehrman \u003c/strong>[00:17:36] Over the course of the next two days, the winds were very strong, it was blowing it right in their direction, and it was spreading by embers from hilltop to hilltop, so it’s spread very, very fast and. It was not looking good for Bonnie Doon. I started really panicking, and then I couldn’t reach them at all. And there was a long night when I was trying to get a hold of them and tell them to get out. I didn’t know if they were there or not now because all the cell phones weren’t working. Finally at six in the morning, I caught a hold a friend of mine who had evacuated down to Davenport, which is where all our neighbors were gathering. And she drove back up there, and they were packing the car when she got there. By that time we knew it was not looking good. And then, you know, there was nothing to be done. We, they were, the girls were safe. They were staying with friends, with all of our pets. And the day that the house burned, I went to a physical therapy appointment and. Uh, somehow in the middle of it, because of a trimfist, as to, you know, what was going on. And I think my house is burning right now as we speak. And she was just, she was like, what are you doing here? So there’s absolutely nothing I can do about it. We did have one of my daughters, my older daughter’s friends who was college age, actually snuck past the barricade lines the day before the house burned and to get her cat out of their house. And she happened to call me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Leigh-Anne Lehrman \u003c/strong>[00:19:24] I was at work and I happened to pick up the phone and she said, I’m going up to Monique. Is there anything you want me to grab from your house? And I said to her, you know, please don’t go up there. Does not say should that be going up. Up there was a reason why the roads are closed but she was like I’m going so tell me now you want me to go by your house drive me right by it so I said if you all if you do I told her where that this box of family photos were like like all we had left because my father’s house burnt down in 2017 at Santa Rosa I had one bin left of all the old family photos going back a couple generations. I told her where it was and I totally forgot about it until like three weeks later when she told me she had it. Wherever we all gather is where we’re a family. I’m not sure I would have believed that before. I always associated family with our home, but now we can kind of reconstitute our family and our family culture in any room that we are in.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:00:00] I’m Alan Montesilio, in for Erika Cruz Guevara, and welcome to The Bay. Local news to keep you rooted. Five years ago, a dry lightning storm raged through northern California. After weeks of extreme heat, made worse by climate change, had dried out grass, brush, and trees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>George Morris III \u003c/strong>[00:00:23] We had a dry lightning event that was epic in proportion, so about 15,000 lightning strikes over a three-day period.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:00:31] The winds kicked up, and before long, there was fire and smoke.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Brian Watt \u003c/strong>[00:00:37] Live from KQED News, I’m Brian Watt. A fast-burning complex of fires in the North Bay has forced thousands of people from their\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Tara Siler \u003c/strong>[00:00:45] Lightning-caused fires burning in Santa Cruz and San Mateo counties have triggered widespread evacuations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erin DeMerritt \u003c/strong>[00:00:50] The areas most heavily impacted by smoke are South San Francisco, Pacifica, San Mateio, Redwood City.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Julia McEvoy \u003c/strong>[00:00:58] If you were here, you’d be choking on the smoke right now, Brian. It’s very, very sick and the sun rose blood red just a few minutes ago. People are just waking up and trying to find their way to some sort of normality here right now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:01:10] Now, if you were living here in 2020, you remember how it felt. The smell of smoke in the air for weeks on end. That apocalyptic orange sky. And oh yeah, the pandemic was only in its fifth month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>George Morris III \u003c/strong>[00:01:25] For 2020, we recognized that as it was going on at this year in the middle of a historic event. It is the most consequential fire season of my career. I’ve been working for 29 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:01:42] In the end, these fires killed 31 people and destroyed approximately 9,000 structures. Overall, 4.2 million acres across California burned during the firestorms of 2020, the most in the recorded history of the state. So today on the show, as we mark five years since that orange sky day, we’re bringing you stories from the people who lived through the 2020 fires in their own words. Stay with us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nate Ericson \u003c/strong>[00:02:12] My name is Nate Erickson. I lived in the Bay Area, lived in South Bay up until 2016. Moved up to Sonoma County, lived in Santa Rosa and Petaluma. And then in 2020, I got a new territory. I was in sales in Livermore. I moved to Livermore March 1st, and then March 17th, everything shut down. So my birthday was August 14th. And I decided to go camping by myself up in Humboldt. So I put my phone away, had the best time that I could possibly have in the Redwoods, a very peaceful, amazing time. I was really enjoying myself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nate Ericson \u003c/strong>[00:02:55] But then Sunday came around, I pulled out my phone just to check my route, and that’s when I learned about the fires. I saw my stepmom posting that she was, she and my dad were being evacuated. All the alarm bells in my head went off. And so realized that there was a fire in Mendocino between me and home. And so just trying to figure out all of the details necessary to get home. So I just got on 101 South and started going. As I started to get close to Mendocin, I did start to see just this massive plume of smoke. As I kept getting closer to it, it was just such a surreal experience. And I think I also remember being on 101 and just seeing on the hill to my right, just seeing fire at the crest of that hill right there. And after the previous couple years of the previous fires, that was probably the closest that I had come to actually being face-to-face with the fire. I really just remember this seeing that plume of smoke and just not wanting to keep going. I mean, it’s kind of that fight or flight situation where I don’t want to go towards this anymore, but it’s between me and home. Also just thinking about my parents, my dad and my stepmom, just thinking what’s happening to them. They live still in the Santa Cruz mountains. I came to find out later the fire came within a half mile of their house. My parents got into a hotel, they told me to stay away. They were taking the COVID precautions very serious. They told me they were safe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nate Ericson \u003c/strong>[00:04:42] When I got home, I think that just became a time of doom scrolling and making phone calls. Finding out not just my dad and my stepmom, what’s going on with them, but just other friends with their shelter in place that was happening. I didn’t really have a lot of other options. That was kind of a. Helpless feeling too, because you have your friends that are potentially in danger, and during normal times, you would drive to them and try to support. But at that point, I didn’t really know what to do. Uh, it was very smoky, uh, in Livermore. That I think that was more of a hit to my psyche than just the fire itself. Just because after the previous couple of years of living through similar situations of just breathing in smoke for a couple of weeks, it’s just, it became to be a lot. The week of the orange skies, that was very surreal. Uh, I remember that day very specifically. I was sitting in. Parking lot and that was the day of my review with my bosses. I was so frustrated and just really upset and just like, are we really doing this right now? Does this, we still have to jump through these corporate hoops and fill out, check these boxes and the sky looks like the apocalypse or Mars or something and we’re talking about KPIs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nate Ericson \u003c/strong>[00:06:09] What led to the point of me wanting to move to Wisconsin, I don’t know if it was an exact moment where like a switch flipped, but it was a very quick decision. After the previous years of living through the fires and breathing in smoke and also just the cost of living, I had enough money to purchase a home, but never in the Bay Area. It’s that uncertainty, right? I didn’t know if this was gonna be an annual thing now. It was three years in a row, and then that was kind of the climax of that story, right? I definitely think about that time quite a bit. It’s definitely still like unresolved, unprocessed trauma. Moving here now with the Canada wildfires, pushing smoke into the Midwest. And I was back going to the hardware store to buy N95 masks again. That first time I was just. So upset and we had it again this year so it’s always like a constant annual reminder of just how I felt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>George Morris III \u003c/strong>[00:07:26] When I look back at that time and 4.2 million acres burned, it is the most consequential fire season of my career. I’ve been working for 29 years. My name is George Morris III, and I am the Northern Region Chief for CAL FIRE. My area of responsibility is from Monterey County up to the Oregon border.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>George Morris III \u003c/strong>[00:07:47] So leading into August 15th, which is when the lightning started, we had a heat dome laid over California for a significant amount of time, and some record temperatures were hitting. We were in the 110 degree range for weeks coming out of that It was a tropical storm, Fausto started to break up and this monsoonal moisture came up the Sierras. And everything came down to in those early moments, allocation of resources and trying to figure out, okay, we have finite resources, namely our incident management teams. Where do we deploy them? Where do commit them? We were on a continuous deployment of resources essentially through that time. And every time you thought you were gonna, you’re gonna get ahead, The original lightning-caused fires gave way to other mega-fires like the glass fire in Napa County and Sonoma County that just continued to stress the system over that period. In my career, every 10 years or so, there’s a lightning siege.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>George Morris III \u003c/strong>[00:08:55] You can look at 1999, 2008, and then 2020. But in the era of the megafire, that propagation of large and damaging fire has just been really pronounced. And for 2020, we recognized that as it was going on at this we’re in the middle of a historic event. Just dealing with the fires on the landscape was a challenge in and of itself, but they were also doing an incredible amount of damage to property. In the example of the North Complex, killing civilians as it moved into Berry Creek, they were significant complex events. It’s funny when I think back on it now, just how hard we were going and for how long. I’m happy that we could limit the damage to 4.2 million acres, given how difficult that operational reality was. So fast forward to today, you know, we learned a lot through that process too. Our technological capability has increased since 2020. We are, our predictive modeling is, is better. It’s at the, it’s at the fingertips of the firefighter now. So the next one we get, the public will be better informed to make good decisions and hopefully loss of life can be We’re in the era of the mega fire and we’re likely to see large and damaging fires in California for a variety of reasons. Climate change is one of those reasons. Encroachment into the wildland-urban interface. Most fires are caused by human activity. It was kind of a recipe there that are making fires larger and more damaging. In my early career, you could go on a 30,000 acre fire and you think I’ll never see anything like that again. But that is a naive thought as a young firefighter because the reality is it’s California, it’s a Mediterranean climate. It has always had a recipe for fire, and fire has always been part of its landscape. But there’s 40 million people on that landscape.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Danielle Venton \u003c/strong>[00:11:14] Tell me, tell me who you are.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alana Samuels \u003c/strong>[00:11:18] Alana Semuels. Right now I’m in New York City, but I live in the Hudson Valley in New york state. Um, so yeah, so I was living in San Francisco. I should start off by saying San Francisco is like my favorite place in the whole world. I love just walking around and seeing all the beautiful views. I remember I saw the went to went to ocean beach to see the sunset and the colors are really vivid and I kind of thought, Oh, that’s unusual. That usually happens when there’s a fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alana Samuels \u003c/strong>[00:11:46] And over the next couple of days, um, you know, there were, I think there were a couple of fires going on at the time. And the air quality got worse and worse. I was pregnant at the time, so I stopped taking walks outside, the air was really hazy, we didn’t have air conditioning, and it was just really unpleasant. We couldn’t open our windows. We lived in a west-facing apartment, so it got a lot of heat. And I don’t know if I would say sun, because the sun was kind of blocked by the haze and the bad air. But just kind of everything I loved about San Francisco was suddenly gone. My husband and I just kept having this debate of should we open the windows? He didn’t want to because he thought the air quality was too bad. I was just like, we’re suffocating in here. It feels like we’re in some box. And the air got a little cooler at night. So one night I got so desperate, I was so hot that I went outside to sleep on our deck chairs and get some relief, at least get a little breeze or a little cool air. And I remember waking up with just kind of a fine layer of grit on the chairs and on me. And just feeling filthy and going back inside and wanting to hide it from my husband that I’d been outside because he was so worried about the air quality. I think I was about eight months pregnant at the time. And I remember calling UCSF, which is where I was getting care and expecting them to be like, oh, you’re fine, don’t worry about it. And they were like, well, if you’re not breathing properly, then your baby’s not getting the oxygen or just the baby isn’t getting what it needs. And that’s when we decided to rent a hotel room to at least get some air conditioning to feel like I could breathe deeply. It just felt like there was no relief. There was nowhere you could go to get relief and to feel clean and to feel like you’re breathing clean air. And even, you know, I think even in LA it was happening. So it just felt like the world was burning. It wasn’t just San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alana Samuels \u003c/strong>[00:14:02] We rented Airbnb in South San Francisco, this was probably the worst day. And we woke up and it was like eight and it’s like the sun hadn’t come up. And I was like, did all the clocks fail? Or did what happened? We drove back to our house and it was just like people had their lights on. It was still dark out and it was that day that everything turned orange and for whatever reason, I guess it was the haze and the smoke, the sun just didn’t really come up and you took pictures and everything looked orange and that was when we were really like, this is not sustainable. I don’t know if we can continue to live like this. We had been talking about moving to the East Coast because both of our families are on the East coast, but San Francisco is my favorite place on the planet. And, you know, it’s just a place that kind of makes my chest relax and I just love it. And I think after that summer and after those days, we just felt like we couldn’t go through it again unless we had a lot of money. You know, you can probably install some sort of air purifying air conditioning system. To your house if you own your house, which we couldn’t afford to do. And it just felt like we couldn’t do that summer after summer after Summer. This place is ahead of the rest of the country in terms of what it’s gonna have to deal with, with the water as well. And we just thought it’s just too much of a sacrifice to make, which I’m really sad about. I wish that wasn’t the case because I love San Francisco and I’m jealous of people who are able to live there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Leigh-Anne Lehrman \u003c/strong>[00:16:05] I saw the lightning that night and I knew immediately that it was a high fire risk and then I couldn’t reach them because the power went out right away. I am Leigh-Anne Lehrman, and I am a CZU fire survivor, as are my kids. So I had actually just been diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer. So I was up, I was actually not staying there that August. I was staying up in Woodside with my fiance. My older daughter was in between her freshman and sophomore year. Of college at Berkeley and her younger sister was only 15 and they were holding out in the fort in Bonny Doon. It’s a rural area, really tight community. We had lived there since 2001 so we were very embedded in the community. The girls obviously grew up there. They were born there in the house that we had. I had just had a double mastectomy like a week before, and we woke up in the middle of the night to lightning strikes all over the place. It was beautiful but also terrifying.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Leigh-Anne Lehrman \u003c/strong>[00:17:36] Over the course of the next two days, the winds were very strong, it was blowing it right in their direction, and it was spreading by embers from hilltop to hilltop, so it’s spread very, very fast and. It was not looking good for Bonnie Doon. I started really panicking, and then I couldn’t reach them at all. And there was a long night when I was trying to get a hold of them and tell them to get out. I didn’t know if they were there or not now because all the cell phones weren’t working. Finally at six in the morning, I caught a hold a friend of mine who had evacuated down to Davenport, which is where all our neighbors were gathering. And she drove back up there, and they were packing the car when she got there. By that time we knew it was not looking good. And then, you know, there was nothing to be done. We, they were, the girls were safe. They were staying with friends, with all of our pets. And the day that the house burned, I went to a physical therapy appointment and. Uh, somehow in the middle of it, because of a trimfist, as to, you know, what was going on. And I think my house is burning right now as we speak. And she was just, she was like, what are you doing here? So there’s absolutely nothing I can do about it. We did have one of my daughters, my older daughter’s friends who was college age, actually snuck past the barricade lines the day before the house burned and to get her cat out of their house. And she happened to call me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Leigh-Anne Lehrman \u003c/strong>[00:19:24] I was at work and I happened to pick up the phone and she said, I’m going up to Monique. Is there anything you want me to grab from your house? And I said to her, you know, please don’t go up there. Does not say should that be going up. Up there was a reason why the roads are closed but she was like I’m going so tell me now you want me to go by your house drive me right by it so I said if you all if you do I told her where that this box of family photos were like like all we had left because my father’s house burnt down in 2017 at Santa Rosa I had one bin left of all the old family photos going back a couple generations. I told her where it was and I totally forgot about it until like three weeks later when she told me she had it. Wherever we all gather is where we’re a family. I’m not sure I would have believed that before. I always associated family with our home, but now we can kind of reconstitute our family and our family culture in any room that we are in.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Firefighters are battling a rapidly growing \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/wildfires\">wildfire\u003c/a> complex that ripped through a town in California’s Gold Country after a major lightning storm on Tuesday sparked more than 20 blazes in the region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Residents in Tuolumne and Calaveras counties are under evacuation orders due to the TCU Lightning Complex, which has burned 12,000 acres of rural terrain, threatening ancestral tribal lands and the historic Gold Rush town of Chinese Camp.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Everything is burned down,” said Add Beale, who owns a convenience store in Chinese Camp. She said her store is still standing, but the flames have flattened the buildings that once flanked the 1934 structure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Beale and her husband, Richard, bought the store nine years ago after falling in love with Chinese Camp’s community. Her family was evacuated Tuesday morning after watching distant flames advance toward their property.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I [was] just getting so nervous, keep watching it when it comes closer, and then the police come and tell us to just have to leave,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I love this town so much, I love everyone in the town,” she said. “I cannot stand [to look at] the television anymore, or social media, it just brings my tears … out.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire’s most recent status reports haven’t yet confirmed the number of structures lost to the blaze, but spokesperson Toni Davis confirmed that multiple had been destroyed. Videos captured by a \u003ca href=\"https://x.com/kcranews/status/1963057586187522455\">KCRA reporter on Tuesday night\u003c/a> and photos posted on social media by residents showed smoke, flames and massive destruction along the highway that runs through the iconic town on the way to Yosemite.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12054470\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12054470\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/TCU-Lightning-Complex-Getty1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1354\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/TCU-Lightning-Complex-Getty1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/TCU-Lightning-Complex-Getty1-160x108.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/TCU-Lightning-Complex-Getty1-1536x1040.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A view of a historic building that was destroyed by the 6-5 Fire in the TCU September Lightning Complex on Sept. 3, 2025, in Chinese Camp, California. Nearly 12,000 acres have burned, and several structures were destroyed in the historic gold rush town of Chinese Camp after the 6-5 Fire, which is part of the TCU September Lightning Complex, a series of at least nine fires that were sparked by lightning. The TCU Lightning Complex is currently zero percent contained. \u003ccite>(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The fire complex includes eight smaller blazes that cropped up Tuesday after an intense lightning storm passed through the area with more than 9,000 lightning strikes throughout the early morning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Two blazes — the 6-5 Fire in Tuolumne County and the 2-7 Fire in Calaveras County — have prompted evacuation orders, and an additional half dozen zones in both fires’ paths are under warnings. The 6-5 Fire had burned more than 6,470 acres in Chinese Camp and neighboring areas as of Wednesday morning, while the 2-7 Fire near La Honda Park and Vallecito had spread to 580 acres.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Davis said that residents should look to their county sheriff’s website for the most up-to-date evacuation information, and sign up to receive alerts on their cellphones.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s very important,” she said. “They need to know where they’re at and if they are being affected at any point in time.”