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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Here are your headline stories for the morning of Tuesday, August 26th, 2025: \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>The Tubbs Fire that struck the North Bay in 2017 shed light on an unseen threat that wildfires pose to clean water supplies; and a civil engineering professor out of Indiana has devised the playbook that utilities rely on to address the contamination.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>As the redistricting battle heats up between California and Texas, Republican legislators in the Golden State are suing to block the plan spearheaded by Governor Newsom to gerrymander California in favor of House Democrats. The move aims to offset congressional gains that Texas would get with their own redistricting plans.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12053436/when-wildfires-compromise-californias-drinking-water-utilities-lean-on-this-professors-advice\">\u003cstrong>It Took One of the States Biggest Blazes to Shed Light on How Wildfires Threaten Water, and How to Respond\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the Eaton and Palisades fires ripped through Los Angeles and Ventura counties earlier this year, residents living in or near the burned communities were warned not to \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2025-02-21/water-safetyfire-stricken-areas-la\">drink or cook with tap water\u003c/a> because it was contaminated with \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/01/11/nx-s1-5254227/la-fires-palisades-water-advisories\">known carcinogens\u003c/a>; and yet, the actual reservoirs and water sources that serve the LA area were spared from the bulk of the blazes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In past years, utilities would have looked at watersheds and reservoirs as the first place where contamination took place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11622421/video-santa-rosa-reeling-from-devastating-tubbs-fire\">the Tubbs Fire struck in 2017\u003c/a>, burning more than 36,000 acres across Sonoma, Napa and Lake counties. In the aftermath of that blaze, utilities learned that fire itself can sully clean water not just at the source, but at points of distribution, from treatment centers to the pipes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s where Purdue University engineering professor Andrew Whelton has stepped in. He has come up with the playbook that utilities throughout the United States look to, when a wildfire has impacted public drinking water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12053623/california-gop-sues-to-block-prop-50-a-democratic-led-redistricting-measure\">\u003cstrong>GOP Lawmakers Lob Legal Challenge at Gov. Newsom’s Redistricting Plans\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A group of Republican lawmakers is asking the California Supreme Court to remove a redistricting initiative from the November ballot, arguing Democrats violated the law when they rushed the measure through to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12053140/california-lawmakers-pass-redistricting-plan-now-it-heads-to-voters\">redraw congressional districts\u003c/a> ahead of the 2026 midterm election.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Democrats, led by Gov. Gavin Newsom, last week placed Proposition 50 on a special November ballot. The initiative asks voters to throw out the maps drawn by the state’s independent redistricting commission and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12052064/newsom-calls-for-special-election-to-redraw-californias-congressional-maps\">approve new congressional districts\u003c/a>, including five that are likely to flip from Republican to Democratic. It was written in response to Texas’ decision to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kut.org/politics/2025-08-23/texas-senate-redistricting-gerrmyandering-california-congressional-maps-passed-debate-governor\">redraw\u003c/a> its own congressional districts to flip five seats from blue to red.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.dhillonlaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/20250825_Writ_Remove-ACA-8-From-Ballot_FINAL.pdf\">lawsuit\u003c/a> was filed as an emergency petition to the state Supreme Court on behalf of four GOP members of the state Legislature, three California voters and a former member of the state’s independent redistricting commission, which has been tasked with drawing congressional districts for the past decade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\n",
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"description": "Here are your headline stories for the morning of Tuesday, August 26th, 2025: The Tubbs Fire that struck the North Bay in 2017 shed light on an unseen threat that wildfires pose to clean water supplies; and a civil engineering professor out of Indiana has devised the playbook that utilities rely on to address the contamination. As the redistricting battle heats up between California and Texas, Republican legislators in the Golden State are suing to block the plan spearheaded by Governor Newsom to gerrymander California in favor of House Democrats. The move aims to offset congressional gains that Texas would",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Here are your headline stories for the morning of Tuesday, August 26th, 2025: \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>The Tubbs Fire that struck the North Bay in 2017 shed light on an unseen threat that wildfires pose to clean water supplies; and a civil engineering professor out of Indiana has devised the playbook that utilities rely on to address the contamination.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>As the redistricting battle heats up between California and Texas, Republican legislators in the Golden State are suing to block the plan spearheaded by Governor Newsom to gerrymander California in favor of House Democrats. The move aims to offset congressional gains that Texas would get with their own redistricting plans.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12053436/when-wildfires-compromise-californias-drinking-water-utilities-lean-on-this-professors-advice\">\u003cstrong>It Took One of the States Biggest Blazes to Shed Light on How Wildfires Threaten Water, and How to Respond\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the Eaton and Palisades fires ripped through Los Angeles and Ventura counties earlier this year, residents living in or near the burned communities were warned not to \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2025-02-21/water-safetyfire-stricken-areas-la\">drink or cook with tap water\u003c/a> because it was contaminated with \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/01/11/nx-s1-5254227/la-fires-palisades-water-advisories\">known carcinogens\u003c/a>; and yet, the actual reservoirs and water sources that serve the LA area were spared from the bulk of the blazes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In past years, utilities would have looked at watersheds and reservoirs as the first place where contamination took place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11622421/video-santa-rosa-reeling-from-devastating-tubbs-fire\">the Tubbs Fire struck in 2017\u003c/a>, burning more than 36,000 acres across Sonoma, Napa and Lake counties. In the aftermath of that blaze, utilities learned that fire itself can sully clean water not just at the source, but at points of distribution, from treatment centers to the pipes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s where Purdue University engineering professor Andrew Whelton has stepped in. He has come up with the playbook that utilities throughout the United States look to, when a wildfire has impacted public drinking water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12053623/california-gop-sues-to-block-prop-50-a-democratic-led-redistricting-measure\">\u003cstrong>GOP Lawmakers Lob Legal Challenge at Gov. Newsom’s Redistricting Plans\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A group of Republican lawmakers is asking the California Supreme Court to remove a redistricting initiative from the November ballot, arguing Democrats violated the law when they rushed the measure through to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12053140/california-lawmakers-pass-redistricting-plan-now-it-heads-to-voters\">redraw congressional districts\u003c/a> ahead of the 2026 midterm election.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Democrats, led by Gov. Gavin Newsom, last week placed Proposition 50 on a special November ballot. The initiative asks voters to throw out the maps drawn by the state’s independent redistricting commission and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12052064/newsom-calls-for-special-election-to-redraw-californias-congressional-maps\">approve new congressional districts\u003c/a>, including five that are likely to flip from Republican to Democratic. It was written in response to Texas’ decision to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kut.org/politics/2025-08-23/texas-senate-redistricting-gerrmyandering-california-congressional-maps-passed-debate-governor\">redraw\u003c/a> its own congressional districts to flip five seats from blue to red.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.dhillonlaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/20250825_Writ_Remove-ACA-8-From-Ballot_FINAL.pdf\">lawsuit\u003c/a> was filed as an emergency petition to the state Supreme Court on behalf of four GOP members of the state Legislature, three California voters and a former member of the state’s independent redistricting commission, which has been tasked with drawing congressional districts for the past decade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \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": "sonoma-valley-roads-could-be-a-death-trap-in-wildfire-evacuation-report-says",
"title": "Sonoma Valley Roads Could Be a ‘Death Trap’ in Wildfire Evacuation, Report Says",
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"content": "\u003cp>Sonoma Valley roads could turn into a “death trap” in a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12021444/many-communities-arent-ready-for-wildfire-evacuations-heres-what-they-can-do\">wildfire evacuation\u003c/a>, leaving residents stuck in up to nine hours of traffic, according to a recent study.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 187-page \u003ca href=\"https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/uwgc0rw9ko6as04swc70y/KLD_TR_24-1462_Sonoma_Valley_Final_Report_01-28-25-v0.1.pdf?rlkey=h9fh5w7nd5y6221qxrotrfswp&e=1&st=k75olo3e&dl=0\">report\u003c/a>, released to the public on Monday, was commissioned by the local Valley of the Moon Alliance, or VOTMA, which plans to present it to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/sonoma-county\">Sonoma County\u003c/a> Board of Supervisors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We really wanted to do something that would help make people aware of what some of the parameters are in trying to get out of the valley if it burns — and it’s going to burn again,” said Kevin Padian, who was an advisor on the study and part of a group that pushed for it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The results of the study, although numerous, boil down to two concerning observations of the county’s current capacity for mass evacuations: it’s inadequate and severely outdated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The roads in the Sonoma Valley haven’t been improved in a major way for a century,” Padian said. “At present, they are not sufficient to service our present population in case of an evacuation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An evacuation of the valley would entail about 34,000 vehicles fleeing the area on two routes, which would cause traffic to move at 1–2 mph, according to the report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Padian is a former member of the Kensington Fire Board near the Berkeley Hills, which conducted a similar study. He said he felt compelled to push for a Sonoma Valley traffic study after experiencing the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11621778/wind-whipped-wildfires-forcing-evacuations-in-napa-and-sonoma-counties\">2017 fires\u003c/a> that ripped through the valley and left residents trying to flee in gridlock.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The study simulated evacuations based on the outlined routes and current population and found that residents would spend hours in gridlock. Glen Ellen residents, notably, are projected to see up to nine hours of traffic congestion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Everything’s going to get choked in a fire,” Padian said. “They’ve [KLD Associates] got animations of what’s going to happen and how, and the results are really sobering.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rebecca Cohen, a program director who managed the study for Texas-based firm KLD Associates, said the results showed the valley’s roadway capacity would likely fall short of demand in an evacuation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I do have concerns as to whether or not they would be able to evacuate in sufficient time,” said Cohen, who is a traffic engineer by trade. “It’s tough to say because without knowing exactly where a fire is going to start and how quickly it’s going to spread, I cannot say for sure if there is sufficient time to evacuate.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11622102\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11622102\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/10/RS27338_GettyImages-859542984-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/10/RS27338_GettyImages-859542984-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/10/RS27338_GettyImages-859542984-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/10/RS27338_GettyImages-859542984-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/10/RS27338_GettyImages-859542984-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/10/RS27338_GettyImages-859542984-qut-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/10/RS27338_GettyImages-859542984-qut-960x640.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/10/RS27338_GettyImages-859542984-qut-240x160.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/10/RS27338_GettyImages-859542984-qut-375x250.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/10/RS27338_GettyImages-859542984-qut-520x347.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An out-of-control wildfire approaches Gundlach Bundschu winery on Oct. 9, 2017, in Sonoma, California. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>VOTMA, a nonprofit grassroots organization founded in 2002 by Sonoma Valley residents, has been vocal in challenging various policy and development proposals in the county, specifically as they relate to wildlife and agriculture. Its organizers raised $90,000 to fund the Sonoma Area Fire Evacuation report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cohen said the firm is usually contracted by governmental municipalities or private utility nuclear plants, so it was a surprise when VOTMA reached out to them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was actually really nice because there was a ton of community engagement, review, input and concern,” Cohen said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Padian said that while KLD Associates compiled traffic and road data, VOTMA conducted a survey of evacuation behaviors and needs and gathered other demographic data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I really think that every municipality in the wildlife-urban interface should have something like this to guide them in how to plan to get people out,” Padian said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sonoma County Supervisor Lynda Hopkins acknowledged the concerns brought up by Padian and VOTMA, writing in a statement that “when Sonoma County’s infrastructure and communities were built decades ago, leaders weren’t planning for an era of catastrophic wildfire and mass evacuations.”[aside postID=news_12021444 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/GettyImages-2192874110_resize.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hopkins also noted that the area is “seeing \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12025777/north-bay-rivers-flood-after-storm-little-time-prepare-next-round-rain\">major landslides\u003c/a> that take out critical evacuation routes and require complicated engineering solutions and permitting processes to repair — projects that can take years and millions of dollars to complete.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Supervisor Rebecca Hermosillo, whose district includes the Sonoma Valley, thanked VOTMA for their “initiative and leadership.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I look forward to reading the study and working through our county process that will also seek to address public safety,” she said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>VOTMA plans to hold a community meeting on Feb. 24 to present the study’s findings and rally other residents before taking the report to the Board of Supervisors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Feb. 13: A previous version of this story incorrectly said Kevin Padian was a VOTMA founder and former member of the Sonoma County Fire Board. He advised on the study commissioned by VOTMA and served on a different fire board in the East Bay. It has been updated to correct the error.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Sonoma Valley roads could turn into a “death trap” in a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12021444/many-communities-arent-ready-for-wildfire-evacuations-heres-what-they-can-do\">wildfire evacuation\u003c/a>, leaving residents stuck in up to nine hours of traffic, according to a recent study.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 187-page \u003ca href=\"https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/uwgc0rw9ko6as04swc70y/KLD_TR_24-1462_Sonoma_Valley_Final_Report_01-28-25-v0.1.pdf?rlkey=h9fh5w7nd5y6221qxrotrfswp&e=1&st=k75olo3e&dl=0\">report\u003c/a>, released to the public on Monday, was commissioned by the local Valley of the Moon Alliance, or VOTMA, which plans to present it to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/sonoma-county\">Sonoma County\u003c/a> Board of Supervisors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We really wanted to do something that would help make people aware of what some of the parameters are in trying to get out of the valley if it burns — and it’s going to burn again,” said Kevin Padian, who was an advisor on the study and part of a group that pushed for it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The results of the study, although numerous, boil down to two concerning observations of the county’s current capacity for mass evacuations: it’s inadequate and severely outdated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The roads in the Sonoma Valley haven’t been improved in a major way for a century,” Padian said. “At present, they are not sufficient to service our present population in case of an evacuation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An evacuation of the valley would entail about 34,000 vehicles fleeing the area on two routes, which would cause traffic to move at 1–2 mph, according to the report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Padian is a former member of the Kensington Fire Board near the Berkeley Hills, which conducted a similar study. He said he felt compelled to push for a Sonoma Valley traffic study after experiencing the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11621778/wind-whipped-wildfires-forcing-evacuations-in-napa-and-sonoma-counties\">2017 fires\u003c/a> that ripped through the valley and left residents trying to flee in gridlock.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The study simulated evacuations based on the outlined routes and current population and found that residents would spend hours in gridlock. Glen Ellen residents, notably, are projected to see up to nine hours of traffic congestion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Everything’s going to get choked in a fire,” Padian said. “They’ve [KLD Associates] got animations of what’s going to happen and how, and the results are really sobering.