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"content": "\u003cp>Get ready for your next big Martian adventure!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not a Hollywood epic about the stranding and rescue of a lone astronaut, but a real-world expedition: the \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPXU_uQThGo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mars 2020 rover\u003c/a> mission.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And NASA’s newest robot explorer isn’t going alone. Mars 2020 is being accompanied by the first-of-its-kind Mars Helicopter. Yes, in this case, NASA saved its innovation for the engineering, not the nomenclature.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mars Helicopter\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In late January, the fully assembled softball-sized, 4-pound robot with twin rotors was tested at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a chamber that replicates the actual conditions on Mars that the \u003ca href=\"https://www.wired.com/story/the-physics-of-nasas-new-mars-helicopter/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">helicopter must endure, \u003c/a>temperatures were set as low as minus-130 degrees Fahrenheit, with a simulated atmosphere of carbon dioxide equivalent to the atmospheric pressure at 100,000 feet on Earth. (The highest altitude reached by a helicopter here on this planet was 29,000 feet, where it \u003ca href=\"https://www.verticalmag.com/features/landing-everest-didier-delsalle-recalls-record-flight/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">landed\u003c/a> on the peak of Mount Everest.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1940143\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1940143\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/MHinflight-nasajplcaltech-800x448.jpg\" alt=\"Artist depiction of the Mars Helicopter in flight on Mars. \" width=\"800\" height=\"448\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/MHinflight-nasajplcaltech.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/MHinflight-nasajplcaltech-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/MHinflight-nasajplcaltech-768x430.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Artist depiction of the Mars Helicopter in flight on Mars. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL-Caltech)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Even Mars’ lower-surface gravity, one-third of Earth’s, was simulated during test flights, with a special tether providing a constant upward tug.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mars Helicoper\u003ca href=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7361\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> passed \u003c/a>its two hovering test flights with flying colors, so to speak. The next time the helicopter takes off will be on Mars, in early 2021.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Future of Martian Flight\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mars Helicopter is accompanying its mother-ship rover as a demonstration of technology that can be put to use on future missions — a beta test to see how well the technology performs on Mars, and to learn what features and capabilities might be included in next-generation copters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rovers are great for getting around on the surface of another planet, but the six-wheeled robots can’t roam everywhere; some terrain is navigationally challenging or simply impassable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But a rover with a tiny solar-powered, flying camera-bot can deploy it to get close looks at intriguing geological features, scout what’s on the other side of hills and ridges that the rover can’t get to, and maybe even collect rock and soil samples over a wide range of territory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mars scientists are probably waking up late at night imagining how to put future whirly-bots to use.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mission of Mars 2020\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The exploration of Mars has been an exciting ongoing adventure for the past several decades, but \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9YBPRF3o5w\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mars 2020\u003c/a> has the potential to deliver the most exciting news yet: evidence of past Martian life. Not since the Viking landers conducted inconclusive experiments to detect signs of present life has a mission looked for Martians.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Physically modeled after the rover Curiosity, which is presently looking for, and finding, clues to Mars’ past watery climate, one of Mars 2020’s objectives is to look for signs of anything that might have lived in those ancient seas and lakes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1940144\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1940144\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/mars2020rover-800x495.jpg\" alt=\"Diagram of Mars 2020's suite of instruments designed to look for the chemical residues of past Martian life, assess the climate, and investigate the geology at its landing site. \" width=\"800\" height=\"495\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/mars2020rover-800x495.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/mars2020rover-160x99.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/mars2020rover-768x475.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/mars2020rover-1020x631.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/mars2020rover-1200x743.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/mars2020rover-1920x1188.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/mars2020rover.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Diagram of Mars 2020’s suite of instruments designed to look for the chemical residues of past Martian life, assess the climate, and investigate the geology at its landing site. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL-Caltech)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Along with a \u003ca href=\"https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/mission/instruments/\">suite of highly advanced scientific instruments\u003c/a>, the rover is also carrying an experiment, MOXIE, to produce oxygen from Mars’ atmospheric carbon dioxide to test how future human explorers might produce breathable oxygen from the Martian environment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Carrying On a Long Legacy of Mars Crawling\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With each successive landing mission, NASA adds something new to the conversation about the exploration of Mars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1976, the \u003ca href=\"https://mars.nasa.gov/programmissions/missions/past/viking/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Viking missions \u003c/a>achieved the first successful landings on Mars, allowing for our first surface-view of the planet. They also attempted, optimistically, to find life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1997, \u003ca href=\"https://mars.nasa.gov/programmissions/missions/past/pathfinder/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Pathfinder\u003c/a> carried the first rover, Sojourner, to set wheels on Martian dirt, and the 330 feet it traveled from rock to rock at the time felt like a marathon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1940145\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1940145\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/opportunitys-last-pan-nasajplcaltechcornellasu2-800x179.jpg\" alt=\"In the final days of its 15-year trek on Mars, the rover Opportunity captured this sweeping panorama from its final resting place in Perseverance Valley. \" width=\"800\" height=\"179\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/opportunitys-last-pan-nasajplcaltechcornellasu2-800x179.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/opportunitys-last-pan-nasajplcaltechcornellasu2-160x36.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/opportunitys-last-pan-nasajplcaltechcornellasu2-768x171.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/opportunitys-last-pan-nasajplcaltechcornellasu2-1020x228.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/opportunitys-last-pan-nasajplcaltechcornellasu2-1200x268.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/opportunitys-last-pan-nasajplcaltechcornellasu2-1920x428.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/opportunitys-last-pan-nasajplcaltechcornellasu2.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In the final days of its 15-year trek on Mars, the rover Opportunity captured this sweeping panorama from its final resting place in Perseverance Valley. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell University/ASU)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In 2004, \u003ca href=\"https://mars.nasa.gov/mer/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Spirit and Opportunity\u003c/a> were the first wheels-on-the-ground expedition to search for signs of past water on Mars, \u003ca href=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7334\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">culminating\u003c/a> in a spectacular 15-year, 26-mile odyssey of discovery by Opportunity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 2012 landing of \u003ca href=\"https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Curiosity\u003c/a> kicked off the first mission to take us on a tour through time, reading the pages of Mars’ climate history through sedimentary layers going back a couple billion years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And the most recent mission, \u003ca href=\"https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">InSight\u003c/a>, will give us our first look inside Mars, straight to the core.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Launch and Landing\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/mission/timeline/\">Mars 2020 mission\u003c/a>, rover and helicopter, will launch in July 2020, with a landing projected for February 2021.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From all that we now know about Mars’ once more Earth-like conditions, about the tenacity and adaptability of \u003ca href=\"https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/extremophile.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">extremophile\u003c/a> life forms on Earth, and about the efficacy of the formation of organic compounds under the right conditions, scientists are optimistic that Mars 2020 could find evidence of life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And while I’d love to see microscopic pictures of Martian microbe fossils, I’ll settle for any chemical residues left in rock that we can point to and say:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There was life here!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "The Mars 2020 rover mission's Mars Helicopter has passed its flight tests and is now cleared to fly Martian skies. ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Get ready for your next big Martian adventure!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not a Hollywood epic about the stranding and rescue of a lone astronaut, but a real-world expedition: the \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPXU_uQThGo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mars 2020 rover\u003c/a> mission.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And NASA’s newest robot explorer isn’t going alone. Mars 2020 is being accompanied by the first-of-its-kind Mars Helicopter. Yes, in this case, NASA saved its innovation for the engineering, not the nomenclature.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mars Helicopter\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In late January, the fully assembled softball-sized, 4-pound robot with twin rotors was tested at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a chamber that replicates the actual conditions on Mars that the \u003ca href=\"https://www.wired.com/story/the-physics-of-nasas-new-mars-helicopter/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">helicopter must endure, \u003c/a>temperatures were set as low as minus-130 degrees Fahrenheit, with a simulated atmosphere of carbon dioxide equivalent to the atmospheric pressure at 100,000 feet on Earth. (The highest altitude reached by a helicopter here on this planet was 29,000 feet, where it \u003ca href=\"https://www.verticalmag.com/features/landing-everest-didier-delsalle-recalls-record-flight/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">landed\u003c/a> on the peak of Mount Everest.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1940143\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1940143\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/MHinflight-nasajplcaltech-800x448.jpg\" alt=\"Artist depiction of the Mars Helicopter in flight on Mars. \" width=\"800\" height=\"448\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/MHinflight-nasajplcaltech.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/MHinflight-nasajplcaltech-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/MHinflight-nasajplcaltech-768x430.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Artist depiction of the Mars Helicopter in flight on Mars. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL-Caltech)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Even Mars’ lower-surface gravity, one-third of Earth’s, was simulated during test flights, with a special tether providing a constant upward tug.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mars Helicoper\u003ca href=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7361\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> passed \u003c/a>its two hovering test flights with flying colors, so to speak. The next time the helicopter takes off will be on Mars, in early 2021.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Future of Martian Flight\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mars Helicopter is accompanying its mother-ship rover as a demonstration of technology that can be put to use on future missions — a beta test to see how well the technology performs on Mars, and to learn what features and capabilities might be included in next-generation copters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rovers are great for getting around on the surface of another planet, but the six-wheeled robots can’t roam everywhere; some terrain is navigationally challenging or simply impassable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But a rover with a tiny solar-powered, flying camera-bot can deploy it to get close looks at intriguing geological features, scout what’s on the other side of hills and ridges that the rover can’t get to, and maybe even collect rock and soil samples over a wide range of territory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mars scientists are probably waking up late at night imagining how to put future whirly-bots to use.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mission of Mars 2020\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The exploration of Mars has been an exciting ongoing adventure for the past several decades, but \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9YBPRF3o5w\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mars 2020\u003c/a> has the potential to deliver the most exciting news yet: evidence of past Martian life. Not since the Viking landers conducted inconclusive experiments to detect signs of present life has a mission looked for Martians.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Physically modeled after the rover Curiosity, which is presently looking for, and finding, clues to Mars’ past watery climate, one of Mars 2020’s objectives is to look for signs of anything that might have lived in those ancient seas and lakes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1940144\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1940144\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/mars2020rover-800x495.jpg\" alt=\"Diagram of Mars 2020's suite of instruments designed to look for the chemical residues of past Martian life, assess the climate, and investigate the geology at its landing site. \" width=\"800\" height=\"495\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/mars2020rover-800x495.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/mars2020rover-160x99.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/mars2020rover-768x475.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/mars2020rover-1020x631.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/mars2020rover-1200x743.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/mars2020rover-1920x1188.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/mars2020rover.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Diagram of Mars 2020’s suite of instruments designed to look for the chemical residues of past Martian life, assess the climate, and investigate the geology at its landing site. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL-Caltech)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Along with a \u003ca href=\"https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/mission/instruments/\">suite of highly advanced scientific instruments\u003c/a>, the rover is also carrying an experiment, MOXIE, to produce oxygen from Mars’ atmospheric carbon dioxide to test how future human explorers might produce breathable oxygen from the Martian environment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Carrying On a Long Legacy of Mars Crawling\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With each successive landing mission, NASA adds something new to the conversation about the exploration of Mars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1976, the \u003ca href=\"https://mars.nasa.gov/programmissions/missions/past/viking/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Viking missions \u003c/a>achieved the first successful landings on Mars, allowing for our first surface-view of the planet. They also attempted, optimistically, to find life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1997, \u003ca href=\"https://mars.nasa.gov/programmissions/missions/past/pathfinder/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Pathfinder\u003c/a> carried the first rover, Sojourner, to set wheels on Martian dirt, and the 330 feet it traveled from rock to rock at the time felt like a marathon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1940145\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1940145\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/opportunitys-last-pan-nasajplcaltechcornellasu2-800x179.jpg\" alt=\"In the final days of its 15-year trek on Mars, the rover Opportunity captured this sweeping panorama from its final resting place in Perseverance Valley. \" width=\"800\" height=\"179\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/opportunitys-last-pan-nasajplcaltechcornellasu2-800x179.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/opportunitys-last-pan-nasajplcaltechcornellasu2-160x36.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/opportunitys-last-pan-nasajplcaltechcornellasu2-768x171.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/opportunitys-last-pan-nasajplcaltechcornellasu2-1020x228.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/opportunitys-last-pan-nasajplcaltechcornellasu2-1200x268.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/opportunitys-last-pan-nasajplcaltechcornellasu2-1920x428.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/opportunitys-last-pan-nasajplcaltechcornellasu2.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In the final days of its 15-year trek on Mars, the rover Opportunity captured this sweeping panorama from its final resting place in Perseverance Valley. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell University/ASU)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In 2004, \u003ca href=\"https://mars.nasa.gov/mer/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Spirit and Opportunity\u003c/a> were the first wheels-on-the-ground expedition to search for signs of past water on Mars, \u003ca href=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7334\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">culminating\u003c/a> in a spectacular 15-year, 26-mile odyssey of discovery by Opportunity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 2012 landing of \u003ca href=\"https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Curiosity\u003c/a> kicked off the first mission to take us on a tour through time, reading the pages of Mars’ climate history through sedimentary layers going back a couple billion years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And the most recent mission, \u003ca href=\"https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">InSight\u003c/a>, will give us our first look inside Mars, straight to the core.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Launch and Landing\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/mission/timeline/\">Mars 2020 mission\u003c/a>, rover and helicopter, will launch in July 2020, with a landing projected for February 2021.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From all that we now know about Mars’ once more Earth-like conditions, about the tenacity and adaptability of \u003ca href=\"https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/extremophile.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">extremophile\u003c/a> life forms on Earth, and about the efficacy of the formation of organic compounds under the right conditions, scientists are optimistic that Mars 2020 could find evidence of life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And while I’d love to see microscopic pictures of Martian microbe fossils, I’ll settle for any chemical residues left in rock that we can point to and say:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There was life here!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "North Bay's Highway 37 Is Going to Be a Serious Climate Mess",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">T\u003c/span>he rainy season is winding down, ending a difficult winter for many North Bay commuters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Every day, 46,000 people drive Highway 37, the scenic route that connects Marin County with Vallejo, Napa and just about everywhere east.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This thread, though essential, is also tenuous in that it’s strung atop a berm barely above sea level. Traversing the vast salt marshes known as the \u003ca href=\"http://scc.ca.gov/climate-change/climate-change-projects/highway37/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">San Pablo Baylands\u003c/a>, the 21-mile stretch is emerging as an early challenge to planners confronting California’s changing climate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size='small' align='right' citation='Steve Page, CEO Sonoma Raceway']‘You walk out of there after four hours borderline suicidal, when you listen to presentations by the staff of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, who sketch out a timeline saying that we might be able to adopt a final plan in 2055.’[/pullquote]In the drenching winter of 2016-17, flooding from winter storms shut down portions of the road for a total of 28 days. Then, last February, a levee broke on the Marin side, shutting down westbound lanes for five days while crews pumped water off the road and trucks hauled in loads of rock to shore it up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It calls into question: How much longer can we have Highway 37 in the way that it is, without preparing for sea level rise?” wonders Assemblyman Marc Levine, D-San Rafael. He commutes on 37, from Marin to Sacramento, and was frustrated when the road was underwater again two years after Caltrans raised a section to prevent it from flooding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We paved a couple of parts of it, and the part that we didn’t pave was the one that got flooded — of course, it’s the bottom of the bathtub,” he said, referring to the unelevated portions of the highway. “So we can’t pat ourselves on the back on these Band-Aids and quick fixes; we need to think a little bit bigger and think for the future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1940219\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/h37_02.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1940219 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/h37_02.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"571\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">\u003cem>\u003cstrong>A recent USGS study projects that Highway 37 would be frequently underwater with about 10 inches of sea rise, which could occur between 2040 and 2050. Twenty inches of rise, likely by 2070, would permanently overwhelm the roadway.\u003c/strong> \u003c/em>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Time Running Out\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That future is coming at us fast, with rising sea levels, high tides and extreme weather events. At the current pace of global warming, in little more than 20 years, Highway 37 could be underwater “multiple times per month,” based on \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1939059/the-ocean-is-not-a-bathtub-so-sea-level-rise-will-be-more-damaging\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">recent projections\u003c/a> by the U.S. Geological Survey.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some say it could be sooner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re noticing that the water is getting higher and higher near the highway,” notes \u003ca href=\"https://roadecology.ucdavis.edu/people/fraser-shilling\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Fraser Shilling\u003c/a>, who co-directs the \u003ca href=\"https://roadecology.ucdavis.edu/research/programs/sea-level-rise\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Road Ecology Center\u003c/a> at UC Davis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re increasing the baseline, the level of water around it, which increases the risk, with every storm, of the highway closing again,” says Shilling. “So I would say we’re in that window where any given year, the highway could close potentially indefinitely.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That makes Steve Page really nervous.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Page is the CEO of \u003ca href=\"https://www.sonomaraceway.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sonoma Raceway\u003c/a>. He depends on Highway 37 to get a half-million visitors a year to his track. He’s been to some meetings of the four-county task force, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.tam.ca.gov/sr-37-policy-committee/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Highway 37 Policy Committee\u003c/a>, that has been working on a solution for more than three years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You walk out of there after four hours borderline suicidal,” says Page, “when you listen to presentations by the staff of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, who sketch out a timeline saying that we might be able to adopt a final plan in 2055.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What to Do?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most potential solutions fall into three buckets: Raise the berm that supports the road; put the road on stilts and make it a causeway; reroute it entirely, skirting the marsh by \u003ca href=\"https://napavalleyregister.com/news/local/route-highway-through-american-canyon-napans-shudder/article_578ffbd6-ac4d-534e-92df-ca02b1c122f3.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">looping it north\u003c/a> along higher ground. All three would also widen the road, much of which is one lane in either direction and often choked with traffic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No matter which plan is eventually chosen, it’s certain to be a multibillion-dollar project. And since there’s currently no money for that, there’s growing sentiment that the new 37 will need to be a toll crossing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Any proposal to elevate the highway through the marsh is a proposal to build a new road,” says Shilling. “Because they’re not going to build it over the footprint of the existing road; it’s going to be alongside. So you’re talking about a whole new road.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Adding urgency to the issue is that even as the bay is rising, the land itself is sinking. On the north side of the highway are thousands of acres of marshes. Much of that land is undergoing restoration, and these wetlands could provide a buffer against rising seas if it weren’t for Highway 37 itself, which in its present form acts as a kind of dam between the marsh and the bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1940209\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1950px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/Causeway-View_R.5_sized.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1940209\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/Causeway-View_R.5_sized.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1950\" height=\"1097\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/Causeway-View_R.5_sized.jpg 1950w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/Causeway-View_R.5_sized-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/Causeway-View_R.5_sized-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/Causeway-View_R.5_sized-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/Causeway-View_R.5_sized-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/Causeway-View_R.5_sized-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/Causeway-View_R.5_sized-1920x1080.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1950px) 100vw, 1950px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Elevating Highway 37 to a causeway would protect the roadway and allow the marsh to move and interact with the bay — but it won’t come cheap. \u003ccite>(Common Ground/TLS Landscape Architecture)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It doesn’t let the marsh do what it needs to do,” says Susan Schwartzenberg. She studies the interaction of human and natural forces as head of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.exploratorium.edu/visit/gallery-6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Fisher Bay Observatory\u003c/a> at San Francisco’s Exploratorium.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Schwartzenberg says making the road an elevated causeway, like most of the Dumbarton Bridge, for instance, would allow the wetlands to do their job: delivering sediment to the Bay, re-establishing plants, and providing animal habitat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You see these swarms of birds, the gray, the brown hills in the background; it’s a vista that everyone should love.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, Schwarzenberg has been working with a world-class design team on a whole new vision for the highway, in the shape of an undulating ribbon that would accommodate cars, bikes and pedestrians. It would even have elevated observation decks and floating campgrounds, to reconnect people with the natural beauty of the North Bay marshes. They even have a name for their grand vision …\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1940211\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 750px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/CULLINAN_SUNSET_sized.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1940211 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/CULLINAN_SUNSET_sized.jpg\" alt=\"Image: Grand Bayway design\" width=\"750\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/CULLINAN_SUNSET_sized.jpg 750w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/CULLINAN_SUNSET_sized-160x284.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/CULLINAN_SUNSET_sized-675x1200.jpg 675w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rendering of a possible Grand Bayway, stretching from the Napa River at Vallejo (foreground) to Sears Point in the distance, with bike-and-pedestrian loop and observation tower. \u003ccite>(Common Ground/TLS Landscape Architecture)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>The Grand Bayway\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The name \u003ca href=\"http://www.resilientbayarea.org/grand-bayway\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Grand Bayway\u003c/a> “connotes movement,” says Tom Leader, who heads TLS Landscape Architecture in Berkeley. He led one of the teams in the recent \u003ca href=\"http://www.resilientbayarea.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Resilient by Design\u003c/a> Bay Area Challenge and envisions the north end of the bay as an “ecological Central Park.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That would include the needs of transportation for people trying to get to work, but in a more elegant interesting way, and people to have access and develop the whole cultural life that’s embedded here … and, you know, living with water into the future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That means, among other things, looking for ways to let the rising waters in, rather than pushing them back with seawalls and levees. Wetlands are a living example of that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are some short-term measures already partly funded and in the pipeline, including conversion of the intersection at Sears Point into a roundabout, and possibly adding a reversible commute lane to the eastern leg of the roadway. But those are interim measures designed to relieve traffic congestion. Caltrans says settling on a long-term design to address the threat from rising seas could be years away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shilling says one reason for that is that four counties and dozens of agencies are involved in the planning. And while he likes the idea of a Grand Bayway, he’s skeptical that it will happen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Institutions are the barrier,” he says. “It’s institutions not having the mechanisms for creative thinking for new ways of doing things to adapt to this new kind of condition.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This “new condition” of rising waters means that the “old” Highway 37 — the one we still count on — could be the first major thoroughfare that the Bay Area loses, completely, to climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "After flood closures in two of the last three winters, Highway 37 is already a challenge for commuters and planners, with no long-term solution in sight.",