[aside postID=science_1998209 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/08/GettyImages-1271601364.jpg']Firefighters are battling through tough, rural terrain and hot, dry weather, making containment a challenge, Davis said. The region is also laden with very dry tall grasses, brush and timber fuels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said crews have to hike to reach the fires in many places and are attacking the flames indirectly. Firefighters are forming firebreaks and contingency lines that aim to stop forward progress of the fires, Davis said, but because of the conditions, they are having to do so farther from the current fire boundaries, leaving some vegetation between to burn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dozers and other equipment needed to cover the rural landscape were on the way Wednesday morning, according to Davis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re still getting our feet under us and getting those resources coming,” she said. “It’s just a matter of getting people here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than 630 personnel are fighting the fires from the ground and air, according to Cal Fire, and the agency’s Type 1 Incident Management Team 6 is expected to take over command of the incident on Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Tuesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that he had secured Federal Emergency Management Agency grant funding to fight the 2-7 Fire, which will allow local agencies responding to the blaze to apply for up to 75% reimbursements for their fire suppression work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are securing all available resources — including support from our federal partners — to fight this growing lightning complex fire in Calaveras and Tuolumne counties,” Newsom said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/dventon\">Danielle Venton\u003c/a> contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Firefighters are battling a rapidly growing \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/wildfires\">wildfire\u003c/a> complex that ripped through a town in California’s Gold Country after a major lightning storm on Tuesday sparked more than 20 blazes in the region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Residents in Tuolumne and Calaveras counties are under evacuation orders due to the TCU Lightning Complex, which has burned 12,000 acres of rural terrain, threatening ancestral tribal lands and the historic Gold Rush town of Chinese Camp.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Everything is burned down,” said Add Beale, who owns a convenience store in Chinese Camp. She said her store is still standing, but the flames have flattened the buildings that once flanked the 1934 structure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Beale and her husband, Richard, bought the store nine years ago after falling in love with Chinese Camp’s community. Her family was evacuated Tuesday morning after watching distant flames advance toward their property.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I [was] just getting so nervous, keep watching it when it comes closer, and then the police come and tell us to just have to leave,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I love this town so much, I love everyone in the town,” she said. “I cannot stand [to look at] the television anymore, or social media, it just brings my tears … out.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire’s most recent status reports haven’t yet confirmed the number of structures lost to the blaze, but spokesperson Toni Davis confirmed that multiple had been destroyed. Videos captured by a \u003ca href=\"https://x.com/kcranews/status/1963057586187522455\">KCRA reporter on Tuesday night\u003c/a> and photos posted on social media by residents showed smoke, flames and massive destruction along the highway that runs through the iconic town on the way to Yosemite.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12054470\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12054470\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/TCU-Lightning-Complex-Getty1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1354\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/TCU-Lightning-Complex-Getty1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/TCU-Lightning-Complex-Getty1-160x108.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/TCU-Lightning-Complex-Getty1-1536x1040.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A view of a historic building that was destroyed by the 6-5 Fire in the TCU September Lightning Complex on Sept. 3, 2025, in Chinese Camp, California. Nearly 12,000 acres have burned, and several structures were destroyed in the historic gold rush town of Chinese Camp after the 6-5 Fire, which is part of the TCU September Lightning Complex, a series of at least nine fires that were sparked by lightning. The TCU Lightning Complex is currently zero percent contained. \u003ccite>(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The fire complex includes eight smaller blazes that cropped up Tuesday after an intense lightning storm passed through the area with more than 9,000 lightning strikes throughout the early morning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Two blazes — the 6-5 Fire in Tuolumne County and the 2-7 Fire in Calaveras County — have prompted evacuation orders, and an additional half dozen zones in both fires’ paths are under warnings. The 6-5 Fire had burned more than 6,470 acres in Chinese Camp and neighboring areas as of Wednesday morning, while the 2-7 Fire near La Honda Park and Vallecito had spread to 580 acres.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Davis said that residents should look to their county sheriff’s website for the most up-to-date evacuation information, and sign up to receive alerts on their cellphones.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s very important,” she said. “They need to know where they’re at and if they are being affected at any point in time.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Firefighters are battling through tough, rural terrain and hot, dry weather, making containment a challenge, Davis said. The region is also laden with very dry tall grasses, brush and timber fuels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said crews have to hike to reach the fires in many places and are attacking the flames indirectly. Firefighters are forming firebreaks and contingency lines that aim to stop forward progress of the fires, Davis said, but because of the conditions, they are having to do so farther from the current fire boundaries, leaving some vegetation between to burn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dozers and other equipment needed to cover the rural landscape were on the way Wednesday morning, according to Davis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re still getting our feet under us and getting those resources coming,” she said. “It’s just a matter of getting people here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than 630 personnel are fighting the fires from the ground and air, according to Cal Fire, and the agency’s Type 1 Incident Management Team 6 is expected to take over command of the incident on Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Tuesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that he had secured Federal Emergency Management Agency grant funding to fight the 2-7 Fire, which will allow local agencies responding to the blaze to apply for up to 75% reimbursements for their fire suppression work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are securing all available resources — including support from our federal partners — to fight this growing lightning complex fire in Calaveras and Tuolumne counties,” Newsom said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/dventon\">Danielle Venton\u003c/a> contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>For the last 102 years, the Hetch Hetchy reservoir in Yosemite National Park has supplied millions of Bay Area residents with some of the cleanest water in the country. But climate change has made it harder to manage the reservoir.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm?e=KQINC3597138280\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>This episode originally aired on May 10, 2023.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ci>Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by The Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. San Francisco Northern California Local.\u003c/i>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cp>Amber McZeal had just wrapped up her first summer semester back at Southern University of New Orleans in August 2005.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Then the big tropical storm came, which was crazy, massive,” she said. “And then Katrina hit Aug. 29.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hurricane Katrina struck Louisiana as a \u003ca href=\"https://www.weather.gov/mob/katrina\">Category 3\u003c/a> storm — with 120 mph winds and a surge over 12 feet tall in some areas — decimating New Orleans and other coastal towns along the Mississippi shore.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the aftermath, 1,833 people died and survivors were left stranded on rooftops as the federal government was slow to respond. Thousands of people — mostly poor and Black — were displaced in one of the largest natural disasters in U.S. history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Twenty years later, some who were evacuated and relocated to other parts of the country, including the Bay Area, reflect on how Katrina changed their lives and how they remain rooted to a place that, for them, is more than geography.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like many of her neighbors, McZeal, who now lives in Oakland, initially planned to ride out Katrina, which made landfall two days before her 22nd birthday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m glad I didn’t, because my apartment got 8 feet of water at the bottom and then mold from the roof,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12054224\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12054224\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250828-KatrinaBayEvacuees-04-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250828-KatrinaBayEvacuees-04-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250828-KatrinaBayEvacuees-04-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250828-KatrinaBayEvacuees-04-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Amber McZeal sits on the porch at DeFremery Park in Oakland on Aug. 28, 2025. She evacuated to the Bay Area from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>McZeal evacuated to Mississippi with friends and later returned to a ravaged New Orleans. She ultimately decided to leave Louisiana — where she said her ancestors have lived since the 1700s — after suffering a respiratory tract infection and growing weary of battling the Federal Emergency Management Agency for help.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead, she accepted the government’s offer to pay for a hotel room outside of New Orleans in early 2006.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was a forced exile, if you will, or forced displacement,” McZeal said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She landed in Emeryville, where a friend had a spare hotel room. She joined organizers pressing the U.S. government to follow the \u003ca href=\"https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights\">United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights\u003c/a>, which they interpreted to mean that New Orleanians should be able to return to their homes there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But many never did — not by choice.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>National disaster prompts local relief\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Nell Myhand, then a Bay Area volunteer with the nonprofit \u003ca href=\"https://globalwomenstrike.net/\">Global Women’s Strike\u003c/a>, worked to support Katrina evacuees, many of whom were low-income.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our question was not, what kind of charity can we provide for them, but how can we call attention to the violence that is happening to them at the hands of the government?” Myhand said. “In some countries, in natural disasters, they respond to them by moving people out of the danger as close as possible to where they were.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“But in the case of Katrina, the U.S. government decided to disperse people from Louisiana, throughout the country, far away from their homes, from their families, sometimes in places where they had never been before and didn’t have connection.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12054222\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12054222\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/HurricaneKatrinaGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1329\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/HurricaneKatrinaGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/HurricaneKatrinaGetty-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/HurricaneKatrinaGetty-1536x1021.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A historic marker honors volunteers outside Waveland’s Ground Zero Hurricane Museum, in a town that was hard-hit by Hurricane Katrina, on Aug. 4, 2025, in Waveland, Mississippi. Katrina resulted in nearly 1,400 deaths, according to revised statistics from the National Hurricane Center, and remains the costliest storm in U.S. history at around $200 billion in today’s dollars. \u003ccite>(Mario Tama/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Myhand said many people were placed in hotel rooms without kitchens or transportation, leaving volunteers scrambling to meet basic needs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There was no central place where we could say, ‘Where are the evacuees who came to the Bay Area?’ There was no coordination that helped us get ready for the folks who were coming here,” Myhand said. “There was really no reason that they had to come here in the first place, except that they were being displaced from that very vital location, that geography.”[aside postID=forum_2010101911063 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/43/2025/08/clint-smith-katrina.png']About 1,700 people relocated to California after Katrina. A 2008 Bureau of Labor Statistics \u003ca href=\"https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2008/03/art3full.pdf\">report\u003c/a> found that only up to 3% of evacuees came to California and stayed a year later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chet Hewitt, the head of Alameda County’s Social Services Agency at the time, said of the 1,700 people who came to the Bay Area, 1,100 were in Alameda County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To meet their needs, the county set up a “one-stop center” in Hayward, where retired social workers helped 400 families apply for housing assistance, food stamps, school enrollment, replacement medications and new IDs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The kind of public, private, faith and nonprofit partnerships were essential,” Hewitt said. “The government has a critical role to play — particularly in long-term assistance — but the more rapid response was often of a more communal nature, with the faith community and nonprofits stepping up. We were building a system to respond, not relying on any one segment to do all of the work alone.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The Bay Area becomes home\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Over the last 20 years, McZeal built her life in Oakland, earning degrees in psychology and a doctorate in trauma and sound therapy. She said \u003ca href=\"https://decolonizingthepsyche.com/\">her work is deeply shaped\u003c/a> by the traumas she endured after Katrina.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a gem in my heart. New Orleans made me. It ushered me into all of the things that I eventually turned into a job, a vocation, a career path,” McZeal said. “I work in cultural transformation now, and I can, for sure, say it’s directly tied to my experience living through Katrina.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She has thought about moving back to Louisiana, as other evacuees in the Bay Area have, but she said she’s happy where she is.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12054188\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12054188\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250827-KATRINABAYEVACUEES-07-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250827-KATRINABAYEVACUEES-07-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250827-KATRINABAYEVACUEES-07-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250827-KATRINABAYEVACUEES-07-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dan Smolkin and his wife, Luisa Hernandez, sit in their Half Moon Bay home on Aug. 27, 2025, in a room soon to become a nursery as they prepare for their first child. Smolkin and his family evacuated from New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and later resettled in the Bay Area. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Maybe one day when I’m old, I’ll settle, because I don’t even want to live in the heat,” she said, laughing. “You know the Bay grows on you. That 61-degree weather.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dan Smolkin also found himself resettled in the Bay Area. He arrived with his parents and grandparents to stay with his uncle after floodwaters engulfed their New Orleans home just days after his 17th birthday. Smolkin’s parents decided he should stay with family in Palo Alto to finish high school, while they returned to salvage what they could.[aside postID=arts_13980557 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/250811-POOSIE-HURRICANE-KATRINA-MD-01-KQED.jpg']“Never, in my wildest dreams, did I think that I would end up becoming a Californian,” Smolkin said. “One of the things that I’ve struggled with is I wasn’t there in those couple of months where my parents literally were gutting our house down to the studs, and there was part of me that felt like I was missing out on being part of that recovery effort for my family, but also being there in New Orleans.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His parents later rejoined him in the Bay, and he participated in the relief efforts while attending James Madison University in Virginia, where he and his peers \u003ca href=\"https://www.jmu.edu/news/2015/11/20-katrina-mm-oct15.shtml\">routinely traveled into Katrina-ravaged areas\u003c/a> to help.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smolkin now lives in Half Moon Bay, where he volunteers with \u003ca href=\"https://coastsidehope.org/\">Coastside Hope\u003c/a>, helping people with food insecurity, immigration and other needs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t want to wait until there is something truly bad that happens to jump in, but rather recognizing there are these ongoing, omnipresent needs in the community. We should all be reaching out and helping in our communities in some way,” he said. “That’s part of what really stuck with me from Katrina, that there’s so much value in having strongly built safety nets and coordinated programs to support people when they’re truly in need.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12054190\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12054190\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250827-KATRINABAYEVACUEES-09-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250827-KATRINABAYEVACUEES-09-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250827-KATRINABAYEVACUEES-09-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250827-KATRINABAYEVACUEES-09-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mementos from New Orleans sit on a shelf in Dan Smolkin’s home in Half Moon Bay on Aug. 27, 2025. He and his family evacuated from New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and resettled in the Bay Area. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>At home, Smolkin and his wife have a room ready for their first child, a boy due in December.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He hopes Louisiana will remain a part of his son’s life, starting with the family’s annual crawfish boil at his uncle’s home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To me, New Orleans isn’t just a place, but it’s an identity, and something that I hope to be able to impart on my kid,” Smolkin said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Hurricane Katrina evacuees who resettled in the Bay Area reflect on how the storm reshaped their lives, homes and careers while highlighting ongoing recovery efforts.\r\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Amber McZeal had just wrapped up her first summer semester back at Southern University of New Orleans in August 2005.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Then the big tropical storm came, which was crazy, massive,” she said. “And then Katrina hit Aug. 29.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hurricane Katrina struck Louisiana as a \u003ca href=\"https://www.weather.gov/mob/katrina\">Category 3\u003c/a> storm — with 120 mph winds and a surge over 12 feet tall in some areas — decimating New Orleans and other coastal towns along the Mississippi shore.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the aftermath, 1,833 people died and survivors were left stranded on rooftops as the federal government was slow to respond. Thousands of people — mostly poor and Black — were displaced in one of the largest natural disasters in U.S. history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Twenty years later, some who were evacuated and relocated to other parts of the country, including the Bay Area, reflect on how Katrina changed their lives and how they remain rooted to a place that, for them, is more than geography.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like many of her neighbors, McZeal, who now lives in Oakland, initially planned to ride out Katrina, which made landfall two days before her 22nd birthday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m glad I didn’t, because my apartment got 8 feet of water at the bottom and then mold from the roof,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12054224\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12054224\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250828-KatrinaBayEvacuees-04-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250828-KatrinaBayEvacuees-04-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250828-KatrinaBayEvacuees-04-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250828-KatrinaBayEvacuees-04-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Amber McZeal sits on the porch at DeFremery Park in Oakland on Aug. 28, 2025. She evacuated to the Bay Area from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>McZeal evacuated to Mississippi with friends and later returned to a ravaged New Orleans. She ultimately decided to leave Louisiana — where she said her ancestors have lived since the 1700s — after suffering a respiratory tract infection and growing weary of battling the Federal Emergency Management Agency for help.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead, she accepted the government’s offer to pay for a hotel room outside of New Orleans in early 2006.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was a forced exile, if you will, or forced displacement,” McZeal said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She landed in Emeryville, where a friend had a spare hotel room. She joined organizers pressing the U.S. government to follow the \u003ca href=\"https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights\">United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights\u003c/a>, which they interpreted to mean that New Orleanians should be able to return to their homes there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But many never did — not by choice.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>National disaster prompts local relief\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Nell Myhand, then a Bay Area volunteer with the nonprofit \u003ca href=\"https://globalwomenstrike.net/\">Global Women’s Strike\u003c/a>, worked to support Katrina evacuees, many of whom were low-income.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our question was not, what kind of charity can we provide for them, but how can we call attention to the violence that is happening to them at the hands of the government?” Myhand said. “In some countries, in natural disasters, they respond to them by moving people out of the danger as close as possible to where they were.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“But in the case of Katrina, the U.S. government decided to disperse people from Louisiana, throughout the country, far away from their homes, from their families, sometimes in places where they had never been before and didn’t have connection.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12054222\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12054222\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/HurricaneKatrinaGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1329\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/HurricaneKatrinaGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/HurricaneKatrinaGetty-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/HurricaneKatrinaGetty-1536x1021.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A historic marker honors volunteers outside Waveland’s Ground Zero Hurricane Museum, in a town that was hard-hit by Hurricane Katrina, on Aug. 4, 2025, in Waveland, Mississippi. Katrina resulted in nearly 1,400 deaths, according to revised statistics from the National Hurricane Center, and remains the costliest storm in U.S. history at around $200 billion in today’s dollars. \u003ccite>(Mario Tama/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Myhand said many people were placed in hotel rooms without kitchens or transportation, leaving volunteers scrambling to meet basic needs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There was no central place where we could say, ‘Where are the evacuees who came to the Bay Area?’ There was no coordination that helped us get ready for the folks who were coming here,” Myhand said. “There was really no reason that they had to come here in the first place, except that they were being displaced from that very vital location, that geography.