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rebecca Cohen, a program director who managed the study for Texas-based firm KLD Associates, said the results showed the valley’s roadway capacity would likely fall short of demand in an evacuation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I do have concerns as to whether or not they would be able to evacuate in sufficient time,” said Cohen, who is a traffic engineer by trade. “It’s tough to say because without knowing exactly where a fire is going to start and how quickly it’s going to spread, I cannot say for sure if there is sufficient time to evacuate.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11622102\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11622102\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/10/RS27338_GettyImages-859542984-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/10/RS27338_GettyImages-859542984-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/10/RS27338_GettyImages-859542984-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/10/RS27338_GettyImages-859542984-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/10/RS27338_GettyImages-859542984-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/10/RS27338_GettyImages-859542984-qut-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/10/RS27338_GettyImages-859542984-qut-960x640.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/10/RS27338_GettyImages-859542984-qut-240x160.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/10/RS27338_GettyImages-859542984-qut-375x250.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/10/RS27338_GettyImages-859542984-qut-520x347.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An out-of-control wildfire approaches Gundlach Bundschu winery on Oct. 9, 2017, in Sonoma, California. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>VOTMA, a nonprofit grassroots organization founded in 2002 by Sonoma Valley residents, has been vocal in challenging various policy and development proposals in the county, specifically as they relate to wildlife and agriculture. Its organizers raised $90,000 to fund the Sonoma Area Fire Evacuation report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cohen said the firm is usually contracted by governmental municipalities or private utility nuclear plants, so it was a surprise when VOTMA reached out to them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was actually really nice because there was a ton of community engagement, review, input and concern,” Cohen said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Padian said that while KLD Associates compiled traffic and road data, VOTMA conducted a survey of evacuation behaviors and needs and gathered other demographic data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I really think that every municipality in the wildlife-urban interface should have something like this to guide them in how to plan to get people out,” Padian said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sonoma County Supervisor Lynda Hopkins acknowledged the concerns brought up by Padian and VOTMA, writing in a statement that “when Sonoma County’s infrastructure and communities were built decades ago, leaders weren’t planning for an era of catastrophic wildfire and mass evacuations.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hopkins also noted that the area is “seeing \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12025777/north-bay-rivers-flood-after-storm-little-time-prepare-next-round-rain\">major landslides\u003c/a> that take out critical evacuation routes and require complicated engineering solutions and permitting processes to repair — projects that can take years and millions of dollars to complete.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Supervisor Rebecca Hermosillo, whose district includes the Sonoma Valley, thanked VOTMA for their “initiative and leadership.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I look forward to reading the study and working through our county process that will also seek to address public safety,” she said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>VOTMA plans to hold a community meeting on Feb. 24 to present the study’s findings and rally other residents before taking the report to the Board of Supervisors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Feb. 13: A previous version of this story incorrectly said Kevin Padian was a VOTMA founder and former member of the Sonoma County Fire Board. He advised on the study commissioned by VOTMA and served on a different fire board in the East Bay. It has been updated to correct the error.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "from-sonoma-to-los-angeles-wildfires-hit-child-care-industry-hard",
"title": "From Sonoma to Los Angeles, Wildfires Hit Child Care Industry Hard",
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"headTitle": "From Sonoma to Los Angeles, Wildfires Hit Child Care Industry Hard | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>After the 2017 Tubbs wildfire destroyed the Santa Rosa preschool Renee Whitlock-Hemsouvanh had opened three years earlier, she felt desperate and hopeless and uncertain of the school’s future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many of the school’s families had also lost their homes, and she didn’t think she could recuperate enough insurance money to rebuild.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There was just a lot of disbelief because whoever thinks that you’re going to lose everything, like it’s just gonna burn to the ground?” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She eventually reestablished her preschool at another site, but the recovery took years. Lately, Whitlock-Hemsouvanh finds herself playing the role of wildfire survivor, giving advice to early educators in Los Angeles County figuring out how to move forward after last month’s devastating wildfires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12025677\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_01420.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12025677\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_01420.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_01420.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_01420-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_01420-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_01420-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_01420-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_01420-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kauai, a preschool student, puts on dry socks after coming in from outdoor play at Fulton Community School & Farm. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Forty licensed centers or homes that provide child care in Altadena and Pacific Palisades were destroyed, and about 240 others remain closed because of smoke damage or lack of power and water, according to the California Department of Social Services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Family child care providers who lost their homes also lost their livelihoods. A coalition of childcare advocates, along with state and local agencies, are helping providers prepare for reopening and displaced families find child care wherever they land.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of folks are just getting to the point where they’ve been able to see what’s left, if anything is left, and starting to make plans for their next steps,” said Donna Sneeringer, chief strategy officer for Child Care Resource Center, based in L.A.’s San Fernando Valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12025682\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_02636.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12025682\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_02636.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_02636.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_02636-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_02636-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_02636-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_02636-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_02636-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Renee Whitlock-Hemsouvanh is the director of Fulton Community School & Farm in Santa Rosa. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Whitlock-Hemsouvanh advises program directors like Alana Levitt, whose preschool sustained smoke damage in the Palisades fire, how to mitigate that damage, how to deep clean playgrounds and how to support families whose lives were upended by the fires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Levitt, director of Kehillat Israel’s Early Childhood Center, said enrollment had been cut in half because families scattered to other parts of California or even other states.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She temporarily moved to another preschool building in nearby Santa Monica that had space for the remaining children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We acted fast because the lesson that we learned from COVID is that we have to adapt really quickly,” Levitt said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12025683\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_02693.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12025683\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_02693.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_02693.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_02693-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_02693-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_02693-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_02693-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_02693-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fulton Community School & Farm in Santa Rosa was once a Lutheran church. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>She was able to do that because the state is granting\u003ca href=\"https://url.us.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/meTVCkRozNIr6xKjTkCyTGeHqZ?domain=cdss.ca.gov\"> licensed child care providers some flexibility\u003c/a> in where they can relocate and how many children they can admit so they can continue their work in the aftermath of a disaster. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass also issued \u003ca href=\"https://mayor.lacity.gov/sites/g/files/wph2066/files/2025-02/EO%204%20-%20Emergency%20Executive%20Order%20-%20Temporary%20School%20and%20Child%20Care%20Facility%20Use.pdf\">an executive order\u003c/a> this week to speed up the process of opening new child care facilities in the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Levitt’s experience parallels what Whitlock-Hemsouvanh went through seven years ago. Two weeks after the Tubbs fire killed 22 people and destroyed 4,600 homes — the most destructive in state history at the time — her preschool moved to a temporary site and relied on donated books and supplies. Parents pitched in to spruce up the classrooms and outdoor play area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She then caught a break when the city of Santa Rosa decided to lease a former church on city-owned land at a fair market value.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12026087\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_02015_duo.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12026087 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_02015_duo.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"660\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_02015_duo.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_02015_duo-800x264.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_02015_duo-1020x337.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_02015_duo-160x53.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_02015_duo-1536x507.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_02015_duo-1920x634.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Preschooler Joshua plays with a set of toys and (right) changes socks with the direction of his teacher, Yuka Morris, at Fulton Community School & Farm. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/santa-rosa-to-lease-former-church-to-day-care-company-that-lost-facility-in/\">City officials chose the preschool over other proposals to\u003c/a> convert the property into transitional housing or a hospice facility after deciding to make affordable child care a priority.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In all, Sonoma County \u003ca href=\"https://upstreaminvestments.org/Microsites/Upstream%20Investments/Documents/READY/READY-Annual-Report-23-24.pdf\">lost 450 child care slots to the 2017 fires and\u003c/a> about 50% of its remaining licensed child care capacity after the COVID-19 pandemic gutted the early education workforce, according to a county report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Experts say that because the sector already struggles with low profit margins, any additional costs brought on by events like the Sonoma and Los Angeles fires can destabilize providers and lead to closures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s already this lack of quality, accessible child care and when you add in an extreme weather event or natural disaster, it just kind of multiplies and exacerbates those existing problems,” said Ariel Ford, senior vice president of program impact at Child Care Aware of America, which offers \u003ca href=\"https://www.childcareaware.org/our-issues/crisis-and-disaster-resources/\">emergency preparedness, response and recovery tips\u003c/a> to its national network of child care resource organizations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Child care is often an afterthought following a disaster, Ford said, “even though the parents are scrambling to find [it] because when you have little ones, you can’t do the work of recovery while you also have a baby on your hip.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12025681\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_02536.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12025681\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_02536.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_02536.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_02536-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_02536-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_02536-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_02536-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_02536-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sally Soundara prepares lunch for the students at Fulton Community School & Farm. Soundara was on staff at the Mark West Community Preschool before fire destroyed it. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For Whitlock-Hemsouvanh, community support was instrumental in helping her recover from her loss.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Changes in zoning regulations and reductions in red tape allowed her to reestablish her business. She abandoned plans to rebuild the burned preschool and used money raised for that project to convert the church into a spacious preschool named \u003ca href=\"https://fultoncommunityschool.com/\">Fulton Community School & Farm\u003c/a>. Contributions from United Way Wine Country and First 5 Sonoma County helped cover the $100,000 cost of installing a fire sprinkler system to bring it up to licensing standards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12025674\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_00170.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12025674\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_00170.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_00170.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_00170-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_00170-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_00170-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_00170-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_00170-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Children play on ‘woodchip mountain’ at Fulton Community School & Farm. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>However, a day after moving into the building in March 2020, the state ordered shutdowns to slow the spread of the coronavirus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was a wild time, and we stayed closed for two months,” she said.[aside label=\"Related Stories\" postID=\"news_12021661,news_12024321,forum_2010101908557\"]When it reopened, the preschool operated at a lower capacity as children and teachers gradually returned to in-person learning. But after seven years of turmoil, enrollment has increased, staffing has stabilized, and she has paid off debts associated with losing her preschool to the fires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new building is on three acres of land, giving kids plenty of room to play outside, grow the food they eat and feed goats and chickens in the garden.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“From that time in 2017 until now has been nothing but change and recovery, and I think that it is this year finally that we’re seeing the light at the end of the tunnel,” Whitlock-Hemsouvanh said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She encourages early educators to strengthen relationships in their community as they seek the help that they need. She also thinks a growing awareness of the child care crisis led voters in November to pass \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12014476/3-local-measures-in-california-boosting-funding-for-kids-programs-on-verge-of-victory\">a quarter-cent sales tax\u003c/a> to raise about $30 million annually to fund child care and mental health services for young kids. She sees the funding as part of the long-term recovery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>“\u003c/strong>There’s a lot more people looking at this early childhood time as a profound time in life and seeing it as valuable and worthy of investment,” she said. “I’m just hoping that that kind of momentum continues in our community. And I realize it’s not that way everywhere, but in Sonoma County and in Santa Rosa, it feels like we’re really being seen.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Nearly 300 child care facilities remain closed a month after the wildfires swept through Los Angeles County, upending tens of thousands of lives. Early educators there are looking to Sonoma County for lessons on how to recover.",
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"title": "From Sonoma to Los Angeles, Wildfires Hit Child Care Industry Hard | KQED",