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"description": "After flood closures in two of the last three winters, Highway 37 is already a challenge for commuters and planners, with no long-term solution in sight.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">T\u003c/span>he rainy season is winding down, ending a difficult winter for many North Bay commuters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Every day, 46,000 people drive Highway 37, the scenic route that connects Marin County with Vallejo, Napa and just about everywhere east.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This thread, though essential, is also tenuous in that it’s strung atop a berm barely above sea level. Traversing the vast salt marshes known as the \u003ca href=\"http://scc.ca.gov/climate-change/climate-change-projects/highway37/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">San Pablo Baylands\u003c/a>, the 21-mile stretch is emerging as an early challenge to planners confronting California’s changing climate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘You walk out of there after four hours borderline suicidal, when you listen to presentations by the staff of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, who sketch out a timeline saying that we might be able to adopt a final plan in 2055.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In the drenching winter of 2016-17, flooding from winter storms shut down portions of the road for a total of 28 days. Then, last February, a levee broke on the Marin side, shutting down westbound lanes for five days while crews pumped water off the road and trucks hauled in loads of rock to shore it up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It calls into question: How much longer can we have Highway 37 in the way that it is, without preparing for sea level rise?” wonders Assemblyman Marc Levine, D-San Rafael. He commutes on 37, from Marin to Sacramento, and was frustrated when the road was underwater again two years after Caltrans raised a section to prevent it from flooding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We paved a couple of parts of it, and the part that we didn’t pave was the one that got flooded — of course, it’s the bottom of the bathtub,” he said, referring to the unelevated portions of the highway. “So we can’t pat ourselves on the back on these Band-Aids and quick fixes; we need to think a little bit bigger and think for the future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1940219\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/h37_02.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1940219 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/h37_02.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"571\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">\u003cem>\u003cstrong>A recent USGS study projects that Highway 37 would be frequently underwater with about 10 inches of sea rise, which could occur between 2040 and 2050. Twenty inches of rise, likely by 2070, would permanently overwhelm the roadway.\u003c/strong> \u003c/em>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Time Running Out\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That future is coming at us fast, with rising sea levels, high tides and extreme weather events. At the current pace of global warming, in little more than 20 years, Highway 37 could be underwater “multiple times per month,” based on \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1939059/the-ocean-is-not-a-bathtub-so-sea-level-rise-will-be-more-damaging\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">recent projections\u003c/a> by the U.S. Geological Survey.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some say it could be sooner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re noticing that the water is getting higher and higher near the highway,” notes \u003ca href=\"https://roadecology.ucdavis.edu/people/fraser-shilling\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Fraser Shilling\u003c/a>, who co-directs the \u003ca href=\"https://roadecology.ucdavis.edu/research/programs/sea-level-rise\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Road Ecology Center\u003c/a> at UC Davis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re increasing the baseline, the level of water around it, which increases the risk, with every storm, of the highway closing again,” says Shilling. “So I would say we’re in that window where any given year, the highway could close potentially indefinitely.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That makes Steve Page really nervous.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Page is the CEO of \u003ca href=\"https://www.sonomaraceway.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sonoma Raceway\u003c/a>. He depends on Highway 37 to get a half-million visitors a year to his track. He’s been to some meetings of the four-county task force, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.tam.ca.gov/sr-37-policy-committee/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Highway 37 Policy Committee\u003c/a>, that has been working on a solution for more than three years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You walk out of there after four hours borderline suicidal,” says Page, “when you listen to presentations by the staff of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, who sketch out a timeline saying that we might be able to adopt a final plan in 2055.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What to Do?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most potential solutions fall into three buckets: Raise the berm that supports the road; put the road on stilts and make it a causeway; reroute it entirely, skirting the marsh by \u003ca href=\"https://napavalleyregister.com/news/local/route-highway-through-american-canyon-napans-shudder/article_578ffbd6-ac4d-534e-92df-ca02b1c122f3.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">looping it north\u003c/a> along higher ground. All three would also widen the road, much of which is one lane in either direction and often choked with traffic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No matter which plan is eventually chosen, it’s certain to be a multibillion-dollar project. And since there’s currently no money for that, there’s growing sentiment that the new 37 will need to be a toll crossing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Any proposal to elevate the highway through the marsh is a proposal to build a new road,” says Shilling. “Because they’re not going to build it over the footprint of the existing road; it’s going to be alongside. So you’re talking about a whole new road.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Adding urgency to the issue is that even as the bay is rising, the land itself is sinking. On the north side of the highway are thousands of acres of marshes. Much of that land is undergoing restoration, and these wetlands could provide a buffer against rising seas if it weren’t for Highway 37 itself, which in its present form acts as a kind of dam between the marsh and the bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1940209\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1950px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/Causeway-View_R.5_sized.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1940209\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/Causeway-View_R.5_sized.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1950\" height=\"1097\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/Causeway-View_R.5_sized.jpg 1950w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/Causeway-View_R.5_sized-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/Causeway-View_R.5_sized-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/Causeway-View_R.5_sized-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/Causeway-View_R.5_sized-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/Causeway-View_R.5_sized-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/Causeway-View_R.5_sized-1920x1080.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1950px) 100vw, 1950px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Elevating Highway 37 to a causeway would protect the roadway and allow the marsh to move and interact with the bay — but it won’t come cheap. \u003ccite>(Common Ground/TLS Landscape Architecture)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It doesn’t let the marsh do what it needs to do,” says Susan Schwartzenberg. She studies the interaction of human and natural forces as head of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.exploratorium.edu/visit/gallery-6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Fisher Bay Observatory\u003c/a> at San Francisco’s Exploratorium.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Schwartzenberg says making the road an elevated causeway, like most of the Dumbarton Bridge, for instance, would allow the wetlands to do their job: delivering sediment to the Bay, re-establishing plants, and providing animal habitat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You see these swarms of birds, the gray, the brown hills in the background; it’s a vista that everyone should love.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, Schwarzenberg has been working with a world-class design team on a whole new vision for the highway, in the shape of an undulating ribbon that would accommodate cars, bikes and pedestrians. It would even have elevated observation decks and floating campgrounds, to reconnect people with the natural beauty of the North Bay marshes. They even have a name for their grand vision …\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1940211\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 750px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/CULLINAN_SUNSET_sized.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1940211 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/CULLINAN_SUNSET_sized.jpg\" alt=\"Image: Grand Bayway design\" width=\"750\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/CULLINAN_SUNSET_sized.jpg 750w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/CULLINAN_SUNSET_sized-160x284.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/CULLINAN_SUNSET_sized-675x1200.jpg 675w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rendering of a possible Grand Bayway, stretching from the Napa River at Vallejo (foreground) to Sears Point in the distance, with bike-and-pedestrian loop and observation tower. \u003ccite>(Common Ground/TLS Landscape Architecture)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>The Grand Bayway\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The name \u003ca href=\"http://www.resilientbayarea.org/grand-bayway\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Grand Bayway\u003c/a> “connotes movement,” says Tom Leader, who heads TLS Landscape Architecture in Berkeley. He led one of the teams in the recent \u003ca href=\"http://www.resilientbayarea.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Resilient by Design\u003c/a> Bay Area Challenge and envisions the north end of the bay as an “ecological Central Park.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That would include the needs of transportation for people trying to get to work, but in a more elegant interesting way, and people to have access and develop the whole cultural life that’s embedded here … and, you know, living with water into the future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That means, among other things, looking for ways to let the rising waters in, rather than pushing them back with seawalls and levees. Wetlands are a living example of that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are some short-term measures already partly funded and in the pipeline, including conversion of the intersection at Sears Point into a roundabout, and possibly adding a reversible commute lane to the eastern leg of the roadway. But those are interim measures designed to relieve traffic congestion. Caltrans says settling on a long-term design to address the threat from rising seas could be years away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shilling says one reason for that is that four counties and dozens of agencies are involved in the planning. And while he likes the idea of a Grand Bayway, he’s skeptical that it will happen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Institutions are the barrier,” he says. “It’s institutions not having the mechanisms for creative thinking for new ways of doing things to adapt to this new kind of condition.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This “new condition” of rising waters means that the “old” Highway 37 — the one we still count on — could be the first major thoroughfare that the Bay Area loses, completely, to climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>An Israeli spacecraft lost contact with Earth and crashed just moments before it was to land on the moon late Thursday, failing in an ambitious attempt to make history as the first privately funded lunar mission.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The spacecraft lost communication with ground control as it was making its final descent to the moon. Moments later, the mission was declared a failure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We definitely crashed on surface of moon,” said Opher Doron, general manager of the space division of Israel Aerospace Industries. He said the spacecraft was in pieces scattered at the planned landing site.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Doron said that the spacecraft’s engine turned off shortly before landing. By the time power was restored, he said the craft was moving too fast to land safely. Scientists were still trying to figure out the cause of the failure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One of the inertial measurement units failed. And that caused an unfortunate chain of events we’re not sure about,” he said. “The engine was turned off. The engine was stopped and the spacecraft crashed. That’s all we know.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The mishap occurred in front of a packed audience that included Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and was broadcast live on national television.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The small robotic spacecraft, built by the non-profit SpaceIL and state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries, had hoped to match a feat that has only been achieved by the national space agencies of three countries: U.S., Russia and China.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If at first you don’t succeed, try try again,” Netanyahu said. He vowed to put an Israeli spacecraft on the moon “intact” in the next two years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists, who were giddy with excitement only second earlier, were visibly distraught, and celebrations at viewing centers across the country were dashed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\">\n\u003cp lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Don’t stop believing! We came close but unfortunately didn’t succeed with the landing process. More updates to follow.\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/SpaceIL?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#SpaceIL\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/Beresheet?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Beresheet\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://t.co/QnLAwEdKRv\">pic.twitter.com/QnLAwEdKRv\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>— Israel To The Moon (@TeamSpaceIL) \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/TeamSpaceIL/status/1116430572551852032?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 11, 2019\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>President Reuven Rivlin hosted dozens of youngsters at his official residence. The children, some wearing white spacesuits, appeared confused as the crash unfolded.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are full of admiration for the wonderful people who brought the spacecraft to the moon,” Rivlin said. “True, not as we had hoped, but we will succeed in the end.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The failure was a disappointing ending to a 6.5 million kilometer (4 million mile) lunar voyage, almost unprecedented in length, that was designed to conserve fuel and reduce price.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The spacecraft hitched a ride on the SpaceX Falcon rocket, launched from Florida in February.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the past two months, Beresheet traveled around the Earth several times before entering lunar orbit in hopes of joining the exclusive club of countries that have made it to the moon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The U.S. space agency NASA broadcast the landing attempt live on its dedicated TV channels, as well as online.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“While NASA regrets the end of the SpaceIL mission without a successful lunar landing of the Beresheet lander, we congratulate SpaceIL, the Israel Aerospace Industries and the state of Israel on the incredible accomplishment of sending the first privately funded mission into lunar orbit,” said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Every attempt to reach new milestones holds opportunities for us to learn, adjust and progress,” he added. “I have no doubt that Israel and SpaceIL will continue to explore and I look forward to celebrating their future achievements.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>An Israeli spacecraft lost contact with Earth and crashed just moments before it was to land on the moon late Thursday, failing in an ambitious attempt to make history as the first privately funded lunar mission.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The spacecraft lost communication with ground control as it was making its final descent to the moon. Moments later, the mission was declared a failure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We definitely crashed on surface of moon,” said Opher Doron, general manager of the space division of Israel Aerospace Industries. He said the spacecraft was in pieces scattered at the planned landing site.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Doron said that the spacecraft’s engine turned off shortly before landing. By the time power was restored, he said the craft was moving too fast to land safely. Scientists were still trying to figure out the cause of the failure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One of the inertial measurement units failed. And that caused an unfortunate chain of events we’re not sure about,” he said. “The engine was turned off. The engine was stopped and the spacecraft crashed. That’s all we know.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The mishap occurred in front of a packed audience that included Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and was broadcast live on national television.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The small robotic spacecraft, built by the non-profit SpaceIL and state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries, had hoped to match a feat that has only been achieved by the national space agencies of three countries: U.S., Russia and China.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If at first you don’t succeed, try try again,” Netanyahu said. He vowed to put an Israeli spacecraft on the moon “intact” in the next two years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists, who were giddy with excitement only second earlier, were visibly distraught, and celebrations at viewing centers across the country were dashed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\">\n\u003cp lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Don’t stop believing! We came close but unfortunately didn’t succeed with the landing process. More updates to follow.\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/SpaceIL?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#SpaceIL\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/Beresheet?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Beresheet\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://t.co/QnLAwEdKRv\">pic.twitter.com/QnLAwEdKRv\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>— Israel To The Moon (@TeamSpaceIL) \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/TeamSpaceIL/status/1116430572551852032?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 11, 2019\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>President Reuven Rivlin hosted dozens of youngsters at his official residence. The children, some wearing white spacesuits, appeared confused as the crash unfolded.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are full of admiration for the wonderful people who brought the spacecraft to the moon,” Rivlin said. “True, not as we had hoped, but we will succeed in the end.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The failure was a disappointing ending to a 6.5 million kilometer (4 million mile) lunar voyage, almost unprecedented in length, that was designed to conserve fuel and reduce price.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The spacecraft hitched a ride on the SpaceX Falcon rocket, launched from Florida in February.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the past two months, Beresheet traveled around the Earth several times before entering lunar orbit in hopes of joining the exclusive club of countries that have made it to the moon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The U.S. space agency NASA broadcast the landing attempt live on its dedicated TV channels, as well as online.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“While NASA regrets the end of the SpaceIL mission without a successful lunar landing of the Beresheet lander, we congratulate SpaceIL, the Israel Aerospace Industries and the state of Israel on the incredible accomplishment of sending the first privately funded mission into lunar orbit,” said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Every attempt to reach new milestones holds opportunities for us to learn, adjust and progress,” he added. “I have no doubt that Israel and SpaceIL will continue to explore and I look forward to celebrating their future achievements.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "In Camp Fire, Newer Houses Were Much Less Damaged",
"headTitle": "In Camp Fire, Newer Houses Were Much Less Damaged | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>The sky was turning orange and the embers were flying from the Camp Fire when Oney and Donna Carrell and Donna’s father sped away from their Paradise home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size='medium' align='right']California’s 2008 building code appears to be effective in limiting damage from wildfire. But only 6 percent of the state’s housing stock was built under those regulations.[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I thought, ‘Oh, well, the house is done,'” Oney Carrell said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A few days later, they learned otherwise. The Carrells’ home survived the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California history with a couple of warped window frames, a partially charred down spout and a stubborn smoky smell inside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most of their neighborhood was destroyed. A guest house in their backyard, where Donna’s father lived, was reduced to ashes, along with a couple of sheds. Yet their beautifully restored 1940 Studebaker sat untouched in the garage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The arc of destruction the Camp Fire carved through Paradise was seemingly random: Why were some houses saved and others incinerated? As millions of Californians brace for another wildfire season, a McClatchy analysis of fire and property records shows the answer might be found in something as simple as the roofs over their heads — and the year their house was built.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A landmark 2008 building code designed for California’s fire-prone regions — requiring fire-resistant roofs, siding and other safeguards — appears to have protected the Carrells’ home and dozens of others like it from the Camp Fire. That year marks a pivotal moment in the state’s deadly and expensive history of destructive natural disasters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All told, about 51 percent of the 350 single-family homes built after 2008 in the path of the Camp Fire were undamaged, according to McClatchy’s analysis of Cal Fire data and Butte County property records. By contrast, only 18 percent of the 12,100 homes built prior to 2008 escaped damage. Those figures don’t include mobile homes, which burned in nearly equal measure regardless of age.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These are great standards; they work,” said senior engineer Robert Raymer of the California Building Industry Association, who consulted with state officials on the building code.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet despite this lesson, California may end up falling short in its effort to protect homes from the next wildfire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mushrooming cities such as Folsom, where an 11,000-home development is springing up, have the ability to bypass the state’s safety standards in spite of considerable fire risks. The state, which offers cash incentives to bolster old homes against earthquakes, so far has done nothing to get Californians to retrofit homes built before 2008 for fire safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It hasn’t helped that housing construction went into a deep dive in 2008 and has been slow to recover. Raymer said only 860,000 homes and apartments have been built statewide since the code went into effect. That’s just 6 percent of the state’s housing stock.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Cal Fire, as many as 3 million homes lie within the various “fire hazard severity zones” around the state. Dave Sapsis, a Cal Fire wildland fire scientist, said there’s no way to know definitively how many of those homes were built before 2008, but he believes “it’s the preponderance of them, the majority.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The situation is worse in rural California, where housing construction lags but the fire hazards are among the worst in the state, Raymer said. Fewer than 3 percent of the homes in the path of the Camp Fire were built after 2008.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Most of our inventory that was here prior to the fire was (built) between the ’40s and the ’70s,” said Paradise Town Councilman Michael Zuccolillo, a real estate agent. “The average home here was from the ’70s.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That leaves thousands of homes at risk from the next inferno across California, their wood-shake shingles waiting to ignite.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What are we going to do about the existing housing stock that’s been built in these places?” said Max Moritz, a wildfire specialist at UC Santa Barbara. “For the existing housing stock that’s out there, that isn’t built to these codes, we have a massive retrofitting issue on our hands. They have structure ignition vulnerabilities that are built into the situation, they’re baked into the problem.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>‘The Weakest Link’\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Carrells, now living in a rental in Roseville, designed their Paradise home and did much of the interior work themselves; they knew that home was built with fire safety in mind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside tag='wildfire' label=\"California's Wildfire Emergency\"]“I knew we were in the middle of the forest,” Oney Carrell said during a recent visit to Paradise. “Why wouldn’t you do everything you could to make it last?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But even he’s amazed that their home made it. Stepping over a blackened patio drain just a few feet from the back of the house, he wondered aloud: “I don’t know why it stopped here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s almost impossible to say for certain why some homes are still standing in Paradise, while others were ruined. Landscaping surely played a role; fire experts say homes buffered by so-called “defensible space” probably did better than those wrapped in shrubs. Luck was a big factor, too, as homes were no doubt spared by last-second shifts in the winds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nevertheless, experts say, McClatchy’s analysis reinforces their belief that California’s fire-safe building code can make a difference in an era of increasing vulnerability. Daniel Gorham, a former firefighter and U.S. Forest Service researcher who works for the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety in South Carolina, said the California code is becoming a model for other fire-prone states.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“California is leaps and bounds ahead of other parts of the country,” Gorham said. “California is on the forefront.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Advocates say fire-resistant building materials aren’t particularly expensive. A study last fall by Headwater Economics, a consulting firm in Bozeman, Montana, found that “a new home built to wildfire-resistant codes can be constructed for roughly the same cost as a typical home.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But getting Californians to retrofit homes built before 2008 is an enormous task. The state requires property owners in fire zones who replace at least half their roof to install “fire-retardant” materials on the entire roof. Other than that, however, there’s nothing forcing Californians to safeguard their existing homes against fire hazards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A few California cities have taken matters into their own hands. In 2008, the City Council in Big Bear Lake, a community of 5,200 in San Bernardino County, passed an ordinance declaring wood shake shingle roofs “a severe fire hazard and danger” and ordered homeowners to replace them by 2012. Armed with state and federal grants, it offered cash incentives of up to $4,500 apiece for new roofs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although the grant program has run out, “I can’t think of the last time I saw a shake roof in Big Bear,” said Patrick Johnston, the city’s chief building official.