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>About 1,700 people relocated to California after Katrina. A 2008 Bureau of Labor Statistics \u003ca href=\"https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2008/03/art3full.pdf\">report\u003c/a> found that only up to 3% of evacuees came to California and stayed a year later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chet Hewitt, the head of Alameda County’s Social Services Agency at the time, said of the 1,700 people who came to the Bay Area, 1,100 were in Alameda County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To meet their needs, the county set up a “one-stop center” in Hayward, where retired social workers helped 400 families apply for housing assistance, food stamps, school enrollment, replacement medications and new IDs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The kind of public, private, faith and nonprofit partnerships were essential,” Hewitt said. “The government has a critical role to play — particularly in long-term assistance — but the more rapid response was often of a more communal nature, with the faith community and nonprofits stepping up. We were building a system to respond, not relying on any one segment to do all of the work alone.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The Bay Area becomes home\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Over the last 20 years, McZeal built her life in Oakland, earning degrees in psychology and a doctorate in trauma and sound therapy. She said \u003ca href=\"https://decolonizingthepsyche.com/\">her work is deeply shaped\u003c/a> by the traumas she endured after Katrina.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a gem in my heart. New Orleans made me. It ushered me into all of the things that I eventually turned into a job, a vocation, a career path,” McZeal said. “I work in cultural transformation now, and I can, for sure, say it’s directly tied to my experience living through Katrina.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She has thought about moving back to Louisiana, as other evacuees in the Bay Area have, but she said she’s happy where she is.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12054188\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12054188\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250827-KATRINABAYEVACUEES-07-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250827-KATRINABAYEVACUEES-07-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250827-KATRINABAYEVACUEES-07-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250827-KATRINABAYEVACUEES-07-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dan Smolkin and his wife, Luisa Hernandez, sit in their Half Moon Bay home on Aug. 27, 2025, in a room soon to become a nursery as they prepare for their first child. Smolkin and his family evacuated from New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and later resettled in the Bay Area. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Maybe one day when I’m old, I’ll settle, because I don’t even want to live in the heat,” she said, laughing. “You know the Bay grows on you. That 61-degree weather.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dan Smolkin also found himself resettled in the Bay Area. He arrived with his parents and grandparents to stay with his uncle after floodwaters engulfed their New Orleans home just days after his 17th birthday. Smolkin’s parents decided he should stay with family in Palo Alto to finish high school, while they returned to salvage what they could.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“Never, in my wildest dreams, did I think that I would end up becoming a Californian,” Smolkin said. “One of the things that I’ve struggled with is I wasn’t there in those couple of months where my parents literally were gutting our house down to the studs, and there was part of me that felt like I was missing out on being part of that recovery effort for my family, but also being there in New Orleans.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His parents later rejoined him in the Bay, and he participated in the relief efforts while attending James Madison University in Virginia, where he and his peers \u003ca href=\"https://www.jmu.edu/news/2015/11/20-katrina-mm-oct15.shtml\">routinely traveled into Katrina-ravaged areas\u003c/a> to help.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smolkin now lives in Half Moon Bay, where he volunteers with \u003ca href=\"https://coastsidehope.org/\">Coastside Hope\u003c/a>, helping people with food insecurity, immigration and other needs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t want to wait until there is something truly bad that happens to jump in, but rather recognizing there are these ongoing, omnipresent needs in the community. We should all be reaching out and helping in our communities in some way,” he said. “That’s part of what really stuck with me from Katrina, that there’s so much value in having strongly built safety nets and coordinated programs to support people when they’re truly in need.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12054190\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12054190\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250827-KATRINABAYEVACUEES-09-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250827-KATRINABAYEVACUEES-09-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250827-KATRINABAYEVACUEES-09-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250827-KATRINABAYEVACUEES-09-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mementos from New Orleans sit on a shelf in Dan Smolkin’s home in Half Moon Bay on Aug. 27, 2025. He and his family evacuated from New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and resettled in the Bay Area. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>At home, Smolkin and his wife have a room ready for their first child, a boy due in December.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He hopes Louisiana will remain a part of his son’s life, starting with the family’s annual crawfish boil at his uncle’s home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To me, New Orleans isn’t just a place, but it’s an identity, and something that I hope to be able to impart on my kid,” Smolkin said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/wildfires\">Wildfire\u003c/a> smoke, extreme heat and contagious viruses — unhealthy for anyone — are especially dangerous for young bodies, so schools and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12051850/as-californias-electricity-rates-rise-parents-struggle-to-pay-their-bills\">child care\u003c/a> are often forced to close when disasters hit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since 2017, the staff at North Bay Children’s Center has seen the rippling consequences of these emergencies: parents had to drop what they were doing to pick up their children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“During the fires, because of poor air quality, and during the pandemic, the natural reaction to our school districts and many of our colleagues in child care was to close,” said Susan Gilmore, CEO of the nonprofit, which operates 14 child development centers in Sonoma and Marin counties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And our parents can’t afford that,” she said. “Most of them are essential employees; they live paycheck to paycheck and cannot miss work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This week, the NBCC opened its biggest center in Novato, serving 176 infants, toddlers and preschoolers, and it’s designed to stay open amidst wildfire smoke, extreme heat and other climate-related events, and provide not just for kids but their families as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12054027\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12054027\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250827-CLIMATERESILIENTCHILDCARECENTER-11-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250827-CLIMATERESILIENTCHILDCARECENTER-11-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250827-CLIMATERESILIENTCHILDCARECENTER-11-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250827-CLIMATERESILIENTCHILDCARECENTER-11-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A preschool classroom at the North Bay Children’s Center in Novato on Aug. 27, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Inside, each classroom has its own climate control and filtration system to ensure the air stays cool and clean — and to minimize germs spreading from one room to another.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Outside, trees and shade structures protect the play yard from the heat. The ground is mostly covered in mulch and astroturf instead of asphalt, which can radiate dangerously high temperatures, cutting outdoor playtime short.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To extend that time, playground builders studied the sun.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12054024\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12054024\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250827-CLIMATERESILIENTCHILDCARECENTER-05-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250827-CLIMATERESILIENTCHILDCARECENTER-05-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250827-CLIMATERESILIENTCHILDCARECENTER-05-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250827-CLIMATERESILIENTCHILDCARECENTER-05-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A child from the infant program plays in the outdoor area at the North Bay Children’s Center in Novato on Aug. 27, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Babies, toddlers and kids under 5 are more vulnerable to heat exhaustion because their bodies heat up faster, and they have a harder time cooling down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We live in an area where those extreme heat days are hotter and they last longer, so we have to make sure that our environments can support what children need,” Gilmore said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Crews carefully positioned fabric panels above the sandbox to provide shade as sunlight shifts, said Brian St. Peter, head of facilities for the NBCC.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12054028\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12054028\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250827-CLIMATERESILIENTCHILDCARECENTER-12-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250827-CLIMATERESILIENTCHILDCARECENTER-12-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250827-CLIMATERESILIENTCHILDCARECENTER-12-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250827-CLIMATERESILIENTCHILDCARECENTER-12-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Teresa Fogolini, director of Garden of Eatin’, checks on lettuce growing in the garden at the North Bay Children’s Center in Novato on Aug. 27, 2025. The program teaches children about healthy food through hands-on gardening. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We really had to look at exactly where it’s coming during the summer months, just to be able to accommodate the most shade for kids where they’re actually going to be playing,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The $12.5 million campus is on former military land that the NBCC purchased from the federal government for $1 years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gilmore already had blueprints for the building in 2015, but when the 2017 North Bay wildfires devastated the region and upended the lives of many families — including teachers and other members of the staff — Gilmore said it became crucial to add design features that address climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12054031\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12054031\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250827-CLIMATERESILIENTCHILDCARECENTER-19-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250827-CLIMATERESILIENTCHILDCARECENTER-19-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250827-CLIMATERESILIENTCHILDCARECENTER-19-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250827-CLIMATERESILIENTCHILDCARECENTER-19-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students learn how to cut vegetables for a salad at the North Bay Children’s Center in Novato on Aug. 27, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>To prepare for future emergencies, the new building will serve as a “resiliency hub” where families can go and be safe instead of an evacuation shelter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>“\u003c/strong>If they’re in a place where they can’t get to their home, it’s important that we do have enough food, we do have enough water, and that we do have space outside of the classrooms where families can gather,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/wildfires\">Wildfire\u003c/a> smoke, extreme heat and contagious viruses — unhealthy for anyone — are especially dangerous for young bodies, so schools and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12051850/as-californias-electricity-rates-rise-parents-struggle-to-pay-their-bills\">child care\u003c/a> are often forced to close when disasters hit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since 2017, the staff at North Bay Children’s Center has seen the rippling consequences of these emergencies: parents had to drop what they were doing to pick up their children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“During the fires, because of poor air quality, and during the pandemic, the natural reaction to our school districts and many of our colleagues in child care was to close,” said Susan Gilmore, CEO of the nonprofit, which operates 14 child development centers in Sonoma and Marin counties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And our parents can’t afford that,” she said. “Most of them are essential employees; they live paycheck to paycheck and cannot miss work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This week, the NBCC opened its biggest center in Novato, serving 176 infants, toddlers and preschoolers, and it’s designed to stay open amidst wildfire smoke, extreme heat and other climate-related events, and provide not just for kids but their families as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12054027\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12054027\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250827-CLIMATERESILIENTCHILDCARECENTER-11-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250827-CLIMATERESILIENTCHILDCARECENTER-11-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250827-CLIMATERESILIENTCHILDCARECENTER-11-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250827-CLIMATERESILIENTCHILDCARECENTER-11-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A preschool classroom at the North Bay Children’s Center in Novato on Aug. 27, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Inside, each classroom has its own climate control and filtration system to ensure the air stays cool and clean — and to minimize germs spreading from one room to another.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Outside, trees and shade structures protect the play yard from the heat. The ground is mostly covered in mulch and astroturf instead of asphalt, which can radiate dangerously high temperatures, cutting outdoor playtime short.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To extend that time, playground builders studied the sun.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12054024\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12054024\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250827-CLIMATERESILIENTCHILDCARECENTER-05-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250827-CLIMATERESILIENTCHILDCARECENTER-05-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250827-CLIMATERESILIENTCHILDCARECENTER-05-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250827-CLIMATERESILIENTCHILDCARECENTER-05-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A child from the infant program plays in the outdoor area at the North Bay Children’s Center in Novato on Aug. 27, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Babies, toddlers and kids under 5 are more vulnerable to heat exhaustion because their bodies heat up faster, and they have a harder time cooling down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We live in an area where those extreme heat days are hotter and they last longer, so we have to make sure that our environments can support what children need,” Gilmore said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Crews carefully positioned fabric panels above the sandbox to provide shade as sunlight shifts, said Brian St. Peter, head of facilities for the NBCC.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12054028\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12054028\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250827-CLIMATERESILIENTCHILDCARECENTER-12-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250827-CLIMATERESILIENTCHILDCARECENTER-12-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250827-CLIMATERESILIENTCHILDCARECENTER-12-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250827-CLIMATERESILIENTCHILDCARECENTER-12-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Teresa Fogolini, director of Garden of Eatin’, checks on lettuce growing in the garden at the North Bay Children’s Center in Novato on Aug. 27, 2025. The program teaches children about healthy food through hands-on gardening. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We really had to look at exactly where it’s coming during the summer months, just to be able to accommodate the most shade for kids where they’re actually going to be playing,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The $12.5 million campus is on former military land that the NBCC purchased from the federal government for $1 years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gilmore already had blueprints for the building in 2015, but when the 2017 North Bay wildfires devastated the region and upended the lives of many families — including teachers and other members of the staff — Gilmore said it became crucial to add design features that address climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12054031\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12054031\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250827-CLIMATERESILIENTCHILDCARECENTER-19-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250827-CLIMATERESILIENTCHILDCARECENTER-19-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250827-CLIMATERESILIENTCHILDCARECENTER-19-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250827-CLIMATERESILIENTCHILDCARECENTER-19-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students learn how to cut vegetables for a salad at the North Bay Children’s Center in Novato on Aug. 27, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>To prepare for future emergencies, the new building will serve as a “resiliency hub” where families can go and be safe instead of an evacuation shelter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>“\u003c/strong>If they’re in a place where they can’t get to their home, it’s important that we do have enough food, we do have enough water, and that we do have space outside of the classrooms where families can gather,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "the-pickett-fire-barts-tap-and-ride-and-local-artists-leaving-spotify",
"title": "The Pickett Fire, BART’s ‘Tap and Ride', and Local Artists Leaving Spotify",
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"content": "\u003cp>On this edition of The Bay’s monthly news roundup, Ericka is joined by The Bay’s senior editor Alan Montecillo and KQED associate arts and culture editor Nastia Voynovskaya. We talk about the Pickett Fire currently burning in Napa, scheduling and payment changes to public transit across the Bay, and why some local artists have decided to take their music off Spotify.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm?e=KQINC1460162369&light=true\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ci>Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by The Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. San Francisco Northern California Local.\u003c/i>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Links:\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/2025/8/21/pickett-fire\">Pickett Fire\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/napa/pickett-fire-napa-cause-woodbridge/\">Did ‘escaped control burn’ cause Napa County’s Pickett Fire? Dispatch records raise questions about blaze’s origin\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12052690/bart-fares-2025-credit-card-clipper-tap-and-ride-contactless\">Starting This Week, You Can Tap Onto BART With a Credit Card — Here’s How\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13978141/deerhoof-quits-spotify-daniel-ek-700-million-military-ai-investment\">SF Band Ditches Spotify Over CEO’s $700M Military AI Investment\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.bart.gov/news/articles/2025/news20250811\">Bay Area transit’s latest Big Sync improves transfers, saving riders up to 20 minutes per trip\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:00:02] I’m Ericka Cruz Guevarra and welcome to The Bay, local news to keep you rooted. And welcome to our August news roundup where we talk about some of the other stories that The Bay team and today a special guest have been following this month. I’m joined by senior editor, Alan Montecillo. What’s up, Alan?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:00:21] Hello.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:00:22] And our very special guest today is Nastia Vojnovskaya, associate editor of arts and culture for KQED. Hey Nastia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nastia Voynovskaya \u003c/strong>[00:00:29] Hi Ericka!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:00:30] Thank you so much for joining us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nastia Voynovskaya \u003c/strong>[00:00:32] Thanks for having me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:00:35] Before we dig into the stories that we’ve been following, Nastia, we wanted to have you on because it’s been a pretty busy August for you and the Arts Desk. Can you tell us a little bit about all the things you’ve been covering this month?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nastia Voynovskaya \u003c/strong>[00:00:49] It’s music festival season and full swing in the Bay Area. So earlier this month, I had the pleasure of covering Outside Lands. Um, I cover it every year. And this was a particularly good one where had I not been covering, I would have definitely wanted to be there for fun. Super standout performance by Doechii, who was not even a headliner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:01:13] Wow. I was just going to ask what were your favorite sets?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nastia Voynovskaya \u003c/strong>[00:01:25] She already had been at the top of my list of artists I’m watching, just based on her super strong album from last year, Alligator Bites Never Heal. And she just really showed everyone what showmanship and what being a performer is all about.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nastia Voynovskaya \u003c/strong>[00:01:52] She can rap with the dexterity of Kendrick Lamar while moving like Megan Thee Stallion with no backing track. And then the whole performance was also formatted with this cheeky classroom lesson theme about hip hop. There were also so many homages to who came before and where she came from while creating this super futuristic vision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:02:16] August was kind of the month of music festivals or concerts in Golden Gate Park, right? There was Denton Company, Outside Lands, Zach Bryan. With Outside Lands how did it compare to previous years? And I mean, how do you know as an attendee and as someone covering it, whether it was like a big success compared to years past?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nastia Voynovskaya \u003c/strong>[00:02:35] I would say this year they did some very, very savvy booking. So in addition to Doechii, they had Doja Cat and also Tyler, The Creator. Tyler, he had played Outside Lands before, so when they announced it back in April, I was like, okay, I’m excited to see him again. I like him. But shortly before the festival, he released a fantastic new album. And it’s called Don’t Tap the Glass and the whole theme of that album is being present for the music in person and not being on your phone. And you kind of saw that translate in the crowd the way that people were so engaged. There were some really smart choices of well-positioned breakout acts that they booked. There’s this Brooklyn indie band whose name unfortunately we cannot say on the Radio, and it’s spelled F-C-U-K-E-R-S. And they played this smaller side stage earlier in the day. And I was so impressed by just how they packed out that stage with teens and 20-somethings who were just in this very dense crowd jumping up and down. They kind of have this indie sleaze vibe with electronics and live instruments and just like very sassy vocals. It’s very children of brat. And that band actually had a super packed high energy show, The Rickshaw Stop the night before. So I was just very impressed by how the festival had this mix of established and breaking acts that I think are about to be a lot bigger soon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:04:05] I know LaRussell also performed at Outside Lands, and we also did a really amazing event with him this month as well. More on that on the show next month, actually. We did a real cool music showcase with LaRussall and the Good Company team. Really got to see some amazing artists locally, and we’re gonna do an interview with the winner next month. So look out for that, listeners.