"description": "Nearly 300 child care facilities remain closed a month after the wildfires swept through Los Angeles County, upending tens of thousands of lives. Early educators there are looking to Sonoma County for lessons on how to recover.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>After the 2017 Tubbs wildfire destroyed the Santa Rosa preschool Renee Whitlock-Hemsouvanh had opened three years earlier, she felt desperate and hopeless and uncertain of the school’s future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many of the school’s families had also lost their homes, and she didn’t think she could recuperate enough insurance money to rebuild.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There was just a lot of disbelief because whoever thinks that you’re going to lose everything, like it’s just gonna burn to the ground?” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She eventually reestablished her preschool at another site, but the recovery took years. Lately, Whitlock-Hemsouvanh finds herself playing the role of wildfire survivor, giving advice to early educators in Los Angeles County figuring out how to move forward after last month’s devastating wildfires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12025677\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_01420.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12025677\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_01420.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_01420.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_01420-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_01420-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_01420-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_01420-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_01420-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kauai, a preschool student, puts on dry socks after coming in from outdoor play at Fulton Community School & Farm. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Forty licensed centers or homes that provide child care in Altadena and Pacific Palisades were destroyed, and about 240 others remain closed because of smoke damage or lack of power and water, according to the California Department of Social Services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Family child care providers who lost their homes also lost their livelihoods. A coalition of childcare advocates, along with state and local agencies, are helping providers prepare for reopening and displaced families find child care wherever they land.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of folks are just getting to the point where they’ve been able to see what’s left, if anything is left, and starting to make plans for their next steps,” said Donna Sneeringer, chief strategy officer for Child Care Resource Center, based in L.A.’s San Fernando Valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12025682\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_02636.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12025682\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_02636.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_02636.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_02636-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_02636-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_02636-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_02636-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_02636-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Renee Whitlock-Hemsouvanh is the director of Fulton Community School & Farm in Santa Rosa. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Whitlock-Hemsouvanh advises program directors like Alana Levitt, whose preschool sustained smoke damage in the Palisades fire, how to mitigate that damage, how to deep clean playgrounds and how to support families whose lives were upended by the fires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Levitt, director of Kehillat Israel’s Early Childhood Center, said enrollment had been cut in half because families scattered to other parts of California or even other states.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She temporarily moved to another preschool building in nearby Santa Monica that had space for the remaining children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We acted fast because the lesson that we learned from COVID is that we have to adapt really quickly,” Levitt said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12025683\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_02693.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12025683\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_02693.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_02693.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_02693-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_02693-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_02693-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_02693-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_02693-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fulton Community School & Farm in Santa Rosa was once a Lutheran church. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>She was able to do that because the state is granting\u003ca href=\"https://url.us.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/meTVCkRozNIr6xKjTkCyTGeHqZ?domain=cdss.ca.gov\"> licensed child care providers some flexibility\u003c/a> in where they can relocate and how many children they can admit so they can continue their work in the aftermath of a disaster. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass also issued \u003ca href=\"https://mayor.lacity.gov/sites/g/files/wph2066/files/2025-02/EO%204%20-%20Emergency%20Executive%20Order%20-%20Temporary%20School%20and%20Child%20Care%20Facility%20Use.pdf\">an executive order\u003c/a> this week to speed up the process of opening new child care facilities in the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Levitt’s experience parallels what Whitlock-Hemsouvanh went through seven years ago. Two weeks after the Tubbs fire killed 22 people and destroyed 4,600 homes — the most destructive in state history at the time — her preschool moved to a temporary site and relied on donated books and supplies. Parents pitched in to spruce up the classrooms and outdoor play area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She then caught a break when the city of Santa Rosa decided to lease a former church on city-owned land at a fair market value.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12026087\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_02015_duo.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12026087 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_02015_duo.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"660\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_02015_duo.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_02015_duo-800x264.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_02015_duo-1020x337.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_02015_duo-160x53.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_02015_duo-1536x507.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_02015_duo-1920x634.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Preschooler Joshua plays with a set of toys and (right) changes socks with the direction of his teacher, Yuka Morris, at Fulton Community School & Farm. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/santa-rosa-to-lease-former-church-to-day-care-company-that-lost-facility-in/\">City officials chose the preschool over other proposals to\u003c/a> convert the property into transitional housing or a hospice facility after deciding to make affordable child care a priority.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In all, Sonoma County \u003ca href=\"https://upstreaminvestments.org/Microsites/Upstream%20Investments/Documents/READY/READY-Annual-Report-23-24.pdf\">lost 450 child care slots to the 2017 fires and\u003c/a> about 50% of its remaining licensed child care capacity after the COVID-19 pandemic gutted the early education workforce, according to a county report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Experts say that because the sector already struggles with low profit margins, any additional costs brought on by events like the Sonoma and Los Angeles fires can destabilize providers and lead to closures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s already this lack of quality, accessible child care and when you add in an extreme weather event or natural disaster, it just kind of multiplies and exacerbates those existing problems,” said Ariel Ford, senior vice president of program impact at Child Care Aware of America, which offers \u003ca href=\"https://www.childcareaware.org/our-issues/crisis-and-disaster-resources/\">emergency preparedness, response and recovery tips\u003c/a> to its national network of child care resource organizations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Child care is often an afterthought following a disaster, Ford said, “even though the parents are scrambling to find [it] because when you have little ones, you can’t do the work of recovery while you also have a baby on your hip.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12025681\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_02536.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12025681\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_02536.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_02536.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_02536-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_02536-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_02536-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_02536-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_02536-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sally Soundara prepares lunch for the students at Fulton Community School & Farm. Soundara was on staff at the Mark West Community Preschool before fire destroyed it. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For Whitlock-Hemsouvanh, community support was instrumental in helping her recover from her loss.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Changes in zoning regulations and reductions in red tape allowed her to reestablish her business. She abandoned plans to rebuild the burned preschool and used money raised for that project to convert the church into a spacious preschool named \u003ca href=\"https://fultoncommunityschool.com/\">Fulton Community School & Farm\u003c/a>. Contributions from United Way Wine Country and First 5 Sonoma County helped cover the $100,000 cost of installing a fire sprinkler system to bring it up to licensing standards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12025674\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_00170.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12025674\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_00170.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_00170.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_00170-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_00170-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_00170-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_00170-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250204_Post-Fire-Child-Care_DMB_00170-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Children play on ‘woodchip mountain’ at Fulton Community School & Farm. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>However, a day after moving into the building in March 2020, the state ordered shutdowns to slow the spread of the coronavirus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was a wild time, and we stayed closed for two months,” she said.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>When it reopened, the preschool operated at a lower capacity as children and teachers gradually returned to in-person learning. But after seven years of turmoil, enrollment has increased, staffing has stabilized, and she has paid off debts associated with losing her preschool to the fires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new building is on three acres of land, giving kids plenty of room to play outside, grow the food they eat and feed goats and chickens in the garden.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“From that time in 2017 until now has been nothing but change and recovery, and I think that it is this year finally that we’re seeing the light at the end of the tunnel,” Whitlock-Hemsouvanh said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She encourages early educators to strengthen relationships in their community as they seek the help that they need. She also thinks a growing awareness of the child care crisis led voters in November to pass \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12014476/3-local-measures-in-california-boosting-funding-for-kids-programs-on-verge-of-victory\">a quarter-cent sales tax\u003c/a> to raise about $30 million annually to fund child care and mental health services for young kids. She sees the funding as part of the long-term recovery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>“\u003c/strong>There’s a lot more people looking at this early childhood time as a profound time in life and seeing it as valuable and worthy of investment,” she said. “I’m just hoping that that kind of momentum continues in our community. And I realize it’s not that way everywhere, but in Sonoma County and in Santa Rosa, it feels like we’re really being seen.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "rebuilding-lessons-from-former-fire-victims",
"title": "Rebuilding Lessons From Former Fire Victims",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cb>Here are the morning’s top stories on Wednesday, February 5, 2025…\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">More than 16,000 structures were lost in last month’s wildfires in LA. Residents there are now beginning the difficult process of deciding whether they can — or even want to — rebuild. For those who do, experts and survivors of past wildfires say there are ways to build in some resilience against future fires. \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12024420/rebuilding-la-heres-what-fire-survivors-and-experts-say-is-key\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In Santa Rosa’s Coffey Park\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, that’s what many residents did after the 2017 Tubbs Fire decimated their neighborhood. \u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Big water releases from \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.politico.com/news/2025/01/31/trump-california-water-00201909\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">two Central Valley dams\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> are leaving farmers flummoxed. It’s the result of an executive order from President Trump that’s supposed to help fight wildfires in Los Angeles. But the water is unlikely to reach its intended destination.\u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli> Governor Gavin Newsom is \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2025/02/gavin-newsom-la-fire-aid-trump/\">in the nation’s capital\u003c/a> on Wednesday where he plans to meet with President Trump. Newsom is hoping to secure aid for victims of the deadly wildfires in Los Angeles.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2 class=\"routes-Site-routes-Post-Title-__Title__title\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12024420/rebuilding-la-heres-what-fire-survivors-and-experts-say-is-key\">\u003cstrong>Rebuilding LA: Here’s What Fire Survivors And Experts Say Is Key\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Annie Barbour knows what it feels like to lose everything she worked for in an instant. The home she bought in Santa Rosa’s Coffey Park neighborhood in 1989 was almost paid off. She had just started to make renovations to prepare it for her son and his wife to live there someday. Then it burned — along with \u003ca href=\"https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/2017/10/8/tubbs-fire-central-lnu-complex/\">more than 5,600 other structures\u003c/a> in the 2017 Tubbs Fire. When she returned to the spot where her home once stood, all she could see was rubble. “This whole place looked like a bomb had gone off,” she said. “You could see all the way through Coffey Park. No houses all the way to the railroad tracks. It was decimated.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, there’s a one-story, taupe house with white eaves and a neatly trimmed front yard. Many of her neighbors’ homes have been rebuilt, as well. To the untrained eye, it might look like any other suburban neighborhood in the state, but most of the homes now have features designed to withstand wildfires to come.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Barbour and her neighbors’ experiences with rebuilding offer lessons — backed by the latest research from architects and experts — for Southern Californians displaced by January’s wildfires, who are now just beginning to think about whether to rebuild. Fire experts say understanding how wildfires move and grow can help homeowners protect their house against the next one. That means reducing the fuels that feed fires, said Ian Giammanco, a researcher at the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety. “If you think about a hurricane or tornado, they’re not getting more intense because they’ve destroyed a bunch of buildings, but a wildfire absolutely is when it turns into one of these conflagration events,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Central Valley Farmers Confused By Trump’s Executive Order\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Saying they were acting on orders from President Trump, the Army Corps of Engineers last week \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2025-01-31/trump-california-dams-opened-up\">significantly increased\u003c/a> the amount of water released from two dams – the Terminus Dam at Lake Kaweah and Schafer Dam at Lake Success.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The move left many farmers in the Central Valley perplexed. Joel Isaak has farmed in Tulare County for 50 years. “We should keep it until we know we have some excess, but right now it looks like we’re going to have a dry year,” he said. Isaak and other farmers rely on water stored at those dams to irrigate their fields in the spring.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Army Corps of Engineers oversees the dams and said they released the water to help with firefighting efforts in Southern California. But Los Angeles is separated from the Sierra Nevada by hundreds of miles and a 4,000-foot-tall mountain pass, making the water transfer costly and impractical, as it’s unlikely to ever reach its intended destination.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch1 class=\"entry-title \">\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2025/02/gavin-newsom-la-fire-aid-trump/\">Seeking LA Fire Aid, Gavin Newsom Is Set To Meet Donald Trump In D.C.\u003c/a>\u003c/h1>\n\u003cp>A day after California lawmakers finalized approval of $25 million in legal funding to challenge the Trump administration, Gov. Gavin Newsom headed east Tuesday for his first D.C. visit of the new Trump era.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Democratic governor left for Washington midday, his office announced, and is expected to stay through Thursday to lobby for assistance for the Los Angeles fires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His office confirmed that Newsom will sit down with President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly threatened to condition aid for Los Angeles — including on changes to water policy and a voter ID requirement — since the devastating fires broke out nearly a month ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The trip to Washington follows a week and a half after Trump \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2025/01/trump-la-fires-newsom/\">briefly stopped in Los Angeles to survey fire damage\u003c/a>. Though the president conspicuously excluded Newsom from that tour, he did manage — after much public back-and-forth — to greet Trump at the airport, where the two men embraced. It was reportedly their first conversation since the president’s first term ended four years ago.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cb>Here are the morning’s top stories on Wednesday, February 5, 2025…\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">More than 16,000 structures were lost in last month’s wildfires in LA. Residents there are now beginning the difficult process of deciding whether they can — or even want to — rebuild. For those who do, experts and survivors of past wildfires say there are ways to build in some resilience against future fires. \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12024420/rebuilding-la-heres-what-fire-survivors-and-experts-say-is-key\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In Santa Rosa’s Coffey Park\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, that’s what many residents did after the 2017 Tubbs Fire decimated their neighborhood. \u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Big water releases from \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.politico.com/news/2025/01/31/trump-california-water-00201909\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">two Central Valley dams\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> are leaving farmers flummoxed. It’s the result of an executive order from President Trump that’s supposed to help fight wildfires in Los Angeles. But the water is unlikely to reach its intended destination.\u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli> Governor Gavin Newsom is \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2025/02/gavin-newsom-la-fire-aid-trump/\">in the nation’s capital\u003c/a> on Wednesday where he plans to meet with President Trump. Newsom is hoping to secure aid for victims of the deadly wildfires in Los Angeles.