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most Californians, however, are on their own when it comes to spending the tens of thousands of dollars needed to replace a roof or install fire-resistant siding. The state offers no financial incentives for fire safety the way it does, say, for earthquakes — homeowners in quake zones can get up to $3,000 apiece from the state to gird their homes against seismic disaster.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are signs, however, that the state is beginning to get more serious about retrofitting homes for fire safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A law signed last year by former Gov. Jerry Brown requires the state fire marshal to develop a suggested list of “low-cost retrofits” by January 2020. The state would then promote these retrofits in its education and outreach efforts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California also might start throwing cash at the problem. A new bill, AB 38, introduced earlier this year by Democratic Assemblyman Jim Wood of Santa Rosa, would create a $1 billion “fire hardened homes revolving loan fund” to help homeowners retrofit their properties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The issue is personal for Wood, a dentist who spent weeks helping identify victims from the Camp Fire and the wine country fires of October 2017. Although eligibility terms haven’t been spelled out, the bill would offer low-interest and no-interest loans to help those who otherwise couldn’t pay for new roofs or other safeguards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of these small towns are not as well off financially,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need to find a way to help them, especially if they’re poorer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fund might not be nearly enough to go around — not with hundreds of thousands of homes in need of retrofits, and a new roof alone costing $10,000 or more. “The $1 billion, indeed, that’s not enough to rehab every home,” said the Building Industry Association’s Raymer. But he said it’s “an absolutely excellent way to kick things off.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wood said state officials would have to figure out a plan for parceling out the money to where it’s needed most — probably starting with lower-income areas near forests.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Obviously we want to affect the areas with the highest risk first,” the assemblyman said. “A lot of these small towns are not as well off financially. We need to find a way to help them, especially if they’re poorer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mapping ‘Severity Zones’\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fire-safe building code had its origins in two significant fires from a generation ago — the Panorama Fire of 1980, which spilled out of the mountains into the city of San Bernardino; and the monstrous Oakland Hills Fire of 1991, which wiped out 2,500 homes and killed 25 people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In response, the Legislature ordered the Department of Fire Protection and Forestry to start mapping major fire risks in California, in the hinterlands as well as urban areas. The result was a collection of maps of the state’s “fire hazard severity zones,” encompassing more than one-third of California’s land mass.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Based on factors such as terrain, vegetation and weather patterns, the zones represent Cal Fire’s attempt to predict the probability of a fire starting and the likelihood that it could become significant, said Cal Fire’s Sapsis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The maps spawned tighter building standards. The Legislature mandated fire-resistant roofs in these fire-prone areas. Then in 2008 the state laid out a more comprehensive scheme. The California Building Standards Commission rolled out a suite of regulations, known as Chapter 7A, that set strict rules for roofing materials, siding, windows, decks and other elements of a home built in 2008 or later — right down to the minimum specs for the wire mesh that must be installed on attic vents to keep embers out (no more than a quarter-inch of space between the wires).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Experts said the regulations seem to be particularly effective at protecting structures from the types of wildfires that are increasingly common in California, where wind gusts can blow embers a mile or two ahead of the main wall of flames and do some of the worst damage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A window breaks, a vent breaks, the fire gets into your home and you’ve got an interior structure fire,” said Joe Poire, the city of Santa Barbara’s fire marshal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Enforcement of the building code carries a few wrinkles. In the mainly rural areas where Cal Fire is in charge of fire protection, the Chapter 7A code is automatically enforced in any region that Cal Fire has designated as a “severity zone” — moderate, high or very high.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In urban areas that have their own fire departments, the code is generally used only in spots where Cal Fire says the threat is very high. Local governments have the discretion of rejecting the Cal Fire designation, and Sapsis said some city councils have been squeamish about the state’s maps because of fears that the Chapter 7A code will inflate construction costs, or for other reasons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet interviews with local officials throughout California by McClatchy indicate that the vast majority of cities and towns go along with Cal Fire’s recommendations. Santa Barbara city officials extended the building code to coastal areas that had been overlooked by Cal Fire’s mappers. The map omits small portions of Paradise, but the building code is enforced across the entire town, said Paradise public information officer Colette Curtis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Danger in Santa Rosa, Folsom?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nevertheless, there are places where local officials are reluctant to impose strict building codes — even where fire has caused catastrophe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before Paradise exploded, Santa Rosa’s Coffey Park was the poster child for recent California wildfire disasters: Five people died and 1,321 homes were destroyed by the Tubbs Fire in October 2017. Coffey Park wasn’t subject to California’s Chapter 7A building code.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It still isn’t.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unlike some areas of Santa Rosa, the neighborhood hasn’t been designated a “very high fire hazard” zone by Cal Fire. City officials are OK with that. Although developers rebuilding Coffey Park are being urged to consider fire-resistant materials, city spokeswoman Adriane Mertens said the city doesn’t see any reason to impose the 7A code in the neighborhood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There were very, very high winds that night,” Mertens said. “There were embers that were blown across the (Highway 101) freeway, across six lanes of freeway, into Coffey Park.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jack Cohen, a fire scientist in Montana who helped develop the 7A code, said he thinks Santa Rosa is committing “an error in judgment” by rebuilding without the safeguards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In any event, Cal Fire is updating its fire hazard maps over the next year or so, taking into account more sophisticated data on wind and other climate factors, and Sapsis said spots such as Coffey Park could wind up designated as high-risk areas. Once the maps are done, any region placed inside Cal Fire’s “very high fire” zone will have no choice but to comply, under a bill signed into law by Brown last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But there will still be ways for cities to skirt the state building code.\u003cbr>\nLook at Folsom, widely considered one of the most vulnerable places in greater Sacramento to fire. The county’s hazard mitigation plan says 44,000 residents of Folsom are already at “moderate or higher wildfire risk.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now the suburb is building a development called Folsom Ranch, eventually to be home to 25,000 people, on a parcel south of Highway 50.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The development is on land that used to be subject to the strict state building code. Now it isn’t.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>How did that happen? Years ago, the land was outside Folsom’s city limits and Cal Fire was responsible for its safety. Cal Fire’s maps put the land in the “moderate” risk zone — a threat level high enough that, under the state’s regulations, the fire-safe building code took effect. As it happened, no construction took place during that time, city officials say.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The situation changed when the city annexed the land to forge ahead with Folsom Ranch. Because the land has never been in the state’s “very high” risk zone, the city feels comfortable letting Folsom Ranch develop without the Chapter 7A building code.\u003cbr>\nFire Chief Felipe Rodriguez said Folsom officials are still open to “the possibility of strengthening, hardening, our future homes.” But for now, the city is only requiring homeowners’ associations to implement a “vegetation management” plan and install fire-resistant fencing around properties that abut open space areas, Rodriguez said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Is Folsom courting danger? Rodriguez doesn’t think so. The city will build two fire stations in the development and will “be able to suppress a fire during its early stages,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>‘Sticks in a Fireplace’\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The hundreds of thousands of older homes in fire zones aren’t just more vulnerable in their own right.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Experts say they spread danger to new homes built to stricter standards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One little house built to a new standard, surrounded by a bunch of older stuff, is likely to get swamped,” Sapsis said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Paradise provided a grim reminder of that problem. The Camp Fire destroyed more than 80 percent of the 4,100 mobile homes in its path, whether they were built to the new code or not, according to McClatchy’s data analysis. That isn’t surprising, Sapsis said, given that many of Paradise’s mobile homes were jammed alongside one another in mobile home parks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re stacked so close together, they’re like sticks in a fireplace,” Sapsis said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sapsis and others say the lesson is that strong building codes aren’t enough. In particular, experts say communities must pay more attention to how they lay out their neighborhoods, allowing for firebreaks and enough space between houses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In the name of affordable housing, we’re moving housing closer and closer to one another,” said Chris Dicus, a forestry and fire expert at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. “That serves to have house-to-house-to-house ignition.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The problem isn’t limited to densely-packed urban areas. “I live in a rural community, and I have got six feet basically separating me from my neighbor,” said Dicus, who lives outside of Morro Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition, experts say California is struggling to enforce the state law regarding “defensible space” around properties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The law requires that property owners maintain as much as 100 feet of defensible space around homes and other buildings in and around “a mountainous area, forest-covered lands, brush-covered lands, grass-covered lands, or land that is covered with flammable material.” That means keeping trees and shrubs pruned and spaced far apart. Within five feet of the building, property owners are supposed to remove anything that could catch fire: mulch, plants, woodpiles and so on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In practice, however, enforcement of the defensible space law has been spotty at best. Raymer, of the California Building Industry Association, said most property owners don’t understand how to maintain their yards. The state doesn’t impose penalties for non-compliance, and only a few local governments have chosen to do so, Raymer said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Legislation could change that. SB 190, by Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa, would require the state fire marshal to develop a “model defensible space program,” including penalties, that local governments could adopt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The problem extends beyond homeowners’ property lines. Gov. Gavin Newsom, finding some rare common ground with the Trump administration, is advocating for more aggressive management of forested lands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A thinned forest northeast of Paradise provided one of the rare victories of the Camp Fire. As the fire raged out of the tiny community of Pulga, it essentially spared the northern part of Magalia. The reason was a series of forest-thinning projects conducted in recent years and overseen by the U.S. Forest Service, Sierra Pacific Industries and the volunteer Butte County Fire Safe Council. The council also worked diligently with area residents to clear brush from their property.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All that work “did exactly what we hoped it would do,” said Calli-Jane DeAnda, executive director of the council, which secured $1 million in grants to remove fuels from forested areas. “This investment of public money is so worth the effort.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Paradise ‘Lab Experiment’\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The rebuilding of Paradise means thousands of homes are going to be constructed in the coming years to the stricter standards promulgated by the state in 2008. It represents the single largest test of the effectiveness of the building code.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That is an absolute lab experiment for us,” Sapsis said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the streets of Paradise, though, community leaders are taking a more measured view. Zuccolillo, the town councilman, said asphalt roofs and stucco siding might “give us more of a chance” but he doubts they will guarantee Paradise’s safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I saw metal buildings, metal and stucco buildings, burn to the ground,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, there’s plenty of evidence, all over Paradise, that the state’s building code can protect property.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The other day, Sean Herr pulled into his driveway on the west side of Paradise, where he and his wife Dawn were raising their two young children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first thing he did was bring out the ultimate symbol of resiliency: an American flag, the same one that flew on his front porch the day of the Camp Fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like the flag, the house is still standing. The Herrs’ home, built in 2010, suffered a bit of scorching and some interior smoke damage — the smoke is bad enough that they’re still temporarily living in Chico and aren’t certain they’ll move back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, they marvel at what a close call they had. A Ford Excursion and a boat parked in the front yard, just a few feet from their porch, were destroyed. Five motorcycles locked in a shed behind the house got ruined. Most of their neighborhood is gone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Herrs believe their attention to defensible space — the house is mostly encircled in gravel — and the strictness of the building code probably made the difference.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our yard and the construction of the house saved it for sure,” Dawn Herr said, gesturing to a small scorch mark by the side of the house. “You can see it tried to catch on fire.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Ryan Sabalow of The Sacramento Bee and Steve Schoonover of the Chico Enterprise-Record contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "The arc of destruction the Camp Fire carved through Paradise was seemingly random: Why were some houses saved and others incinerated? A McClatchy analysis of fire and property records shows the answer might be found in something as simple as the year each house was built.",
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"description": "The arc of destruction the Camp Fire carved through Paradise was seemingly random: Why were some houses saved and others incinerated? A McClatchy analysis of fire and property records shows the answer might be found in something as simple as the year each house was built.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The sky was turning orange and the embers were flying from the Camp Fire when Oney and Donna Carrell and Donna’s father sped away from their Paradise home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "California’s 2008 building code appears to be effective in limiting damage from wildfire. But only 6 percent of the state’s housing stock was built under those regulations.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I thought, ‘Oh, well, the house is done,'” Oney Carrell said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A few days later, they learned otherwise. The Carrells’ home survived the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California history with a couple of warped window frames, a partially charred down spout and a stubborn smoky smell inside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most of their neighborhood was destroyed. A guest house in their backyard, where Donna’s father lived, was reduced to ashes, along with a couple of sheds. Yet their beautifully restored 1940 Studebaker sat untouched in the garage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The arc of destruction the Camp Fire carved through Paradise was seemingly random: Why were some houses saved and others incinerated? As millions of Californians brace for another wildfire season, a McClatchy analysis of fire and property records shows the answer might be found in something as simple as the roofs over their heads — and the year their house was built.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A landmark 2008 building code designed for California’s fire-prone regions — requiring fire-resistant roofs, siding and other safeguards — appears to have protected the Carrells’ home and dozens of others like it from the Camp Fire. That year marks a pivotal moment in the state’s deadly and expensive history of destructive natural disasters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All told, about 51 percent of the 350 single-family homes built after 2008 in the path of the Camp Fire were undamaged, according to McClatchy’s analysis of Cal Fire data and Butte County property records. By contrast, only 18 percent of the 12,100 homes built prior to 2008 escaped damage. Those figures don’t include mobile homes, which burned in nearly equal measure regardless of age.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These are great standards; they work,” said senior engineer Robert Raymer of the California Building Industry Association, who consulted with state officials on the building code.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet despite this lesson, California may end up falling short in its effort to protect homes from the next wildfire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mushrooming cities such as Folsom, where an 11,000-home development is springing up, have the ability to bypass the state’s safety standards in spite of considerable fire risks. The state, which offers cash incentives to bolster old homes against earthquakes, so far has done nothing to get Californians to retrofit homes built before 2008 for fire safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It hasn’t helped that housing construction went into a deep dive in 2008 and has been slow to recover. Raymer said only 860,000 homes and apartments have been built statewide since the code went into effect. That’s just 6 percent of the state’s housing stock.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Cal Fire, as many as 3 million homes lie within the various “fire hazard severity zones” around the state. Dave Sapsis, a Cal Fire wildland fire scientist, said there’s no way to know definitively how many of those homes were built before 2008, but he believes “it’s the preponderance of them, the majority.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The situation is worse in rural California, where housing construction lags but the fire hazards are among the worst in the state, Raymer said. Fewer than 3 percent of the homes in the path of the Camp Fire were built after 2008.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Most of our inventory that was here prior to the fire was (built) between the ’40s and the ’70s,” said Paradise Town Councilman Michael Zuccolillo, a real estate agent. “The average home here was from the ’70s.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That leaves thousands of homes at risk from the next inferno across California, their wood-shake shingles waiting to ignite.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What are we going to do about the existing housing stock that’s been built in these places?” said Max Moritz, a wildfire specialist at UC Santa Barbara. “For the existing housing stock that’s out there, that isn’t built to these codes, we have a massive retrofitting issue on our hands. They have structure ignition vulnerabilities that are built into the situation, they’re baked into the problem.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>‘The Weakest Link’\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Carrells, now living in a rental in Roseville, designed their Paradise home and did much of the interior work themselves; they knew that home was built with fire safety in mind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“I knew we were in the middle of the forest,” Oney Carrell said during a recent visit to Paradise. “Why wouldn’t you do everything you could to make it last?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But even he’s amazed that their home made it. Stepping over a blackened patio drain just a few feet from the back of the house, he wondered aloud: “I don’t know why it stopped here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s almost impossible to say for certain why some homes are still standing in Paradise, while others were ruined. Landscaping surely played a role; fire experts say homes buffered by so-called “defensible space” probably did better than those wrapped in shrubs. Luck was a big factor, too, as homes were no doubt spared by last-second shifts in the winds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nevertheless, experts say, McClatchy’s analysis reinforces their belief that California’s fire-safe building code can make a difference in an era of increasing vulnerability. Daniel Gorham, a former firefighter and U.S. Forest Service researcher who works for the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety in South Carolina, said the California code is becoming a model for other fire-prone states.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“California is leaps and bounds ahead of other parts of the country,” Gorham said. “California is on the forefront.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Advocates say fire-resistant building materials aren’t particularly expensive. A study last fall by Headwater Economics, a consulting firm in Bozeman, Montana, found that “a new home built to wildfire-resistant codes can be constructed for roughly the same cost as a typical home.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But getting Californians to retrofit homes built before 2008 is an enormous task. The state requires property owners in fire zones who replace at least half their roof to install “fire-retardant” materials on the entire roof. Other than that, however, there’s nothing forcing Californians to safeguard their existing homes against fire hazards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A few California cities have taken matters into their own hands. In 2008, the City Council in Big Bear Lake, a community of 5,200 in San Bernardino County, passed an ordinance declaring wood shake shingle roofs “a severe fire hazard and danger” and ordered homeowners to replace them by 2012. Armed with state and federal grants, it offered cash incentives of up to $4,500 apiece for new roofs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although the grant program has run out, “I can’t think of the last time I saw a shake roof in Big Bear,” said Patrick Johnston, the city’s chief building official.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most Californians, however, are on their own when it comes to spending the tens of thousands of dollars needed to replace a roof or install fire-resistant siding. The state offers no financial incentives for fire safety the way it does, say, for earthquakes — homeowners in quake zones can get up to $3,000 apiece from the state to gird their homes against seismic disaster.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are signs, however, that the state is beginning to get more serious about retrofitting homes for fire safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A law signed last year by former Gov. Jerry Brown requires the state fire marshal to develop a suggested list of “low-cost retrofits” by January 2020. The state would then promote these retrofits in its education and outreach efforts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California also might start throwing cash at the problem. A new bill, AB 38, introduced earlier this year by Democratic Assemblyman Jim Wood of Santa Rosa, would create a $1 billion “fire hardened homes revolving loan fund” to help homeowners retrofit their properties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The issue is personal for Wood, a dentist who spent weeks helping identify victims from the Camp Fire and the wine country fires of October 2017. Although eligibility terms haven’t been spelled out, the bill would offer low-interest and no-interest loans to help those who otherwise couldn’t pay for new roofs or other safeguards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of these small towns are not as well off financially,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need to find a way to help them, especially if they’re poorer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fund might not be nearly enough to go around — not with hundreds of thousands of homes in need of retrofits, and a new roof alone costing $10,000 or more. “The $1 billion, indeed, that’s not enough to rehab every home,” said the Building Industry Association’s Raymer. But he said it’s “an absolutely excellent way to kick things off.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wood said state officials would have to figure out a plan for parceling out the money to where it’s needed most — probably starting with lower-income areas near forests.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Obviously we want to affect the areas with the highest risk first,” the assemblyman said. “A lot of these small towns are not as well off financially. We need to find a way to help them, especially if they’re poorer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mapping ‘Severity Zones’\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fire-safe building code had its origins in two significant fires from a generation ago — the Panorama Fire of 1980, which spilled out of the mountains into the city of San Bernardino; and the monstrous Oakland Hills Fire of 1991, which wiped out 2,500 homes and killed 25 people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In response, the Legislature ordered the Department of Fire Protection and Forestry to start mapping major fire risks in California, in the hinterlands as well as urban areas. The result was a collection of maps of the state’s “fire hazard severity zones,” encompassing more than one-third of California’s land mass.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Based on factors such as terrain, vegetation and weather patterns, the zones represent Cal Fire’s attempt to predict the probability of a fire starting and the likelihood that it could become significant, said Cal Fire’s Sapsis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The maps spawned tighter building standards. The Legislature mandated fire-resistant roofs in these fire-prone areas. Then in 2008 the state laid out a more comprehensive scheme. The California Building Standards Commission rolled out a suite of regulations, known as Chapter 7A, that set strict rules for roofing materials, siding, windows, decks and other elements of a home built in 2008 or later — right down to the minimum specs for the wire mesh that must be installed on attic vents to keep embers out (no more than a quarter-inch of space between the wires).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Experts said the regulations seem to be particularly effective at protecting structures from the types of wildfires that are increasingly common in California, where wind gusts can blow embers a mile or two ahead of the main wall of flames and do some of the worst damage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A window breaks, a vent breaks, the fire gets into your home and you’ve got an interior structure fire,” said Joe Poire, the city of Santa Barbara’s fire marshal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Enforcement of the building code carries a few wrinkles. In the mainly rural areas where Cal Fire is in charge of fire protection, the Chapter 7A code is automatically enforced in any region that Cal Fire has designated as a “severity zone” — moderate, high or very high.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In urban areas that have their own fire departments, the code is generally used only in spots where Cal Fire says the threat is very high. Local governments have the discretion of rejecting the Cal Fire designation, and Sapsis said some city councils have been squeamish about the state’s maps because of fears that the Chapter 7A code will inflate construction costs, or for other reasons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet interviews with local officials throughout California by McClatchy indicate that the vast majority of cities and towns go along with Cal Fire’s recommendations. Santa Barbara city officials extended the building code to coastal areas that had been overlooked by Cal Fire’s mappers. The map omits small portions of Paradise, but the building code is enforced across the entire town, said Paradise public information officer Colette Curtis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Danger in Santa Rosa, Folsom?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nevertheless, there are places where local officials are reluctant to impose strict building codes — even where fire has caused catastrophe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before Paradise exploded, Santa Rosa’s Coffey Park was the poster child for recent California wildfire disasters: Five people died and 1,321 homes were destroyed by the Tubbs Fire in October 2017. Coffey Park wasn’t subject to California’s Chapter 7A building code.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It still isn’t.