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:04:34] I have a confession to make. I live next to the park. I have lived next to park for several years and I haven’t been to outside lands yet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nastia Voynovskaya \u003c/strong>[00:04:41] But at least you can hear it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:04:43] I can hear it, I can definitely hear it. Some of my neighbors don’t love the fact that they can hear it, but I don’t mind. I should go and I will go. It’s expensive, but from what I hear, it’s worth it. I will get around to it, but I’m always a little embarrassed whenever this comes up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:04:59] Very clutch parking spot in front of his house, if you’re an outside lens attendee. Not that I’m offering it to our listeners. Well we’re gonna take a quick break and when we come back we’re going to dig into all the stories that we have been following this month. Stay with us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:05:27] Let’s go ahead and dive into some of the other stories that we have been following this month. Alan, I wanna start with you and you’ve been following the Pickett Fire in Napa.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:05:38] Yes, after a cold summer, a robust marine layer, Karl the Fog, out in full force, we are essentially in peak fire season from now until winter, basically, when it starts raining. And over the last week, we’ve had what has been the largest fire in the Bay Area so far, which is the Pickett fire. As of this taping, so Thursday morning, it has burned about 6,800 acres and is about 33% contained.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:06:07] Yeah, and obviously whenever it comes to fire in the Bay Area, I think one of the main ways folks experience it is air quality, and I’ve been really watching that very closely. But can you tell us a little bit about where the fire is burning exactly? I know it’s pretty close to some big wineries in Napa, right, who are just about to approach harvest season.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:06:33] Yeah. So the fire broke out on the 21st of August along Pickett road in Napa County, just outside the town of Calistoga near several vineyards. So this fire is firmly, you know, in wine country, you know, In terms of smoke, the air quality management district did lift that advisory on Tuesday. So hopefully it’s not too bad anymore, but there’s still many areas where there are evacuation orders or evacuation warnings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nastia Voynovskaya \u003c/strong>[00:07:00] So has it burned down any residential areas?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:07:03] So far, it doesn’t seem like that’s happened. Not all the damage has been assessed yet. It seems like the main damage that’s been done, apart from smoke that can be hazardous to people’s health, is to crops. As Ericka mentioned, it is harvest season for these wineries. One early estimate from the county ag commissioner says approximately 1,500 acres of crops have been affected either by fire, by heat, or by smoke. Totaling and estimated, and again this is preliminary, about $65 million in damage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:07:38] Oh, wow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:07:38] And what that means in a practical sense is, are wine grapes going to get ruined by the fire? This happened in 2020. And so the question just is, could that happen again?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nastia Voynovskaya \u003c/strong>[00:07:50] Do you know how the wine industry has been adapting to that, if at all?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:07:54] Winemakers say, you know, over the last decade or so, the industry is trying to push for more research to figure out how to reduce the taste of smoke and minimize the effects of wildfire because you know it’s hard to tell immediately if the smoke has ruined your grapes. You won’t really know until you taste it. And there actually isn’t a ton of research yet on how to at least mitigate that. So maybe you do have smoke in your area because fire is a reality in California, but maybe there’s ways to minimize the taste and save the crops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nastia Voynovskaya \u003c/strong>[00:08:23] And I know it usually takes a while to figure out how a fire actually started, but do we know anything about how this fire in Napa began?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:08:33] So that is still under investigation. We don’t know for sure. But there have been some questions and details trickling out, and reporters asking whether this fire started as the result of a “escaped control burn”, basically a fire that’s intended to reduce vegetation on a property. The Press Democrat noted that those words, escape control, burn, appeared on a Cal Fire public safety dispatch around the same time the fire was reported. For what it’s worth, the winery in question said through a spokesperson, you know, we’re working with fire investigators. This is premature. So nothing has been confirmed officially yet, but there are some worries that this could have been how the fire started.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:09:19] Well, Alan, thank you so much for sharing that story with us. We’re going to be following that one in the weeks ahead, I’m sure. Moving on to the story that I have been following this month, Nastia, Alan, you’re both public transit writers in the Bay Area, right?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nastia Voynovskaya \u003c/strong>[00:09:39] Yes, I took BART here this morning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:09:42] I’m a regular N rider.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:09:44] Nice and of course I’m a regular ferry rider and this might be of interest to all of us in this room. Some big changes have been happening to public transit in the Bay Area that is really all about making transit easier to ride. Not sure if you all have started using your debit or credit cards to ride BART but that is now a thing that you can do. And there’s also something called the Big Sync that is happening. Basically, all these transit systems in the Bay Area coordinating to make transfers a lot easier if you’re using one or more transit system. It’s about time. Right. I remember going to New York a couple of years ago and being able to ride the subway by just tapping my credit card. And as a tourist. I was amazed. I was mind blown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nastia Voynovskaya \u003c/strong>[00:10:43] Yeah, when they got rid of paper tickets and introduced clipper cards, I honestly always found it really problematic that if you lose your clipper card, you have to spend three dollars or something to get a new plastic card. And if you’re a low-income rider, you know that’s money you could be using for a meal. So I’m glad that they’re changing the way it’s done.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:11:02] Well, and it also brings BART closer to transit systems that already have this. You mentioned this already. New York has it. Chicago has it, many places overseas have it already. Sadly, for those of us who travel among multiple transit agencies, so let’s say you’re going BART to Muni like you do, it hasn’t come to Muni yet, right? You’ll still tap your credit card for BART and then use something else for Muni.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:11:25] Yeah, fumble to find your other plastic card to ride Muni. Yes, that is correct. This open payment system, as it’s called, of using a debit card or a credit card has not rolled out for Muni yet, but that kind of is the goal. Bay Area Transit officials say that they do want to use this eventually for all regional operators, Muni, Caltrain, AC Transit. So TBD for you, Alan. But I will say there is still something for Muni writers in the month of August, which is this big sink that I’m talking about. Have any of you heard of that? No, tell us more. So if you’re using more than one transit system, so you’re going from BART to Muni, all these agencies have tried to overhaul their schedules in order to make transfers a lot easier and a lot faster. So the focus is really for transfer hubs. In the Bay Area, so Dublin Pleasanton, BART, Daly City BART, Palo Alto Caltrain, and Concord BART Station. In all, these agencies adjusted 18 bus routes at these four hubs to improve connection times with each other. No more sprinting from Caltrain to BART for example. These agencies are saying that these changes account for a 33% increase in weekday ideal transfers. So basically you get five to 10 minutes in between one transit system to another to calmly start your morning and walk to your next transfer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nastia Voynovskaya \u003c/strong>[00:13:08] That’s gonna make a big difference for a lot of people, because I talk to so many people that want to ride public transit more, but oftentimes it just takes so much longer than driving or getting a rideshare.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:13:19] Right, exactly. You know, these agencies, these transportation agencies that have been really struggling since the pandemic, they got a lot of work to do to get people back on busses and trains, right? And this is really part of it. In terms of the why, this is part of an ongoing implementation of what’s known as the Bay Area Transformation Action Plan from 2021, which is all about improving public transit, making it more user-friendly. And creating a more connected system among all these different transit agencies around the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nastia Voynovskaya \u003c/strong>[00:13:54] Love to see it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:13:55] See you on the N, or the 22…maybe I shouldn’t give out —\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:13:58] Yeah you’re right. We’re just getting closer and closer to figuring out where Alan Montecillo lives in this episode.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:14:15] Well, that is the story that I have been following. Nastia, we’re gonna wrap this one up with you. What story have you been following this month?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nastia Voynovskaya \u003c/strong>[00:14:24] I’ve been following the story of cultural boycotts. So in late July, a bunch of artists announced that they’re taking their music off Spotify because the CEO, Daniel Ek actually just became the chairman of an AI weapons company called Helsing. In light of Israel’s war in Gaza, a lot of artists have been thinking in past couple of years, how… Cultural institutions and companies that serve the culture sector can be complicit in war profiteering. Gabe Moline from KQED Arts wrote a great piece about how Dear Hoof, which is an indie band that formed in San Francisco and are pretty big, announced taking their music off Spotify. And another big voice in that has been Kadia Bonet, who’s this great singer-songwriter, also from the Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:15:19] How much of a financial hit would artists take for deciding to pull their music off something like Spotify, which obviously is huge, you know, so many people use it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nastia Voynovskaya \u003c/strong>[00:15:28] Well, just based off streams, honestly, negligible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:15:32] Because they don’t get paid that much?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:15:32] They do not. They do not get paid much at all. I’ve actually been covering artists’ fight for better pay on streaming services for a few years now. And Spotify doesn’t release its exact figures of how much it pays, but the general estimate going around in the industry is that they get a third of a cent per stream. So basically to make the equivalent of earning $15 an hour at a full time job, an artist would have to get over 650,000 Spotify streams per month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:16:06] Oh my gosh.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nastia Voynovskaya\u003c/strong> [00:16:06] So you have to be very popular to even see any amount of money. Most of the money in the music industry is in touring, but of course, Spotify does have a lot of clout. There’s a lot clout attached to being featured in a prominent playlist and having your music served up. To listeners, but despite that, there are a lot of artists that have been saying the way that Spotify is set up is rigged against the small indie artists.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:16:32] This is making me think about the story of the Bay Area DJs who protested boiler room for coming to San Francisco because of the company’s investments in the defense industry in Israel. Sort of the same kind of deal, and I feel like Bay Area artists really like putting their foot down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nastia Voynovskaya \u003c/strong>[00:16:53] Yeah, very similar. My good friend Olivia Cruz Mayeda covered that story for SF Chronicle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:16:59] Shout out Olivia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nastia Voynovskaya \u003c/strong>[00:17:00] Yeah, shout out Olivia! Boiler Room, for those that don’t know, it’s this huge online platform for DJs and they basically go to all these really cool music scenes from around the world and produce these really high quality videos of DJs killing it at parties that really puts you in the scene. So in previous years, being in BoilerRoom for a DJ was a stamp of approval. So it was a really big deal that all these smaller electronic music collectives that I’m sure would want the clout that comes with Boiler Room put their foot down and they pretty much organized an anti-Boiler Room music festival as a sign of protest because Boiler Rooms parent company, KKR, has weapons investments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:17:44] Has Spotify said anything about this? Are they noticing that there are some artists who are upset, whether it’s about their CEO specifically or payment in general?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nastia Voynovskaya \u003c/strong>[00:17:54] So Spotify has not issued a public statement about its CEO becoming chairman of the AI weapons company, but it does have a lot of information on its website kind of arguing that it does give artists all these opportunities and that artists wouldn’t be making a certain amount of money if it wasn’t for Spotify. So they do have a whole section of their website that’s all about payment structure that people can go look at.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:18:20] From the consumer side, let’s say I really like one of these bands and I use Spotify and they’ve taken their music off, how should I listen to and support these artists?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nastia Voynovskaya \u003c/strong>[00:18:30] A lot of people recommend Bandcamp, not every artist has their music on there, but you can buy it directly and a big percentage goes to the artists. I know Apple Music introduced a new feature that easily allows you to transfer your Spotify playlists to Apple Music. People are talking about title. There are other streaming alternatives, but I will say I don’t think any of these artists would say that any of the services are perfect and all have their drawbacks. But I think if people want to support artists, especially the independent artists and their community, the best way is to buy tickets and show up to live shows and honestly buy merch, because merch is really the way that most artists make money these days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nastia Voynovskaya \u003c/strong>[00:19:16] Well, Nastia Voynovskaya, Associate Editor of Arts and Culture, thank you so much for bringing that story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nastia Voynovskaya \u003c/strong>[00:19:22] Thank you, Ericka and Alan for having me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:19:26] And Alan Montecillo, Senior Editor of The Bay, thank you as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:19:30] My pleasure.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>On this edition of The Bay’s monthly news roundup, Ericka is joined by The Bay’s senior editor Alan Montecillo and KQED associate arts and culture editor Nastia Voynovskaya. We talk about the Pickett Fire currently burning in Napa, scheduling and payment changes to public transit across the Bay, and why some local artists have decided to take their music off Spotify.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm?e=KQINC1460162369&light=true\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ci>Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by The Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. San Francisco Northern California Local.\u003c/i>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Links:\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/2025/8/21/pickett-fire\">Pickett Fire\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/napa/pickett-fire-napa-cause-woodbridge/\">Did ‘escaped control burn’ cause Napa County’s Pickett Fire? Dispatch records raise questions about blaze’s origin\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12052690/bart-fares-2025-credit-card-clipper-tap-and-ride-contactless\">Starting This Week, You Can Tap Onto BART With a Credit Card — Here’s How\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13978141/deerhoof-quits-spotify-daniel-ek-700-million-military-ai-investment\">SF Band Ditches Spotify Over CEO’s $700M Military AI Investment\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.bart.gov/news/articles/2025/news20250811\">Bay Area transit’s latest Big Sync improves transfers, saving riders up to 20 minutes per trip\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:00:02] I’m Ericka Cruz Guevarra and welcome to The Bay, local news to keep you rooted. And welcome to our August news roundup where we talk about some of the other stories that The Bay team and today a special guest have been following this month. I’m joined by senior editor, Alan Montecillo. What’s up, Alan?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:00:21] Hello.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:00:22] And our very special guest today is Nastia Vojnovskaya, associate editor of arts and culture for KQED. Hey Nastia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nastia Voynovskaya \u003c/strong>[00:00:29] Hi Ericka!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:00:30] Thank you so much for joining us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nastia Voynovskaya \u003c/strong>[00:00:32] Thanks for having me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:00:35] Before we dig into the stories that we’ve been following, Nastia, we wanted to have you on because it’s been a pretty busy August for you and the Arts Desk. Can you tell us a little bit about all the things you’ve been covering this month?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nastia Voynovskaya \u003c/strong>[00:00:49] It’s music festival season and full swing in the Bay Area. So earlier this month, I had the pleasure of covering Outside Lands. Um, I cover it every year. And this was a particularly good one where had I not been covering, I would have definitely wanted to be there for fun. Super standout performance by Doechii, who was not even a headliner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:01:13] Wow. I was just going to ask what were your favorite sets?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nastia Voynovskaya \u003c/strong>[00:01:25] She already had been at the top of my list of artists I’m watching, just based on her super strong album from last year, Alligator Bites Never Heal. And she just really showed everyone what showmanship and what being a performer is all about.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nastia Voynovskaya \u003c/strong>[00:01:52] She can rap with the dexterity of Kendrick Lamar while moving like Megan Thee Stallion with no backing track. And then the whole performance was also formatted with this cheeky classroom lesson theme about hip hop. There were also so many homages to who came before and where she came from while creating this super futuristic vision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:02:16] August was kind of the month of music festivals or concerts in Golden Gate Park, right? There was Denton Company, Outside Lands, Zach Bryan. With Outside Lands how did it compare to previous years? And I mean, how do you know as an attendee and as someone covering it, whether it was like a big success compared to years past?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nastia Voynovskaya \u003c/strong>[00:02:35] I would say this year they did some very, very savvy booking. So in addition to Doechii, they had Doja Cat and also Tyler, The Creator. Tyler, he had played Outside Lands before, so when they announced it back in April, I was like, okay, I’m excited to see him again. I like him. But shortly before the festival, he released a fantastic new album. And it’s called Don’t Tap the Glass and the whole theme of that album is being present for the music in person and not being on your phone. And you kind of saw that translate in the crowd the way that people were so engaged. There were some really smart choices of well-positioned breakout acts that they booked. There’s this Brooklyn indie band whose name unfortunately we cannot say on the Radio, and it’s spelled F-C-U-K-E-R-S. And they played this smaller side stage earlier in the day. And I was so impressed by just how they packed out that stage with teens and 20-somethings who were just in this very dense crowd jumping up and down. They kind of have this indie sleaze vibe with electronics and live instruments and just like very sassy vocals. It’s very children of brat. And that band actually had a super packed high energy show, The Rickshaw Stop the night before. So I was just very impressed by how the festival had this mix of established and breaking acts that I think are about to be a lot bigger soon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:04:05] I know LaRussell also performed at Outside Lands, and we also did a really amazing event with him this month as well. More on that on the show next month, actually. We did a real cool music showcase with LaRussall and the Good Company team. Really got to see some amazing artists locally, and we’re gonna do an interview with the winner next month. So look out for that, listeners.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:04:34] I have a confession to make. I live next to the park. I have lived next to park for several years and I haven’t been to outside lands yet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nastia Voynovskaya \u003c/strong>[00:04:41] But at least you can hear it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:04:43] I can hear it, I can definitely hear it. Some of my neighbors don’t love the fact that they can hear it, but I don’t mind. I should go and I will go. It’s expensive, but from what I hear, it’s worth it. I will get around to it, but I’m always a little embarrassed whenever this comes up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:04:59] Very clutch parking spot in front of his house, if you’re an outside lens attendee. Not that I’m offering it to our listeners. Well we’re gonna take a quick break and when we come back we’re going to dig into all the stories that we have been following this month. Stay with us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:05:27] Let’s go ahead and dive into some of the other stories that we have been following this month. Alan, I wanna start with you and you’ve been following the Pickett Fire in Napa.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:05:38] Yes, after a cold summer, a robust marine layer, Karl the Fog, out in full force, we are essentially in peak fire season from now until winter, basically, when it starts raining. And over the last week, we’ve had what has been the largest fire in the Bay Area so far, which is the Pickett fire. As of this taping, so Thursday morning, it has burned about 6,800 acres and is about 33% contained.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:06:07] Yeah, and obviously whenever it comes to fire in the Bay Area, I think one of the main ways folks experience it is air quality, and I’ve been really watching that very closely. But can you tell us a little bit about where the fire is burning exactly? I know it’s pretty close to some big wineries in Napa, right, who are just about to approach harvest season.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:06:33] Yeah. So the fire broke out on the 21st of August along Pickett road in Napa County, just outside the town of Calistoga near several vineyards. So this fire is firmly, you know, in wine country, you know, In terms of smoke, the air quality management district did lift that advisory on Tuesday. So hopefully it’s not too bad anymore, but there’s still many areas where there are evacuation orders or evacuation warnings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nastia Voynovskaya \u003c/strong>[00:07:00] So has it burned down any residential areas?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:07:03] So far, it doesn’t seem like that’s happened. Not all the damage has been assessed yet. It seems like the main damage that’s been done, apart from smoke that can be hazardous to people’s health, is to crops. As Ericka mentioned, it is harvest season for these wineries. One early estimate from the county ag commissioner says approximately 1,500 acres of crops have been affected either by fire, by heat, or by smoke. Totaling and estimated, and again this is preliminary, about $65 million in damage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:07:38] Oh, wow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:07:38] And what that means in a practical sense is, are wine grapes going to get ruined by the fire? This happened in 2020. And so the question just is, could that happen again?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nastia Voynovskaya \u003c/strong>[00:07:50] Do you know how the wine industry has been adapting to that, if at all?