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2 class=\"routes-Site-routes-Post-Title-__Title__title\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12024420/rebuilding-la-heres-what-fire-survivors-and-experts-say-is-key\">\u003cstrong>Rebuilding LA: Here’s What Fire Survivors And Experts Say Is Key\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Annie Barbour knows what it feels like to lose everything she worked for in an instant. The home she bought in Santa Rosa’s Coffey Park neighborhood in 1989 was almost paid off. She had just started to make renovations to prepare it for her son and his wife to live there someday. Then it burned — along with \u003ca href=\"https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/2017/10/8/tubbs-fire-central-lnu-complex/\">more than 5,600 other structures\u003c/a> in the 2017 Tubbs Fire. When she returned to the spot where her home once stood, all she could see was rubble. “This whole place looked like a bomb had gone off,” she said. “You could see all the way through Coffey Park. No houses all the way to the railroad tracks. It was decimated.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, there’s a one-story, taupe house with white eaves and a neatly trimmed front yard. Many of her neighbors’ homes have been rebuilt, as well. To the untrained eye, it might look like any other suburban neighborhood in the state, but most of the homes now have features designed to withstand wildfires to come.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Barbour and her neighbors’ experiences with rebuilding offer lessons — backed by the latest research from architects and experts — for Southern Californians displaced by January’s wildfires, who are now just beginning to think about whether to rebuild. Fire experts say understanding how wildfires move and grow can help homeowners protect their house against the next one. That means reducing the fuels that feed fires, said Ian Giammanco, a researcher at the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety. “If you think about a hurricane or tornado, they’re not getting more intense because they’ve destroyed a bunch of buildings, but a wildfire absolutely is when it turns into one of these conflagration events,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Central Valley Farmers Confused By Trump’s Executive Order\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Saying they were acting on orders from President Trump, the Army Corps of Engineers last week \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2025-01-31/trump-california-dams-opened-up\">significantly increased\u003c/a> the amount of water released from two dams – the Terminus Dam at Lake Kaweah and Schafer Dam at Lake Success.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The move left many farmers in the Central Valley perplexed. Joel Isaak has farmed in Tulare County for 50 years. “We should keep it until we know we have some excess, but right now it looks like we’re going to have a dry year,” he said. Isaak and other farmers rely on water stored at those dams to irrigate their fields in the spring.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Army Corps of Engineers oversees the dams and said they released the water to help with firefighting efforts in Southern California. But Los Angeles is separated from the Sierra Nevada by hundreds of miles and a 4,000-foot-tall mountain pass, making the water transfer costly and impractical, as it’s unlikely to ever reach its intended destination.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch1 class=\"entry-title \">\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2025/02/gavin-newsom-la-fire-aid-trump/\">Seeking LA Fire Aid, Gavin Newsom Is Set To Meet Donald Trump In D.C.\u003c/a>\u003c/h1>\n\u003cp>A day after California lawmakers finalized approval of $25 million in legal funding to challenge the Trump administration, Gov. Gavin Newsom headed east Tuesday for his first D.C. visit of the new Trump era.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Democratic governor left for Washington midday, his office announced, and is expected to stay through Thursday to lobby for assistance for the Los Angeles fires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His office confirmed that Newsom will sit down with President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly threatened to condition aid for Los Angeles — including on changes to water policy and a voter ID requirement — since the devastating fires broke out nearly a month ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The trip to Washington follows a week and a half after Trump \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2025/01/trump-la-fires-newsom/\">briefly stopped in Los Angeles to survey fire damage\u003c/a>. Though the president conspicuously excluded Newsom from that tour, he did manage — after much public back-and-forth — to greet Trump at the airport, where the two men embraced. It was reportedly their first conversation since the president’s first term ended four years ago.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Annie Barbour knows what it feels like to lose everything she worked for in an instant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The home she bought in Santa Rosa’s Coffey Park neighborhood in 1989 was almost paid off. She had just started to make renovations to prepare it for her son and his wife to live there someday. Then it burned — along with \u003ca href=\"https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/2017/10/8/tubbs-fire-central-lnu-complex/\">more than 5,600 other structures\u003c/a> in the 2017 Tubbs Fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When she returned to the spot where her home once stood, all she could see was rubble.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This whole place looked like a bomb had gone off,” she said. “You could see all the way through Coffey Park. No houses all the way to the railroad tracks. It was decimated.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, there’s a one-story, taupe house with white eaves and a neatly trimmed front yard. Many of her neighbors’ homes have been rebuilt, as well. To the untrained eye, it might look like any other suburban neighborhood in the state, but most of the homes now have features designed to withstand wildfires to come.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Barbour and her neighbors’ experiences with rebuilding offer lessons — backed by the latest research from architects and experts — for Southern Californians displaced by January’s wildfires, who are now just beginning to think about whether to rebuild.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12024077\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12024077\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250123_RebuildingAfterWildfire_GC-29.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250123_RebuildingAfterWildfire_GC-29.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250123_RebuildingAfterWildfire_GC-29-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250123_RebuildingAfterWildfire_GC-29-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250123_RebuildingAfterWildfire_GC-29-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250123_RebuildingAfterWildfire_GC-29-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250123_RebuildingAfterWildfire_GC-29-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">From left, fire survivors and neighbors, Annie Barbour, Ernest Chapman and Danielle Bryant in Santa Rosa on Jan. 23, 2025. Their homes burned down during the Tubbs Fire in 2017. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Barbour said she never considered not rebuilding her home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We were all in shock,” she said. “And it took us a bit to just get our feet on the ground. But I really felt propelled by my anxiety to move forward.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not every fire survivor can rebuild. A year after Barbour lost her home in Santa Rosa, the Camp Fire destroyed more than 18,000 structures in Paradise. Remaining residents have slowly built back some of those homes, about \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/11/08/1209471739/a-california-town-wiped-off-the-map-by-wildfire-is-still-recovering-five-years-o\">600 a year\u003c/a>, but the city is significantly less populated than it was before the fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since then, the cost to rebuild has only increased and most insurance companies have \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101906641/california-regulators-roll-out-plan-to-stabilize-home-insurance-market\">limited, or altogether stopped\u003c/a>, offering policies in certain areas with high fire-risks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People are looking at $10,000 to $20,000 a year for fire insurance, which doesn’t work for middle class Californians or those on a fixed income,” said Dr. Crystal Kolden with UC Merced’s Department of Engineering.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But for those who can and want to rebuild, fire experts say understanding how wildfires move and grow can help homeowners protect their house against the next one. That means reducing the fuels that feed fires, said Ian Giammanco, a researcher at the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you think about a hurricane or tornado, they’re not getting more intense because they’ve destroyed a bunch of buildings, but a wildfire absolutely is when it turns into one of these conflagration events,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The solution? Starve the fire of fuels by hardening homes, redesigning yards with fires in mind, and implementing neighborhood-scaled mitigation measures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12024073\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12024073\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250123_RebuildingAfterWildfire_GC-4.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1345\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250123_RebuildingAfterWildfire_GC-4.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250123_RebuildingAfterWildfire_GC-4-800x538.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250123_RebuildingAfterWildfire_GC-4-1020x686.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250123_RebuildingAfterWildfire_GC-4-160x108.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250123_RebuildingAfterWildfire_GC-4-1536x1033.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250123_RebuildingAfterWildfire_GC-4-1920x1291.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Annie Barbour’s former home where she raised her son, in Santa Rosa on Jan. 23, 2025. Annie’s home burned down during the Tubbs Fire in 2017. Since then, she has rebuilt her home to better protect it from wildfires, where her son and daughter-in-law now live. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Rebuilding a home with fire-resistant materials\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>When homeowners consider hardening their homes against earthquakes or hurricanes, they have to consider its structural integrity. With wildfires, it’s all about the outside of the house.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Starting from the top, Giammanco said an up-to-date roof can make a world of difference for a home’s chances of surviving a fire. A \u003ca href=\"https://surviving-wildfire.extension.org/fire-ratings-for-roofing-material/#:~:text=Class%20A%20is%20the%20highest,an%20untreated%20wood%20shake%20roof.\">“Class A” roof\u003c/a>, which can be made of asphalt and fiberglass, concrete, clay or other materials, is the most fire resistant and is often required \u003ca href=\"https://codes.iccsafe.org/s/CABC2022P1/chapter-15-roof-assemblies-and-rooftop-structures/CABC2022P1-Ch15-Sec1505.2\">by California’s building code\u003c/a> for new construction in fire-sensitive areas. Some homeowners may choose a metal roof, which can be more expensive than an asphalt one, but is slightly more durable than asphalt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Below the roof, vents and eaves on the outside of the home can sometimes carry embers or hold debris, which can ignite inside or along a home. \u003ca href=\"https://readyforwildfire.org/prepare-for-wildfire/hardening-your-home/\">Cal Fire\u003c/a> recommends installing vents with metal mesh screens, which block the embers before they enter a home and will not immediately melt in the heat, along with closing eaves with similar, nonflammable materials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12024079\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12024079\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250123_RebuildingAfterWildfire_GC-33.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250123_RebuildingAfterWildfire_GC-33.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250123_RebuildingAfterWildfire_GC-33-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250123_RebuildingAfterWildfire_GC-33-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250123_RebuildingAfterWildfire_GC-33-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250123_RebuildingAfterWildfire_GC-33-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250123_RebuildingAfterWildfire_GC-33-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Air vents constructed at Annie Barbour’s former home in Santa Rosa on Jan. 23, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Moving down, the \u003ca href=\"https://readyforwildfire.org/prepare-for-wildfire/hardening-your-home/\">walls of a home\u003c/a> can also be built using stucco, concrete fiber board siding, or insulated concrete form, all of which are both less combustible and more energy efficient. These building materials are used to construct some homes today, but Giammanco said they would need to be adopted more broadly, especially in fire-prone areas, in order to achieve the scale needed to see them as the default option in homes across the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Most of these materials are readily available today,” he said. “We are not asking for something new to be invented. We can take building materials we already know about that we already use and simply apply them in this way.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lastly, Giammanco said it’s important to make sure the bottom of the house is not sitting on flammable material. The most critical part of the wall is the six inches between the ground and the home, which should be noncombustible, he said. Barbour’s home was rebuilt on a thick concrete slab, which holds the house slightly above the ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12024492\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1200px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12024492\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/download-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/download-2.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/download-2-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/download-2-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/download-2-160x107.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The bottom of Annie Barbour’s home sits on a concrete slab in Santa Rosa on Jan. 23, 2025. Concrete, which is naturally fire-proof, will protect the bottom of the home from fire damage. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Architect Brandon Jørgensen had recently finished a home in Napa, when the \u003ca href=\"https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/2017/10/9/atlas-fire-southern-lnu-complex\">2017 Atlas Fire\u003c/a> started. The blaze, which broke out the same night as Santa Rosa’s Tubbs Fire, destroyed 783 structures and killed six people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The home was built with a Class A roof, without gutters or vents where embers could collect and had walls made of stone and cedar. Each external wall had several inches of concrete and earthen berms — compacted dirt or gravel — at its base to protect them from embers that could collect there during a fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The house took on a large amount of embers and those embers collected in the dead spaces at the base of the walls,” he said. “And the house was undamaged.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Landscaping makes a difference \u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The next line of defense against a wildfire is the area immediately surrounding a home, what researchers call “\u003ca href=\"https://www.fire.ca.gov/dspace\">Zone Zero\u003c/a>.” This area should have \u003ca href=\"https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/zone-zero-mandates-near-completion-high-wildfire-risk-areas\">nothing combustible within it\u003c/a>. Imagine concrete sidewalks, beds of stone pebbles or gravel around the home instead of shrubs, wood mulch and wooden fences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Five feet around our homes — it’s the last place where things connect fire physically to our homes,” Giammanco said. “If we can make that noncombustible, we help break that chain.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s Mediterranean climate means some of the state’s vegetation is flammable and is adapted to fire, according to Kolden.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Two of the most common — and also most flammable — plants Kolden sees in Californians’ yards are Italian cypress trees and juniper shrubs. Italian cypress trees can burn down quickly and spread embers through the air, igniting whatever it lands on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1604312663660502\">Juniper trees\u003c/a>, when set on fire, can become a “Roman candle” and shower flames around it. As homeowners in Southern California rebuild, Kolden, a former firefighter, hopes they will rethink planting these trees near their homes and instead choose plants that are still aesthetically pleasing, but less flammable, like succulents or flower annuals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12024491\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1200px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12024491\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/download.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/download.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/download-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/download-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/download-160x107.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A bed of pebbles line up the front yard of Annie Barbour’s former home in Santa Rosa on Jan. 23, 2025. Pebbles are not flammable. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Before the Tubbs Fire, a wooden fence encircled Barbour’s home and acted as a wick, spreading the fire from house to house. Since then, Barbour has rebuilt much of that fence, but the last five feet — the part that touches her home — was replaced with a metal gate, which can stop the flame from reaching her home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her neighbors still have wooden fences that touch their homes, but after seeing Barbour’s gate, some have asked her for quotes on how much it might cost to make that change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My home is paid off, I don’t need to lose it again, so I’ll do whatever I can do,” she said. “It would be really ridiculous for me to not set an example.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12024074\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12024074\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250123_RebuildingAfterWildfire_GC-13.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250123_RebuildingAfterWildfire_GC-13.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250123_RebuildingAfterWildfire_GC-13-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250123_RebuildingAfterWildfire_GC-13-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250123_RebuildingAfterWildfire_GC-13-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250123_RebuildingAfterWildfire_GC-13-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250123_RebuildingAfterWildfire_GC-13-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A 5-foot metal gate which separates Annie Barbour’s former home from the neighbor’s home in Santa Rosa on Jan. 23, 2025. The metal gate breaks the spread of a wildfire to the home. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But a house is still a home, and there are certain changes Barbour knows she needs to make to ensure hers is wildfire-resistant. Though, it doesn’t mean those changes are any less painful to enact.