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unlike some areas of Santa Rosa, the neighborhood hasn’t been designated a “very high fire hazard” zone by Cal Fire. City officials are OK with that. Although developers rebuilding Coffey Park are being urged to consider fire-resistant materials, city spokeswoman Adriane Mertens said the city doesn’t see any reason to impose the 7A code in the neighborhood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There were very, very high winds that night,” Mertens said. “There were embers that were blown across the (Highway 101) freeway, across six lanes of freeway, into Coffey Park.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jack Cohen, a fire scientist in Montana who helped develop the 7A code, said he thinks Santa Rosa is committing “an error in judgment” by rebuilding without the safeguards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In any event, Cal Fire is updating its fire hazard maps over the next year or so, taking into account more sophisticated data on wind and other climate factors, and Sapsis said spots such as Coffey Park could wind up designated as high-risk areas. Once the maps are done, any region placed inside Cal Fire’s “very high fire” zone will have no choice but to comply, under a bill signed into law by Brown last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But there will still be ways for cities to skirt the state building code.\u003cbr>\nLook at Folsom, widely considered one of the most vulnerable places in greater Sacramento to fire. The county’s hazard mitigation plan says 44,000 residents of Folsom are already at “moderate or higher wildfire risk.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now the suburb is building a development called Folsom Ranch, eventually to be home to 25,000 people, on a parcel south of Highway 50.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The development is on land that used to be subject to the strict state building code. Now it isn’t.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>How did that happen? Years ago, the land was outside Folsom’s city limits and Cal Fire was responsible for its safety. Cal Fire’s maps put the land in the “moderate” risk zone — a threat level high enough that, under the state’s regulations, the fire-safe building code took effect. As it happened, no construction took place during that time, city officials say.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The situation changed when the city annexed the land to forge ahead with Folsom Ranch. Because the land has never been in the state’s “very high” risk zone, the city feels comfortable letting Folsom Ranch develop without the Chapter 7A building code.\u003cbr>\nFire Chief Felipe Rodriguez said Folsom officials are still open to “the possibility of strengthening, hardening, our future homes.” But for now, the city is only requiring homeowners’ associations to implement a “vegetation management” plan and install fire-resistant fencing around properties that abut open space areas, Rodriguez said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Is Folsom courting danger? Rodriguez doesn’t think so. The city will build two fire stations in the development and will “be able to suppress a fire during its early stages,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>‘Sticks in a Fireplace’\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The hundreds of thousands of older homes in fire zones aren’t just more vulnerable in their own right.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Experts say they spread danger to new homes built to stricter standards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One little house built to a new standard, surrounded by a bunch of older stuff, is likely to get swamped,” Sapsis said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Paradise provided a grim reminder of that problem. The Camp Fire destroyed more than 80 percent of the 4,100 mobile homes in its path, whether they were built to the new code or not, according to McClatchy’s data analysis. That isn’t surprising, Sapsis said, given that many of Paradise’s mobile homes were jammed alongside one another in mobile home parks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re stacked so close together, they’re like sticks in a fireplace,” Sapsis said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sapsis and others say the lesson is that strong building codes aren’t enough. In particular, experts say communities must pay more attention to how they lay out their neighborhoods, allowing for firebreaks and enough space between houses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In the name of affordable housing, we’re moving housing closer and closer to one another,” said Chris Dicus, a forestry and fire expert at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. “That serves to have house-to-house-to-house ignition.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The problem isn’t limited to densely-packed urban areas. “I live in a rural community, and I have got six feet basically separating me from my neighbor,” said Dicus, who lives outside of Morro Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition, experts say California is struggling to enforce the state law regarding “defensible space” around properties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The law requires that property owners maintain as much as 100 feet of defensible space around homes and other buildings in and around “a mountainous area, forest-covered lands, brush-covered lands, grass-covered lands, or land that is covered with flammable material.” That means keeping trees and shrubs pruned and spaced far apart. Within five feet of the building, property owners are supposed to remove anything that could catch fire: mulch, plants, woodpiles and so on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In practice, however, enforcement of the defensible space law has been spotty at best. Raymer, of the California Building Industry Association, said most property owners don’t understand how to maintain their yards. The state doesn’t impose penalties for non-compliance, and only a few local governments have chosen to do so, Raymer said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Legislation could change that. SB 190, by Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa, would require the state fire marshal to develop a “model defensible space program,” including penalties, that local governments could adopt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The problem extends beyond homeowners’ property lines. Gov. Gavin Newsom, finding some rare common ground with the Trump administration, is advocating for more aggressive management of forested lands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A thinned forest northeast of Paradise provided one of the rare victories of the Camp Fire. As the fire raged out of the tiny community of Pulga, it essentially spared the northern part of Magalia. The reason was a series of forest-thinning projects conducted in recent years and overseen by the U.S. Forest Service, Sierra Pacific Industries and the volunteer Butte County Fire Safe Council. The council also worked diligently with area residents to clear brush from their property.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All that work “did exactly what we hoped it would do,” said Calli-Jane DeAnda, executive director of the council, which secured $1 million in grants to remove fuels from forested areas. “This investment of public money is so worth the effort.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Paradise ‘Lab Experiment’\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The rebuilding of Paradise means thousands of homes are going to be constructed in the coming years to the stricter standards promulgated by the state in 2008. It represents the single largest test of the effectiveness of the building code.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That is an absolute lab experiment for us,” Sapsis said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the streets of Paradise, though, community leaders are taking a more measured view. Zuccolillo, the town councilman, said asphalt roofs and stucco siding might “give us more of a chance” but he doubts they will guarantee Paradise’s safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I saw metal buildings, metal and stucco buildings, burn to the ground,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, there’s plenty of evidence, all over Paradise, that the state’s building code can protect property.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The other day, Sean Herr pulled into his driveway on the west side of Paradise, where he and his wife Dawn were raising their two young children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first thing he did was bring out the ultimate symbol of resiliency: an American flag, the same one that flew on his front porch the day of the Camp Fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like the flag, the house is still standing. The Herrs’ home, built in 2010, suffered a bit of scorching and some interior smoke damage — the smoke is bad enough that they’re still temporarily living in Chico and aren’t certain they’ll move back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, they marvel at what a close call they had. A Ford Excursion and a boat parked in the front yard, just a few feet from their porch, were destroyed. Five motorcycles locked in a shed behind the house got ruined. Most of their neighborhood is gone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Herrs believe their attention to defensible space — the house is mostly encircled in gravel — and the strictness of the building code probably made the difference.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our yard and the construction of the house saved it for sure,” Dawn Herr said, gesturing to a small scorch mark by the side of the house. “You can see it tried to catch on fire.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Ryan Sabalow of The Sacramento Bee and Steve Schoonover of the Chico Enterprise-Record contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "10 California Communities at Serious Risk From Wildfires",
"headTitle": "10 California Communities at Serious Risk From Wildfires | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Impoverished towns in the shadow of Mount Shasta. Rustic Gold Rush cities in the Sierra Nevada foothills. High-dollar resort communities on the shores of Lake Tahoe. Ritzy Los Angeles County suburbs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They all could be the next Paradise, the Butte County town that was devastated in the 2018 \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/camp-fire\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Camp Fire\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A McClatchy analysis reveals more than 350,000 Californians live in towns and cities that exist almost entirely within “very high fire hazard severity zones” — the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection’s designation for places highly vulnerable to devastating wildfires. These designations have proven eerily predictive about some of the state’s most devastating wildfires in recent years, including the Camp Fire, the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in state history; the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/woolsey-fire\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Woolsey Fire\u003c/a>, which burned more than 400 homes in Malibu last year; and the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/valley-fire\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Valley Fire\u003c/a>, which destroyed much of the small Lake County town of Cobb in 2015.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All told, more than 2.7 million Californians live in very high fire hazard severity zones, from trailers off quiet dirt roads in the forest to mansions in the state’s largest cities, according to the analysis, which is based on 2010 block-level census data. Cal Fire says its maps show places where wildfires are likely to be extreme due to factors including vegetation and topography.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv align=\"center\">\n\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1000\" height=\"600\" frameborder=\"0\" src=\"https://kqednews.carto.com/builder/0bf2bf17-cfab-4abf-8f4a-bb2fdbaced9c/embed\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv class=\"show-for-small-only\">\u003cem>Zoom in or type a San Francisco Bay Area location in the search box to find each area’s hazard class. See maps for the \u003ca href=\"http://www.fire.ca.gov/fire_prevention/fire_prevention_wildland_zones_maps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">entire state here.\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The maps aren’t perfect in their ability to forecast where a fire will be destructive. For instance, the Coffey Park neighborhood of Santa Rosa isn’t in a very high hazard zone, but powerful winds pushed the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/tubbs-fire\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Tubbs Fire\u003c/a> into that part of the city, largely leveling the neighborhood in October 2017.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire is making new fire hazard maps, ready in a year or so, that will incorporate regional wind patterns and other climate factors. In the meantime, experts say the current maps, created about a decade ago, still provide an important guide to predict where wildfires could do the most damage, in the same way floodplain maps highlight areas that could be hit hardest during severe storms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>McClatchy identified more than 75 towns and cities with populations over 1,000 where, like Paradise, at least 90 percent of residents live within the Cal Fire “very high fire hazard severity zones.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here are snapshots of 10, and the unique challenges they face:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Shingletown: A Miniature Paradise\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Population (2010) — 2,283\u003cbr>\nIn Very High fire Hazard Severity Zone — 2,283\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: 0;\" src=\"https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m18!1m12!1m3!1d194317.70280618322!2d-121.83364572695493!3d40.448137753869666!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!3m2!1sen!2sus!4v1554996053021!5m2!1sen!2sus\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shingletown is less than one-tenth the size of Paradise but probably carries just as much risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like Paradise, the unincorporated community sits atop a ridge, and is covered in tall trees and thick brush — ingredients for a major wildfire. Shingletown was originally named Shingle Camp, for the workers who cut roofing slats from timber to supply miners during the Gold Rush era.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We grow trees like nobody’s business up here,” said Tom Twist, a member of the Shingletown Fire Safe Council, a volunteer organization. Twist, who’s lived in the community off and on since the 1970s, said that when the weather is warm he’ll walk his property, pulling up seedlings in an almost futile effort to eliminate potential fuels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ll pull 20 or 30 seedlings a day out of the ground,” he said. “It’s almost like when I walk over there, there’s 20 or 30. When I walk back, there’s another 20 or 30.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just like Paradise, escaping the ridge in a fast-moving fire wouldn’t be easy; Shingletown’s main drag is winding, narrow Highway 44. And, like in Paradise, the presence of an older population would make evacuation more difficult; Shingletown’s median age is 61, according to census figures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s little wonder that when Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered Cal Fire to develop a list of urgent fire-safety projects, a plan to trim 1,124 acres of vegetation along Highway 44 came up as the top priority out of 35 projects around the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Locals say they’re glad the state is paying attention to a problem they know too well. The community had to evacuate when the Ponderosa Fire, started by a lightning strike, hit in 2012. The fire burned 27,676 acres — 43 square miles — and torched 52 homes in the vicinity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re intimately aware of the dangers up here,” Twist said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nevada City: Picturesque and Risky\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Population (2010) — 3,068\u003cbr>\nIn Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone — 3,064\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: 0;\" src=\"https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m18!1m12!1m3!1d24713.68289288913!2d-121.04115301988776!3d39.260793367444684!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!3m2!1sen!2sus!4v1554932123666!5m2!1sen!2sus\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since the Camp Fire, Vicky Guyette has looked at the one-acre patch of untrimmed brush behind her mother’s Victorian-era home in Nevada City as more than just an unattractive nuisance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, the brush is ominous — an ignition source that could torch the home built in 1859 that her family has lived in for five generations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The same anxiety also applies to the cedars, pines and brush covering the hills around this foothill city of about 3,100 people, many of whom live or work in wooden buildings dating back to the the Gold Rush era.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s very scary, especially since it’s such a cute little town I’ve been living in my whole life,” Guyette said recently as she walked down the city’s historic Broad Street, which looks like it fell out of a photo from a museum exhibit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>City officials agree that the wooded draws, steep hillsides, narrow residential streets, ancient homes and thick urban tree canopy that define the character of the city also make it particularly at risk if a fire burns through.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Nevada City’s single largest risk for human life and financial loss is fire,” Nevada City’s hazard mitigation plan reads.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In recent decades, the city also has had some near misses with fire, including one major close call.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1988, heavy winds pushed the 49er Fire through 52 square miles of western Nevada County, burning 312 buildings and dozens of cars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At the time it was considered an anomalous event,” said Billy Spearing of the Fire Safe Council of Nevada County. “It was not the normal for them then.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With such fires becoming the new normal, Cal Fire is planning to cut an 1,802-acre fire break in southwest Nevada County in terrain that hasn’t burned in a century, helping protect both Nevada City and the adjacent community of Grass Valley, home to more than 12,000.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nevada City also embarked on an online “\u003ca href=\"https://www.gofundme.com/GoatFundMeNevadaCity\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Goat Fund Me\u003c/a>” campaign to raise $25,000 to hire farmers to use their goats to eat dense brush in more than 450 acres of city-owned greenbelt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The goats recently chewed a swath through Pioneer Park near Margaret Rodda’s Victorian home, which sits on a steep draw above a creek. But she’s still worried.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All it takes is a drunk with a cigarette,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The goats inspired Guyette. She said she might spend the $500 to put a herder’s goats to work on the thorny thicket of blackberries behind her mother’s house.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need to get rid of them,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Colfax: Fire Is on Everyone’s Minds\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Population (2010) — 1,963\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>In Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone —1,963\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: 0;\" src=\"https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m18!1m12!1m3!1d49543.94915400147!2d-120.98563569246119!3d39.09515770938997!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!3m2!1sen!2sus!4v1554932378253!5m2!1sen!2sus\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On his first full day in office, Newsom visited the Cal Fire station in Colfax to announce new initiatives on wildfire safety. As he spoke to reporters, surrounded by first responders, he was standing in a city that could burn any summer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The people who live here have a true understanding,” said Colfax City Manager Wes Heathcock. “It’s always on the back of people’s minds, especially with the most recent fires, the Camp Fire. We have a similar makeup here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At night in the summer, Aimee Costa, who lives on a hill above the elementary school, sometimes keeps her window open, the better to hear ominous sounds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You’re laying in bed, listening for that lick, that smack, that pop sound,” Costa said, describing the sound flames would make if they were chewing pine needles, brush and leaves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A former supply hub for gold mining camps, Colfax sits a few miles from the edge of the Tahoe National Forest in the lower-elevation Sierra. It straddles Interstate 80 and serves as the last major stop between the Sacramento metropolitan area and the Lake Tahoe region. Horses graze beside deer on large ranchettes in the rugged brushy canyons along the outskirts of the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The terrain poses a major fire risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In July 2015, the Lowell Fire erupted near Colfax and chewed up thousands of acres along the north side of the freeway, forcing evacuations in adjacent Nevada County. In the years since, Heathcock said the city has been working with state officials on “fuelbreak” projects, including a spot near the high school and elementary school, which has been eyed as an evacuation site.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gene Mapa, who lived in Paradise and escaped the Camp Fire with some family photographs — and nothing else — has relocated to Colfax, where he already owned a second home. But he knows he hasn’t escaped the fire risk; his property just outside the city limits would be threatened by a windy firestorm like the one that engulfed Paradise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“With that wind, there would be no stopping it anywhere,” Mapa said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kings Beach: Tourists Seek Fun, Bring Fire Danger\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Population (2010) — 3,796\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>In Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone — 3,796\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: 0;\" src=\"https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m18!1m12!1m3!1d49448.93799917989!2d-120.02488378913576!3d39.23018891710453!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!3m2!1sen!2sus!4v1554996521679!5m2!1sen!2sus\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Situated on the pristine north shore of Lake Tahoe, Kings Beach is one of the most heavily visited vacation spots in Northern California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s a big part of the problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because so much of the population comes and goes, it becomes harder to get people to treat wildfire risk with the respect it deserves, said Erin Holland, a spokeswoman for the North Tahoe Fire Protection District. One of the district’s six stations is in Kings Beach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is definitely a challenge because we have so many homes that are vacation homes,” she said. “It’s really a challenge to educate those visitors … . They want to have a camp fire.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tahoe’s vulnerability to major fires was brought home dramatically in recent years. The Angora Fire in 2007, while it was confined to the south shore area, left physical and emotional scars on the entire basin after burning through 3,100 acres.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Holland said getting the region’s property owners and visitors to observe “defensible space” regulations is particularly difficult. Those rules call for clearing brush 100 feet around buildings and include stricter rules regarding vegetation immediately adjacent to structures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Violators can be subject to citations, but “the goal is to really educate people, to get people complying,” Holland said. “We go the education route rather than the citation route.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Pollock Pines: Do the Transplants Get It?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Population (2010) — 6,877\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>In Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone — 6,533\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: 0;\" src=\"https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m18!1m12!1m3!1d24886.873015159028!2d-120.60114952756618!3d38.766934969623286!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!3m2!1sen!2sus!4v1554935362623!5m2!1sen!2sus\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just off Highway 50, a few miles from the tourist haven of Apple Hill, Pollock Pines lures transplants from coastal California, mainly retirees drawn to the lovely stands of trees in the foothill community at the edge of the Eldorado National Forest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Heather Campbell only wishes the newbies had a better understanding of what all that timber represents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Campbell, a retired U.S. Forest Service employee who’s lived in Pollock Pines since the 1990s, is the head of the Pollock Pines-Camino Fire Safe Council, a volunteer group.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the past few years her organization has received hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants, mainly from the state’s “cap and trade” carbon trading program, to trim vegetation on the ridgeline south of Highway 50.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s all well and good, she said, but more needs to be done. And the people of Pollock Pines, including the newcomers, have to realize what’s at stake.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Here, everybody allows all the saplings and brush to grow and they don’t weed it out,” she said. “All these roads are incredibly dangerous, when it’s so easy to take out pruners. Take out your pruners!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said memories are still vivid of the Sand Fire in 2014. That fire burned 4,200 acres and 20 homes and came dangerously close to forcing a major evacuation in Pollock Pines and surrounding communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They were going to evacuate 9,000 people,” she said. “They were predicting the fire to go to 27,000 acres, instead of the 4,000 they stopped it at.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Arnold: Trees Are Falling in Big Trees country\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Population (2010) — 3,843\u003cbr>\nIn Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone — 3,843\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: 0;\" src=\"https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m18!1m12!1m3!1d50135.42385491425!2d-120.34899867005343!3d38.24554353249218!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!3m2!1sen!2sus!4v1554954352319!5m2!1sen!2sus\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the community that serves as gateway to Calaveras Big Trees State Park, residents didn’t always applaud when officials began mapping plans to thin dense stands of trees to reduce fire risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Arnold resisted this for a long time because people love their trees,” said Steve Wilensky, a former Calaveras County supervisor who works with nonprofits to improve fire safety in the Sierra.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After years of protests, Arnold’s residents got a major wake-up call in 2015. The Butte Fire, caused by power lines, took out 549 homes in nearby communities. Two people died.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If the weather hadn’t changed, they’d be gone,” Wilensky said of Arnold.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You’ve got a real parallel with Paradise in some ways . It’s a place that is really highly threatened.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Arnold sits on a ridge, surrounded by a dense forest of drought- and beetle-killed trees. Powerful wind gusts can funnel fire up rugged brushy canyons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A key difference between Paradise and Arnold is that as many as 45 percent of the dwellings are vacation homes, which can sometimes make it a challenge to get out-of-town homeowners to do brush clearing, local officials said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wilensky said momentum to reduce fire risk has built since the Butte Fire. More than $15 million in state and federal funds have gone to thinning dangerous overgrowth in the region, Wilensky said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One project includes using bulldozer lines that were cut during the Butte Fire to expand a fire break that stretches to town.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Arnold is the anchor end of this project,” Wilensky said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Wofford Heights: Apathy in a Danger Zone?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Population (2010) — 2,201\u003cbr>\nIn Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone — 2,147\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: 0;\" src=\"https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m18!1m12!1m3!1d25918.48560625754!2d-118.46565723564528!3d35.70627567351311!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!3m2!1sen!2sus!4v1554936461079!5m2!1sen!2sus\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The same powerful desert gusts that attract wind surfers to Kern County’s Lake Isabella make the lakeside community of Wofford Heights particularly at risk for wildfire. So does the adjacent Sequoia National Forest, which has been plagued by drought and tree-killing beetles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet some feel that the region isn’t doing nearly enough to combat the threat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We could do a hell of a lot more than we’re doing,” said Judy Hyatt, who lived in the area for 15 years and served as president of the region’s fire safe council. The volunteer group disbanded in recent years from what she and others described as a lack of interest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2016, the Lake Isabella region suffered through the Erskine and Cedar fires, which burned more than 77,000 acres and more than 300 structures. An elderly couple was killed when they were trapped by the Erskine Fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to census figures, the median age of those living in Wofford Heights is 62, and many live in places with poor escape routes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Some of those mobiles up there, honest to God, I think they’ve dropped them out of the sky,” Hyatt said. “The roads are so narrow, and it really just presents an obstacle and the only way to really get to it is by air. That is when people start to die.