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:07:54] Winemakers say, you know, over the last decade or so, the industry is trying to push for more research to figure out how to reduce the taste of smoke and minimize the effects of wildfire because you know it’s hard to tell immediately if the smoke has ruined your grapes. You won’t really know until you taste it. And there actually isn’t a ton of research yet on how to at least mitigate that. So maybe you do have smoke in your area because fire is a reality in California, but maybe there’s ways to minimize the taste and save the crops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nastia Voynovskaya \u003c/strong>[00:08:23] And I know it usually takes a while to figure out how a fire actually started, but do we know anything about how this fire in Napa began?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:08:33] So that is still under investigation. We don’t know for sure. But there have been some questions and details trickling out, and reporters asking whether this fire started as the result of a “escaped control burn”, basically a fire that’s intended to reduce vegetation on a property. The Press Democrat noted that those words, escape control, burn, appeared on a Cal Fire public safety dispatch around the same time the fire was reported. For what it’s worth, the winery in question said through a spokesperson, you know, we’re working with fire investigators. This is premature. So nothing has been confirmed officially yet, but there are some worries that this could have been how the fire started.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:09:19] Well, Alan, thank you so much for sharing that story with us. We’re going to be following that one in the weeks ahead, I’m sure. Moving on to the story that I have been following this month, Nastia, Alan, you’re both public transit writers in the Bay Area, right?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nastia Voynovskaya \u003c/strong>[00:09:39] Yes, I took BART here this morning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:09:42] I’m a regular N rider.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:09:44] Nice and of course I’m a regular ferry rider and this might be of interest to all of us in this room. Some big changes have been happening to public transit in the Bay Area that is really all about making transit easier to ride. Not sure if you all have started using your debit or credit cards to ride BART but that is now a thing that you can do. And there’s also something called the Big Sync that is happening. Basically, all these transit systems in the Bay Area coordinating to make transfers a lot easier if you’re using one or more transit system. It’s about time. Right. I remember going to New York a couple of years ago and being able to ride the subway by just tapping my credit card. And as a tourist. I was amazed. I was mind blown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nastia Voynovskaya \u003c/strong>[00:10:43] Yeah, when they got rid of paper tickets and introduced clipper cards, I honestly always found it really problematic that if you lose your clipper card, you have to spend three dollars or something to get a new plastic card. And if you’re a low-income rider, you know that’s money you could be using for a meal. So I’m glad that they’re changing the way it’s done.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:11:02] Well, and it also brings BART closer to transit systems that already have this. You mentioned this already. New York has it. Chicago has it, many places overseas have it already. Sadly, for those of us who travel among multiple transit agencies, so let’s say you’re going BART to Muni like you do, it hasn’t come to Muni yet, right? You’ll still tap your credit card for BART and then use something else for Muni.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:11:25] Yeah, fumble to find your other plastic card to ride Muni. Yes, that is correct. This open payment system, as it’s called, of using a debit card or a credit card has not rolled out for Muni yet, but that kind of is the goal. Bay Area Transit officials say that they do want to use this eventually for all regional operators, Muni, Caltrain, AC Transit. So TBD for you, Alan. But I will say there is still something for Muni writers in the month of August, which is this big sink that I’m talking about. Have any of you heard of that? No, tell us more. So if you’re using more than one transit system, so you’re going from BART to Muni, all these agencies have tried to overhaul their schedules in order to make transfers a lot easier and a lot faster. So the focus is really for transfer hubs. In the Bay Area, so Dublin Pleasanton, BART, Daly City BART, Palo Alto Caltrain, and Concord BART Station. In all, these agencies adjusted 18 bus routes at these four hubs to improve connection times with each other. No more sprinting from Caltrain to BART for example. These agencies are saying that these changes account for a 33% increase in weekday ideal transfers. So basically you get five to 10 minutes in between one transit system to another to calmly start your morning and walk to your next transfer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nastia Voynovskaya \u003c/strong>[00:13:08] That’s gonna make a big difference for a lot of people, because I talk to so many people that want to ride public transit more, but oftentimes it just takes so much longer than driving or getting a rideshare.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:13:19] Right, exactly. You know, these agencies, these transportation agencies that have been really struggling since the pandemic, they got a lot of work to do to get people back on busses and trains, right? And this is really part of it. In terms of the why, this is part of an ongoing implementation of what’s known as the Bay Area Transformation Action Plan from 2021, which is all about improving public transit, making it more user-friendly. And creating a more connected system among all these different transit agencies around the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nastia Voynovskaya \u003c/strong>[00:13:54] Love to see it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:13:55] See you on the N, or the 22…maybe I shouldn’t give out —\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:13:58] Yeah you’re right. We’re just getting closer and closer to figuring out where Alan Montecillo lives in this episode.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:14:15] Well, that is the story that I have been following. Nastia, we’re gonna wrap this one up with you. What story have you been following this month?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nastia Voynovskaya \u003c/strong>[00:14:24] I’ve been following the story of cultural boycotts. So in late July, a bunch of artists announced that they’re taking their music off Spotify because the CEO, Daniel Ek actually just became the chairman of an AI weapons company called Helsing. In light of Israel’s war in Gaza, a lot of artists have been thinking in past couple of years, how… Cultural institutions and companies that serve the culture sector can be complicit in war profiteering. Gabe Moline from KQED Arts wrote a great piece about how Dear Hoof, which is an indie band that formed in San Francisco and are pretty big, announced taking their music off Spotify. And another big voice in that has been Kadia Bonet, who’s this great singer-songwriter, also from the Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:15:19] How much of a financial hit would artists take for deciding to pull their music off something like Spotify, which obviously is huge, you know, so many people use it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nastia Voynovskaya \u003c/strong>[00:15:28] Well, just based off streams, honestly, negligible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:15:32] Because they don’t get paid that much?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:15:32] They do not. They do not get paid much at all. I’ve actually been covering artists’ fight for better pay on streaming services for a few years now. And Spotify doesn’t release its exact figures of how much it pays, but the general estimate going around in the industry is that they get a third of a cent per stream. So basically to make the equivalent of earning $15 an hour at a full time job, an artist would have to get over 650,000 Spotify streams per month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:16:06] Oh my gosh.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nastia Voynovskaya\u003c/strong> [00:16:06] So you have to be very popular to even see any amount of money. Most of the money in the music industry is in touring, but of course, Spotify does have a lot of clout. There’s a lot clout attached to being featured in a prominent playlist and having your music served up. To listeners, but despite that, there are a lot of artists that have been saying the way that Spotify is set up is rigged against the small indie artists.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:16:32] This is making me think about the story of the Bay Area DJs who protested boiler room for coming to San Francisco because of the company’s investments in the defense industry in Israel. Sort of the same kind of deal, and I feel like Bay Area artists really like putting their foot down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nastia Voynovskaya \u003c/strong>[00:16:53] Yeah, very similar. My good friend Olivia Cruz Mayeda covered that story for SF Chronicle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:16:59] Shout out Olivia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nastia Voynovskaya \u003c/strong>[00:17:00] Yeah, shout out Olivia! Boiler Room, for those that don’t know, it’s this huge online platform for DJs and they basically go to all these really cool music scenes from around the world and produce these really high quality videos of DJs killing it at parties that really puts you in the scene. So in previous years, being in BoilerRoom for a DJ was a stamp of approval. So it was a really big deal that all these smaller electronic music collectives that I’m sure would want the clout that comes with Boiler Room put their foot down and they pretty much organized an anti-Boiler Room music festival as a sign of protest because Boiler Rooms parent company, KKR, has weapons investments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:17:44] Has Spotify said anything about this? Are they noticing that there are some artists who are upset, whether it’s about their CEO specifically or payment in general?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nastia Voynovskaya \u003c/strong>[00:17:54] So Spotify has not issued a public statement about its CEO becoming chairman of the AI weapons company, but it does have a lot of information on its website kind of arguing that it does give artists all these opportunities and that artists wouldn’t be making a certain amount of money if it wasn’t for Spotify. So they do have a whole section of their website that’s all about payment structure that people can go look at.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:18:20] From the consumer side, let’s say I really like one of these bands and I use Spotify and they’ve taken their music off, how should I listen to and support these artists?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nastia Voynovskaya \u003c/strong>[00:18:30] A lot of people recommend Bandcamp, not every artist has their music on there, but you can buy it directly and a big percentage goes to the artists. I know Apple Music introduced a new feature that easily allows you to transfer your Spotify playlists to Apple Music. People are talking about title. There are other streaming alternatives, but I will say I don’t think any of these artists would say that any of the services are perfect and all have their drawbacks. But I think if people want to support artists, especially the independent artists and their community, the best way is to buy tickets and show up to live shows and honestly buy merch, because merch is really the way that most artists make money these days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nastia Voynovskaya \u003c/strong>[00:19:16] Well, Nastia Voynovskaya, Associate Editor of Arts and Culture, thank you so much for bringing that story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nastia Voynovskaya \u003c/strong>[00:19:22] Thank you, Ericka and Alan for having me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:19:26] And Alan Montecillo, Senior Editor of The Bay, thank you as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:19:30] My pleasure.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "when-wildfires-compromise-californias-drinking-water-utilities-lean-on-this-professors-advice",
"title": "When Wildfires Compromise California's Drinking Water, Utilities Lean on This Professor’s Advice",
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"headTitle": "When Wildfires Compromise California’s Drinking Water, Utilities Lean on This Professor’s Advice | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>In 2017, after the Tubbs Fire blazed through parts of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california\">California’s\u003c/a> wine country, a Santa Rosa resident returned home to one of the few structures left standing in his fire-scarred neighborhood. He turned on the tap and reported that the water smelled like gasoline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sampling identified the source of the odor as benzene, a compound found in petroleum products. One sample contained 8,000 times the amount of benzene that the Environmental Protection Agency allows in drinking water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After ruling out the usual culprits for benzene contamination, such as a gasoline spill or leaking underground storage tanks, utility staff were left with a startling realization: The wildfire had contaminated the water system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Typically, state regulators support and guide how public water systems address contamination. But this threat from wildfire was new.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No guidance or protocol existed for Santa Rosa’s water system to follow. Staff at Santa Rosa Water started reaching out to experts with experience responding to chemical spills, including a Purdue University engineering professor named Andrew Whelton. Whelton replied with exceptional interest, said Emma Walton, then a deputy director at the utility.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since then, at least eight wildfires have contaminated public drinking water systems across the United States, and Whelton has become the de facto national authority on response and recovery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12053442\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1760px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12053442\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/LA_BFeinzimer.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1760\" height=\"1174\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/LA_BFeinzimer.jpg 1760w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/LA_BFeinzimer-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/LA_BFeinzimer-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1760px) 100vw, 1760px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Firefighters spray water onto a burning property in Altadena, California, during the L.A. wildfires earlier this year. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Brian Feinzimer/LAist)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>He has rushed from his home in Indiana to the side of utility managers from Colorado to Hawaii who were facing some of the most stressful infrastructure crises of their careers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He has clashed with California regulators over specific protocol and recommended managers test for more contaminants than regulators there require. Last year, Whelton published a blueprint for how water utility staff can look for and decontaminate their systems. Utility managers say it provides a resource in an area where federal and state guidelines are lacking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s hard to describe how complex it was before we had this resource, because you were doing a lot of guessing on what was right and wrong,” said Kurt Kowar, a utility director who sought Whelton’s help in the aftermath of Colorado’s Marshall Fire in 2021. “And now, there’s no more guessing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jonathan Leung, director of water quality at Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, said his staff referred to this playbook to make their recovery plan after the LA fires earlier this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Armed with this tool, LADWP was able to restore water service in two months.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘He wrote back, I think within 30 minutes’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The benzene found in Santa Rosa’s water is one of many VOCs, or volatile organic compounds, that can enter municipal water systems when the buildings they’re connected to are destroyed by wildfire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>VOCs are a broad category of chemicals known for their ability to off-gas. They’re found in household and industrial products, including paints, pesticides, dry cleaning agents and petroleum fuels. They also form during natural processes such as volcanic eruptions and forest fires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12053565\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12053565\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/WildfiresAPM2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1452\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/WildfiresAPM2.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/WildfiresAPM2-160x116.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/WildfiresAPM2-1536x1115.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Purdue professor Andrew Whelton in his office on the school’s campus. \u003ccite>(Benjamin Thorp/APM Reports)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Before the Tubbs Fires, experts understood that wildfires can contaminate water sources through soil erosion and runoff. Events in Santa Rosa revealed that wildfires can also contaminate water systems at the pipes that bring treated drinking water to buildings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Experts say it works like this: damage to structures and excess demand for water cause depressurization. This creates a vacuum in the distribution system that can pull contaminants into service lines, water mains and connecting fixtures. Plastic pipes can also degrade at high temperatures, causing chemicals in the plastic to leach into the water. The contamination can be distributed unevenly in damaged areas, making it difficult to catch without sufficient sampling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Environmental Protection Agency regulates about 20 VOCs in drinking water that harm human health. Benzene, for example, has been linked to anemia, a decrease in blood platelets, and an increased risk of cancer. The agency limits benzene in drinking water to 5 micrograms per liter.[aside postID=news_12043312 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/CLAIRE-SCHWARTZ-L-AND-NINA-RAJ-WITH-A-CHILD_S-DRAWING-RECOVERED-BY-RAJ-AFTER-THE-EATON-FIRE-KQED-1020x765.jpg']California has a lower allowable maximum at 1 microgram per liter. If a million people consumed contaminated drinking water at this concentration over a 70-year period, the chemical would cause between six and seven cases of cancer, according to California regulators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But national drinking water standards set by the EPA do not account for this newly understood mode of contamination from wildfires. Water utilities routinely monitor for VOCs as the water leaves the treatment plant, upstream of where wildfire contamination is likely to occur.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2018, after the Camp Fire engulfed more than 90% of Paradise, California, Kevin Phillips needed answers to some pressing questions. The Paradise Irrigation District had just confirmed the presence of benzene in its water system and Phillips, the district manager, wanted to know if it would permanently contaminate the pipes. A contact at the University of California, Berkeley, suggested his team reach out to Whelton.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[Whelton] wrote back, I think within 30 minutes, a list of things we should look for and how we go about this,” Phillips said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his response, Whelton recommended that Paradise begin by flushing the distribution network to remove any contaminated water currently in the pipes. But, he cautioned, success depended on the types of materials the water came into contact with, the concentration of chemicals in the water, the water temperature and other factors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12053446\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12053446\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/Paradise_DVenton-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/Paradise_DVenton-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/Paradise_DVenton-2000x1333.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/Paradise_DVenton-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/Paradise_DVenton-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/Paradise_DVenton-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Debris left behind by the Camp Fire in Paradise, California. \u003ccite>(Danielle Venton/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Plastics would be my biggest concern,” Whelton wrote. “Once you flush away the contaminated water, chemicals absorbed inside the plastic will then begin to leach out into the clean water.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The speed at which the chemicals leach out of the plastic determines how long decontamination takes, regardless of flushing, Whelton added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About a month later, Phillips flew Whelton and a small team from Purdue to Paradise to assist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“From that point on, he was really kind of our go-to expert when it came to water contamination,” Phillips said.[aside postID=news_12051854 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/240109-CAWindStorm-075_qed-1020x680.jpg']This would not be the last time Whelton would steer a besieged water utility through such a crisis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About three years later, the Marshall Fire plowed through several neighborhoods in the town of Louisville, Colorado. Kurt Kowar, director of public works and utilities in Louisville, said state regulators told him their agency didn’t have the expertise to address this kind of contamination.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead, they suggested that he call Whelton, whom Kowar then looked up on Twitter. Kowar said Whelton called within a half hour of receiving Kowar’s introductory email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By the end of their conversation, Kowar said he knew what he needed to do next. “That’s when I said, ‘I’m gonna buy you a plane ticket. You’re gonna get on a plane. You’re gonna come here tomorrow, because we got to figure this out.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whelton, who had just returned home from a business trip, immediately headed to the airport, booking a redeye flight on his way there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The next morning, Whelton, Louisville water system staff, state regulators and others Whelton had recommended met in a nondescript conference room to make a plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From his seat in the back of the room, Whelton noticed their questions were similar to the ones utility staff in Santa Rosa and Paradise had posed when they were going through their respective water contamination crises.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12053454\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12053454\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/C1.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/C1.jpeg 1024w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/C1-160x107.jpeg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Colorado’s Marshall Fire destroyed some homes while leaving others intact. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Hart Van Denburg/Colorado Public Radio)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>This time, Whelton decided to take notes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whelton had worked for the U.S. Army on water infrastructure security before going into academia. The experience left him a firm believer in establishing military decision-making frameworks to address emerging disasters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He decided to turn their questions into a similarly styled manual for water utility recovery in the aftermath of a wildfire.[aside postID=news_12033286 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250312_Stay-Behinds_JB_00010-1020x680.jpg']He started putting together a concept of operations, or CONOPS, plan for water distribution system testing and recovery. The name was a nod to his military experience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With funding from the Water Research Foundation, a nonprofit that serves water utilities, Whelton and two other Purdue researchers published the guide in 2024 to help utility managers “get from Point A to Point B with an evidence-based approach,” Whelton said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report outlines the responsibilities of different parties during disaster response, from water utility staff to public health officials to state drinking water regulators. It also helps utility managers determine their options after a system tests positive for contamination.