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, a Japanese maple tree sits in her backyard, a gift a friend gave her after she rebuilt her home. Its branches and brightly colored leaves touch her home’s back wall, closest to the primary bedroom. She knows she will have to cut it down eventually, but she said it will hurt. She recently cut down a blooming wisteria vine on her boyfriend’s property to make it more fire-safe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was beautiful, and he was like ‘I’ve trained that for years, it’s one of my happiest features when I come around in the garage, and it is draped around the porch,’” she said. “We finally came to a meeting of minds, and he stayed inside while I hacked it down. It was very hard for him.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Building back your community\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Many homes in the Pacific Palisades and Malibu that were destroyed in the fires were in an area fire experts call the “wildland-urban interface,” or WUI. \u003ca href=\"https://www.fire.ca.gov/dspace\">According to Cal Fire\u003c/a>, one of the most effective ways to mitigate wildfires is to create a large “defensible space” of clean, noncombustible materials 100 feet around a home.[aside label=\"Related Stories\" postID=\"science_1965575,news_12023793, science_12022615,news_12015150,news_12021019\"] The homes rebuilt there should not only use wildfire-focused building codes to ensure it can meaningfully resist fire, Giammanco said, but should be spaced farther apart from each other, especially if they are within 10 feet of their neighbor’s house.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The key is to make sure the outer ring of structures that butt up against where the wildfire is going to enter that community have as much protection as we can give them,” he said. “It allows us to use almost a perimeter defense working our way inward where we could allow dense construction because we’ve got really good provisions and protections.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Coffey Park, a cement wall runs along the back of Barbour’s property and the other homes along her street, which is parallel to a busy thoroughfare. This type of wall is commonplace in suburbs across the country. California has spent more than any other state — over \u003ca href=\"https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/noise/noise_barriers/inventory/graphs/graph01.cfm\">$1 billion since 1963\u003c/a> — to construct these walls, which block sound pollution from highways and busy roads.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before the fire, Coffey Park’s wall had a wooden beam running along the top of it, which spread the flames across the neighborhood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12024478\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2500px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12024478\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/Copy-of-KQED-side-by-side-downpage-image_2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2500\" height=\"833\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/Copy-of-KQED-side-by-side-downpage-image_2.jpg 2500w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/Copy-of-KQED-side-by-side-downpage-image_2-800x267.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/Copy-of-KQED-side-by-side-downpage-image_2-1020x340.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/Copy-of-KQED-side-by-side-downpage-image_2-160x53.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/Copy-of-KQED-side-by-side-downpage-image_2-1536x512.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/Copy-of-KQED-side-by-side-downpage-image_2-2048x682.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/Copy-of-KQED-side-by-side-downpage-image_2-1920x640.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2500px) 100vw, 2500px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Left: A hopper wall, seen from Annie Barbour’s former home, built to block out the sound from the busy road, is also fire-resistant, on Jan. 23, 2025. In the inside of the wall is a metal cage with styrofoam inside, supported by rebar and cement, then covered with concrete which makes the wall more fire-resistant than a simple concrete wall. Right: A hopper wall along Hopper St. in Santa Rosa, built to block out the sound from the busy road, is also fire-resistant, on Jan. 23, 2025. In the inside of the wall is a metal cage with styrofoam inside, supported by rebar and cement, then covered with concrete which makes the wall more fire-resistant than a simple concrete wall. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But these walls, if constructed with fire resistant materials, can also act as a barrier against oncoming flames. Coffey Park’s wall was rebuilt with styrofoam supported by rebar and cement, encased in a metal cage and concrete. Those materials, assembled by the building company\u003ca href=\"https://www.rsg3d.com/\"> RSG-3\u003c/a>, make the wall more fire resistant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As California, and the rest of the world, grapples with the increasingly damaging impacts of climate change, Kolden said the state cannot afford to design its cities the same way it has for decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These are places that were predominantly built during an era of really different approaches to building communities — more suburban tracts of cookie-cutter housing was the norm,” she said. “What Altadena and Pacific Palisades have right now is an opportunity to say, ‘Alright, we have a blank slate with a lot of stakeholders, and every parcel owner is a stakeholder in the future.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "The L.A. fires destroyed nearly 12,000 homes so far. As the city rebuilds, what design factors should be considered so that homes can better withstand wildfires and other natural disasters in the face of climate change? ",
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"title": "Rebuilding LA: Here's What Fire Survivors and Experts Say Is Key | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Annie Barbour knows what it feels like to lose everything she worked for in an instant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The home she bought in Santa Rosa’s Coffey Park neighborhood in 1989 was almost paid off. She had just started to make renovations to prepare it for her son and his wife to live there someday. Then it burned — along with \u003ca href=\"https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/2017/10/8/tubbs-fire-central-lnu-complex/\">more than 5,600 other structures\u003c/a> in the 2017 Tubbs Fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When she returned to the spot where her home once stood, all she could see was rubble.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This whole place looked like a bomb had gone off,” she said. “You could see all the way through Coffey Park. No houses all the way to the railroad tracks. It was decimated.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, there’s a one-story, taupe house with white eaves and a neatly trimmed front yard. Many of her neighbors’ homes have been rebuilt, as well. To the untrained eye, it might look like any other suburban neighborhood in the state, but most of the homes now have features designed to withstand wildfires to come.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Barbour and her neighbors’ experiences with rebuilding offer lessons — backed by the latest research from architects and experts — for Southern Californians displaced by January’s wildfires, who are now just beginning to think about whether to rebuild.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12024077\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12024077\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250123_RebuildingAfterWildfire_GC-29.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250123_RebuildingAfterWildfire_GC-29.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250123_RebuildingAfterWildfire_GC-29-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250123_RebuildingAfterWildfire_GC-29-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250123_RebuildingAfterWildfire_GC-29-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250123_RebuildingAfterWildfire_GC-29-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250123_RebuildingAfterWildfire_GC-29-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">From left, fire survivors and neighbors, Annie Barbour, Ernest Chapman and Danielle Bryant in Santa Rosa on Jan. 23, 2025. Their homes burned down during the Tubbs Fire in 2017. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Barbour said she never considered not rebuilding her home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We were all in shock,” she said. “And it took us a bit to just get our feet on the ground. But I really felt propelled by my anxiety to move forward.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not every fire survivor can rebuild. A year after Barbour lost her home in Santa Rosa, the Camp Fire destroyed more than 18,000 structures in Paradise. Remaining residents have slowly built back some of those homes, about \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/11/08/1209471739/a-california-town-wiped-off-the-map-by-wildfire-is-still-recovering-five-years-o\">600 a year\u003c/a>, but the city is significantly less populated than it was before the fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since then, the cost to rebuild has only increased and most insurance companies have \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101906641/california-regulators-roll-out-plan-to-stabilize-home-insurance-market\">limited, or altogether stopped\u003c/a>, offering policies in certain areas with high fire-risks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People are looking at $10,000 to $20,000 a year for fire insurance, which doesn’t work for middle class Californians or those on a fixed income,” said Dr. Crystal Kolden with UC Merced’s Department of Engineering.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But for those who can and want to rebuild, fire experts say understanding how wildfires move and grow can help homeowners protect their house against the next one. That means reducing the fuels that feed fires, said Ian Giammanco, a researcher at the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you think about a hurricane or tornado, they’re not getting more intense because they’ve destroyed a bunch of buildings, but a wildfire absolutely is when it turns into one of these conflagration events,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The solution? Starve the fire of fuels by hardening homes, redesigning yards with fires in mind, and implementing neighborhood-scaled mitigation measures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12024073\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12024073\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250123_RebuildingAfterWildfire_GC-4.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1345\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250123_RebuildingAfterWildfire_GC-4.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250123_RebuildingAfterWildfire_GC-4-800x538.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250123_RebuildingAfterWildfire_GC-4-1020x686.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250123_RebuildingAfterWildfire_GC-4-160x108.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250123_RebuildingAfterWildfire_GC-4-1536x1033.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250123_RebuildingAfterWildfire_GC-4-1920x1291.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Annie Barbour’s former home where she raised her son, in Santa Rosa on Jan. 23, 2025. Annie’s home burned down during the Tubbs Fire in 2017. Since then, she has rebuilt her home to better protect it from wildfires, where her son and daughter-in-law now live. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Rebuilding a home with fire-resistant materials\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>When homeowners consider hardening their homes against earthquakes or hurricanes, they have to consider its structural integrity. With wildfires, it’s all about the outside of the house.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Starting from the top, Giammanco said an up-to-date roof can make a world of difference for a home’s chances of surviving a fire. A \u003ca href=\"https://surviving-wildfire.extension.org/fire-ratings-for-roofing-material/#:~:text=Class%20A%20is%20the%20highest,an%20untreated%20wood%20shake%20roof.\">“Class A” roof\u003c/a>, which can be made of asphalt and fiberglass, concrete, clay or other materials, is the most fire resistant and is often required \u003ca href=\"https://codes.iccsafe.org/s/CABC2022P1/chapter-15-roof-assemblies-and-rooftop-structures/CABC2022P1-Ch15-Sec1505.2\">by California’s building code\u003c/a> for new construction in fire-sensitive areas. Some homeowners may choose a metal roof, which can be more expensive than an asphalt one, but is slightly more durable than asphalt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Below the roof, vents and eaves on the outside of the home can sometimes carry embers or hold debris, which can ignite inside or along a home. \u003ca href=\"https://readyforwildfire.org/prepare-for-wildfire/hardening-your-home/\">Cal Fire\u003c/a> recommends installing vents with metal mesh screens, which block the embers before they enter a home and will not immediately melt in the heat, along with closing eaves with similar, nonflammable materials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12024079\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12024079\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250123_RebuildingAfterWildfire_GC-33.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250123_RebuildingAfterWildfire_GC-33.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250123_RebuildingAfterWildfire_GC-33-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250123_RebuildingAfterWildfire_GC-33-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250123_RebuildingAfterWildfire_GC-33-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250123_RebuildingAfterWildfire_GC-33-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250123_RebuildingAfterWildfire_GC-33-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Air vents constructed at Annie Barbour’s former home in Santa Rosa on Jan. 23, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Moving down, the \u003ca href=\"https://readyforwildfire.org/prepare-for-wildfire/hardening-your-home/\">walls of a home\u003c/a> can also be built using stucco, concrete fiber board siding, or insulated concrete form, all of which are both less combustible and more energy efficient. These building materials are used to construct some homes today, but Giammanco said they would need to be adopted more broadly, especially in fire-prone areas, in order to achieve the scale needed to see them as the default option in homes across the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Most of these materials are readily available today,” he said. “We are not asking for something new to be invented. We can take building materials we already know about that we already use and simply apply them in this way.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lastly, Giammanco said it’s important to make sure the bottom of the house is not sitting on flammable material. The most critical part of the wall is the six inches between the ground and the home, which should be noncombustible, he said. Barbour’s home was rebuilt on a thick concrete slab, which holds the house slightly above the ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12024492\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1200px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12024492\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/download-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/download-2.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/download-2-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/download-2-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/download-2-160x107.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The bottom of Annie Barbour’s home sits on a concrete slab in Santa Rosa on Jan. 23, 2025. Concrete, which is naturally fire-proof, will protect the bottom of the home from fire damage. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Architect Brandon Jørgensen had recently finished a home in Napa, when the \u003ca href=\"https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/2017/10/9/atlas-fire-southern-lnu-complex\">2017 Atlas Fire\u003c/a> started. The blaze, which broke out the same night as Santa Rosa’s Tubbs Fire, destroyed 783 structures and killed six people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The home was built with a Class A roof, without gutters or vents where embers could collect and had walls made of stone and cedar. Each external wall had several inches of concrete and earthen berms — compacted dirt or gravel — at its base to protect them from embers that could collect there during a fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The house took on a large amount of embers and those embers collected in the dead spaces at the base of the walls,” he said. “And the house was undamaged.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Landscaping makes a difference \u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The next line of defense against a wildfire is the area immediately surrounding a home, what researchers call “\u003ca href=\"https://www.fire.ca.gov/dspace\">Zone Zero\u003c/a>.” This area should have \u003ca href=\"https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/zone-zero-mandates-near-completion-high-wildfire-risk-areas\">nothing combustible within it\u003c/a>. Imagine concrete sidewalks, beds of stone pebbles or gravel around the home instead of shrubs, wood mulch and wooden fences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Five feet around our homes — it’s the last place where things connect fire physically to our homes,” Giammanco said. “If we can make that noncombustible, we help break that chain.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s Mediterranean climate means some of the state’s vegetation is flammable and is adapted to fire, according to Kolden.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Two of the most common — and also most flammable — plants Kolden sees in Californians’ yards are Italian cypress trees and juniper shrubs. Italian cypress trees can burn down quickly and spread embers through the air, igniting whatever it lands on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1604312663660502\">Juniper trees\u003c/a>, when set on fire, can become a “Roman candle” and shower flames around it. As homeowners in Southern California rebuild, Kolden, a former firefighter, hopes they will rethink planting these trees near their homes and instead choose plants that are still aesthetically pleasing, but less flammable, like succulents or flower annuals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12024491\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1200px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12024491\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/download.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/download.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/download-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/download-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/download-160x107.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A bed of pebbles line up the front yard of Annie Barbour’s former home in Santa Rosa on Jan. 23, 2025. Pebbles are not flammable. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Before the Tubbs Fire, a wooden fence encircled Barbour’s home and acted as a wick, spreading the fire from house to house. Since then, Barbour has rebuilt much of that fence, but the last five feet — the part that touches her home — was replaced with a metal gate, which can stop the flame from reaching her home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her neighbors still have wooden fences that touch their homes, but after seeing Barbour’s gate, some have asked her for quotes on how much it might cost to make that change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My home is paid off, I don’t need to lose it again, so I’ll do whatever I can do,” she said. “It would be really ridiculous for me to not set an example.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12024074\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12024074\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250123_RebuildingAfterWildfire_GC-13.