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hyatt said the loss of the nonprofit Kern River Fire Safe Council she once headed doesn’t bode well for the community. She said the council organized wood-chipping drives to encourage residents to remove wood debris and sought grants for fuel breaks and other thinning projects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said too many locals have grown complacent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Fire prevention is a nebulous thing,” she said. “It’s hard to quantify, until there’s a damned fire that takes out everything.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>La Cañada Flintridge: Is Aggressive FIre Prevention Enough?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Population (2010) — 20,048\u003cbr>\nIn Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone — 20,048\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: 0;\" src=\"https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m18!1m12!1m3!1d26399.50002733539!2d-118.18961266468779!3d34.19907319012153!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!3m2!1sen!2sus!4v1554954477885!5m2!1sen!2sus\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Carol Settles and her family evacuated their home in La Cañada Flintridge during the Station Fire in 2009. But she isn’t terribly worried about a repeat performance — even though her home is on a dead-end street below a brushy hillside of the Angeles National Forest. Large electrical transmission lines run along the wooded draw behind her home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve never seen a spark,” Settles said, referring to the power lines. “We’ve never seen any of that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Best-known as home to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory on the outskirts of Pasadena, the upper middle-class city has an aggressive fire-prevention program. The Los Angeles County Fire Department checks properties in Settles’ area once a year to make sure vegetation has been cleared and hazardous landscaping hasn’t been planted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fines can be issued for noncompliance. Recently, one of Settles’ neighbors had to saw off the top of a pine tree because it was too close to a transmission tower, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Los Angeles County’s assistant fire chief, J. Lopez, said La Cañada Flintridge has embraced rigorous fire-safety standards, which include annual landscaping inspections and stringent fire-safe building codes, even for large home remodels. Lopez said La Cañada Flintridge also chose to place the entire city inside a high fire hazard zone, going beyond the recommendation of Cal Fire. That decision translates into citywide enforcement of its fire-resilient building codes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s a very progressive way to look at it,” Lopez said.\u003cbr>\nBut since 2008, on average only about a dozen new homes have been built in La Cañada Flintridge each year, meaning most of the housing stock was built before the rigorous fire standards were in place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city’s hazard mitigation plan notes many of those older homes still have “combustible roofing, open eaves, combustible siding,” and they’re on “steep, narrow, poorly signed” roads that make evacuations dangerous.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thomas Caswell, who’s lived for four decades on a hilly, narrow, dead-end street not far from city hall, said he knows the greenbelt behind his house where he watches possums, birds and other wildlife also makes the community vulnerable to fire. It’s why he says he didn’t mind paying when the city told him he needed to hire a tree service to remove dying trees in his front yard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, he knows such efforts probably wouldn’t do much good if the Santa Ana winds pushed a fire into the city. Fire officials said that La Cañada Flintridge could have burned in the Station Fire if the Santa Ana winds hadn’t stopped blowing. The fire burned 89 homes in outlying communities and 160,577 acres of forested lands, the largest fire by land mass in Los Angeles County history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Once it comes down the hill,” Caswell said, “nobody is going to be safe.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Rancho Palos Verdes: Few Fears in an Affluent Suburb\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Population (2010) — 41,803\u003cbr>\nIn Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone — 40,550\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: 0;\" src=\"https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m18!1m12!1m3!1d26543.359444672154!2d-118.38027303282986!3d33.73688654173998!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!3m2!1sen!2sus!4v1554954627964!5m2!1sen!2sus\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rancho Palos Verdes holds a dubious honor: It’s the most populated city in California to have 90 percent or more of its population living within a “very high fire hazard severity zone.” But few residents seem to think their suburb is in the same league as Malibu, where hundreds of homes burned last fall just up the Los Angeles County coastline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not like living in Malibu, definitely,” said Gregory Lash as he strolled through a public access walkway in the Trump National Golf Club with his wife, Vivian, on the way to an oceanside park, where a pod of dolphins and whales were breaching.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He added, moments later: “Hope that’s not naive.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>City officials say it’s not.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This being a coastal community, we don’t get the type of brush and that kind of fire behavior that you might get in somewhere like Paradise,” said Scott Hale, an assistant fire chief for Los Angeles County. The county leads firefighting efforts on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, whose four affluent communities all fall inside a high fire severity zone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Locals point out that over the years, the firefighters at the five stations on the peninsula have quickly knocked down the relatively small fires that popped up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, Rancho Palos Verdes’ hazard mitigation plan lists wildfire as a bigger threat to the city than earthquakes, tsunamis and landslides. Powerful winds that blow from the coast could funnel a fire up the greenbelts that cut through the peninsula’s neighborhoods, many of which have opulent homes perched above canyons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Much of that open space has been preserved by the Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy, which manages more than 1,600 acres of land in and around the city. Residents such as Lash love the 42 miles of trails on conservancy lands, but all that undeveloped acreage could ignite, said Gabriella Yap, deputy city manager.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You’re trying to preserve that, but it also comes with fire risk,” Yap said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city’s staff supports Southern California Edison’s plans to trim vegetation from under the lines that run through some of the open space to reduce fire threats, but the land conservancy is bristling at the loss of native habitats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The environmental impact of that is really significant,” said Adrienne Mohan, the conservancy’s executive director.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Harbison Canyon: Will It Burn a Third Time?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Population (2010) — 3,841\u003cbr>\nIn Very High Hazard Fire Severity Zone — 3,841\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: 0;\" src=\"https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m18!1m12!1m3!1d26824.917292451697!2d-116.84162862490471!3d32.815726753037325!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!3m2!1sen!2sus!4v1554937245849!5m2!1sen!2sus\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Every 30 years or so, a massive fire blows through Harbison Canyon, 30 miles northeast of San Diego.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 1970 Laguna Fire destroyed much of the unincorporated town that sits inside the canyon and shares its name. Harbison Canyon was rebuilt again after the Cedar Fire burned through in 2003, destroying 287 of the 388 homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rick Halsey of the Chaparral Institute said the canyon is a painful example of how development has been allowed to continue practically unchecked for decades into some of California’s most fire-prone places.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You want to create a geographical hotspot for fire, you couldn’t put it in a better place,” said Halsey, whose environmentalist organization was founded to fight calls for clearing hundreds of square miles of wild lands following the Cedar Fire. “It’s like a bowling alley for the Santa Ana winds.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That sort of talk makes longtime resident Mary Manning cringe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She worries that focusing on the canyon’s fire risk creates the impression that the community she loves can’t be saved from the next catastrophe. She said her community could be made more safe if state and local officials would invest in infrastructure and fire prevention that matched the rates of development she’s seen over the years. For instance, the side streets in Harbison Canyon are narrow. Some, like Manning’s, remain unpaved despite decades of building.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There were five houses, now there are 35,” she said of the street she’s lived on since 1975.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Manning notes it was only two years ago that the local fire station became staffed 24 hours a day — 14 years after the Cedar Fire. Inside the station, Dave Nissen, the Cal Fire official who oversees firefighting in the area, said there are a number of challenges to fighting a fire in the canyon, including the narrow roads and houses stacked close together.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nissen said firefighters reduce the risks by inspecting lots every year to make sure they’re not overgrown. On that front, Harbison Canyon’s residents don’t seem to need too much prodding, judging from the roar of chain saws and weed trimmers echoing through the canyon on a recent spring weekday afternoon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Associated Press data reporter Angeliki Kastanis contributed to this article.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "An analysis finds more than 75 towns and cities with populations over 1,000 where, like Paradise, at least 90 percent of residents live within Cal Fire's \"very high fire hazard severity zones.\"",
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"description": "An analysis finds more than 75 towns and cities with populations over 1,000 where, like Paradise, at least 90 percent of residents live within Cal Fire's "very high fire hazard severity zones."",
"title": "10 California Communities at Serious Risk From Wildfires | KQED",
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"headline": "10 California Communities at Serious Risk From Wildfires",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Impoverished towns in the shadow of Mount Shasta. Rustic Gold Rush cities in the Sierra Nevada foothills. High-dollar resort communities on the shores of Lake Tahoe. Ritzy Los Angeles County suburbs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They all could be the next Paradise, the Butte County town that was devastated in the 2018 \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/camp-fire\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Camp Fire\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A McClatchy analysis reveals more than 350,000 Californians live in towns and cities that exist almost entirely within “very high fire hazard severity zones” — the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection’s designation for places highly vulnerable to devastating wildfires. These designations have proven eerily predictive about some of the state’s most devastating wildfires in recent years, including the Camp Fire, the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in state history; the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/woolsey-fire\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Woolsey Fire\u003c/a>, which burned more than 400 homes in Malibu last year; and the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/valley-fire\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Valley Fire\u003c/a>, which destroyed much of the small Lake County town of Cobb in 2015.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All told, more than 2.7 million Californians live in very high fire hazard severity zones, from trailers off quiet dirt roads in the forest to mansions in the state’s largest cities, according to the analysis, which is based on 2010 block-level census data. Cal Fire says its maps show places where wildfires are likely to be extreme due to factors including vegetation and topography.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv align=\"center\">\n\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1000\" height=\"600\" frameborder=\"0\" src=\"https://kqednews.carto.com/builder/0bf2bf17-cfab-4abf-8f4a-bb2fdbaced9c/embed\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv class=\"show-for-small-only\">\u003cem>Zoom in or type a San Francisco Bay Area location in the search box to find each area’s hazard class. See maps for the \u003ca href=\"http://www.fire.ca.gov/fire_prevention/fire_prevention_wildland_zones_maps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">entire state here.\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The maps aren’t perfect in their ability to forecast where a fire will be destructive. For instance, the Coffey Park neighborhood of Santa Rosa isn’t in a very high hazard zone, but powerful winds pushed the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/tubbs-fire\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Tubbs Fire\u003c/a> into that part of the city, largely leveling the neighborhood in October 2017.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire is making new fire hazard maps, ready in a year or so, that will incorporate regional wind patterns and other climate factors. In the meantime, experts say the current maps, created about a decade ago, still provide an important guide to predict where wildfires could do the most damage, in the same way floodplain maps highlight areas that could be hit hardest during severe storms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>McClatchy identified more than 75 towns and cities with populations over 1,000 where, like Paradise, at least 90 percent of residents live within the Cal Fire “very high fire hazard severity zones.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here are snapshots of 10, and the unique challenges they face:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Shingletown: A Miniature Paradise\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Population (2010) — 2,283\u003cbr>\nIn Very High fire Hazard Severity Zone — 2,283\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: 0;\" src=\"https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m18!1m12!1m3!1d194317.70280618322!2d-121.83364572695493!3d40.448137753869666!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!3m2!1sen!2sus!4v1554996053021!5m2!1sen!2sus\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shingletown is less than one-tenth the size of Paradise but probably carries just as much risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like Paradise, the unincorporated community sits atop a ridge, and is covered in tall trees and thick brush — ingredients for a major wildfire. Shingletown was originally named Shingle Camp, for the workers who cut roofing slats from timber to supply miners during the Gold Rush era.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We grow trees like nobody’s business up here,” said Tom Twist, a member of the Shingletown Fire Safe Council, a volunteer organization. Twist, who’s lived in the community off and on since the 1970s, said that when the weather is warm he’ll walk his property, pulling up seedlings in an almost futile effort to eliminate potential fuels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ll pull 20 or 30 seedlings a day out of the ground,” he said. “It’s almost like when I walk over there, there’s 20 or 30. When I walk back, there’s another 20 or 30.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just like Paradise, escaping the ridge in a fast-moving fire wouldn’t be easy; Shingletown’s main drag is winding, narrow Highway 44. And, like in Paradise, the presence of an older population would make evacuation more difficult; Shingletown’s median age is 61, according to census figures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s little wonder that when Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered Cal Fire to develop a list of urgent fire-safety projects, a plan to trim 1,124 acres of vegetation along Highway 44 came up as the top priority out of 35 projects around the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Locals say they’re glad the state is paying attention to a problem they know too well. The community had to evacuate when the Ponderosa Fire, started by a lightning strike, hit in 2012. The fire burned 27,676 acres — 43 square miles — and torched 52 homes in the vicinity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re intimately aware of the dangers up here,” Twist said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nevada City: Picturesque and Risky\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Population (2010) — 3,068\u003cbr>\nIn Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone — 3,064\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: 0;\" src=\"https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m18!1m12!1m3!1d24713.68289288913!2d-121.04115301988776!3d39.260793367444684!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!3m2!1sen!2sus!4v1554932123666!5m2!1sen!2sus\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since the Camp Fire, Vicky Guyette has looked at the one-acre patch of untrimmed brush behind her mother’s Victorian-era home in Nevada City as more than just an unattractive nuisance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, the brush is ominous — an ignition source that could torch the home built in 1859 that her family has lived in for five generations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The same anxiety also applies to the cedars, pines and brush covering the hills around this foothill city of about 3,100 people, many of whom live or work in wooden buildings dating back to the the Gold Rush era.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s very scary, especially since it’s such a cute little town I’ve been living in my whole life,” Guyette said recently as she walked down the city’s historic Broad Street, which looks like it fell out of a photo from a museum exhibit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>City officials agree that the wooded draws, steep hillsides, narrow residential streets, ancient homes and thick urban tree canopy that define the character of the city also make it particularly at risk if a fire burns through.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Nevada City’s single largest risk for human life and financial loss is fire,” Nevada City’s hazard mitigation plan reads.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In recent decades, the city also has had some near misses with fire, including one major close call.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1988, heavy winds pushed the 49er Fire through 52 square miles of western Nevada County, burning 312 buildings and dozens of cars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At the time it was considered an anomalous event,” said Billy Spearing of the Fire Safe Council of Nevada County. “It was not the normal for them then.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With such fires becoming the new normal, Cal Fire is planning to cut an 1,802-acre fire break in southwest Nevada County in terrain that hasn’t burned in a century, helping protect both Nevada City and the adjacent community of Grass Valley, home to more than 12,000.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nevada City also embarked on an online “\u003ca href=\"https://www.gofundme.com/GoatFundMeNevadaCity\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Goat Fund Me\u003c/a>” campaign to raise $25,000 to hire farmers to use their goats to eat dense brush in more than 450 acres of city-owned greenbelt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The goats recently chewed a swath through Pioneer Park near Margaret Rodda’s Victorian home, which sits on a steep draw above a creek. But she’s still worried.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All it takes is a drunk with a cigarette,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The goats inspired Guyette. She said she might spend the $500 to put a herder’s goats to work on the thorny thicket of blackberries behind her mother’s house.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need to get rid of them,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Colfax: Fire Is on Everyone’s Minds\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Population (2010) — 1,963\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>In Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone —1,963\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: 0;\" src=\"https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m18!1m12!1m3!1d49543.94915400147!2d-120.98563569246119!3d39.09515770938997!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!3m2!1sen!2sus!4v1554932378253!5m2!1sen!2sus\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On his first full day in office, Newsom visited the Cal Fire station in Colfax to announce new initiatives on wildfire safety. As he spoke to reporters, surrounded by first responders, he was standing in a city that could burn any summer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The people who live here have a true understanding,” said Colfax City Manager Wes Heathcock. “It’s always on the back of people’s minds, especially with the most recent fires, the Camp Fire. We have a similar makeup here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At night in the summer, Aimee Costa, who lives on a hill above the elementary school, sometimes keeps her window open, the better to hear ominous sounds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You’re laying in bed, listening for that lick, that smack, that pop sound,” Costa said, describing the sound flames would make if they were chewing pine needles, brush and leaves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A former supply hub for gold mining camps, Colfax sits a few miles from the edge of the Tahoe National Forest in the lower-elevation Sierra. It straddles Interstate 80 and serves as the last major stop between the Sacramento metropolitan area and the Lake Tahoe region. Horses graze beside deer on large ranchettes in the rugged brushy canyons along the outskirts of the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The terrain poses a major fire risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In July 2015, the Lowell Fire erupted near Colfax and chewed up thousands of acres along the north side of the freeway, forcing evacuations in adjacent Nevada County. In the years since, Heathcock said the city has been working with state officials on “fuelbreak” projects, including a spot near the high school and elementary school, which has been eyed as an evacuation site.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gene Mapa, who lived in Paradise and escaped the Camp Fire with some family photographs — and nothing else — has relocated to Colfax, where he already owned a second home. But he knows he hasn’t escaped the fire risk; his property just outside the city limits would be threatened by a windy firestorm like the one that engulfed Paradise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“With that wind, there would be no stopping it anywhere,” Mapa said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kings Beach: Tourists Seek Fun, Bring Fire Danger\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Population (2010) — 3,796\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>In Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone — 3,796\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: 0;\" src=\"https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m18!1m12!1m3!1d49448.93799917989!2d-120.02488378913576!3d39.23018891710453!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!3m2!1sen!2sus!4v1554996521679!5m2!1sen!2sus\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Situated on the pristine north shore of Lake Tahoe, Kings Beach is one of the most heavily visited vacation spots in Northern California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s a big part of the problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because so much of the population comes and goes, it becomes harder to get people to treat wildfire risk with the respect it deserves, said Erin Holland, a spokeswoman for the North Tahoe Fire Protection District. One of the district’s six stations is in Kings Beach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is definitely a challenge because we have so many homes that are vacation homes,” she said. “It’s really a challenge to educate those visitors … . They want to have a camp fire.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tahoe’s vulnerability to major fires was brought home dramatically in recent years. The Angora Fire in 2007, while it was confined to the south shore area, left physical and emotional scars on the entire basin after burning through 3,100 acres.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Holland said getting the region’s property owners and visitors to observe “defensible space” regulations is particularly difficult. Those rules call for clearing brush 100 feet around buildings and include stricter rules regarding vegetation immediately adjacent to structures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Violators can be subject to citations, but “the goal is to really educate people, to get people complying,” Holland said. “We go the education route rather than the citation route.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Pollock Pines: Do the Transplants Get It?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Population (2010) — 6,877\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>In Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone — 6,533\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: 0;\" src=\"https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m18!1m12!1m3!1d24886.873015159028!2d-120.60114952756618!3d38.766934969623286!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!3m2!1sen!2sus!4v1554935362623!5m2!1sen!2sus\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just off Highway 50, a few miles from the tourist haven of Apple Hill, Pollock Pines lures transplants from coastal California, mainly retirees drawn to the lovely stands of trees in the foothill community at the edge of the Eldorado National Forest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Heather Campbell only wishes the newbies had a better understanding of what all that timber represents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Campbell, a retired U.S. Forest Service employee who’s lived in Pollock Pines since the 1990s, is the head of the Pollock Pines-Camino Fire Safe Council, a volunteer group.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the past few years her organization has received hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants, mainly from the state’s “cap and trade” carbon trading program, to trim vegetation on the ridgeline south of Highway 50.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s all well and good, she said, but more needs to be done. And the people of Pollock Pines, including the newcomers, have to realize what’s at stake.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Here, everybody allows all the saplings and brush to grow and they don’t weed it out,” she said. “All these roads are incredibly dangerous, when it’s so easy to take out pruners. Take out your pruners!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said memories are still vivid of the Sand Fire in 2014. That fire burned 4,200 acres and 20 homes and came dangerously close to forcing a major evacuation in Pollock Pines and surrounding communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They were going to evacuate 9,000 people,” she said. “They were predicting the fire to go to 27,000 acres, instead of the 4,000 they stopped it at.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Arnold: Trees Are Falling in Big Trees country\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Population (2010) — 3,843\u003cbr>\nIn Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone — 3,843\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: 0;\" src=\"https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m18!1m12!1m3!1d50135.42385491425!2d-120.34899867005343!3d38.24554353249218!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!3m2!1sen!2sus!4v1554954352319!5m2!1sen!2sus\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the community that serves as gateway to Calaveras Big Trees State Park, residents didn’t always applaud when officials began mapping plans to thin dense stands of trees to reduce fire risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Arnold resisted this for a long time because people love their trees,” said Steve Wilensky, a former Calaveras County supervisor who works with nonprofits to improve fire safety in the Sierra.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After years of protests, Arnold’s residents got a major wake-up call in 2015. The Butte Fire, caused by power lines, took out 549 homes in nearby communities. Two people died.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If the weather hadn’t changed, they’d be gone,” Wilensky said of Arnold.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You’ve got a real parallel with Paradise in some ways . It’s a place that is really highly threatened.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Arnold sits on a ridge, surrounded by a dense forest of drought- and beetle-killed trees. Powerful wind gusts can funnel fire up rugged brushy canyons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A key difference between Paradise and Arnold is that as many as 45 percent of the dwellings are vacation homes, which can sometimes make it a challenge to get out-of-town homeowners to do brush clearing, local officials said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wilensky said momentum to reduce fire risk has built since the Butte Fire. More than $15 million in state and federal funds have gone to thinning dangerous overgrowth in the region, Wilensky said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One project includes using bulldozer lines that were cut during the Butte Fire to expand a fire break that stretches to town.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Arnold is the anchor end of this project,” Wilensky said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Wofford Heights: Apathy in a Danger Zone?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Population (2010) — 2,201\u003cbr>\nIn Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone — 2,147\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: 0;\" src=\"https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m18!1m12!1m3!1d25918.48560625754!2d-118.46565723564528!3d35.70627567351311!