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Prior to the CONOPS, such information was spread out “on websites or in news articles or in people’s heads,” Kowar said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The EPA issued a seven-page document in 2021, but it reads like a “high-level guidance,” Kowar said. The CONOPS plan “is a much more thorough, vetted document” that takes the guesswork out of recovery efforts and reflects industry best practices, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the 2023 wildfires in Maui, the CONOPS plan got its first test run with Whelton, Phillips and Kowar present.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I have no interest in doing this for the next 10 to 20 years,” Whelton said. “We need to train these leaders, operators and engineers in communities to help themselves in times of crises.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘If somebody would have shown me a draft’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In 2024, California law began requiring water utilities to test for benzene contamination whenever a wildfire of 300 or more acres damaged or destroyed structures connected to a water system. California appears to be the only state with mandated testing after wildfires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But according to Whelton, California’s law is not protective enough because it only requires water systems to test for benzene and not other VOCs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12053455\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12053455\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/C2.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/C2.jpeg 1024w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/C2-160x107.jpeg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">VOC contamination tends to occur in areas where water systems lose pressure and structures connected to the water system are damaged. Photo from a flyover of neighborhoods affected by the Marshall Fire. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Hart Van Denburg/Colorado Public Radio)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The idea that a single chemical could be “the panacea for a complex issue is bonkers,” he said. “If somebody would have shown me a draft of what actually got promulgated, I would have made clear that the code as written is going to result in potentially unsafe water for people.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While benzene is the most common VOC found in water after wildfires, data from previous fires show that other VOCs can contaminate drinking water after wildfires, too. Sometimes those VOCs are present even when benzene isn’t.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This happened in about a quarter of the samples taken after the Marshall Fire, according to Corona Environmental Consulting, a local agency that worked on the response.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12053681\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12053681\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/WildfiresAPM3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/WildfiresAPM3.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/WildfiresAPM3-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/WildfiresAPM3-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Andrew Whelton holds a piece of fire-damaged water infrastructure in his lab. \u003ccite>(Benjamin Thorp/APM Reports)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Regulators at the California State Water Resources Control Board who weighed in on the law have said benzene is an adequate indicator for VOC contamination, nevertheless.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Darrin Polhemus, deputy director of the state water board’s drinking water division, acknowledged that other VOCs will sometimes show up in samples where benzene is not present. But he said that benzene has the highest signal of all the VOCs based on sampling data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Because of that, what we believe is that if you can manage for benzene, you’re basically managing for all of them,” Polhemus said, chalking the differences in perspective up to risk perception. “We’re dealing with the practicalities of cost and time and how to manage that compared with getting people back to their homes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While Whelton disagrees, he said he is glad that “California decided that it’s important that people have their drinking water tested after a wildfire.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>On the ground in Los Angeles\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>After the January wildfires, Leung, the director of water quality at LAWDP, said his team opted to test for a broad panel of VOCs even though state law only required them to test for benzene.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of the 482 samples they took, Leung said, VOCs were detected without benzene present about 11 percent of the time, but “at levels far below the drinking water standard.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12023445\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12023445\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/240109-CAWindStorm-075_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/240109-CAWindStorm-075_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/240109-CAWindStorm-075_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/240109-CAWindStorm-075_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/240109-CAWindStorm-075_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/240109-CAWindStorm-075_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/240109-CAWindStorm-075_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The remains of a house in Altadena, California, after the Eaton Fire swept through the area northeast of Los Angeles, on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Leung said his counterparts at the public water system in Oakland, California, sent him Whelton’s plan in the days after the fires. It was a document Leung said he found himself returning to as he began thinking about the water system’s next steps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Screening for and removing wildfire contaminants is “not necessarily intuitive,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the past, water utilities have thought their water systems were clean after analyzing samples taken immediately after flushing, only to have contaminants show up later as chemicals that had adhered to plastic pipes leached back into the water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Leung said he took care to make sure that the water sat in the pipes for 72 hours before collecting samples, even though the water system used mostly metal pipes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said Whelton’s plan helped him understand how different pipe materials absorb, retain and release VOCs, which cleaning strategies to use, and which areas of the water system to prioritize. Since LADWP’s water system had mostly copper, steel and galvanized iron water lines, Leung realized there was less concern about chemicals adhering to pipes.\u003cbr>\n[aside postID=news_12034277 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/20250328_Zorthian-Ranch_SK_17-1020x680.jpg']This, to Whelton, is proof that the CONOPS plan is working.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The plan empowered water utilities in Los Angeles County to address the threat of contamination head-on, Whelton said. “They actually read the plan, they used it, they called us on the telephone or webinar, and then they made decisions for themselves and were able to find their way out of that disaster.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whelton said he worries that some people outside of California may see VOC contamination as “a California problem,” even though wildfires are increasingly intersecting with urban communities because of climate change. And outside of California, it is completely discretionary whether a water system tests for contamination after a wildfire, Whelton said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Effective disaster response depends on who’s in the room making decisions and the information they have access to, Whelton said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whelton takes heart in the fact that public servants such as Walton, Phillips and Kowar have “stepped up when they were not legally required to,” and in doing so helped create the CONOPS plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I drove the effort, but it was because of everyone else coming together [that] we were able to deliver,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "In 2017, the Tubbs Fire in Santa Rosa, California, exposed a new threat to public health: Wildfires can contaminate drinking water with toxic chemicals, which federally mandated testing is not designed to catch.",
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"title": "When Wildfires Compromise California's Drinking Water, Utilities Lean on This Professor’s Advice | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>In 2017, after the Tubbs Fire blazed through parts of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california\">California’s\u003c/a> wine country, a Santa Rosa resident returned home to one of the few structures left standing in his fire-scarred neighborhood. He turned on the tap and reported that the water smelled like gasoline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sampling identified the source of the odor as benzene, a compound found in petroleum products. One sample contained 8,000 times the amount of benzene that the Environmental Protection Agency allows in drinking water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After ruling out the usual culprits for benzene contamination, such as a gasoline spill or leaking underground storage tanks, utility staff were left with a startling realization: The wildfire had contaminated the water system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Typically, state regulators support and guide how public water systems address contamination. But this threat from wildfire was new.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No guidance or protocol existed for Santa Rosa’s water system to follow. Staff at Santa Rosa Water started reaching out to experts with experience responding to chemical spills, including a Purdue University engineering professor named Andrew Whelton. Whelton replied with exceptional interest, said Emma Walton, then a deputy director at the utility.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since then, at least eight wildfires have contaminated public drinking water systems across the United States, and Whelton has become the de facto national authority on response and recovery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12053442\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1760px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12053442\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/LA_BFeinzimer.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1760\" height=\"1174\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/LA_BFeinzimer.jpg 1760w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/LA_BFeinzimer-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/LA_BFeinzimer-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1760px) 100vw, 1760px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Firefighters spray water onto a burning property in Altadena, California, during the L.A. wildfires earlier this year. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Brian Feinzimer/LAist)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>He has rushed from his home in Indiana to the side of utility managers from Colorado to Hawaii who were facing some of the most stressful infrastructure crises of their careers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He has clashed with California regulators over specific protocol and recommended managers test for more contaminants than regulators there require. Last year, Whelton published a blueprint for how water utility staff can look for and decontaminate their systems. Utility managers say it provides a resource in an area where federal and state guidelines are lacking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s hard to describe how complex it was before we had this resource, because you were doing a lot of guessing on what was right and wrong,” said Kurt Kowar, a utility director who sought Whelton’s help in the aftermath of Colorado’s Marshall Fire in 2021. “And now, there’s no more guessing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jonathan Leung, director of water quality at Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, said his staff referred to this playbook to make their recovery plan after the LA fires earlier this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Armed with this tool, LADWP was able to restore water service in two months.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘He wrote back, I think within 30 minutes’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The benzene found in Santa Rosa’s water is one of many VOCs, or volatile organic compounds, that can enter municipal water systems when the buildings they’re connected to are destroyed by wildfire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>VOCs are a broad category of chemicals known for their ability to off-gas. They’re found in household and industrial products, including paints, pesticides, dry cleaning agents and petroleum fuels. They also form during natural processes such as volcanic eruptions and forest fires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12053565\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12053565\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/WildfiresAPM2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1452\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/WildfiresAPM2.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/WildfiresAPM2-160x116.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/WildfiresAPM2-1536x1115.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Purdue professor Andrew Whelton in his office on the school’s campus. \u003ccite>(Benjamin Thorp/APM Reports)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Before the Tubbs Fires, experts understood that wildfires can contaminate water sources through soil erosion and runoff. Events in Santa Rosa revealed that wildfires can also contaminate water systems at the pipes that bring treated drinking water to buildings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Experts say it works like this: damage to structures and excess demand for water cause depressurization. This creates a vacuum in the distribution system that can pull contaminants into service lines, water mains and connecting fixtures. Plastic pipes can also degrade at high temperatures, causing chemicals in the plastic to leach into the water. The contamination can be distributed unevenly in damaged areas, making it difficult to catch without sufficient sampling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Environmental Protection Agency regulates about 20 VOCs in drinking water that harm human health. Benzene, for example, has been linked to anemia, a decrease in blood platelets, and an increased risk of cancer. The agency limits benzene in drinking water to 5 micrograms per liter.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>California has a lower allowable maximum at 1 microgram per liter. If a million people consumed contaminated drinking water at this concentration over a 70-year period, the chemical would cause between six and seven cases of cancer, according to California regulators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But national drinking water standards set by the EPA do not account for this newly understood mode of contamination from wildfires. Water utilities routinely monitor for VOCs as the water leaves the treatment plant, upstream of where wildfire contamination is likely to occur.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2018, after the Camp Fire engulfed more than 90% of Paradise, California, Kevin Phillips needed answers to some pressing questions. The Paradise Irrigation District had just confirmed the presence of benzene in its water system and Phillips, the district manager, wanted to know if it would permanently contaminate the pipes. A contact at the University of California, Berkeley, suggested his team reach out to Whelton.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[Whelton] wrote back, I think within 30 minutes, a list of things we should look for and how we go about this,” Phillips said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his response, Whelton recommended that Paradise begin by flushing the distribution network to remove any contaminated water currently in the pipes. But, he cautioned, success depended on the types of materials the water came into contact with, the concentration of chemicals in the water, the water temperature and other factors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12053446\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12053446\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/Paradise_DVenton-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/Paradise_DVenton-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/Paradise_DVenton-2000x1333.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/Paradise_DVenton-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/Paradise_DVenton-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/Paradise_DVenton-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Debris left behind by the Camp Fire in Paradise, California. \u003ccite>(Danielle Venton/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Plastics would be my biggest concern,” Whelton wrote. “Once you flush away the contaminated water, chemicals absorbed inside the plastic will then begin to leach out into the clean water.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The speed at which the chemicals leach out of the plastic determines how long decontamination takes, regardless of flushing, Whelton added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About a month later, Phillips flew Whelton and a small team from Purdue to Paradise to assist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“From that point on, he was really kind of our go-to expert when it came to water contamination,” Phillips said.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>This would not be the last time Whelton would steer a besieged water utility through such a crisis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About three years later, the Marshall Fire plowed through several neighborhoods in the town of Louisville, Colorado. Kurt Kowar, director of public works and utilities in Louisville, said state regulators told him their agency didn’t have the expertise to address this kind of contamination.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead, they suggested that he call Whelton, whom Kowar then looked up on Twitter. Kowar said Whelton called within a half hour of receiving Kowar’s introductory email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By the end of their conversation, Kowar said he knew what he needed to do next. “That’s when I said, ‘I’m gonna buy you a plane ticket. You’re gonna get on a plane. You’re gonna come here tomorrow, because we got to figure this out.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whelton, who had just returned home from a business trip, immediately headed to the airport, booking a redeye flight on his way there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The next morning, Whelton, Louisville water system staff, state regulators and others Whelton had recommended met in a nondescript conference room to make a plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From his seat in the back of the room, Whelton noticed their questions were similar to the ones utility staff in Santa Rosa and Paradise had posed when they were going through their respective water contamination crises.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12053454\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12053454\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/C1.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/C1.jpeg 1024w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/C1-160x107.jpeg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Colorado’s Marshall Fire destroyed some homes while leaving others intact. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Hart Van Denburg/Colorado Public Radio)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>This time, Whelton decided to take notes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whelton had worked for the U.S. Army on water infrastructure security before going into academia. The experience left him a firm believer in establishing military decision-making frameworks to address emerging disasters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He decided to turn their questions into a similarly styled manual for water utility recovery in the aftermath of a wildfire.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>He started putting together a concept of operations, or CONOPS, plan for water distribution system testing and recovery. The name was a nod to his military experience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With funding from the Water Research Foundation, a nonprofit that serves water utilities, Whelton and two other Purdue researchers published the guide in 2024 to help utility managers “get from Point A to Point B with an evidence-based approach,” Whelton said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report outlines the responsibilities of different parties during disaster response, from water utility staff to public health officials to state drinking water regulators. It also helps utility managers determine their options after a system tests positive for contamination.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Prior to the CONOPS, such information was spread out “on websites or in news articles or in people’s heads,” Kowar said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The EPA issued a seven-page document in 2021, but it reads like a “high-level guidance,” Kowar said. The CONOPS plan “is a much more thorough, vetted document” that takes the guesswork out of recovery efforts and reflects industry best practices, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the 2023 wildfires in Maui, the CONOPS plan got its first test run with Whelton, Phillips and Kowar present.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I have no interest in doing this for the next 10 to 20 years,” Whelton said. “We need to train these leaders, operators and engineers in communities to help themselves in times of crises.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘If somebody would have shown me a draft’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In 2024, California law began requiring water utilities to test for benzene contamination whenever a wildfire of 300 or more acres damaged or destroyed structures connected to a water system. California appears to be the only state with mandated testing after wildfires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But according to Whelton, California’s law is not protective enough because it only requires water systems to test for benzene and not other VOCs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12053455\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12053455\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/C2.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/C2.jpeg 1024w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/C2-160x107.jpeg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">VOC contamination tends to occur in areas where water systems lose pressure and structures connected to the water system are damaged. Photo from a flyover of neighborhoods affected by the Marshall Fire. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Hart Van Denburg/Colorado Public Radio)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The idea that a single chemical could be “the panacea for a complex issue is bonkers,” he said. “If somebody would have shown me a draft of what actually got promulgated, I would have made clear that the code as written is going to result in potentially unsafe water for people.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While benzene is the most common VOC found in water after wildfires, data from previous fires show that other VOCs can contaminate drinking water after wildfires, too. Sometimes those VOCs are present even when benzene isn’t.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This happened in about a quarter of the samples taken after the Marshall Fire, according to Corona Environmental Consulting, a local agency that worked on the response.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12053681\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12053681\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/WildfiresAPM3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/WildfiresAPM3.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/WildfiresAPM3-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/WildfiresAPM3-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Andrew Whelton holds a piece of fire-damaged water infrastructure in his lab. \u003ccite>(Benjamin Thorp/APM Reports)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Regulators at the California State Water Resources Control Board who weighed in on the law have said benzene is an adequate indicator for VOC contamination, nevertheless.