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250123_RebuildingAfterWildfire_GC-13.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250123_RebuildingAfterWildfire_GC-13-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250123_RebuildingAfterWildfire_GC-13-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250123_RebuildingAfterWildfire_GC-13-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250123_RebuildingAfterWildfire_GC-13-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250123_RebuildingAfterWildfire_GC-13-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A 5-foot metal gate which separates Annie Barbour’s former home from the neighbor’s home in Santa Rosa on Jan. 23, 2025. The metal gate breaks the spread of a wildfire to the home. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But a house is still a home, and there are certain changes Barbour knows she needs to make to ensure hers is wildfire-resistant. Though, it doesn’t mean those changes are any less painful to enact.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, a Japanese maple tree sits in her backyard, a gift a friend gave her after she rebuilt her home. Its branches and brightly colored leaves touch her home’s back wall, closest to the primary bedroom. She knows she will have to cut it down eventually, but she said it will hurt. She recently cut down a blooming wisteria vine on her boyfriend’s property to make it more fire-safe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was beautiful, and he was like ‘I’ve trained that for years, it’s one of my happiest features when I come around in the garage, and it is draped around the porch,’” she said. “We finally came to a meeting of minds, and he stayed inside while I hacked it down. It was very hard for him.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Building back your community\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Many homes in the Pacific Palisades and Malibu that were destroyed in the fires were in an area fire experts call the “wildland-urban interface,” or WUI. \u003ca href=\"https://www.fire.ca.gov/dspace\">According to Cal Fire\u003c/a>, one of the most effective ways to mitigate wildfires is to create a large “defensible space” of clean, noncombustible materials 100 feet around a home.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp> The homes rebuilt there should not only use wildfire-focused building codes to ensure it can meaningfully resist fire, Giammanco said, but should be spaced farther apart from each other, especially if they are within 10 feet of their neighbor’s house.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The key is to make sure the outer ring of structures that butt up against where the wildfire is going to enter that community have as much protection as we can give them,” he said. “It allows us to use almost a perimeter defense working our way inward where we could allow dense construction because we’ve got really good provisions and protections.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Coffey Park, a cement wall runs along the back of Barbour’s property and the other homes along her street, which is parallel to a busy thoroughfare. This type of wall is commonplace in suburbs across the country. California has spent more than any other state — over \u003ca href=\"https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/noise/noise_barriers/inventory/graphs/graph01.cfm\">$1 billion since 1963\u003c/a> — to construct these walls, which block sound pollution from highways and busy roads.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before the fire, Coffey Park’s wall had a wooden beam running along the top of it, which spread the flames across the neighborhood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12024478\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2500px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12024478\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/Copy-of-KQED-side-by-side-downpage-image_2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2500\" height=\"833\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/Copy-of-KQED-side-by-side-downpage-image_2.jpg 2500w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/Copy-of-KQED-side-by-side-downpage-image_2-800x267.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/Copy-of-KQED-side-by-side-downpage-image_2-1020x340.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/Copy-of-KQED-side-by-side-downpage-image_2-160x53.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/Copy-of-KQED-side-by-side-downpage-image_2-1536x512.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/Copy-of-KQED-side-by-side-downpage-image_2-2048x682.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/Copy-of-KQED-side-by-side-downpage-image_2-1920x640.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2500px) 100vw, 2500px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Left: A hopper wall, seen from Annie Barbour’s former home, built to block out the sound from the busy road, is also fire-resistant, on Jan. 23, 2025. In the inside of the wall is a metal cage with styrofoam inside, supported by rebar and cement, then covered with concrete which makes the wall more fire-resistant than a simple concrete wall. Right: A hopper wall along Hopper St. in Santa Rosa, built to block out the sound from the busy road, is also fire-resistant, on Jan. 23, 2025. In the inside of the wall is a metal cage with styrofoam inside, supported by rebar and cement, then covered with concrete which makes the wall more fire-resistant than a simple concrete wall. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But these walls, if constructed with fire resistant materials, can also act as a barrier against oncoming flames. Coffey Park’s wall was rebuilt with styrofoam supported by rebar and cement, encased in a metal cage and concrete. Those materials, assembled by the building company\u003ca href=\"https://www.rsg3d.com/\"> RSG-3\u003c/a>, make the wall more fire resistant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As California, and the rest of the world, grapples with the increasingly damaging impacts of climate change, Kolden said the state cannot afford to design its cities the same way it has for decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These are places that were predominantly built during an era of really different approaches to building communities — more suburban tracts of cookie-cutter housing was the norm,” she said. “What Altadena and Pacific Palisades have right now is an opportunity to say, ‘Alright, we have a blank slate with a lot of stakeholders, and every parcel owner is a stakeholder in the future.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "will-new-bond-funds-be-enough-to-rebuild-la-schools-and-all-of-californias-other-crumbling-schools",
"title": "Will New Bond Funds Be Enough to Rebuild LA Schools — and All of California’s Other Crumbling Schools?",
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"content": "\u003cp>It’ll be a while before Los Angeles can fully assess the damage to its schools from this recent spate of fires, but a few things already seem certain: rebuilding will take a long time, it will be expensive, and it may sap the statewide fund for school repairs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At least a dozen schools in the Los Angeles area have been damaged in the fires, including at least five that were destroyed completely. Thousands of students and school staff have lost their homes, and countless families are grappling with major disruptions to their day-to-day lives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The pain of being evacuated, losing your home, or having family and friends who have been impacted. … it’s just so devastating,” said Debra Duardo, Los Angeles County Superintendent of Schools. “At so many districts in our county, the superintendent themselves has been evacuated, or 50% of the staff has been evacuated. And meanwhile they’re all trying to help their students.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Pacific Palisades, fires destroyed two elementary schools and extensively damaged Palisades Charter High School. Fires in Pasadena and Altadena destroyed three elementary schools. Several others in greater Los Angeles remain closed because they’re in evacuation zones or have been damaged.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Students at those schools have been reassigned to other campuses, are learning online or are waiting for conditions to improve so they can return to class.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For many students, it will be a long wait. Even with loosened regulations, rebuilding a school could take years as officials piece together a hodgepodge of funding sources: insurance money, private grants and donations, local bonds, lawsuit settlement money and state and federal funds. Some districts will have plenty of funding options, while others will struggle to find enough revenue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the meantime, some will have immediate expenses such as procuring portable classrooms and hiring mental health counselors to help students, staff and families cope with trauma. Large districts such as Los Angeles Unified can reallocate resources quickly, but smaller districts and charter and private schools face more obstacles.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Big demand for Proposition 2 \u003cstrong>funds\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Proposition 2, the $10 billion school construction bond approved by voters in November, will be a big help for schools that need to rebuild or make costly repairs, or even buy portables.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state allocates the money to schools with the highest need, and then on a first-come, first-served basis. There’s already a big backlog of schools that have applied for money, and it’s likely that schools gutted by fire will get priority over those with less urgent needs, said Rebekah Kalleen, a legislative advocate for the Coalition for Adequate School Housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That means some schools will miss out. Because California’s fund for school repairs had been empty for a while, there’s a long list of schools with critical repair needs. Throughout the state, students are attending schools with leaky roofs, lead pipes, unsafe electrical systems and broken air conditioning. Schools in lower-income and rural areas are most affected, because they have less ability to raise money through local bonds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Helio Brasil, superintendent of Keyes Union School District south of Modesto, said he has empathy for those dealing with buildings destroyed or damaged by the fires in Los Angeles, but he worries about \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/2023/11/school-construction-2/\">his own district’s needs\u003c/a>. The 1,000-student district, which primarily serves lower-income students whose parents work in the nearby agricultural fields, desperately needs money to replace the 40-year-old roof, upgrade the electric wiring and make other safety improvements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is a growing concern that Prop. 2 funds will be quickly depleted, leaving smaller districts like Keyes struggling to address our own long-term facility needs,” Brasil wrote in an email. “We understand the moral imperative to support the devastated districts first, but the reality is that districts like ours cannot be left behind in the process.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brasil and other superintendents are asking for the state to balance the needs of schools affected by fires with those that aren’t, and provide extra money if possible. Gov. Gavin Newsom last week promised to chip in an extra $1 million from the state’s general fund for schools damaged by fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Like a bomb had gone off’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The post-fire experience in Sonoma and Butte counties provides a preview of what lies ahead in Los Angeles. Thousands of homes and numerous schools were destroyed in a spate of fires from 2017–20, leaving residents to resurrect entire communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Those first few weeks were surreal, almost primordial. It was like a bomb had gone off,” said Andrew Bailey, head of Anova Center for Education, a private school in Sonoma County that serves special education students enrolled in public schools. Anova was destroyed in the 2017 Tubbs Fire, leaving its 125 students without a campus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There was no school at all for three weeks while staff hunted for classroom space at other locations. Eventually they brought in portables and launched an ambitious fundraising campaign to pay for a new school. Last week, the new school finally opened — more than seven years after the fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was miraculous that we were able to do this,” Bailey said. “It was incredibly hard work, but now the headwinds have dissipated and our kids now have a great new school.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Attending school at a hardware store\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In Paradise, a Butte County town which was nearly entirely destroyed in the 2018 Camp Fire, the school district is still recovering. Four school sites were destroyed and nine were extensively damaged. A big obstacle in rebuilding, school officials said, was not knowing how many students to expect. More than 80% of the town burned down, and it was unclear how many residents planned to move back. Enrollment in Paradise Unified dropped from 3,500 before the fire to 1,500 in 2019. It’s now up to 1,700.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although the state was helpful, the paperwork and funding process took time, Superintendent Tom Taylor said. Meanwhile, students attended school any place officials could find space: other school districts, some 20 miles away; warehouses; even a hardware store. (The store was cleared of merchandise. Students ate lunch at the check-out counter.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district has so far spent $155 million to rebuild campuses, but needs $150 million more to fix everything that needs fixing, Taylor said. The district is hoping to break ground on Paradise Elementary School, one of the schools that was completely destroyed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There were a few years where all staff worked harder than we ever have. Long days, seven days a week, no time off,” Taylor said. “We’re still not done. … But our staff understands that schools are the center of a community, and we want our schools to help lead the return of the town.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Prioritizing mental health\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In some ways, Los Angeles schools will have it a bit easier than those in Sonoma and Butte. The state now has well-established disaster relief protocols, and there are plenty of experts who can advise. Because of COVID-19, most schools already have distance learning systems in place and robust social-emotional support for students.[aside label=\"Related Stories\" postID=\"news_12023695,news_12022439,news_12021941\"]Support for mental health — for staff as well as students — is a crucial piece of recovery, school officials in Sonoma and Butte said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Sonoma County, schools learned early on how to screen students for anxiety. They also created partnerships with local nonprofits and health clinics, and the County Office of Education trained teachers to lead class discussions and otherwise support students who felt traumatized by the fires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In situations like this, you’re never going to have enough money for one-to-one counseling for everyone who needs it,” said Mary Champion, a school psychologist with the Sonoma County Office of Education. “That’s why it’s so important to train educators, to take some of the pressure off clinicians.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tyson Dickinson, director of the office’s Department of Behavioral Health and Well-Being, said districts in Los Angeles should expect the recovery process — beyond the replacement of buildings — to take a long time. Sonoma County’s last major fire was in 2020, and it’s still never far from residents’ minds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Any time it’s windy, warm and dry, any time there’s smoke, you can see the stress building,” Dickinson said. “From August through January everyone is on edge. It’s just a different world now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Some schools destroyed years ago in the Sonoma and Butte fires are just now reopening. The long, costly process of rebuilding in LA may eat up much of the money California voters approved in November for school repairs.",
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"title": "Will New Bond Funds Be Enough to Rebuild LA Schools — and All of California’s Other Crumbling Schools? | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>It’ll be a while before Los Angeles can fully assess the damage to its schools from this recent spate of fires, but a few things already seem certain: rebuilding will take a long time, it will be expensive, and it may sap the statewide fund for school repairs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At least a dozen schools in the Los Angeles area have been damaged in the fires, including at least five that were destroyed completely. Thousands of students and school staff have lost their homes, and countless families are grappling with major disruptions to their day-to-day lives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The pain of being evacuated, losing your home, or having family and friends who have been impacted. … it’s just so devastating,” said Debra Duardo, Los Angeles County Superintendent of Schools. “At so many districts in our county, the superintendent themselves has been evacuated, or 50% of the staff has been evacuated. And meanwhile they’re all trying to help their students.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Pacific Palisades, fires destroyed two elementary schools and extensively damaged Palisades Charter High School. Fires in Pasadena and Altadena destroyed three elementary schools. Several others in greater Los Angeles remain closed because they’re in evacuation zones or have been damaged.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Students at those schools have been reassigned to other campuses, are learning online or are waiting for conditions to improve so they can return to class.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For many students, it will be a long wait. Even with loosened regulations, rebuilding a school could take years as officials piece together a hodgepodge of funding sources: insurance money, private grants and donations, local bonds, lawsuit settlement money and state and federal funds. Some districts will have plenty of funding options, while others will struggle to find enough revenue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the meantime, some will have immediate expenses such as procuring portable classrooms and hiring mental health counselors to help students, staff and families cope with trauma. Large districts such as Los Angeles Unified can reallocate resources quickly, but smaller districts and charter and private schools face more obstacles.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Big demand for Proposition 2 \u003cstrong>funds\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Proposition 2, the $10 billion school construction bond approved by voters in November, will be a big help for schools that need to rebuild or make costly repairs, or even buy portables.