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!3m2!1sen!2sus!4v1554936461079!5m2!1sen!2sus\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The same powerful desert gusts that attract wind surfers to Kern County’s Lake Isabella make the lakeside community of Wofford Heights particularly at risk for wildfire. So does the adjacent Sequoia National Forest, which has been plagued by drought and tree-killing beetles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet some feel that the region isn’t doing nearly enough to combat the threat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We could do a hell of a lot more than we’re doing,” said Judy Hyatt, who lived in the area for 15 years and served as president of the region’s fire safe council. The volunteer group disbanded in recent years from what she and others described as a lack of interest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2016, the Lake Isabella region suffered through the Erskine and Cedar fires, which burned more than 77,000 acres and more than 300 structures. An elderly couple was killed when they were trapped by the Erskine Fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to census figures, the median age of those living in Wofford Heights is 62, and many live in places with poor escape routes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Some of those mobiles up there, honest to God, I think they’ve dropped them out of the sky,” Hyatt said. “The roads are so narrow, and it really just presents an obstacle and the only way to really get to it is by air. That is when people start to die.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hyatt said the loss of the nonprofit Kern River Fire Safe Council she once headed doesn’t bode well for the community. She said the council organized wood-chipping drives to encourage residents to remove wood debris and sought grants for fuel breaks and other thinning projects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said too many locals have grown complacent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Fire prevention is a nebulous thing,” she said. “It’s hard to quantify, until there’s a damned fire that takes out everything.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>La Cañada Flintridge: Is Aggressive FIre Prevention Enough?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Population (2010) — 20,048\u003cbr>\nIn Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone — 20,048\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: 0;\" src=\"https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m18!1m12!1m3!1d26399.50002733539!2d-118.18961266468779!3d34.19907319012153!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!3m2!1sen!2sus!4v1554954477885!5m2!1sen!2sus\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Carol Settles and her family evacuated their home in La Cañada Flintridge during the Station Fire in 2009. But she isn’t terribly worried about a repeat performance — even though her home is on a dead-end street below a brushy hillside of the Angeles National Forest. Large electrical transmission lines run along the wooded draw behind her home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve never seen a spark,” Settles said, referring to the power lines. “We’ve never seen any of that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Best-known as home to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory on the outskirts of Pasadena, the upper middle-class city has an aggressive fire-prevention program. The Los Angeles County Fire Department checks properties in Settles’ area once a year to make sure vegetation has been cleared and hazardous landscaping hasn’t been planted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fines can be issued for noncompliance. Recently, one of Settles’ neighbors had to saw off the top of a pine tree because it was too close to a transmission tower, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Los Angeles County’s assistant fire chief, J. Lopez, said La Cañada Flintridge has embraced rigorous fire-safety standards, which include annual landscaping inspections and stringent fire-safe building codes, even for large home remodels. Lopez said La Cañada Flintridge also chose to place the entire city inside a high fire hazard zone, going beyond the recommendation of Cal Fire. That decision translates into citywide enforcement of its fire-resilient building codes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s a very progressive way to look at it,” Lopez said.\u003cbr>\nBut since 2008, on average only about a dozen new homes have been built in La Cañada Flintridge each year, meaning most of the housing stock was built before the rigorous fire standards were in place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city’s hazard mitigation plan notes many of those older homes still have “combustible roofing, open eaves, combustible siding,” and they’re on “steep, narrow, poorly signed” roads that make evacuations dangerous.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thomas Caswell, who’s lived for four decades on a hilly, narrow, dead-end street not far from city hall, said he knows the greenbelt behind his house where he watches possums, birds and other wildlife also makes the community vulnerable to fire. It’s why he says he didn’t mind paying when the city told him he needed to hire a tree service to remove dying trees in his front yard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, he knows such efforts probably wouldn’t do much good if the Santa Ana winds pushed a fire into the city. Fire officials said that La Cañada Flintridge could have burned in the Station Fire if the Santa Ana winds hadn’t stopped blowing. The fire burned 89 homes in outlying communities and 160,577 acres of forested lands, the largest fire by land mass in Los Angeles County history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Once it comes down the hill,” Caswell said, “nobody is going to be safe.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Rancho Palos Verdes: Few Fears in an Affluent Suburb\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Population (2010) — 41,803\u003cbr>\nIn Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone — 40,550\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: 0;\" src=\"https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m18!1m12!1m3!1d26543.359444672154!2d-118.38027303282986!3d33.73688654173998!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!3m2!1sen!2sus!4v1554954627964!5m2!1sen!2sus\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rancho Palos Verdes holds a dubious honor: It’s the most populated city in California to have 90 percent or more of its population living within a “very high fire hazard severity zone.” But few residents seem to think their suburb is in the same league as Malibu, where hundreds of homes burned last fall just up the Los Angeles County coastline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not like living in Malibu, definitely,” said Gregory Lash as he strolled through a public access walkway in the Trump National Golf Club with his wife, Vivian, on the way to an oceanside park, where a pod of dolphins and whales were breaching.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He added, moments later: “Hope that’s not naive.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>City officials say it’s not.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This being a coastal community, we don’t get the type of brush and that kind of fire behavior that you might get in somewhere like Paradise,” said Scott Hale, an assistant fire chief for Los Angeles County. The county leads firefighting efforts on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, whose four affluent communities all fall inside a high fire severity zone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Locals point out that over the years, the firefighters at the five stations on the peninsula have quickly knocked down the relatively small fires that popped up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, Rancho Palos Verdes’ hazard mitigation plan lists wildfire as a bigger threat to the city than earthquakes, tsunamis and landslides. Powerful winds that blow from the coast could funnel a fire up the greenbelts that cut through the peninsula’s neighborhoods, many of which have opulent homes perched above canyons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Much of that open space has been preserved by the Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy, which manages more than 1,600 acres of land in and around the city. Residents such as Lash love the 42 miles of trails on conservancy lands, but all that undeveloped acreage could ignite, said Gabriella Yap, deputy city manager.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You’re trying to preserve that, but it also comes with fire risk,” Yap said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city’s staff supports Southern California Edison’s plans to trim vegetation from under the lines that run through some of the open space to reduce fire threats, but the land conservancy is bristling at the loss of native habitats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The environmental impact of that is really significant,” said Adrienne Mohan, the conservancy’s executive director.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Harbison Canyon: Will It Burn a Third Time?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Population (2010) — 3,841\u003cbr>\nIn Very High Hazard Fire Severity Zone — 3,841\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: 0;\" src=\"https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m18!1m12!1m3!1d26824.917292451697!2d-116.84162862490471!3d32.815726753037325!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!3m2!1sen!2sus!4v1554937245849!5m2!1sen!2sus\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Every 30 years or so, a massive fire blows through Harbison Canyon, 30 miles northeast of San Diego.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 1970 Laguna Fire destroyed much of the unincorporated town that sits inside the canyon and shares its name. Harbison Canyon was rebuilt again after the Cedar Fire burned through in 2003, destroying 287 of the 388 homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rick Halsey of the Chaparral Institute said the canyon is a painful example of how development has been allowed to continue practically unchecked for decades into some of California’s most fire-prone places.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You want to create a geographical hotspot for fire, you couldn’t put it in a better place,” said Halsey, whose environmentalist organization was founded to fight calls for clearing hundreds of square miles of wild lands following the Cedar Fire. “It’s like a bowling alley for the Santa Ana winds.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That sort of talk makes longtime resident Mary Manning cringe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She worries that focusing on the canyon’s fire risk creates the impression that the community she loves can’t be saved from the next catastrophe. She said her community could be made more safe if state and local officials would invest in infrastructure and fire prevention that matched the rates of development she’s seen over the years. For instance, the side streets in Harbison Canyon are narrow. Some, like Manning’s, remain unpaved despite decades of building.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There were five houses, now there are 35,” she said of the street she’s lived on since 1975.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Manning notes it was only two years ago that the local fire station became staffed 24 hours a day — 14 years after the Cedar Fire. Inside the station, Dave Nissen, the Cal Fire official who oversees firefighting in the area, said there are a number of challenges to fighting a fire in the canyon, including the narrow roads and houses stacked close together.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nissen said firefighters reduce the risks by inspecting lots every year to make sure they’re not overgrown. On that front, Harbison Canyon’s residents don’t seem to need too much prodding, judging from the roar of chain saws and weed trimmers echoing through the canyon on a recent spring weekday afternoon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Associated Press data reporter Angeliki Kastanis contributed to this article.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>The world is seeing the first-ever image of a black hole Wednesday, as an international team of researchers from the Event Horizon Telescope project released their look at the massive black hole at the center of galaxy Messier 87 (M87). The image shows a dark disc “outlined by emission from hot gas swirling around it under the influence of strong gravity near its event horizon,” the consortium said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As an astrophysicist, this is a thrilling day for me,” said National Science Foundation Director France A. Córdova.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The enormous black hole is some 55 million light years from Earth, with a mass some 6.5 billion times that of our sun.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I am delighted to report that we have, for the first time, we have seen what we thought was unseeable. We have taken the first picture of a black hole,” said EHT Director Shep Doeleman, of Harvard University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Córdova and Doeleman led a news conference in Washington, D.C., to discuss the team’s finding — a process that took place simultaneously on four continents, as researchers held press conferences to share news of what they’re calling “a groundbreaking result.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You have probably seen many, many images of black holes before,” said Heino Falcke, a principal investigator on BlackHoleCam. “But they were all simulations or animations. And this [image] is precious to all of us, because this one is finally real.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pointing to the screen at the European Research Council’s news conference in Brussels, Falcke said that the much-sought-after image “looks like a ring of fire. And it’s actually created by the force of gravity, by the deformation of space-time, where light actually goes around the black hole, almost in a circle.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The black hole is some 100 billion kilometers across. But despite its massive size, anyone trying to find it in the night sky from the Earth’s surface would face the same challenge if they stood in Brussels and wanted to see a mustard seed in Washington, Falcke said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s well known that a black hole’s gravity is so overpowering that even light cannot escape its center. But black holes also dramatically affect their surrounding space, most obviously by creating an accretion disk — the swirl of gas and material that rapidly orbits their singularities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Black holes are the X-games of physics. They represent an unexplored extreme of space-time,” as astrophysicist Adam Frank \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2017/09/21/552048703/are-we-about-to-see-a-black-hole\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">wrote for NPR in 2017\u003c/a>. “While we now have good indirect evidence that they exist, getting a direct view of a black hole is the ultimate dream for a lot of physicists.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/lnJi0Jy692w?start=1981\" width=\"640\" height=\"359\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A breakthrough in black hole detection promises to answer a question that has dogged scientists since Albert Einstein proposed the existence of black holes in his general theory of relativity: How do you document the presence of something that’s invisible?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers at the Event Horizon Telescope project say they were able to create an image of a black hole by using a network of eight radio telescopes to create “a virtual telescope dish as large as the Earth itself,” the \u003ca href=\"https://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/blackholes/formedia.jsp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">National Science Foundation says\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That array of telescopes is in places from Antarctica to Arizona. Before scientists can analyze data from the network, a painstaking process must take place. Each signal received by the telescopes must be synchronized wave by wave, using atomic clocks and a supercomputer to correlate and combine observations from around the world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a few weeks of observing the black hole, the EHT project amassed five petabytes of data — which Dan Marrone of the University of Arizona said was equivalent to “all of the selfies that 40k people will take in their lifetime.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To find a black hole massive enough to potentially be visible from an Earth-sized telescope, the Event Horizon researchers focused on “supermassive” black holes that are found at the centers of galaxies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The team focused on the black hole at the center of galaxy M87 because of its gargantuan size and other characteristics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“M87 is the nearest galaxy with a supermassive black hole that’s generating a powerful jet — a beautiful streamer made of plasma travelling at close to the speed of light,” said Charles Gammie, a professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who is on the EHT Science Council Board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a \u003ca href=\"https://astro.illinois.edu/news/2019-04-10/astronomers-capture-first-image-black-hole\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">news release\u003c/a> about the breakthrough, Gammie said: “One of the great mysteries in astronomy has been how such jets are launched. Our simulations, which are based on the motion of magnetic fields and hot gas near the black hole, showed that the jets are powered by the black hole itself. Magnetic fields act to brake the rotation of the black hole and transfer its rotational energy to the jet.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As they analyzed the image and related data, astronomers also grew increasingly confident with other assumptions they’ve made based on theories about the workings of the universe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Once we were sure we had imaged the shadow, we could compare our observations to extensive computer models that include the physics of warped space, superheated matter and strong magnetic fields. Many of the features of the observed image match our theoretical understanding surprisingly well,” said Paul T.P. Ho, EHT board member and director of the East Asian Observatory. “This makes us confident about the interpretation of our observations, including our estimation of the black hole’s mass.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The world is seeing the first-ever image of a black hole Wednesday, as an international team of researchers from the Event Horizon Telescope project released their look at the massive black hole at the center of galaxy Messier 87 (M87). The image shows a dark disc “outlined by emission from hot gas swirling around it under the influence of strong gravity near its event horizon,” the consortium said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As an astrophysicist, this is a thrilling day for me,” said National Science Foundation Director France A. Córdova.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The enormous black hole is some 55 million light years from Earth, with a mass some 6.5 billion times that of our sun.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I am delighted to report that we have, for the first time, we have seen what we thought was unseeable. We have taken the first picture of a black hole,” said EHT Director Shep Doeleman, of Harvard University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Córdova and Doeleman led a news conference in Washington, D.C., to discuss the team’s finding — a process that took place simultaneously on four continents, as researchers held press conferences to share news of what they’re calling “a groundbreaking result.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You have probably seen many, many images of black holes before,” said Heino Falcke, a principal investigator on BlackHoleCam. “But they were all simulations or animations. And this [image] is precious to all of us, because this one is finally real.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pointing to the screen at the European Research Council’s news conference in Brussels, Falcke said that the much-sought-after image “looks like a ring of fire. And it’s actually created by the force of gravity, by the deformation of space-time, where light actually goes around the black hole, almost in a circle.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The black hole is some 100 billion kilometers across. But despite its massive size, anyone trying to find it in the night sky from the Earth’s surface would face the same challenge if they stood in Brussels and wanted to see a mustard seed in Washington, Falcke said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s well known that a black hole’s gravity is so overpowering that even light cannot escape its center. But black holes also dramatically affect their surrounding space, most obviously by creating an accretion disk — the swirl of gas and material that rapidly orbits their singularities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Black holes are the X-games of physics. They represent an unexplored extreme of space-time,” as astrophysicist Adam Frank \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2017/09/21/552048703/are-we-about-to-see-a-black-hole\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">wrote for NPR in 2017\u003c/a>. “While we now have good indirect evidence that they exist, getting a direct view of a black hole is the ultimate dream for a lot of physicists.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/lnJi0Jy692w?start=1981\" width=\"640\" height=\"359\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A breakthrough in black hole detection promises to answer a question that has dogged scientists since Albert Einstein proposed the existence of black holes in his general theory of relativity: How do you document the presence of something that’s invisible?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers at the Event Horizon Telescope project say they were able to create an image of a black hole by using a network of eight radio telescopes to create “a virtual telescope dish as large as the Earth itself,” the \u003ca href=\"https://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/blackholes/formedia.jsp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">National Science Foundation says\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That array of telescopes is in places from Antarctica to Arizona. Before scientists can analyze data from the network, a painstaking process must take place. Each signal received by the telescopes must be synchronized wave by wave, using atomic clocks and a supercomputer to correlate and combine observations from around the world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a few weeks of observing the black hole, the EHT project amassed five petabytes of data — which Dan Marrone of the University of Arizona said was equivalent to “all of the selfies that 40k people will take in their lifetime.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To find a black hole massive enough to potentially be visible from an Earth-sized telescope, the Event Horizon researchers focused on “supermassive” black holes that are found at the centers of galaxies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The team focused on the black hole at the center of galaxy M87 because of its gargantuan size and other characteristics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“M87 is the nearest galaxy with a supermassive black hole that’s generating a powerful jet — a beautiful streamer made of plasma travelling at close to the speed of light,” said Charles Gammie, a professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who is on the EHT Science Council Board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a \u003ca href=\"https://astro.illinois.edu/news/2019-04-10/astronomers-capture-first-image-black-hole\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">news release\u003c/a> about the breakthrough, Gammie said: “One of the great mysteries in astronomy has been how such jets are launched. Our simulations, which are based on the motion of magnetic fields and hot gas near the black hole, showed that the jets are powered by the black hole itself. Magnetic fields act to brake the rotation of the black hole and transfer its rotational energy to the jet.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As they analyzed the image and related data, astronomers also grew increasingly confident with other assumptions they’ve made based on theories about the workings of the universe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Once we were sure we had imaged the shadow, we could compare our observations to extensive computer models that include the physics of warped space, superheated matter and strong magnetic fields. Many of the features of the observed image match our theoretical understanding surprisingly well,” said Paul T.P. Ho, EHT board member and director of the East Asian Observatory. “This makes us confident about the interpretation of our observations, including our estimation of the black hole’s mass.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "What the Science Says About Monsanto's Beleaguered Weedkiller 'Roundup'",
"headTitle": "What the Science Says About Monsanto’s Beleaguered Weedkiller ‘Roundup’ | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>When it comes to allegations that the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer, the law is making up its mind faster than science.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hundreds of lawsuits have been brought in state and federal courts against the product’s manufacturer, Monsanto, and its parent company, Bayer, which last year bought the agrochemical giant for around $63 billion. The suits claim that Roundup’s active ingredient, glyphosate, contributes to or causes cancer in people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size='medium' align='right']Does glyphosate cause cancer? Scientifically, the evidence is mixed.[/pullquote]In San Francisco Superior Court last year, a jury sided with Dewayne Johnson, a Bay Area groundskeeper with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma who’d used Roundup extensively in his work. The jury \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2018/08/10/637722786/jury-awards-terminally-ill-man-289-million-in-lawsuit-against-monsanto\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">awarded\u003c/a> Johnson $289 million, an amount later \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2018/11/01/662812333/groundskeeper-accepts-reduced-78-million-in-monsanto-cancer-suit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reduced\u003c/a> by a judge to about $78 million. In a federal district court last month, another jury concluded that glyphosate significantly contributed to Edwin Hardeman’s cancer diagnosis, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2019/03/27/707439575/jury-awards-80-million-in-damages-in-roundup-weed-killer-cancer-trial\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">awarding\u003c/a> him about $80 million. In both cases, Monsanto and Bayer’s lawyers announced they would appeal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The way that the legal process handles the science around glyphosate reveals a tension between the way judges and juries deliberate, and the way scientists do.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What’s Roundup?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Roundup is the most widely used agricultural chemical in history. It’s an effective broad-spectrum weedkiller used on both large farms and in suburban backyards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size='medium' align='right']\u003ca href=\"mailto:mpeterson@kqed.org\">Email the reporter\u003c/a>[/pullquote]Monsanto has marketed the herbicide since the 1970s. When the company’s exclusive patent ran out in 2000, other companies also began spreading glyphosate, Roundup’s active ingredient, in their own Roundup-style products. So the use of glyphosate has been skyrocketing, and the chemical has been found in common grocery items. \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">According\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> to the Food and Drug Administration, glyphosate residue levels don’t violate standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency. But the weed killer has been found in almost half of corn, soybean, milk and egg samples, according to the FDA, which last fall \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.fda.gov/food/foodborneillnesscontaminants/pesticides/ucm583713.htm\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">said \u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">the results of testing for glyphosate in those foods would eventually be posted \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.fda.gov/Food/FoodborneIllnessContaminants/Pesticides/ucm2006797.htm\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">here\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Monsanto likes to say that glyphosate is less toxic than table salt. That’s technically true. Toxicologists measure the point (known as LD50) at which half or more of the people exposed to a substance die from it. Glyphosate has a higher LD50 value than table salt, which means it would take more glyphosate than salt to kill someone in a lab test. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But that’s not the issue at stake in these court cases, which revolve around whether or not long-term exposure to glyphosate causes cancer.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>So \u003cem>does\u003c/em> glyphosate cause cancer?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Scientifically, the evidence is mixed. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Animal-based lab studies have shown that rats and mice exposed to glyphosate sometimes get tumors, which can be cancerous. But the tumors that rats and mice got weren’t consistent: They didn’t appear in the same place on every rat; some rats never got them; and the tumors didn’t seem to be dose-dependent. These studies haven’t yet told a clear story about the mechanism for why the tumors, and cancer, show up.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In humans, research has yet to find a statistically significant connection between cancer and glyphosate — possibly because there isn’t any or maybe because people are exposed to a lot of carcinogens, and generally it’s hard to tease out the effects of just one. So this is an area where opposing experts in court spend a lot of time debating.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, oversight bodies around the world have come down on different sides of the issue. The World Health Organization \u003ca href=\"https://www.iarc.fr/featured-news/media-centre-iarc-news-glyphosate/\">decided\u003c/a> glyphosate was a probable human carcinogen. The European Food Safety Authority \u003ca href=\"https://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/efsajournal/pub/4302\">concluded\u003c/a> that it probably isn’t. In the U.S., the EPA \u003ca href=\"https://www.epa.gov/ingredients-used-pesticide-products/glyphosate\">says\u003c/a> glyphosate “has low toxicity for humans.” But California has \u003ca href=\"https://oehha.ca.gov/proposition-65/chemicals/glyphosate\">listed\u003c/a> glyphosate as a known cancer-causing chemical.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What do the people who claim Roundup gave them cancer need to prove to win? \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The lawsuits that courts are considering, in California, in federal courts, and in other states, are civil claims, focused on questions of product liability. The plaintiffs assert that Roundup had a design defect that made them sick, and that its manufacturer had a responsibility to warn them about it. They also claim Monsanto was negligent in selling the weed killer, and that the company violated an implied warranty that the product is safe. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To prove that, plaintiff’s lawyers focus on two questions of causation:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>General causation — the idea that glyphosate causes or contributes to cancer\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Specific causation — the idea that the glyphosate in Roundup caused or significantly contributed to cancer for each person who says they were wronged.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Well, can the plaintiffs prove that?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In terms of the law, maybe. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The way courts and juries look for proof of causation is different from the way scientific research does. Dr. Steven Goodman, who heads the Meta-Research Innovation Center at Stanford, say that “in science you want to make claims that have the appropriate caveats and limitations and cautions and uncertainties, and things move up and down the scale of certainty depending on evidence as it comes in or out.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But in the U.S. legal system, decisions are made according to an understanding of science at one moment in time, even though that understanding may evolve. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Another difference is that in civil cases, the legal standard for liability is a “preponderance of the evidence,” which you can shorthand as a greater than 50 percent chance that something is true. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Effectively, then, scientific certainty isn’t necessary for legal decisions finding Roundup responsible for cancers. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“The human studies are not very supportive of the conclusion of causation right now,” says David Faigman, chancellor and dean of the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. \u003c/span>“That’s not to say that they won’t be in the future, but we’re allowing these hundred-million-dollar verdicts on the basis of animal studies for the most part and cell studies, and maybe a little bit with what’s called biological plausibility.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Who decides what science to use in courtrooms?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In federal courts, judges are gatekeepers for scientific and expert testimony. In deciding what to allow, they use the Federal Rules of Evidence and something called a \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Daubert\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> test, established in \u003ca href=\"https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/509/579/\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. The \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Daubert\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> test uses several factors in assessing scientific evidence, including whether it has “attracted widespread acceptance within a relevant scientific community.”\u003c/span>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“[Judges] have to examine whether the scientific basis for the offered expert testimony is valid or not valid,” says UC Hastings’ David Faigman. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Still, judges may decide to interpret that responsibility differently. Federal district Judge Vince Chhabria is overseeing close to 400 cases, and presided over the Hardeman trial that recently wrapped up. During the proceedings, he held a “science week,” in which experts in cancer, toxicology, epidemiology and other specialties \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.uscourts.gov/cameras-courts/re-roundup-products-liability-litigation\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">testified\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and faced cross examination. In the end, Judge Chhabria divided the civil trial into two parts, asking the jury to first decide whether glyphosate contributed to Hardeman’s cancer, and then to decide on penalties. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Some state courts follow a similar analysis for expert testimony, but in California the standard is based on older case law, which is more favorable to plaintiffs. That is one reason, says Faigman, that plaintiffs’ attorneys may seek to bring cases here. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Who’s winning?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So far, not Monsanto, though it’s still early.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">More cases are getting underway. In Alameda County Superior Court, lawyers are presenting evidence about the claims of Alva and Alma Pilliod, who used Roundup on multiple residential properties for nearly 40 years. Next month, another case heads to federal court, and that will also be tried by Judge Chhabria.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s too early to assess the significance of just two jury trials. Still, there’s something to be said for momentum. “There’s no question that this accumulation of judgments matter as a group,” says Faigman. “I think if they were splitting in different directions, then Monsanto might have greater faith that things could turn around for them also, as a group. But right now it doesn’t seem to be going that way.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "When it comes to allegations that the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer, the law is making up its mind faster than science.",
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"description": "When it comes to allegations that the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer, the law is making up its mind faster than science.",
"title": "What the Science Says About Monsanto's Beleaguered Weedkiller 'Roundup' | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>When it comes to allegations that the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer, the law is making up its mind faster than science.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hundreds of lawsuits have been brought in state and federal courts against the product’s manufacturer, Monsanto, and its parent company, Bayer, which last year bought the agrochemical giant for around $63 billion. The suits claim that Roundup’s active ingredient, glyphosate, contributes to or causes cancer in people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "Does glyphosate cause cancer? Scientifically, the evidence is mixed.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In San Francisco Superior Court last year, a jury sided with Dewayne Johnson, a Bay Area groundskeeper with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma who’d used Roundup extensively in his work. The jury \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2018/08/10/637722786/jury-awards-terminally-ill-man-289-million-in-lawsuit-against-monsanto\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">awarded\u003c/a> Johnson $289 million, an amount later \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2018/11/01/662812333/groundskeeper-accepts-reduced-78-million-in-monsanto-cancer-suit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reduced\u003c/a> by a judge to about $78 million. In a federal district court last month, another jury concluded that glyphosate significantly contributed to Edwin Hardeman’s cancer diagnosis, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2019/03/27/707439575/jury-awards-80-million-in-damages-in-roundup-weed-killer-cancer-trial\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">awarding\u003c/a> him about $80 million. In both cases, Monsanto and Bayer’s lawyers announced they would appeal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The way that the legal process handles the science around glyphosate reveals a tension between the way judges and juries deliberate, and the way scientists do.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What’s Roundup?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Roundup is the most widely used agricultural chemical in history. It’s an effective broad-spectrum weedkiller used on both large farms and in suburban backyards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003ca href=\"mailto:mpeterson@kqed.org\">Email the reporter\u003c/a>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Monsanto has marketed the herbicide since the 1970s. When the company’s exclusive patent ran out in 2000, other companies also began spreading glyphosate, Roundup’s active ingredient, in their own Roundup-style products. So the use of glyphosate has been skyrocketing, and the chemical has been found in common grocery items. \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">According\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> to the Food and Drug Administration, glyphosate residue levels don’t violate standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency. But the weed killer has been found in almost half of corn, soybean, milk and egg samples, according to the FDA, which last fall \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.fda.gov/food/foodborneillnesscontaminants/pesticides/ucm583713.htm\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">said \u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">the results of testing for glyphosate in those foods would eventually be posted \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.fda.gov/Food/FoodborneIllnessContaminants/Pesticides/ucm2006797.htm\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">here\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Monsanto likes to say that glyphosate is less toxic than table salt. That’s technically true. Toxicologists measure the point (known as LD50) at which half or more of the people exposed to a substance die from it. Glyphosate has a higher LD50 value than table salt, which means it would take more glyphosate than salt to kill someone in a lab test. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But that’s not the issue at stake in these court cases, which revolve around whether or not long-term exposure to glyphosate causes cancer.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>So \u003cem>does\u003c/em> glyphosate cause cancer?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Scientifically, the evidence is mixed. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Animal-based lab studies have shown that rats and mice exposed to glyphosate sometimes get tumors, which can be cancerous. But the tumors that rats and mice got weren’t consistent: They didn’t appear in the same place on every rat; some rats never got them; and the tumors didn’t seem to be dose-dependent. These studies haven’t yet told a clear story about the mechanism for why the tumors, and cancer, show up.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In humans, research has yet to find a statistically significant connection between cancer and glyphosate — possibly because there isn’t any or maybe because people are exposed to a lot of carcinogens, and generally it’s hard to tease out the effects of just one. So this is an area where opposing experts in court spend a lot of time debating.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, oversight bodies around the world have come down on different sides of the issue. The World Health Organization \u003ca href=\"https://www.iarc.fr/featured-news/media-centre-iarc-news-glyphosate/\">decided\u003c/a> glyphosate was a probable human carcinogen. The European Food Safety Authority \u003ca href=\"https://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/efsajournal/pub/4302\">concluded\u003c/a> that it probably isn’t. In the U.S., the EPA \u003ca href=\"https://www.epa.gov/ingredients-used-pesticide-products/glyphosate\">says\u003c/a> glyphosate “has low toxicity for humans.” But California has \u003ca href=\"https://oehha.ca.gov/proposition-65/chemicals/glyphosate\">listed\u003c/a> glyphosate as a known cancer-causing chemical.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What do the people who claim Roundup gave them cancer need to prove to win? \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The lawsuits that courts are considering, in California, in federal courts, and in other states, are civil claims, focused on questions of product liability. The plaintiffs assert that Roundup had a design defect that made them sick, and that its manufacturer had a responsibility to warn them about it. They also claim Monsanto was negligent in selling the weed killer, and that the company violated an implied warranty that the product is safe. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To prove that, plaintiff’s lawyers focus on two questions of causation:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>General causation — the idea that glyphosate causes or contributes to cancer\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Specific causation — the idea that the glyphosate in Roundup caused or significantly contributed to cancer for each person who says they were wronged.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Well, can the plaintiffs prove that?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In terms of the law, maybe. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The way courts and juries look for proof of causation is different from the way scientific research does. Dr. Steven Goodman, who heads the Meta-Research Innovation Center at Stanford, say that “in science you want to make claims that have the appropriate caveats and limitations and cautions and uncertainties, and things move up and down the scale of certainty depending on evidence as it comes in or out.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But in the U.S. legal system, decisions are made according to an understanding of science at one moment in time, even though that understanding may evolve. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Another difference is that in civil cases, the legal standard for liability is a “preponderance of the evidence,” which you can shorthand as a greater than 50 percent chance that something is true. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Effectively, then, scientific certainty isn’t necessary for legal decisions finding Roundup responsible for cancers. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“The human studies are not very supportive of the conclusion of causation right now,” says David Faigman, chancellor and dean of the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. \u003c/span>“That’s not to say that they won’t be in the future, but we’re allowing these hundred-million-dollar verdicts on the basis of animal studies for the most part and cell studies, and maybe a little bit with what’s called biological plausibility.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Who decides what science to use in courtrooms?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In federal courts, judges are gatekeepers for scientific and expert testimony. In deciding what to allow, they use the Federal Rules of Evidence and something called a \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Daubert\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> test, established in \u003ca href=\"https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/509/579/\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. The \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Daubert\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> test uses several factors in assessing scientific evidence, including whether it has “attracted widespread acceptance within a relevant scientific community.”\u003c/span>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“[Judges] have to examine whether the scientific basis for the offered expert testimony is valid or not valid,” says UC Hastings’ David Faigman. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Still, judges may decide to interpret that responsibility differently. Federal district Judge Vince Chhabria is overseeing close to 400 cases, and presided over the Hardeman trial that recently wrapped up. During the proceedings, he held a “science week,” in which experts in cancer, toxicology, epidemiology and other specialties \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.uscourts.gov/cameras-courts/re-roundup-products-liability-litigation\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">testified\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and faced cross examination. In the end, Judge Chhabria divided the civil trial into two parts, asking the jury to first decide whether glyphosate contributed to Hardeman’s cancer, and then to decide on penalties. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Some state courts follow a similar analysis for expert testimony, but in California the standard is based on older case law, which is more favorable to plaintiffs. That is one reason, says Faigman, that plaintiffs’ attorneys may seek to bring cases here. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Who’s winning?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So far, not Monsanto, though it’s still early.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">More cases are getting underway. In Alameda County Superior Court, lawyers are presenting evidence about the claims of Alva and Alma Pilliod, who used Roundup on multiple residential properties for nearly 40 years. Next month, another case heads to federal court, and that will also be tried by Judge Chhabria.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s too early to assess the significance of just two jury trials. Still, there’s something to be said for momentum. “There’s no question that this accumulation of judgments matter as a group,” says Faigman. “I think if they were splitting in different directions, then Monsanto might have greater faith that things could turn around for them also, as a group. But right now it doesn’t seem to be going that way.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Everything You Need to Know About California's Increasingly Catastrophic Wildfire Situation",
"headTitle": "Everything You Need to Know About California’s Increasingly Catastrophic Wildfire Situation | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>If it seems that wildfires are burning nearly all the time these days, that there’s no longer a definable fire season in California, you’re right. Fourteen of the 20 most \u003ca href=\"http://www.fire.ca.gov/communications/downloads/fact_sheets/Top20_Destruction.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">destructive \u003c/a>fires in state history have occurred since 2007, and California has 78 more annual “fire days” now than it had 50 years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size='medium' align='right']From health to housing to insurance, a primer on the effects of and possible solutions to the worsening California wildfires.[/pullquote]When 2018 became the worst fire year on record, we accepted a new reality. Now each year could surpass the last, setting records for the size, destruction, cost and loss of life. A state-commissioned \u003ca href=\"http://www.climateassessment.ca.gov/state/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">report\u003c/a> makes the harrowing projection that under current emissions trends, the average burn area in California will increase 77 percent by the end of the century.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state has spent, conservatively, more than $4.7 billion from its emergency fund in the last 10 years to fight fires. Cal Fire, the state’s firefighting agency, has been chewing through its firefighting budget only months into a year, leaving little to pay for thinning California’s overgrown forests and helping rural communities protect their infrastructure and water supplies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s fires are disruptive long after they are put out, displacing homeowners and even entire communities for months or years. Even as the charred wood decays, it produces emissions that set back the state’s efforts to combat climate change—only worsening the wildfires to come.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>More destructive and deadly\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>A Changing Climate\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A warming climate complicates everything. Hotter and drier seasons mean that big fires in December, once almost unheard of, are now common.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In earlier decades, fires late in the year might have sputtered out after hitting hillsides wet with winter rain. More recent blazes feasted on vegetation that has been sucked of moisture by persistent drought.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even years of plentiful rain harbor dangers. Post-fire precipitation, especially very wet winters, can usher in the growth of \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/articles/californias-charred-hills-bloom-again-not-all-good/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">non-native\u003c/a> shrubs and grasses that burn quickly and spread fires faster than native species.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"infogram-embed\" data-id=\"7dff80e5-f4ec-47b0-b960-d6db36efc149\" data-type=\"interactive\" data-title=\"wild fire graphic 1\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cscript>!function(e,t,s,i){var n=\"InfogramEmbeds\",o=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0],d=/^http://.test(e.location)?\"http:\":\"https:\";if(/^\\/{2}/.test(i)&&(i=d+i),window[n]&&window[n].initialized)window[n].process&&window[n].process();else if(!e.getElementById(s)){var r=e.createElement(\"script\");r.async=1,r.id=s,r.src=i,o.parentNode.insertBefore(r,o)}}(document,0,\"infogram-async\",\"https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js\");\u003c/script>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>More Homes at Risk\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s bigger, more frequent fires are endangering more residents—nearly 90 perished in the 2018 blaze that destroyed the Northern California town of Paradise. Forest fires are increasingly a misnomer as flames race across landscapes dotted with subdivisions and communities that have been carved out where trees once stood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The trend of more Californians living in harm’s way complicates firefighting efforts and ramps up the danger fires pose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"infogram-embed\" data-id=\"916eab88-717c-4304-8114-6b05233c9af8\" data-type=\"interactive\" data-title=\"fire card deck/chap 1/card 1\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cscript>!function(e,t,s,i){var n=\"InfogramEmbeds\",o=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0],d=/^http:/.test(e.location)?\"http:\":\"https:\";if(/^\\/{2}/.test(i)&&(i=d+i),window[n]&&window[n].initialized)window[n].process&&window[n].process();else if(!e.getElementById(s)){var r=e.createElement(\"script\");r.async=1,r.id=s,r.src=i,o.parentNode.insertBefore(r,o)}}(document,0,\"infogram-async\",\"https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js\");\u003c/script>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Epidemic of Dead Trees\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s forests, which cover a third of the state, are now choked with some 150 million dead trees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Weakened by a prolonged drought, which scientists link to climate change, California’s ubiquitous pines and oaks are vulnerable to insect infestation and disease. Those giants crash to the forest floor and, unless they are removed, provide ready fodder for the next voracious fire. The die-off is catastrophic, beyond the reach of state foresters to remedy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In many communities of the central and southern Sierra Nevada mountain range, “80 percent of trees are dead,” said Ken Pimlott, former director of Cal Fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"infogram-embed\" data-id=\"2b338c4c-7e72-43a5-a16f-f82ec430aeca\" data-type=\"interactive\" data-title=\"Copy: wildfire deck/chap 1 card 3/tree death\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cscript>!function(e,t,s,i){var n=\"InfogramEmbeds\",o=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0],d=/^http:/.test(e.location)?\"http:\":\"https:\";if(/^\\/{2}/.test(i)&&(i=d+i),window[n]&&window[n].initialized)window[n].process&&window[n].process();else if(!e.getElementById(s)){var r=e.createElement(\"script\");r.async=1,r.id=s,r.src=i,o.parentNode.insertBefore(r,o)}}(document,0,\"infogram-async\",\"https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js\");\u003c/script>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Fire-Prone Federal Forests\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state owns only about 3 percent of California’s wooded acreage. Some land is owned by cities, counties, Native American tribes and private holders. President Trump has criticized California’s fire management.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"infogram-embed\" data-id=\"c1f69006-9c9e-4d84-960c-9f7cabed1c1b\" data-type=\"interactive\" data-title=\"map\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cscript>!function(e,t,s,i){var n=\"InfogramEmbeds\",o=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0],d=/^http:/.test(e.location)?\"http:\":\"https:\";if(/^\\/{2}/.test(i)&&(i=d+i),window[n]&&window[n].initialized)window[n].process&&window[n].process();else if(!e.getElementById(s)){var r=e.createElement(\"script\");r.async=1,r.id=s,r.src=i,o.parentNode.insertBefore(r,o)}}(document,0,\"infogram-async\",\"https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js\");\u003c/script>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The U.S. Forest Service has a longtime policy of putting out every fire, and quickly, which has packed the federal land with fuel to burn. And its budget falls short of the cost of needed work to reduce that fuel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"infogram-embed\" data-id=\"3e65fbeb-3293-488d-858c-9db5d795bf2a\" data-type=\"interactive\" data-title=\"firefighting budget wildfire card deck, chap 1,card 4\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cscript>!function(e,t,s,i){var n=\"InfogramEmbeds\",o=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0],d=/^http:/.test(e.location)?\"http:\":\"https:\";if(/^\\/{2}/.test(i)&&(i=d+i),window[n]&&window[n].initialized)window[n].process&&window[n].process();else if(!e.getElementById(s)){var r=e.createElement(\"script\");r.async=1,r.id=s,r.src=i,o.parentNode.insertBefore(r,o)}}(document,0,\"infogram-async\",\"https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js\");\u003c/script>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Electricity Factor\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hundreds of thousands of miles of transmission lines and other electrical equipment are strung across California, drawing little attention—until authorities name utility equipment as the cause of a wildfire. One in 10 California wildfires is related to energy equipment, according to the state’s chief utility regulator.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"infogram-embed\" data-id=\"81ffb848-5f9f-47d8-9445-bb8965ab6e41\" data-type=\"interactive\" data-title=\"Type \">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cscript>!function(e,t,s,i){var n=\"InfogramEmbeds\",o=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0],d=/^http:/.test(e.location)?\"http:\":\"https:\";if(/^\\/{2}/.test(i)&&(i=d+i),window[n]&&window[n].initialized)window[n].process&&window[n].process();else if(!e.getElementById(s)){var r=e.createElement(\"script\");r.async=1,r.id=s,r.src=i,o.parentNode.insertBefore(r,o)}}(document,0,\"infogram-async\",\"https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js\");\u003c/script>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lawmakers have ordered that utility companies put safety measures in place, hoping to ensure that their equipment won’t spark future fires. Among the firms’ strategies: more aggressively clearing brush and trees around transmission lines; swapping wooden power poles for metal ones; and maintaining a network of remote cameras to keep watch on wind, smoke and other dangers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>None of these or other fire-mitigation efforts will come cheaply. When a judge proposed sweeping new safety measures for Pacific Gas & Electric, the company said the work could cost an eye-popping $150 billion. And consumers can be expected to foot much of the fire-mitigation bill as utility companies pass costs along to them.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Harming California’s Environment\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Floating Umbrellas of Horrid Air\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When fires burn in uninhabited wildlands, their corrosive effects can be carried hundreds of miles by the wind, causing stinging eyes, burning throats and severe coughing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Local air districts issue warnings to residents to wear masks and avoid outside exercise. Hospital emergency rooms report increased numbers of patients seeking help for respiratory problems, and school closures can keep as many as a million children home as even indoor air quality deteriorates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"infogram-embed\" data-id=\"aa8bedb5-de7d-4e67-913e-8ed2a0c26baf\" data-type=\"interactive\" data-title=\"wildfire card deck/emergency room visits\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cscript>!function(e,t,s,i){var n=\"InfogramEmbeds\",o=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0],d=/^http:/.test(e.location)?\"http:\":\"https:\";if(/^\\/{2}/.test(i)&&(i=d+i),window[n]&&window[n].initialized)window[n].process&&window[n].process();else if(!e.getElementById(s)){var r=e.createElement(\"script\");r.async=1,r.id=s,r.src=i,o.parentNode.insertBefore(r,o)}}(document,0,\"infogram-async\",\"https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js\");\u003c/script>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Undercutting Climate Goals\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No state has done as much as California to reduce its output of planet-warming greenhouse gases. Yet the smoke produced by major fires is so potent that a single weeks-long blaze can undo a year’s worth of carbon-reduction efforts. State officials are concerned that what’s pumped into the air during fires could impair California’s ability to reach its stringent greenhouse-gas reduction goals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A single wildfire can spew more pollutants into the air than millions of cars. Moreover, as more trees die, another weapon to combat climate change is lost: the prodigious ability of healthy trees to absorb carbon from the atmosphere. That process is reversed if the trees burn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"infogram-embed\" data-id=\"38def4af-eaea-4596-a66f-451b6b1cb7a0\" data-type=\"interactive\" data-title=\"wildfire card deck, chap 2, card 2\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cscript>!function(e,t,s,i){var n=\"InfogramEmbeds\",o=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0],d=/^http:/.test(e.location)?\"http:\":\"https:\";if(/^\\/{2}/.test(i)&&(i=d+i),window[n]&&window[n].initialized)window[n].process&&window[n].process();else if(!e.getElementById(s)){var r=e.createElement(\"script\");r.async=1,r.id=s,r.src=i,o.parentNode.insertBefore(r,o)}}(document,0,\"infogram-async\",\"https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js\");\u003c/script>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Lingering Villain: Black Carbon\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Trees release a powerful pollutant, black carbon, as they burn. Black carbon is many thousand times more damaging than greenhouse gases. And the damage doesn’t cease once flames are snuffed out; decaying forests continue to emit harmful pollutants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If a burned-out forest is replaced by chaparral or brush, that landscape loses more than 90 percent of its capacity to take in and retain carbon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"infogram-embed\" data-id=\"50aa90aa-e6b6-46a2-85db-966d43599db0\" data-type=\"interactive\" data-title=\"wildfire card deck, chap 2, card 3\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cscript>!function(e,t,s,i){var n=\"InfogramEmbeds\",o=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0],d=/^http:/.test(e.location)?