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Darrin Polhemus, deputy director of the state water board’s drinking water division, acknowledged that other VOCs will sometimes show up in samples where benzene is not present. But he said that benzene has the highest signal of all the VOCs based on sampling data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Because of that, what we believe is that if you can manage for benzene, you’re basically managing for all of them,” Polhemus said, chalking the differences in perspective up to risk perception. “We’re dealing with the practicalities of cost and time and how to manage that compared with getting people back to their homes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While Whelton disagrees, he said he is glad that “California decided that it’s important that people have their drinking water tested after a wildfire.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>On the ground in Los Angeles\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>After the January wildfires, Leung, the director of water quality at LAWDP, said his team opted to test for a broad panel of VOCs even though state law only required them to test for benzene.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of the 482 samples they took, Leung said, VOCs were detected without benzene present about 11 percent of the time, but “at levels far below the drinking water standard.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12023445\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12023445\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/240109-CAWindStorm-075_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/240109-CAWindStorm-075_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/240109-CAWindStorm-075_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/240109-CAWindStorm-075_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/240109-CAWindStorm-075_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/240109-CAWindStorm-075_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/240109-CAWindStorm-075_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The remains of a house in Altadena, California, after the Eaton Fire swept through the area northeast of Los Angeles, on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Leung said his counterparts at the public water system in Oakland, California, sent him Whelton’s plan in the days after the fires. It was a document Leung said he found himself returning to as he began thinking about the water system’s next steps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Screening for and removing wildfire contaminants is “not necessarily intuitive,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the past, water utilities have thought their water systems were clean after analyzing samples taken immediately after flushing, only to have contaminants show up later as chemicals that had adhered to plastic pipes leached back into the water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Leung said he took care to make sure that the water sat in the pipes for 72 hours before collecting samples, even though the water system used mostly metal pipes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said Whelton’s plan helped him understand how different pipe materials absorb, retain and release VOCs, which cleaning strategies to use, and which areas of the water system to prioritize. Since LADWP’s water system had mostly copper, steel and galvanized iron water lines, Leung realized there was less concern about chemicals adhering to pipes.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>This, to Whelton, is proof that the CONOPS plan is working.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The plan empowered water utilities in Los Angeles County to address the threat of contamination head-on, Whelton said. “They actually read the plan, they used it, they called us on the telephone or webinar, and then they made decisions for themselves and were able to find their way out of that disaster.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whelton said he worries that some people outside of California may see VOC contamination as “a California problem,” even though wildfires are increasingly intersecting with urban communities because of climate change. And outside of California, it is completely discretionary whether a water system tests for contamination after a wildfire, Whelton said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Effective disaster response depends on who’s in the room making decisions and the information they have access to, Whelton said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whelton takes heart in the fact that public servants such as Walton, Phillips and Kowar have “stepped up when they were not legally required to,” and in doing so helped create the CONOPS plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I drove the effort, but it was because of everyone else coming together [that] we were able to deliver,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "bay-area-cities-swelter-as-temperatures-near-triple-digits",
"title": "Bay Area Cities Swelter as Temperatures Near Triple Digits",
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"content": "\u003cp>After an unusually cool summer in the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/bay-area\">Bay Area\u003c/a>, national weather officials have issued moderate heat risk advisories to cities both inland and coastal, with some areas experiencing the longest heat wave so far this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Temperatures in the Bay Area ticked up Tuesday, jumping 10 degrees by Wednesday. Cities like Santa Rosa, San Rafael and Napa are forecasted to approach triple digits on Thursday — marking the first time they hit 100 degrees this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The North, South and East Bay, as well as Monterey and San Benito County, are all under a moderate heat risk advisory through Saturday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Peninsula — including San Francisco, Half Moon Bay and San Mateo counties — is under the same advisory through Thursday, with temperatures expected to fall significantly by Friday. The National Weather Service will hold a minor heat risk warning for the Peninsula, as Friday will still see temperatures well into the 80s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>NWS meteorologist Dylan Flynn told KQED the entire summer went by without a single heat wave advisory, which is “not normal at all.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The last recorded heat advisory was May 31, which Flynn said is starkly different from what the Bay Area experienced around this time last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12047560\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12047560\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/Heat-Wave-SF-Getty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1358\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/Heat-Wave-SF-Getty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/Heat-Wave-SF-Getty-160x109.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/Heat-Wave-SF-Getty-1536x1043.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">People enjoying the sun at the Palace of Fine Arts as a heat wave rolls through San Francisco on July 11, 2024. \u003ccite>(Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Last year, by this time, we had 23 days under a heat advisory for some portion of the Bay Area,” Flynn said. “So this summer has been cool and we’re kind of snapping out of that today.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Flynn said the warm-up — a term \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1998156/the-bay-area-weekend-warm-up-isnt-a-heat-wave-although-it-may-feel-like-one\">weather officials typically use\u003c/a> unless there is an excessive, extreme heat advisory in place — may impact residents more intensely than in years past “due to a lack of acclimatization,” thanks to the cooler summer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Flynn said that a big difference between this heat wave and past recorded ones is that humidity is a significant factor, whereas, regularly, heat waves in the Bay Area have been dry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When it’s humid, the sweat kind of stays on you, and it doesn’t cool you off as well,” Flynn said. “What that does is just increases your body temperature, and that’s what we’re concerned about.”[aside postID=news_12052990 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/CampingGetty.jpg']The NWS has been issuing safety messaging to emergency management partners in affected areas, Flynn said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Santa Clara County opened cooling centers designated for more vulnerable populations like the unhoused and elderly, with free bus rides to transport them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite the heat, inland cities like Concord and Napa will continue monitoring the heatwave and will not open cooling centers at this time. City officials encouraged residents to keep pets cool, limit sun exposure and stay hydrated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Flynn said that although weather officials haven’t issued specific advisories related to schools, as the academic year is back in session for most districts, there is general guidance for students to be vigilant in the heat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said taking breaks in the shade and staying as hydrated as possible are some best practices for preventing heat stress.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lauren Schwartz, from the San Rafael City Manager’s office, told KQED that city staff have also been dealing with a large structure \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12053120/san-rafael-apartment-building-fire-injures-8-displaces-50-residents\">fire\u003c/a> affecting residents, but said the office has an advisory \u003ca href=\"https://www.cityofsanrafael.org/beat-the-heat-all-about-heat-advisories-excessive-heat-warnings-and-red-flag-warnings/\">online\u003c/a> in place for residents to use for safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Flynn estimated that temperatures will start to cool off by Sunday, although it will be a gradual return to normal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s not like a big cold front coming that’s going to bring noticeable relief right away,” he said. “By the time we get to the middle of next week, we should be closer to normal temperatures.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "As temperatures across the Bay Area soar, the National Weather Service has issued a moderate heat advisory for residents to keep cool and stay safe.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>After an unusually cool summer in the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/bay-area\">Bay Area\u003c/a>, national weather officials have issued moderate heat risk advisories to cities both inland and coastal, with some areas experiencing the longest heat wave so far this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Temperatures in the Bay Area ticked up Tuesday, jumping 10 degrees by Wednesday. Cities like Santa Rosa, San Rafael and Napa are forecasted to approach triple digits on Thursday — marking the first time they hit 100 degrees this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The North, South and East Bay, as well as Monterey and San Benito County, are all under a moderate heat risk advisory through Saturday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Peninsula — including San Francisco, Half Moon Bay and San Mateo counties — is under the same advisory through Thursday, with temperatures expected to fall significantly by Friday. The National Weather Service will hold a minor heat risk warning for the Peninsula, as Friday will still see temperatures well into the 80s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>NWS meteorologist Dylan Flynn told KQED the entire summer went by without a single heat wave advisory, which is “not normal at all.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The last recorded heat advisory was May 31, which Flynn said is starkly different from what the Bay Area experienced around this time last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12047560\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12047560\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/Heat-Wave-SF-Getty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1358\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/Heat-Wave-SF-Getty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/Heat-Wave-SF-Getty-160x109.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/Heat-Wave-SF-Getty-1536x1043.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">People enjoying the sun at the Palace of Fine Arts as a heat wave rolls through San Francisco on July 11, 2024. \u003ccite>(Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Last year, by this time, we had 23 days under a heat advisory for some portion of the Bay Area,” Flynn said. “So this summer has been cool and we’re kind of snapping out of that today.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Flynn said the warm-up — a term \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1998156/the-bay-area-weekend-warm-up-isnt-a-heat-wave-although-it-may-feel-like-one\">weather officials typically use\u003c/a> unless there is an excessive, extreme heat advisory in place — may impact residents more intensely than in years past “due to a lack of acclimatization,” thanks to the cooler summer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Flynn said that a big difference between this heat wave and past recorded ones is that humidity is a significant factor, whereas, regularly, heat waves in the Bay Area have been dry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When it’s humid, the sweat kind of stays on you, and it doesn’t cool you off as well,” Flynn said. “What that does is just increases your body temperature, and that’s what we’re concerned about.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The NWS has been issuing safety messaging to emergency management partners in affected areas, Flynn said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Santa Clara County opened cooling centers designated for more vulnerable populations like the unhoused and elderly, with free bus rides to transport them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite the heat, inland cities like Concord and Napa will continue monitoring the heatwave and will not open cooling centers at this time. City officials encouraged residents to keep pets cool, limit sun exposure and stay hydrated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Flynn said that although weather officials haven’t issued specific advisories related to schools, as the academic year is back in session for most districts, there is general guidance for students to be vigilant in the heat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said taking breaks in the shade and staying as hydrated as possible are some best practices for preventing heat stress.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lauren Schwartz, from the San Rafael City Manager’s office, told KQED that city staff have also been dealing with a large structure \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12053120/san-rafael-apartment-building-fire-injures-8-displaces-50-residents\">fire\u003c/a> affecting residents, but said the office has an advisory \u003ca href=\"https://www.cityofsanrafael.org/beat-the-heat-all-about-heat-advisories-excessive-heat-warnings-and-red-flag-warnings/\">online\u003c/a> in place for residents to use for safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Flynn estimated that temperatures will start to cool off by Sunday, although it will be a gradual return to normal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s not like a big cold front coming that’s going to bring noticeable relief right away,” he said. “By the time we get to the middle of next week, we should be closer to normal temperatures.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "summer-camping-california-bay-area-weather-heat-wave-campsites",
"title": "Going Camping in Super Hot Weather? How to Keep Your Campsite Comfortable (and Safe)",
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"content": "\u003cp>Shivering in your sleeping bag on a freezing cold night camping is an experience that many can relate to.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But California summer camping in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1998156/the-bay-area-weekend-warm-up-isnt-a-heat-wave-although-it-may-feel-like-one\">hot weather\u003c/a> can be equally unpleasant — not to mention potentially dangerous.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Heat-related illness is one of the leading causes of weather-related deaths in the country, \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/nssp/php/partnerships/health-impact-from-heat-waves.html\">according to data from the Centers for Disease and Control\u003c/a>. And at the very least, hot weather in the forecast can dampen your plans for a fun-filled weekend of camping, that is, if you’re not prepared.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But if you’re worrying about sky-high temperatures on your next summer camping trip, rest assured, there are ways to get the most out of even a broiling hot campsite.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Keep reading for tips from the experts on how to keep safe, keep cool and keep having fun while camping during super hot weather.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Seek out shade — or make some\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>If you’ve got plans to go inland toward the heat and can’t change them, finding — or bringing — shade can be a lifesaver.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12035546\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1998px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12035546\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/GettyImages-1366211065_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1998\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/GettyImages-1366211065_qed.jpg 1998w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/GettyImages-1366211065_qed-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/GettyImages-1366211065_qed-1020x681.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/GettyImages-1366211065_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/GettyImages-1366211065_qed-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/GettyImages-1366211065_qed-1920x1281.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1998px) 100vw, 1998px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Look for a spot with ample trees for shade, away from valleys or even a space on a ridgeline for more wind. \u003ccite>(Twenty47studio/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>If you have flexibility with your choice, site selection is key here. Look for a spot with ample trees for shade or that’s away from valleys, or even a spot on a ridgeline for more wind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Worried that your campsite might be too exposed? Sports Basement rental operations manager Mateo Sanchez recommends \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12052357/campsites-california-rentals-comfort-bougie-camping\">renting \u003c/a>a pop-up canopy to create your own shade, which you can even set up \u003cem>above \u003c/em>your tent to keep your sleeping space sheltered from the hot sun.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Make sure you’re dressing right for the heat\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>This may sound counterintuitive, but wearing more clothes can sometimes keep you cooler. Put on generous amounts of sunscreen, but also look for shirts with a \u003ca href=\"https://www.skincancer.org/skin-cancer-prevention/sun-protection/sun-protective-clothing/\">UPF rating\u003c/a> or that are made of natural fibers like linen, cotton or even lightweight wool, and won’t be as stuffy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Covering up means your skin stays cool and protected from the sun’s harsh rays, and you’re less likely to get a sunburn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You always want to dress in layers,” California State Parks Central Valley District spokesperson Amber Sprock said. “Even if it’s hot, it may cool off in the evening.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bring a hat and sunglasses to keep you comfortable even while you’re out and about. You can even dunk your hat, a bandana or your clothes into cold water to keep cool. To combat sweaty feet, leave the hiking boots at home and opt for mesh-topped running shoes or sandals if you don’t plan on hiking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bottom line, Sanchez said: “Stay out of the sun.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Create ventilation for your tent\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Sometimes, all it takes to turn a boiling hot campsite into a summer paradise is a strong breeze. So set up your site to take advantage of \u003cem>any \u003c/em>wind that comes through the area by looking for perches like ridgelines up and out of valleys and sites that aren’t enclosed by dense forest or buildings on more than one side. If your tent has mesh windows, aim them toward the source of the wind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pitch your tent to take advantage of the morning shade by tracing the sun’s path backwards toward the east and finding trees that might block it in the morning — and so long as there’s no rain in the forecast, leave your rain fly off the tent. That will allow for more ventilation to run through your sleeping area to keep you cool at night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://koa.com/blog/tips-for-staying-cool-on-summer-camping-trips/\">You can even disassemble your tent during the hottest part of the day\u003c/a> to avoid it heating up on the inside. Skip the bedtime campfire and the sleeping bag if it’s too hot, or try out sleeping in a hammock in the shade to avoid a stuffy tent entirely.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Going to bed early and starting early can also keep you from waking up in a pool of your own nighttime sweat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And if you’ve got the space, consider bringing a portable fan that’s solar or battery powered or a large box fan and a generator to your campsite to help create your own wind. Or, you can choose to camp in a spot like \u003ca href=\"https://www.ebparks.org/parks/anthony-chabot/camping\">Anthony Chabot Campground \u003c/a>in Castro Valley that has full electricity, sewer and water hookups — typically used by RVers — even if you’re just tent camping.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In the hookup sites, people have all kinds of things,” Anthony Chabot Campground Park Supervisor Maurice Quince said. “I’ve even seen people with misters on the side of their pop-up tents.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A strong crosswind will also help disperse bugs like mosquitoes, as they tend to be active during the summer months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11953871\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11953871 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66535_GettyImages-523679818-1-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A view of two yellow tents in a forest of tall redwood treats, in low light\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1291\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66535_GettyImages-523679818-1-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66535_GettyImages-523679818-1-qut-800x538.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66535_GettyImages-523679818-1-qut-1020x686.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66535_GettyImages-523679818-1-qut-160x108.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66535_GettyImages-523679818-1-qut-1536x1033.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">There are many ways to keep your campsite cool in high summer heat. \u003ccite>(Robert Holmes/Getty)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Plan activities during morning and evening\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Sprock, whose district covers Central Valley parks like \u003ca href=\"https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=557\">Caswell Memorial State Park\u003c/a> in San Joaquin County — \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/newsletter/extreme-heat-california-illness/\">one of the hottest areas in the state \u003c/a>— said she recommends getting an early start to your day or delaying strenuous activities so you’re not out in direct sun during the hottest part of the day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you have a hike you want to do, or you have some outdoor picnicking you’d like to do, maybe planning it earlier in the morning or later towards the evening is better so you can avoid that heat,” she said.[aside postID=news_12052357 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/GettyImages-1707931940-2000x1334.jpg']Caswell is situated on the \u003ca href=\"https://stanislausriver.com/\">Stanislaus River\u003c/a> and has plenty of shade from its oak riparian forest, making it an ideal pick for hot-weather campers who want plenty of access to cool shade and water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And while you’re out and about, don’t forget to bring \u003cem>lots \u003c/em>of water, Sprock said. A cooler full of ice and cold drinks, \u003ca href=\"https://www.uab.edu/news/news-you-can-use/understanding-the-relationship-between-electrolytes-hydration-and-summer-heat\">especially those with electrolytes,\u003c/a> will help you keep your body hydrated and your temperature in check — and you can use the ice water it creates as relief for your neck or back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most of all, it’s OK to pause what you’re doing, get out of the heat and stay safe during midday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you know it’s gonna be 105,” Sprock said, “make sure that there is a place for you to take a break — either in your vehicle or on a shaded picnic bench.