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state allocates the money to schools with the highest need, and then on a first-come, first-served basis. There’s already a big backlog of schools that have applied for money, and it’s likely that schools gutted by fire will get priority over those with less urgent needs, said Rebekah Kalleen, a legislative advocate for the Coalition for Adequate School Housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That means some schools will miss out. Because California’s fund for school repairs had been empty for a while, there’s a long list of schools with critical repair needs. Throughout the state, students are attending schools with leaky roofs, lead pipes, unsafe electrical systems and broken air conditioning. Schools in lower-income and rural areas are most affected, because they have less ability to raise money through local bonds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Helio Brasil, superintendent of Keyes Union School District south of Modesto, said he has empathy for those dealing with buildings destroyed or damaged by the fires in Los Angeles, but he worries about \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/2023/11/school-construction-2/\">his own district’s needs\u003c/a>. The 1,000-student district, which primarily serves lower-income students whose parents work in the nearby agricultural fields, desperately needs money to replace the 40-year-old roof, upgrade the electric wiring and make other safety improvements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is a growing concern that Prop. 2 funds will be quickly depleted, leaving smaller districts like Keyes struggling to address our own long-term facility needs,” Brasil wrote in an email. “We understand the moral imperative to support the devastated districts first, but the reality is that districts like ours cannot be left behind in the process.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brasil and other superintendents are asking for the state to balance the needs of schools affected by fires with those that aren’t, and provide extra money if possible. Gov. Gavin Newsom last week promised to chip in an extra $1 million from the state’s general fund for schools damaged by fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Like a bomb had gone off’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The post-fire experience in Sonoma and Butte counties provides a preview of what lies ahead in Los Angeles. Thousands of homes and numerous schools were destroyed in a spate of fires from 2017–20, leaving residents to resurrect entire communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Those first few weeks were surreal, almost primordial. It was like a bomb had gone off,” said Andrew Bailey, head of Anova Center for Education, a private school in Sonoma County that serves special education students enrolled in public schools. Anova was destroyed in the 2017 Tubbs Fire, leaving its 125 students without a campus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There was no school at all for three weeks while staff hunted for classroom space at other locations. Eventually they brought in portables and launched an ambitious fundraising campaign to pay for a new school. Last week, the new school finally opened — more than seven years after the fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was miraculous that we were able to do this,” Bailey said. “It was incredibly hard work, but now the headwinds have dissipated and our kids now have a great new school.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Attending school at a hardware store\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In Paradise, a Butte County town which was nearly entirely destroyed in the 2018 Camp Fire, the school district is still recovering. Four school sites were destroyed and nine were extensively damaged. A big obstacle in rebuilding, school officials said, was not knowing how many students to expect. More than 80% of the town burned down, and it was unclear how many residents planned to move back. Enrollment in Paradise Unified dropped from 3,500 before the fire to 1,500 in 2019. It’s now up to 1,700.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although the state was helpful, the paperwork and funding process took time, Superintendent Tom Taylor said. Meanwhile, students attended school any place officials could find space: other school districts, some 20 miles away; warehouses; even a hardware store. (The store was cleared of merchandise. Students ate lunch at the check-out counter.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district has so far spent $155 million to rebuild campuses, but needs $150 million more to fix everything that needs fixing, Taylor said. The district is hoping to break ground on Paradise Elementary School, one of the schools that was completely destroyed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There were a few years where all staff worked harder than we ever have. Long days, seven days a week, no time off,” Taylor said. “We’re still not done. … But our staff understands that schools are the center of a community, and we want our schools to help lead the return of the town.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Prioritizing mental health\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In some ways, Los Angeles schools will have it a bit easier than those in Sonoma and Butte. The state now has well-established disaster relief protocols, and there are plenty of experts who can advise. Because of COVID-19, most schools already have distance learning systems in place and robust social-emotional support for students.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Support for mental health — for staff as well as students — is a crucial piece of recovery, school officials in Sonoma and Butte said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Sonoma County, schools learned early on how to screen students for anxiety. They also created partnerships with local nonprofits and health clinics, and the County Office of Education trained teachers to lead class discussions and otherwise support students who felt traumatized by the fires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In situations like this, you’re never going to have enough money for one-to-one counseling for everyone who needs it,” said Mary Champion, a school psychologist with the Sonoma County Office of Education. “That’s why it’s so important to train educators, to take some of the pressure off clinicians.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tyson Dickinson, director of the office’s Department of Behavioral Health and Well-Being, said districts in Los Angeles should expect the recovery process — beyond the replacement of buildings — to take a long time. Sonoma County’s last major fire was in 2020, and it’s still never far from residents’ minds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Any time it’s windy, warm and dry, any time there’s smoke, you can see the stress building,” Dickinson said. “From August through January everyone is on edge. It’s just a different world now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "3-things-that-folks-facing-los-angeles-fires-can-do-from-a-fellow-california-wildfire-survivor",
"title": "3 Things That Folks Facing Los Angeles Fires Can Do, From a Fellow California Wildfire Survivor",
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"headTitle": "3 Things That Folks Facing Los Angeles Fires Can Do, From a Fellow California Wildfire Survivor | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>The devastation brought on by the wildfires blazing through Los Angeles — ash-covered rubble, the air clouded in a smoky haze — is a scene that’s all too familiar to Jeff Okrepkie.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the 2017 Tubbs Fire first spread into his community of Coffey Park in Santa Rosa, “an ember roughly the size of a golf ball hit the ground and rolled in front of my house, setting off other embers,” Okrepkie said. “And that’s when I was like, ‘All right, time to get out.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Tubbs Fire is considered one of the most \u003ca href=\"https://34c031f8-c9fd-4018-8c5a-4159cdff6b0d-cdn-endpoint.azureedge.net/-/media/calfire-website/our-impact/fire-statistics/top20_destruction.pdf?rev=8d25d868e50f40aea60833642d65b449&hash=1DBAA251C9CC52EDC5AAEA2358158664\">destructive\u003c/a> wildfires in California history, destroying 5,600 structures, including around 5% of Santa Rosa’s housing stock. (The most destructive fire remains the 2018 Camp Fire that devastated the town of Paradise.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Where the fires in Los Angeles fit in this grim record will likely take a while to work out. Multiple fires have burned over 35,000 acres, as of Friday morning, and have destroyed thousands of structures across several neighborhoods. At least 10 people have died.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12021672\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 528px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12021672\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/06WUNfLv-e1736558884543.jpg\" alt=\"A middle aged white male with graying hair and goatee beard smiles at the camera standing in a park on a sunny day, crossing his arms, and wearing a light blue and gray suit and an open button shirt with no tie.\" width=\"528\" height=\"688\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/06WUNfLv-e1736558884543.jpg 528w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/06WUNfLv-e1736558884543-160x208.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 528px) 100vw, 528px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jeff Okrepkie. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Jeff Okrepkie)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For many caught up in this disaster, they’re beginning to process the reality that they’ve lost their entire homes — an experience Okrepkie shares, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One of the things that I always hated to hear was, ‘Well, it’s just stuff. And you have your lives, right?’” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Of course, having that is paramount to anything else. But it’s not just the physical object. It’s the memories that come with those — whether it be Christmas ornaments or baby pictures. “It is a long and difficult process and it is extremely emotional.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For other Bay Area residents, like Crystal Johnson, the fires can serve as a reminder of how vulnerable Californians are to the threat of climate disasters. She’s originally from Redondo Beach and has been checking in with family and friends.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Don’t wait. Get your important papers together, medications, you know, important contacts, information, all that kind of stuff. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11833686/what-to-pack-in-your-emergency-bag-with-covid-19-in-mind\">Have it ready to go so that if something happens\u003c/a>. Have a plan in place,” Johnson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the long term, given the scale of destruction in Los Angeles, the road to recovery could take years. Okrepkie, who started a nonprofit to rebuild his community of Coffey Park in Santa Rosa, offered the following advice:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>‘Do not go through it alone’\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>A wildfire can be a life-threatening event, taking a toll on people’s physical and emotional health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to a 2023 \u003ca href=\"https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/4/1487\">study\u003c/a> by researchers at the University of California, San Diego, “climate trauma” led to increased instances of chronic mental health problems, like post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you know someone who needs help coping in the aftermath of the Los Angeles fires, here’s a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1928658/wildfires-reignite-old-trauma-for-survivors-of-last-octobers-devastation\">list\u003c/a> of what you can do.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Okrepkie, he said one of the most helpful approaches was to seek support among others who’ve gone through a similar experience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Everyone’s method of going through this and coping with it is going to be different,” he said. “But I will say: Do not go through it alone. Find a group that you can go through this together with.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Okrepkie said he’s seen the difference that a community working together can have, after seeing his nonprofit help to raise $1 million to rebuild Coffey Park. He said he was inspired to do this after seeing misinformation on social media about rebuilding — a dynamic that he sees similarly playing out with the Los Angeles fires currently.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>‘It takes patience’\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The long-term financial impacts of major wildfires can take years to resolve.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The responses that are needed — whether it be more firefighting resources to information to funds for those that have lost everything — never ceases,” said Okrepkie. “So it’s not just helping them in the first couple of days after. It’s going to be an ongoing thing for weeks, months and likely years.”[aside label=\"Related Stories\" postID=\"news_12021019,news_12021150,news_12021308\"]Damage from the Tubbs Fires is estimated at over $10 billion, according to one consulting \u003ca href=\"https://vertexeng.com/insights/economic-fallout-of-tubbs-wildfire-santa-rosa/\">group\u003c/a> involved in California wildfire response.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Okrepkie, an insurance agent, said the best thing to do is be patient. He moved back into his new rebuilt home in 2020, around three years after Tubbs Fire burned down his home. He said he’s happy his family is cared for and back in their home neighborhood of Coffey Park.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I know that there is a natural urge to get back into your home and want to do it as quickly as possible. But it’s going to take patience because everybody is going to be learning for the first time — or relearning — things,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Where to begin with the insurance claims?\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Okrepkie himself said he had no fewer than nine insurance adjusters to sort out all his claims.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He has the following advice to get started:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Document everything. “Do not agree to anything over the phone,” he said.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Follow up phone conversations over email to confirm the verbal exchange.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Accept that the process is complex. Disaster adjusters, typically working out of state, may be reassigned throughout the process — and an adjustor is assigned to a specific line of coverage, from property to additional living expenses. “In case adjuster A leaves and an adjuster B comes in and it’s not documented on their end, you can show them ‘This is what was discussed and this is what was agreed to.’”\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>An additional complication is that in recent years, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1985175/insurance-in-california-is-changing-heres-how-it-may-affect-you\">insurance companies have pulled back from homeowner policies in California\u003c/a>. As for the fires in Los Angeles, there are concerns that the damage could \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12021019/la-fires-threaten-california-insurance-market-stability-housing-costs\">overextend\u003c/a> the state’s FAIR Plan — the state’s insurer of last resort.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You can find more details on navigating insurance claims and wildfires \u003ca href=\"https://laist.com/news/housing-homelessness/cheat-sheet-what-to-do-if-you-need-to-make-a-fire-insurance-claim\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Farida Jhabvala Romero and Brian Watt contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"headline": "3 Things That Folks Facing Los Angeles Fires Can Do, From a Fellow California Wildfire Survivor",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The devastation brought on by the wildfires blazing through Los Angeles — ash-covered rubble, the air clouded in a smoky haze — is a scene that’s all too familiar to Jeff Okrepkie.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the 2017 Tubbs Fire first spread into his community of Coffey Park in Santa Rosa, “an ember roughly the size of a golf ball hit the ground and rolled in front of my house, setting off other embers,” Okrepkie said. “And that’s when I was like, ‘All right, time to get out.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Tubbs Fire is considered one of the most \u003ca href=\"https://34c031f8-c9fd-4018-8c5a-4159cdff6b0d-cdn-endpoint.azureedge.net/-/media/calfire-website/our-impact/fire-statistics/top20_destruction.pdf?rev=8d25d868e50f40aea60833642d65b449&hash=1DBAA251C9CC52EDC5AAEA2358158664\">destructive\u003c/a> wildfires in California history, destroying 5,600 structures, including around 5% of Santa Rosa’s housing stock. (The most destructive fire remains the 2018 Camp Fire that devastated the town of Paradise.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Where the fires in Los Angeles fit in this grim record will likely take a while to work out. Multiple fires have burned over 35,000 acres, as of Friday morning, and have destroyed thousands of structures across several neighborhoods. At least 10 people have died.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12021672\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 528px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12021672\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/06WUNfLv-e1736558884543.jpg\" alt=\"A middle aged white male with graying hair and goatee beard smiles at the camera standing in a park on a sunny day, crossing his arms, and wearing a light blue and gray suit and an open button shirt with no tie.\" width=\"528\" height=\"688\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/06WUNfLv-e1736558884543.jpg 528w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/06WUNfLv-e1736558884543-160x208.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 528px) 100vw, 528px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jeff Okrepkie. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Jeff Okrepkie)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For many caught up in this disaster, they’re beginning to process the reality that they’ve lost their entire homes — an experience Okrepkie shares, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One of the things that I always hated to hear was, ‘Well, it’s just stuff. And you have your lives, right?’” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Of course, having that is paramount to anything else. But it’s not just the physical object. It’s the memories that come with those — whether it be Christmas ornaments or baby pictures. “It is a long and difficult process and it is extremely emotional.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For other Bay Area residents, like Crystal Johnson, the fires can serve as a reminder of how vulnerable Californians are to the threat of climate disasters. She’s originally from Redondo Beach and has been checking in with family and friends.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Don’t wait. Get your important papers together, medications, you know, important contacts, information, all that kind of stuff. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11833686/what-to-pack-in-your-emergency-bag-with-covid-19-in-mind\">Have it ready to go so that if something happens\u003c/a>. Have a plan in place,” Johnson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the long term, given the scale of destruction in Los Angeles, the road to recovery could take years. Okrepkie, who started a nonprofit to rebuild his community of Coffey Park in Santa Rosa, offered the following advice:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>‘Do not go through it alone’\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>A wildfire can be a life-threatening event, taking a toll on people’s physical and emotional health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to a 2023 \u003ca href=\"https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/4/1487\">study\u003c/a> by researchers at the University of California, San Diego, “climate trauma” led to increased instances of chronic mental health problems, like post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you know someone who needs help coping in the aftermath of the Los Angeles fires, here’s a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1928658/wildfires-reignite-old-trauma-for-survivors-of-last-octobers-devastation\">list\u003c/a> of what you can do.