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>For your next trip: Head toward cooler temperatures …\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>While \u003ca href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/28/us-weather-heatwave-temperatures-east\">some areas of the country have been experiencing a heat wave\u003c/a> this summer, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1997911/cool-for-the-summer-bay-area-sweater-weather-could-linger-into-august\">parts of the Bay Area have been largely spared\u003c/a> and are even reporting colder-than-normal summer temperatures. That’s in large part due to its \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1997579/bay-area-hikes-views-clouds-marine-inversion-layer\">proximity to the Pacific Ocean, \u003c/a>which brings ample fog to the California coast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So if you’re worried about heat while camping in the future, consider heading away from inland locations and out toward the ocean — where wind and fog will keep you cooler.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12049142\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12049142\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/BigSurGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/BigSurGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/BigSurGetty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/BigSurGetty-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A couple climbs a pilaster to get a view south to the coastline of Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park along California Highway 1 on May 2, 2021, in Big Sur, California. \u003ccite>(Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Our rule of thumb is: ‘When it gets hot, head more towards the coast,’” Sports Basement’s Sanchez said. “That’s going to be cooler nine times out of 10.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alternatively, you can always go up in altitude — think Tahoe or the High Sierra, where temperatures tend to stay below the 90s during the day and cool down rapidly at night, especially if you camp outside \u003ca href=\"https://www.fs.usda.gov/r05/laketahoebasin\">the Lake Tahoe Basin\u003c/a> itself.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>… and plan to camp near water\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>If you’re planning to stay close by, consider camping near a river or lake where you can take frequent dips to stay cool. For example, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12048728/where-to-swim-lakes-bay-area-not-lake-tahoe\">some non-Lake Tahoe lake spots that are still within a few hours’ drive of the Bay Area\u003c/a> may be less crowded once school is back in session.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stacy Wyman, who manages \u003ca href=\"https://www.goldcountrycampground.com/\">Gold Country Campground Resort\u003c/a> in Amador County’s Pine Grove, said the hottest months bring their peak visitation, between May and October.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s also when their swimming pool and spray park are open to keep visitors cool during the heat of the summer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“On holidays, especially when it’s super hot, we’ll even have water games,” Wyman said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12045255/south-yuba-state-park-american-river-safety-2025-weather\">Just remember — if you’re planning to cool off in a fast-moving river, stay aware of the dangers\u003c/a>, and don’t forget your life jacket.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeCeDp_MY_h4G6VWj_-VPl-BJlQ3Uya2H0vxRZZd_47BpXwVA/viewform?embedded=true\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Shivering in your sleeping bag on a freezing cold night camping is an experience that many can relate to.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But California summer camping in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1998156/the-bay-area-weekend-warm-up-isnt-a-heat-wave-although-it-may-feel-like-one\">hot weather\u003c/a> can be equally unpleasant — not to mention potentially dangerous.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Heat-related illness is one of the leading causes of weather-related deaths in the country, \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/nssp/php/partnerships/health-impact-from-heat-waves.html\">according to data from the Centers for Disease and Control\u003c/a>. And at the very least, hot weather in the forecast can dampen your plans for a fun-filled weekend of camping, that is, if you’re not prepared.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But if you’re worrying about sky-high temperatures on your next summer camping trip, rest assured, there are ways to get the most out of even a broiling hot campsite.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Keep reading for tips from the experts on how to keep safe, keep cool and keep having fun while camping during super hot weather.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Seek out shade — or make some\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>If you’ve got plans to go inland toward the heat and can’t change them, finding — or bringing — shade can be a lifesaver.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12035546\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1998px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12035546\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/GettyImages-1366211065_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1998\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/GettyImages-1366211065_qed.jpg 1998w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/GettyImages-1366211065_qed-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/GettyImages-1366211065_qed-1020x681.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/GettyImages-1366211065_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/GettyImages-1366211065_qed-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/GettyImages-1366211065_qed-1920x1281.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1998px) 100vw, 1998px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Look for a spot with ample trees for shade, away from valleys or even a space on a ridgeline for more wind. \u003ccite>(Twenty47studio/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>If you have flexibility with your choice, site selection is key here. Look for a spot with ample trees for shade or that’s away from valleys, or even a spot on a ridgeline for more wind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Worried that your campsite might be too exposed? Sports Basement rental operations manager Mateo Sanchez recommends \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12052357/campsites-california-rentals-comfort-bougie-camping\">renting \u003c/a>a pop-up canopy to create your own shade, which you can even set up \u003cem>above \u003c/em>your tent to keep your sleeping space sheltered from the hot sun.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Make sure you’re dressing right for the heat\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>This may sound counterintuitive, but wearing more clothes can sometimes keep you cooler. Put on generous amounts of sunscreen, but also look for shirts with a \u003ca href=\"https://www.skincancer.org/skin-cancer-prevention/sun-protection/sun-protective-clothing/\">UPF rating\u003c/a> or that are made of natural fibers like linen, cotton or even lightweight wool, and won’t be as stuffy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Covering up means your skin stays cool and protected from the sun’s harsh rays, and you’re less likely to get a sunburn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You always want to dress in layers,” California State Parks Central Valley District spokesperson Amber Sprock said. “Even if it’s hot, it may cool off in the evening.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bring a hat and sunglasses to keep you comfortable even while you’re out and about. You can even dunk your hat, a bandana or your clothes into cold water to keep cool. To combat sweaty feet, leave the hiking boots at home and opt for mesh-topped running shoes or sandals if you don’t plan on hiking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bottom line, Sanchez said: “Stay out of the sun.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Create ventilation for your tent\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Sometimes, all it takes to turn a boiling hot campsite into a summer paradise is a strong breeze. So set up your site to take advantage of \u003cem>any \u003c/em>wind that comes through the area by looking for perches like ridgelines up and out of valleys and sites that aren’t enclosed by dense forest or buildings on more than one side. If your tent has mesh windows, aim them toward the source of the wind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pitch your tent to take advantage of the morning shade by tracing the sun’s path backwards toward the east and finding trees that might block it in the morning — and so long as there’s no rain in the forecast, leave your rain fly off the tent. That will allow for more ventilation to run through your sleeping area to keep you cool at night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://koa.com/blog/tips-for-staying-cool-on-summer-camping-trips/\">You can even disassemble your tent during the hottest part of the day\u003c/a> to avoid it heating up on the inside. Skip the bedtime campfire and the sleeping bag if it’s too hot, or try out sleeping in a hammock in the shade to avoid a stuffy tent entirely.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Going to bed early and starting early can also keep you from waking up in a pool of your own nighttime sweat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And if you’ve got the space, consider bringing a portable fan that’s solar or battery powered or a large box fan and a generator to your campsite to help create your own wind. Or, you can choose to camp in a spot like \u003ca href=\"https://www.ebparks.org/parks/anthony-chabot/camping\">Anthony Chabot Campground \u003c/a>in Castro Valley that has full electricity, sewer and water hookups — typically used by RVers — even if you’re just tent camping.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In the hookup sites, people have all kinds of things,” Anthony Chabot Campground Park Supervisor Maurice Quince said. “I’ve even seen people with misters on the side of their pop-up tents.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A strong crosswind will also help disperse bugs like mosquitoes, as they tend to be active during the summer months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11953871\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11953871 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66535_GettyImages-523679818-1-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A view of two yellow tents in a forest of tall redwood treats, in low light\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1291\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66535_GettyImages-523679818-1-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66535_GettyImages-523679818-1-qut-800x538.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66535_GettyImages-523679818-1-qut-1020x686.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66535_GettyImages-523679818-1-qut-160x108.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66535_GettyImages-523679818-1-qut-1536x1033.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">There are many ways to keep your campsite cool in high summer heat. \u003ccite>(Robert Holmes/Getty)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Plan activities during morning and evening\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Sprock, whose district covers Central Valley parks like \u003ca href=\"https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=557\">Caswell Memorial State Park\u003c/a> in San Joaquin County — \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/newsletter/extreme-heat-california-illness/\">one of the hottest areas in the state \u003c/a>— said she recommends getting an early start to your day or delaying strenuous activities so you’re not out in direct sun during the hottest part of the day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you have a hike you want to do, or you have some outdoor picnicking you’d like to do, maybe planning it earlier in the morning or later towards the evening is better so you can avoid that heat,” she said.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Caswell is situated on the \u003ca href=\"https://stanislausriver.com/\">Stanislaus River\u003c/a> and has plenty of shade from its oak riparian forest, making it an ideal pick for hot-weather campers who want plenty of access to cool shade and water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And while you’re out and about, don’t forget to bring \u003cem>lots \u003c/em>of water, Sprock said. A cooler full of ice and cold drinks, \u003ca href=\"https://www.uab.edu/news/news-you-can-use/understanding-the-relationship-between-electrolytes-hydration-and-summer-heat\">especially those with electrolytes,\u003c/a> will help you keep your body hydrated and your temperature in check — and you can use the ice water it creates as relief for your neck or back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most of all, it’s OK to pause what you’re doing, get out of the heat and stay safe during midday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you know it’s gonna be 105,” Sprock said, “make sure that there is a place for you to take a break — either in your vehicle or on a shaded picnic bench.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>For your next trip: Head toward cooler temperatures …\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>While \u003ca href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/28/us-weather-heatwave-temperatures-east\">some areas of the country have been experiencing a heat wave\u003c/a> this summer, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1997911/cool-for-the-summer-bay-area-sweater-weather-could-linger-into-august\">parts of the Bay Area have been largely spared\u003c/a> and are even reporting colder-than-normal summer temperatures. That’s in large part due to its \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1997579/bay-area-hikes-views-clouds-marine-inversion-layer\">proximity to the Pacific Ocean, \u003c/a>which brings ample fog to the California coast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So if you’re worried about heat while camping in the future, consider heading away from inland locations and out toward the ocean — where wind and fog will keep you cooler.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12049142\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12049142\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/BigSurGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/BigSurGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/BigSurGetty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/BigSurGetty-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A couple climbs a pilaster to get a view south to the coastline of Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park along California Highway 1 on May 2, 2021, in Big Sur, California. \u003ccite>(Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Our rule of thumb is: ‘When it gets hot, head more towards the coast,’” Sports Basement’s Sanchez said. “That’s going to be cooler nine times out of 10.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alternatively, you can always go up in altitude — think Tahoe or the High Sierra, where temperatures tend to stay below the 90s during the day and cool down rapidly at night, especially if you camp outside \u003ca href=\"https://www.fs.usda.gov/r05/laketahoebasin\">the Lake Tahoe Basin\u003c/a> itself.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>… and plan to camp near water\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>If you’re planning to stay close by, consider camping near a river or lake where you can take frequent dips to stay cool. For example, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12048728/where-to-swim-lakes-bay-area-not-lake-tahoe\">some non-Lake Tahoe lake spots that are still within a few hours’ drive of the Bay Area\u003c/a> may be less crowded once school is back in session.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stacy Wyman, who manages \u003ca href=\"https://www.goldcountrycampground.com/\">Gold Country Campground Resort\u003c/a> in Amador County’s Pine Grove, said the hottest months bring their peak visitation, between May and October.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s also when their swimming pool and spray park are open to keep visitors cool during the heat of the summer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“On holidays, especially when it’s super hot, we’ll even have water games,” Wyman said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12045255/south-yuba-state-park-american-river-safety-2025-weather\">Just remember — if you’re planning to cool off in a fast-moving river, stay aware of the dangers\u003c/a>, and don’t forget your life jacket.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cdiv class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__shortcodes__shortcodeWrapper'>\n \u003ciframe\n src='https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeCeDp_MY_h4G6VWj_-VPl-BJlQ3Uya2H0vxRZZd_47BpXwVA/viewform?embedded=true?embedded=true'\n title='https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeCeDp_MY_h4G6VWj_-VPl-BJlQ3Uya2H0vxRZZd_47BpXwVA/viewform?embedded=true'\n width='760' height='500'\n frameborder='0'\n marginheight='0' marginwidth='0'>\u003c/iframe>\u003c/div>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"id": "code-switch-life-kit",
"title": "Code Switch / Life Kit",
"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
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"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Commonwealth-Club-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"meta": {
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"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
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"id": "forum",
"title": "Forum",
"tagline": "The conversation starts here",
"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 9am-11am, 10pm-11pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Forum with Mina Kim and Alexis Madrigal",
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"order": 9
},
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"id": "freakonomics-radio",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "http://freakonomics.com/",
"airtime": "SUN 1am-2am, SAT 3pm-4pm",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/freakonomics-radio",
"subscribe": {
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/freakonomics-radio/id354668519",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/WNYC-Podcasts/Freakonomics-Radio-p272293/",
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},
"fresh-air": {
"id": "fresh-air",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=214089682&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"info": "A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. Hosted by Robin Young, Jeremy Hobson and Tonya Mosley.",
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"hidden-brain": {
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"info": "Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "NPR"
},
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"how-i-built-this": {
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"title": "How I Built This with Guy Raz",
"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"link": "/radio/program/how-i-built-this",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-built-this-with-guy-raz/id1150510297?mt=2",
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"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
"title": "Hyphenación",
"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hyphenacion_FinalAssets_PodcastTile.png",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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"order": 15
},
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},
"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Political-Mind-of-Jerry-Brown-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
"meta": {
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"order": 18
},
"link": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
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},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
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},
"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
}
},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
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"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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},
"masters-of-scale": {
"id": "masters-of-scale",
"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
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"source": "WaitWhat"
},
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"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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}
},
"morning-edition": {
"id": "morning-edition",
"title": "Morning Edition",
"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3am-9am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Morning-Edition-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/morning-edition/",
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"link": "/radio/program/morning-edition"
},
"onourwatch": {
"id": "onourwatch",
"title": "On Our Watch",
"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/On-Our-Watch-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "On Our Watch from NPR and KQED",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 11
},
"link": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1567098962",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5ucHIub3JnLzUxMDM2MC9wb2RjYXN0LnhtbD9zYz1nb29nbGVwb2RjYXN0cw",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510360/podcast.xml"
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},
"on-the-media": {
"id": "on-the-media",
"title": "On The Media",
"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm-3pm, MON 12am-1am",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/onTheMedia.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.wnycstudios.org/shows/otm",
"meta": {
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"source": "wnyc"
},
"link": "/radio/program/on-the-media",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/on-the-media/id73330715?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/On-the-Media-p69/",
"rss": "http://feeds.wnyc.org/onthemedia"
}
},
"pbs-newshour": {
"id": "pbs-newshour",
"title": "PBS NewsHour",
"info": "Analysis, background reports and updates from the PBS NewsHour putting today's news in context.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3pm-4pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/PBS-News-Hour-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/",
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"source": "pbs"
},
"link": "/radio/program/pbs-newshour",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/pbs-newshour-full-show/id394432287?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/PBS-NewsHour---Full-Show-p425698/",
"rss": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/feeds/rss/podcasts/show"
}
},
"perspectives": {
"id": "perspectives",
"title": "Perspectives",
"tagline": "KQED's series of daily listener commentaries since 1991",
"info": "KQED's series of daily listener commentaries since 1991.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Perspectives_Tile_Final.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Perspectives",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/perspectives/",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 14
},
"link": "/perspectives",
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"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/432309616/perspectives",
"rss": "https://ww2.kqed.org/perspectives/category/perspectives/feed/",
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},
"planet-money": {
"id": "planet-money",
"title": "Planet Money",
"info": "The economy explained. Imagine you could call up a friend and say, Meet me at the bar and tell me what's going on with the economy. Now imagine that's actually a fun evening.",
"airtime": "SUN 3pm-4pm",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/planetmoney.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/sections/money/",
"meta": {
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/planet-money",
"subscribe": {
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/planet-money/id290783428?mt=2",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510289/podcast.xml"
}
},
"politicalbreakdown": {
"id": "politicalbreakdown",
"title": "Political Breakdown",
"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
"airtime": "THU 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Political-Breakdown-2024-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/politicalbreakdown",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 5
},
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