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Okrepkie, he said one of the most helpful approaches was to seek support among others who’ve gone through a similar experience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Everyone’s method of going through this and coping with it is going to be different,” he said. “But I will say: Do not go through it alone. Find a group that you can go through this together with.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Okrepkie said he’s seen the difference that a community working together can have, after seeing his nonprofit help to raise $1 million to rebuild Coffey Park. He said he was inspired to do this after seeing misinformation on social media about rebuilding — a dynamic that he sees similarly playing out with the Los Angeles fires currently.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>‘It takes patience’\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The long-term financial impacts of major wildfires can take years to resolve.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The responses that are needed — whether it be more firefighting resources to information to funds for those that have lost everything — never ceases,” said Okrepkie. “So it’s not just helping them in the first couple of days after. It’s going to be an ongoing thing for weeks, months and likely years.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Damage from the Tubbs Fires is estimated at over $10 billion, according to one consulting \u003ca href=\"https://vertexeng.com/insights/economic-fallout-of-tubbs-wildfire-santa-rosa/\">group\u003c/a> involved in California wildfire response.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Okrepkie, an insurance agent, said the best thing to do is be patient. He moved back into his new rebuilt home in 2020, around three years after Tubbs Fire burned down his home. He said he’s happy his family is cared for and back in their home neighborhood of Coffey Park.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I know that there is a natural urge to get back into your home and want to do it as quickly as possible. But it’s going to take patience because everybody is going to be learning for the first time — or relearning — things,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Where to begin with the insurance claims?\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Okrepkie himself said he had no fewer than nine insurance adjusters to sort out all his claims.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He has the following advice to get started:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Document everything. “Do not agree to anything over the phone,” he said.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Follow up phone conversations over email to confirm the verbal exchange.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Accept that the process is complex. Disaster adjusters, typically working out of state, may be reassigned throughout the process — and an adjustor is assigned to a specific line of coverage, from property to additional living expenses. “In case adjuster A leaves and an adjuster B comes in and it’s not documented on their end, you can show them ‘This is what was discussed and this is what was agreed to.’”\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>An additional complication is that in recent years, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1985175/insurance-in-california-is-changing-heres-how-it-may-affect-you\">insurance companies have pulled back from homeowner policies in California\u003c/a>. As for the fires in Los Angeles, there are concerns that the damage could \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12021019/la-fires-threaten-california-insurance-market-stability-housing-costs\">overextend\u003c/a> the state’s FAIR Plan — the state’s insurer of last resort.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You can find more details on navigating insurance claims and wildfires \u003ca href=\"https://laist.com/news/housing-homelessness/cheat-sheet-what-to-do-if-you-need-to-make-a-fire-insurance-claim\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Farida Jhabvala Romero and Brian Watt contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Nearly seven years after the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/tubbs-fire\">Tubbs Fire\u003c/a> tore through Northern California wine country, displacing thousands of people, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved stronger tenant protections triggered during natural disasters as part of a wider package of rental laws.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under the new ordinances, when county officials declare a state of emergency, landlords must accept late rent payments and can only evict in a more limited set of circumstances. The package also expands tenant protections when there is no emergency, widening the pool of tenants eligible for “just cause” eviction protections, among other provisions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve learned from Sonoma County’s history of disasters that we can’t afford to wait until the next disaster hits, especially for our undocumented community members, who are among the most marginalized,” said Beatrice Camacho, director of local mutual aid organization UndocuFund.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Advocates and tenant activists said the \u003ca href=\"https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/2017/10/8/tubbs-fire-central-lnu-complex/\">2017 Tubbs Fire\u003c/a>, along with the COVID-19 pandemic, shaped their “first-in-the-nation” proposal. The fire scorched nearly 37,000 acres across Sonoma and Napa counties, destroyed nearly 5,700 homes and damaged more than 300 others.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under the new rules, a landlord wanting to evict their tenant during a declared disaster must permanently remove the property from the rental market or demonstrate the tenant poses a health or safety threat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tenants also have more leeway if they can’t pay their rent on time. Landlords must wait at least 30 days before deeming it late, as long as tenants can demonstrate they experienced a substantial loss of income or had to pay out-of-pocket expenses associated with the disaster.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, some landlords took issue with the new rules during the board meeting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What that does is that leaves the property owner subject to penalty fees and paying their mortgage late, especially if they depend on that rental income to support their mortgage,” said Jill DeProto, a member of local property management company D&G Equity. “There’s got to be a balance between tenant protection laws and for landlords and property owners.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12001666 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/RussianRiverTreesGetty-1020x687.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Sonoma County, renters make up almost 40% of households, according to tenants rights organization North Bay Organizing Project. Statewide, \u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/blog/californias-renters/#:~:text=Renters%20make%20up%20a%20much,according%20to%20the%20US%20Census.\">renters make up 44% of households\u003c/a>, a larger share than other states across the country. More cities, including \u003ca href=\"https://www.antiochca.gov/fc/administration/tenant-protection/tpo-notice-of-tenant-rights.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Antioch\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11930792/richmond-considers-stronger-rent-caps-as-inflation-soars\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Richmond\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.petaluma360.com/article/news/new-tenant-protection-ordinance-approved/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Petaluma\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12001167/salinas-is-set-to-cap-rent-hikes-a-historic-step-for-monterey-county-and-farmworker-towns\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Salinas,\u003c/a> have passed renter protections in recent years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2019, the California Tenant Protection Act set statewide standards establishing certain “just-cause” eviction protections and limits on rent increases for most multifamily properties built more than 15 years ago, along with some single-family rentals. Those protections limit the reasons landlords can evict tenants, such as late rent payments, public health or safety reasons and violations of the lease.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under Sonoma County’s new protections, every property rented out has to offer just cause eviction protections. If a landlord decides to evict a tenant without just cause, they have to pay one month’s fair-market rent to relocate the tenant. And renters are also allowed to pay their rent late twice in a year before facing the threat of eviction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Finally, if a landlord wants to evict a renter during an emergency or otherwise, they have to provide tenants information in both English and Spanish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These strong eviction protections transform the immediate crises Sonoma County’s undocumented neighbors face into forward-thinking policies that ensure our government takes responsibility for everyone’s dignity and self-determination in future disasters,” Camacho said. “Because we refuse to let those most impacted be left behind.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The rules will take effect 30 days after the supervisors’ Tuesday vote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Nearly seven years after the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/tubbs-fire\">Tubbs Fire\u003c/a> tore through Northern California wine country, displacing thousands of people, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved stronger tenant protections triggered during natural disasters as part of a wider package of rental laws.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under the new ordinances, when county officials declare a state of emergency, landlords must accept late rent payments and can only evict in a more limited set of circumstances. The package also expands tenant protections when there is no emergency, widening the pool of tenants eligible for “just cause” eviction protections, among other provisions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve learned from Sonoma County’s history of disasters that we can’t afford to wait until the next disaster hits, especially for our undocumented community members, who are among the most marginalized,” said Beatrice Camacho, director of local mutual aid organization UndocuFund.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Advocates and tenant activists said the \u003ca href=\"https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/2017/10/8/tubbs-fire-central-lnu-complex/\">2017 Tubbs Fire\u003c/a>, along with the COVID-19 pandemic, shaped their “first-in-the-nation” proposal. The fire scorched nearly 37,000 acres across Sonoma and Napa counties, destroyed nearly 5,700 homes and damaged more than 300 others.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under the new rules, a landlord wanting to evict their tenant during a declared disaster must permanently remove the property from the rental market or demonstrate the tenant poses a health or safety threat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tenants also have more leeway if they can’t pay their rent on time. Landlords must wait at least 30 days before deeming it late, as long as tenants can demonstrate they experienced a substantial loss of income or had to pay out-of-pocket expenses associated with the disaster.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, some landlords took issue with the new rules during the board meeting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What that does is that leaves the property owner subject to penalty fees and paying their mortgage late, especially if they depend on that rental income to support their mortgage,” said Jill DeProto, a member of local property management company D&G Equity. “There’s got to be a balance between tenant protection laws and for landlords and property owners.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Sonoma County, renters make up almost 40% of households, according to tenants rights organization North Bay Organizing Project. Statewide, \u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/blog/californias-renters/#:~:text=Renters%20make%20up%20a%20much,according%20to%20the%20US%20Census.\">renters make up 44% of households\u003c/a>, a larger share than other states across the country. More cities, including \u003ca href=\"https://www.antiochca.gov/fc/administration/tenant-protection/tpo-notice-of-tenant-rights.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Antioch\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11930792/richmond-considers-stronger-rent-caps-as-inflation-soars\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Richmond\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.petaluma360.com/article/news/new-tenant-protection-ordinance-approved/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Petaluma\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12001167/salinas-is-set-to-cap-rent-hikes-a-historic-step-for-monterey-county-and-farmworker-towns\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Salinas,\u003c/a> have passed renter protections in recent years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2019, the California Tenant Protection Act set statewide standards establishing certain “just-cause” eviction protections and limits on rent increases for most multifamily properties built more than 15 years ago, along with some single-family rentals. Those protections limit the reasons landlords can evict tenants, such as late rent payments, public health or safety reasons and violations of the lease.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under Sonoma County’s new protections, every property rented out has to offer just cause eviction protections. If a landlord decides to evict a tenant without just cause, they have to pay one month’s fair-market rent to relocate the tenant. And renters are also allowed to pay their rent late twice in a year before facing the threat of eviction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Finally, if a landlord wants to evict a renter during an emergency or otherwise, they have to provide tenants information in both English and Spanish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These strong eviction protections transform the immediate crises Sonoma County’s undocumented neighbors face into forward-thinking policies that ensure our government takes responsibility for everyone’s dignity and self-determination in future disasters,” Camacho said. “Because we refuse to let those most impacted be left behind.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The rules will take effect 30 days after the supervisors’ Tuesday vote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "American Suburb: The Podcast",
"tagline": "The flip side of gentrification, told through one town",
"info": "Gentrification is changing cities across America, forcing people from neighborhoods they have long called home. Call them the displaced. Now those priced out of the Bay Area are looking for a better life in an unlikely place. American Suburb follows this migration to one California town along the Delta, 45 miles from San Francisco. But is this once sleepy suburb ready for them?",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/American-Suburb-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"order": 19
},
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"tagline": "Exploring the Bay Area, one question at a time",
"info": "KQED’s new podcast, Bay Curious, gets to the bottom of the mysteries — both profound and peculiar — that give the Bay Area its unique identity. And we’ll do it with your help! You ask the questions. You decide what Bay Curious investigates. And you join us on the journey to find the answers.",
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},
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/BBC-World-Service-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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},
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"info": "KQED’s statewide radio news program providing daily coverage of issues, trends and public policy decisions.",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/californiareport",
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"order": 8
},
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},
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},
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"info": "A one-hour radio program to hear celebrated writers, artists and thinkers address contemporary ideas and values, often discussing the creative process. Please note: tapes or transcripts are not available",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/05/cityartsandlecture-300x300.jpg",
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"meta": {
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"source": "City Arts & Lectures"
},
"link": "https://www.cityarts.net",
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"order": 1
},
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"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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},
"commonwealth-club": {
"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.",
"airtime": "THU 10pm, FRI 1am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Commonwealth-Club-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
"link": "/radio/program/commonwealth-club",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
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}
},
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"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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"source": "kqed",
"order": 9
},
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},
"freakonomics-radio": {
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"meta": {
"site": "radio",
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},
"link": "/radio/program/freakonomics-radio",
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},
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"id": "fresh-air",
"title": "Fresh Air",
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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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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510051/podcast.xml"
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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"
},
"link": "/radio/program/hidden-brain",
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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",
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},
"link": "/radio/program/how-i-built-this",
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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. ",
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},
"jerrybrown": {
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"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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"order": 18
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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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"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": {
"site": "news",
"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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"rss": "https://feeds.publicradio.org/public_feeds/marketplace-pm/rss/rss"
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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"
},
"link": "/radio/program/masters-of-scale",
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"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
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"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>",
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