\"http:\":\"https:\";if(/^\\/{2}/.test(i)&&(i=d+i),window[n]&&window[n].initialized)window[n].process&&window[n].process();else if(!e.getElementById(s)){var r=e.createElement(\"script\");r.async=1,r.id=s,r.src=i,o.parentNode.insertBefore(r,o)}}(document,0,\"infogram-async\",\"https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js\");\u003c/script>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erosion Danger\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When fires rage in California’s mountains, the system that stores and cleans water, feeds streams and rivers, supports fish and other wildlife and literally holds the hillsides together burns up. Forests are watersheds, a critical component of California’s water supply.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• Trees hold water in their limbs, roots and soil and draw it into underground aquifers, a source of drinking water.\u003cbr>\n• Meadows on lower slopes filter and clean water.\u003cbr>\n• Tree loss after fires fosters soil erosion; the runoff clogs waterways.\u003cbr>\n• Unstable hills can threaten public safety with landslides and mudslides.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Regrowth Is Not All Good\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It has to be said that fires are not always bad. Naturally occurring fires clear overgrown forests, creating space for some plants and trees to revitalize. Researchers say less-dense forests are more natural and healthy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But more often in California, wildfires ignite a furious competition for life. Fast-growing and opportunistic non-native plants rush in after fires, with the potential to wholly supplant native species. This phenomenon doesn’t just erase an aspect of California’s botanical history; it affects its fire future. Invasive grasses and weeds often burn more readily, fanning hotter and more frequent fires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"infogram-embed\" data-id=\"2e1eaacb-94b2-4f5e-a2ff-abc78b0bf30c\" data-type=\"interactive\" data-title=\"invasive plants\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cscript>!function(e,t,s,i){var n=\"InfogramEmbeds\",o=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0],d=/^http:/.test(e.location)?\"http:\":\"https:\";if(/^\\/{2}/.test(i)&&(i=d+i),window[n]&&window[n].initialized)window[n].process&&window[n].process();else if(!e.getElementById(s)){var r=e.createElement(\"script\");r.async=1,r.id=s,r.src=i,o.parentNode.insertBefore(r,o)}}(document,0,\"infogram-async\",\"https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js\");\u003c/script>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>The Cost to California\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lives Lost\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wildfires took scores of lives in California in 2018, the deadliest fire year in the state’s recent history. Most of those deaths were related to the blaze that destroyed the Northern California town of Paradise. The numbers include people responding to the fires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"infogram-embed\" data-id=\"e04fe53f-3900-4553-af0d-2a5ef5c05875\" data-type=\"interactive\" data-title=\"Fire Fatalities/updates\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cscript>!function(e,t,s,i){var n=\"InfogramEmbeds\",o=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0],d=/^http:/.test(e.location)?\"http:\":\"https:\";if(/^\\/{2}/.test(i)&&(i=d+i),window[n]&&window[n].initialized)window[n].process&&window[n].process();else if(!e.getElementById(s)){var r=e.createElement(\"script\");r.async=1,r.id=s,r.src=i,o.parentNode.insertBefore(r,o)}}(document,0,\"infogram-async\",\"https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js\");\u003c/script>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Toll on State Finances\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not surprisingly, the wildfire tab is growing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state has exceeded projected fire suppression costs in 7 of the last 10 years. In 2018, California spent nearly $1 billion on fire suppression and emergency response, far exceeding the budgeted $450 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"infogram-embed\" data-id=\"dbd920b7-e9d2-44c2-b2ca-fbd26b6d5c76\" data-type=\"interactive\" data-title=\"Soaring cost of wildfires\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cscript>!function(e,t,s,i){var n=\"InfogramEmbeds\",o=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0],d=/^http:/.test(e.location)?\"http:\":\"https:\";if(/^\\/{2}/.test(i)&&(i=d+i),window[n]&&window[n].initialized)window[n].process&&window[n].process();else if(!e.getElementById(s)){var r=e.createElement(\"script\");r.async=1,r.id=s,r.src=i,o.parentNode.insertBefore(r,o)}}(document,0,\"infogram-async\",\"https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js\");\u003c/script>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire boasts one of the largest, if not the largest, firefighting air fleets in the world, including S-2T air tankers and Huey helicopters. The state will start upgrading the Hueys to Black Hawks and begin to add C-130 Hercules cargo planes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And rather than waiting to respond to a wildfire, emergency personnel have shifted to pre-positioning strike teams before a fire even starts. It’s a strategy that costs more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Financial Toll for Private Citizens\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Seven of the 10 most destructive wildfires in California have occurred in the last five years. The financial toll for homeowners, renters and businesses in the past two fire seasons has topped $10 billion in insured losses each year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Department of Insurance has reported claims from major wildfire seasons going back to 2007. The claims include damages reported to residential and commercial properties as well as auto and other lines of insurance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of course, the figures don’t tell the whole story. We know many wildfire victims lived in high-threat areas without insurance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe style=\"width: 100%; height: 650px;\" src=\"https://cdn.knightlab.com/libs/storyline/latest/embed/index.html?dataURL=https%3A%2F%2Fdocs.google.com%2Fspreadsheets%2Fd%2F103Ma9xiRI2-jYbXNhqoNOKhD3coGvl68lHduDeo6WI8%2Fedit%23gid%3D0&dataYCol=total&dataXCol=year&dataDateFormat=%25Y&chartDateFormat=%25Y&chartYLabel=Insured%20losses&sliderCardTitleCol=title&sliderCardTextCol=text\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Rising Insurance Rates and Canceled Policies\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Insurance in fire-prone areas is getting more expensive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The RAND Corp. found the average premium for high-risk areas was up 15 percent between 2007 and 2014 in reviewing prices in a portion of San Bernardino County. It was up 12 percent in the same period in the Sierra Foothills east of Sacramento.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"infogram-embed\" data-id=\"ef504129-17e6-407f-bca1-c68f370cbd56\" data-type=\"interactive\" data-title=\"Insurance premiums in high-risk areas\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cscript>!function(e,t,s,i){var n=\"InfogramEmbeds\",o=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0],d=/^http:/.test(e.location)?\"http:\":\"https:\";if(/^\\/{2}/.test(i)&&(i=d+i),window[n]&&window[n].initialized)window[n].process&&window[n].process();else if(!e.getElementById(s)){var r=e.createElement(\"script\");r.async=1,r.id=s,r.src=i,o.parentNode.insertBefore(r,o)}}(document,0,\"infogram-async\",\"https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js\");\u003c/script>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Santa Monica-based nonprofit research firm conducted the study as part of California’s Fourth Climate Change Assessment and was funded by the California Natural Resources Agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>RAND researcher Lloyd Dixon found the higher prices were influencing purchasing patterns: Policyholders are buying less coverage, lowballing the cost to fully replace their belongings and tending to elect higher deductibles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But are insurers cancelling policies? This is harder to say.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A December 2017 survey by the California Department of Insurance found an uptick in renewal complaints in areas designated by Cal Fire as having the greatest risk of wildfire. The department received 41 complaints in 2010 but 143 in 2016. And the insurance department found that insurer-initiated cancellations went up from 8,796 in 2015 in high fire areas to 10,151 in 2016.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"infogram-embed\" data-id=\"17de4aff-f6b8-4372-b53c-3f4a85a99ccc\" data-type=\"interactive\" data-title=\"California insurance policy cancellation in high-threat areas\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cscript>!function(e,t,s,i){var n=\"InfogramEmbeds\",o=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0],d=/^http:/.test(e.location)?\"http:\":\"https:\";if(/^\\/{2}/.test(i)&&(i=d+i),window[n]&&window[n].initialized)window[n].process&&window[n].process();else if(!e.getElementById(s)){var r=e.createElement(\"script\");r.async=1,r.id=s,r.src=i,o.parentNode.insertBefore(r,o)}}(document,0,\"infogram-async\",\"https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js\");\u003c/script>\u003cbr>\nHowever, those figures are a fraction of the more than 36,000 cancellations initiated by policyholders. In fact, RAND’s study found more insurers are actually offering in high-risk areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the same time, insurance policies of last resort written for brush and wildfire areas have increased from 22,397 policies to 33,898 policies, a 51 percent increase over five years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This suggests people are more likely to be priced out and taking on more risk. Property owners in fire-threat areas can expect insurance prices to keep rising. In areas with the highest risk, people can expect their premiums by 2055 to go up 18 percent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Utilities Debacle\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pacific Gas and Electric Company filed for Chapter 11 reorganization in U.S. Bankruptcy Court on Jan. 29, 2019 in the aftermath of the 2017 and 2018 wildfire seasons, the two most destructive in state history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The utility, which provides natural gas and electricity to 16 million people in northern and central California, cited up to $30 billion in liabilities since many blazes have been linked to its equipment. Legal experts say it could take two to three years to rehabilitate PG&E, a process that could leave energy goals hampered and wildfire victims shortchanged.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But even before PG&E’s bankruptcy, there was debate about who bears the costs as wildfires become more frequent and destructive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"infogram-embed\" data-id=\"fe56f9a1-3e75-4563-ac1f-ef5a36a71449\" data-type=\"interactive\" data-title=\"Utilities debacle timeline\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cscript>!function(e,t,s,i){var n=\"InfogramEmbeds\",o=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0],d=/^http:/.test(e.location)?\"http:\":\"https:\";if(/^\\/{2}/.test(i)&&(i=d+i),window[n]&&window[n].initialized)window[n].process&&window[n].process();else if(!e.getElementById(s)){var r=e.createElement(\"script\");r.async=1,r.id=s,r.src=i,o.parentNode.insertBefore(r,o)}}(document,0,\"infogram-async\",\"https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js\");\u003c/script>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>The Debate Over Solutions\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Detection and Prevention\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s wildfire season is essentially year-round now. And with wildfires expected to get worse, residents, utilities and the state play a role in minimizing the impact of the wildfire seasons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Residents\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Residents have a responsibility to create a defensible space around their property and “harden” homes to make them fire resistant. California law requires creating a buffer by clearing out trees, brush and grass within 100 feet around homes in wildfire-affected areas. Fire officials say it can increase the likelihood of a house surviving a wildfire eight-fold. In addition, homes with wood or shingle roofs are at high risk of being destroyed. Consider materials such as composition, metal or tile.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/YuyuMgXkhU8\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Utilities\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under new law, investor-owned utilities must prepare wildfire mitigation plans that describe what they are doing to prevent, combat and respond to wildfires. The three largest utilities, Pacific Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison, San Diego Gas & Electric, all plan to spend millions clearing brush and trees away from transmission lines, insulate or underground power lines, and install or maintain a network of remote cameras and weather stations to detect wind, smoke and other dangers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PG&E and SCE are now following in the footsteps of SDG&E in expanding the use of public safety power shutoffs, also known as de-energization. The practice of shutting off electric power during dangerous weather conditions is viewed as a public-safety measure of last resort because it can cut off internet access and make communication difficult for hospitals, firefighters and emergency personnel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The State\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On March 22, 2019, Gov. Newsom declared a wildfire state of emergency for California and waived environmental regulations to speed up forest management projects aimed at reducing the fuel load for the upcoming wildfire season. By removing dead trees or clearing brush, the programs aim to reduce the threat of wildfires by creating fuel breaks, defensible space and safe travel corridors around vulnerable communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some environmental groups, however, question whether logging would damage ecosystems and suggest it’s more effective to clear vegetation around homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Restrictions on Where and How to Build\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even when fires threaten homes and no help is in sight, all is not lost. There is much homeowners can do to prepare and protect their property in the face of wildfire, beginning with clearing trees, brush and wood piles around their houses,.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The manner of construction and the types of materials used can help give structures a fighting chance against the advance of flames. California building codes for new homes require forgoing wooden roofs and decks in favor of fire-resistant materials, among other things.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among the actions homeowners can take to protect their property:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• Install double-paned windows\u003cbr>\n• Detach garages and storage sheds from the main house\u003cbr>\n• Put ember-resistant vents in attics and elsewhere\u003cbr>\n• Consider fire-resistant cladding such as stucco or stone\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are, however, some places where the risk is so great that fire scientists say homes simply should not be built there—even in a state where housing shortages have reached crisis levels. In California from 1990 to 2010, an estimated 45 percent of new housing units were constructed in the “wildland-urban interface”—where suburbia and rural towns back up onto wild, and combustible, landscapes. With more residences sprouting on the edge of wildlands or deep in narrow canyons, fires become an inevitability and firefighters have a tougher and larger territory to defend.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thirty-four percent of new housing units in California were built in what experts refer to as the wildland-urban interface—where the state’s cul-de-sac’d suburban subdivisions and rural communities meet its flammable forests and shrub landscapes. With more and more residences sprouting on the edge of wildlands or deep in narrow canyons, fires become an inevitability, an ever-larger and more challenging front for firefighters to defend.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What to do? State lawmakers have already extended some state restrictions to local lands, and some have talked about possible rebates or other subsidies for residents who cannot afford to “harden” their homes. But essentially legislators are grappling with an unpalatable reality: Require even more extensive and expensive upgrades to existing homes, or ban building altogether in some areas. That discussion is as potentially explosive as the fires themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/YsXMV6l_pIE\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Bills to Watch: 2019\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>While Gov. Newsom is monitoring PG&E bankruptcy developments, state lawmakers have turned their focus toward prevention. Here are some key proposals for the 2019 legislative session:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>•SB 190 (Sen. Bill Dodd of Napa) Would direct the State Fire Marshal to develop a defensible space ordinance for local governments to adopt and enforce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>•SB 209 (Sen. Dodd) establishes the California Wildfire Warning Center in order to better predict weather conditions and share information around the state. Requires that utilities install additional weather monitoring equipment in high fire threat areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>•SB 290 (Sen. Dodd) Sponsored by Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara and Treasurer Fiona Ma, the bill would authorize the state to explore purchasing a policy to cover wildfires, earthquakes, floods and other disasters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>•AB 235 (Assemblyman Chad Mayes of Yucca Valley) Would create the California Wildfire Catastrophe Fund Authority financed by participating utilities to reimburse the utility for liability costs that exceed their established insurance levels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>•AB 281 (Assemblyman Jim Frazier of Fairfield) A bill with early-stage language that proposes to have California utilities relocate underground or otherwise enhance the safety of transmission and distribution lines in high fire-threat areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Graphics assistance by Elizabeth Castillo\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>CALmatters is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "The increasing size, cost and human toll of California wildfires are becoming a permanent part of life in the state. From housing to health, CALmatters provides a primer on the effects and possible solutions to this worsening situation.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>If it seems that wildfires are burning nearly all the time these days, that there’s no longer a definable fire season in California, you’re right. Fourteen of the 20 most \u003ca href=\"http://www.fire.ca.gov/communications/downloads/fact_sheets/Top20_Destruction.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">destructive \u003c/a>fires in state history have occurred since 2007, and California has 78 more annual “fire days” now than it had 50 years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>When 2018 became the worst fire year on record, we accepted a new reality. Now each year could surpass the last, setting records for the size, destruction, cost and loss of life. A state-commissioned \u003ca href=\"http://www.climateassessment.ca.gov/state/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">report\u003c/a> makes the harrowing projection that under current emissions trends, the average burn area in California will increase 77 percent by the end of the century.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state has spent, conservatively, more than $4.7 billion from its emergency fund in the last 10 years to fight fires. Cal Fire, the state’s firefighting agency, has been chewing through its firefighting budget only months into a year, leaving little to pay for thinning California’s overgrown forests and helping rural communities protect their infrastructure and water supplies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s fires are disruptive long after they are put out, displacing homeowners and even entire communities for months or years. Even as the charred wood decays, it produces emissions that set back the state’s efforts to combat climate change—only worsening the wildfires to come.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>More destructive and deadly\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>A Changing Climate\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A warming climate complicates everything. Hotter and drier seasons mean that big fires in December, once almost unheard of, are now common.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In earlier decades, fires late in the year might have sputtered out after hitting hillsides wet with winter rain. More recent blazes feasted on vegetation that has been sucked of moisture by persistent drought.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even years of plentiful rain harbor dangers. Post-fire precipitation, especially very wet winters, can usher in the growth of \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/articles/californias-charred-hills-bloom-again-not-all-good/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">non-native\u003c/a> shrubs and grasses that burn quickly and spread fires faster than native species.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"infogram-embed\" data-id=\"7dff80e5-f4ec-47b0-b960-d6db36efc149\" data-type=\"interactive\" data-title=\"wild fire graphic 1\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cscript>!function(e,t,s,i){var n=\"InfogramEmbeds\",o=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0],d=/^http://.test(e.location)?\"http:\":\"https:\";if(/^\\/{2}/.test(i)&&(i=d+i),window[n]&&window[n].initialized)window[n].process&&window[n].process();else if(!e.getElementById(s)){var r=e.createElement(\"script\");r.async=1,r.id=s,r.src=i,o.parentNode.insertBefore(r,o)}}(document,0,\"infogram-async\",\"https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js\");\u003c/script>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>More Homes at Risk\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s bigger, more frequent fires are endangering more residents—nearly 90 perished in the 2018 blaze that destroyed the Northern California town of Paradise. Forest fires are increasingly a misnomer as flames race across landscapes dotted with subdivisions and communities that have been carved out where trees once stood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The trend of more Californians living in harm’s way complicates firefighting efforts and ramps up the danger fires pose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"infogram-embed\" data-id=\"916eab88-717c-4304-8114-6b05233c9af8\" data-type=\"interactive\" data-title=\"fire card deck/chap 1/card 1\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cscript>!function(e,t,s,i){var n=\"InfogramEmbeds\",o=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0],d=/^http:/.test(e.location)?\"http:\":\"https:\";if(/^\\/{2}/.test(i)&&(i=d+i),window[n]&&window[n].initialized)window[n].process&&window[n].process();else if(!e.getElementById(s)){var r=e.createElement(\"script\");r.async=1,r.id=s,r.src=i,o.parentNode.insertBefore(r,o)}}(document,0,\"infogram-async\",\"https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js\");\u003c/script>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Epidemic of Dead Trees\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s forests, which cover a third of the state, are now choked with some 150 million dead trees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Weakened by a prolonged drought, which scientists link to climate change, California’s ubiquitous pines and oaks are vulnerable to insect infestation and disease. Those giants crash to the forest floor and, unless they are removed, provide ready fodder for the next voracious fire. The die-off is catastrophic, beyond the reach of state foresters to remedy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In many communities of the central and southern Sierra Nevada mountain range, “80 percent of trees are dead,” said Ken Pimlott, former director of Cal Fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"infogram-embed\" data-id=\"2b338c4c-7e72-43a5-a16f-f82ec430aeca\" data-type=\"interactive\" data-title=\"Copy: wildfire deck/chap 1 card 3/tree death\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cscript>!function(e,t,s,i){var n=\"InfogramEmbeds\",o=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0],d=/^http:/.test(e.location)?\"http:\":\"https:\";if(/^\\/{2}/.test(i)&&(i=d+i),window[n]&&window[n].initialized)window[n].process&&window[n].process();else if(!e.getElementById(s)){var r=e.createElement(\"script\");r.async=1,r.id=s,r.src=i,o.parentNode.insertBefore(r,o)}}(document,0,\"infogram-async\",\"https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js\");\u003c/script>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Fire-Prone Federal Forests\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state owns only about 3 percent of California’s wooded acreage. Some land is owned by cities, counties, Native American tribes and private holders. President Trump has criticized California’s fire management.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"infogram-embed\" data-id=\"c1f69006-9c9e-4d84-960c-9f7cabed1c1b\" data-type=\"interactive\" data-title=\"map\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cscript>!function(e,t,s,i){var n=\"InfogramEmbeds\",o=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0],d=/^http:/.test(e.location)?\"http:\":\"https:\";if(/^\\/{2}/.test(i)&&(i=d+i),window[n]&&window[n].initialized)window[n].process&&window[n].process();else if(!e.getElementById(s)){var r=e.createElement(\"script\");r.async=1,r.id=s,r.src=i,o.parentNode.insertBefore(r,o)}}(document,0,\"infogram-async\",\"https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js\");\u003c/script>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The U.S. Forest Service has a longtime policy of putting out every fire, and quickly, which has packed the federal land with fuel to burn. And its budget falls short of the cost of needed work to reduce that fuel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"infogram-embed\" data-id=\"3e65fbeb-3293-488d-858c-9db5d795bf2a\" data-type=\"interactive\" data-title=\"firefighting budget wildfire card deck, chap 1,card 4\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cscript>!function(e,t,s,i){var n=\"InfogramEmbeds\",o=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0],d=/^http:/.test(e.location)?\"http:\":\"https:\";if(/^\\/{2}/.test(i)&&(i=d+i),window[n]&&window[n].initialized)window[n].process&&window[n].process();else if(!e.getElementById(s)){var r=e.createElement(\"script\");r.async=1,r.id=s,r.src=i,o.parentNode.insertBefore(r,o)}}(document,0,\"infogram-async\",\"https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js\");\u003c/script>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Electricity Factor\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hundreds of thousands of miles of transmission lines and other electrical equipment are strung across California, drawing little attention—until authorities name utility equipment as the cause of a wildfire. One in 10 California wildfires is related to energy equipment, according to the state’s chief utility regulator.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"infogram-embed\" data-id=\"81ffb848-5f9f-47d8-9445-bb8965ab6e41\" data-type=\"interactive\" data-title=\"Type \">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cscript>!function(e,t,s,i){var n=\"InfogramEmbeds\",o=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0],d=/^http:/.test(e.location)?\"http:\":\"https:\";if(/^\\/{2}/.test(i)&&(i=d+i),window[n]&&window[n].initialized)window[n].process&&window[n].process();else if(!e.getElementById(s)){var r=e.createElement(\"script\");r.async=1,r.id=s,r.src=i,o.parentNode.insertBefore(r,o)}}(document,0,\"infogram-async\",\"https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js\");\u003c/script>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lawmakers have ordered that utility companies put safety measures in place, hoping to ensure that their equipment won’t spark future fires. Among the firms’ strategies: more aggressively clearing brush and trees around transmission lines; swapping wooden power poles for metal ones; and maintaining a network of remote cameras to keep watch on wind, smoke and other dangers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>None of these or other fire-mitigation efforts will come cheaply. When a judge proposed sweeping new safety measures for Pacific Gas & Electric, the company said the work could cost an eye-popping $150 billion. And consumers can be expected to foot much of the fire-mitigation bill as utility companies pass costs along to them.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Harming California’s Environment\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Floating Umbrellas of Horrid Air\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When fires burn in uninhabited wildlands, their corrosive effects can be carried hundreds of miles by the wind, causing stinging eyes, burning throats and severe coughing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Local air districts issue warnings to residents to wear masks and avoid outside exercise. Hospital emergency rooms report increased numbers of patients seeking help for respiratory problems, and school closures can keep as many as a million children home as even indoor air quality deteriorates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"infogram-embed\" data-id=\"aa8bedb5-de7d-4e67-913e-8ed2a0c26baf\" data-type=\"interactive\" data-title=\"wildfire card deck/emergency room visits\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cscript>!function(e,t,s,i){var n=\"InfogramEmbeds\",o=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0],d=/^http:/.test(e.location)?\"http:\":\"https:\";if(/^\\/{2}/.test(i)&&(i=d+i),window[n]&&window[n].initialized)window[n].process&&window[n].process();else if(!e.getElementById(s)){var r=e.createElement(\"script\");r.async=1,r.id=s,r.src=i,o.parentNode.insertBefore(r,o)}}(document,0,\"infogram-async\",\"https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js\");\u003c/script>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Undercutting Climate Goals\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No state has done as much as California to reduce its output of planet-warming greenhouse gases. Yet the smoke produced by major fires is so potent that a single weeks-long blaze can undo a year’s worth of carbon-reduction efforts. State officials are concerned that what’s pumped into the air during fires could impair California’s ability to reach its stringent greenhouse-gas reduction goals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A single wildfire can spew more pollutants into the air than millions of cars. Moreover, as more trees die, another weapon to combat climate change is lost: the prodigious ability of healthy trees to absorb carbon from the atmosphere. That process is reversed if the trees burn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"infogram-embed\" data-id=\"38def4af-eaea-4596-a66f-451b6b1cb7a0\" data-type=\"interactive\" data-title=\"wildfire card deck, chap 2, card 2\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cscript>!function(e,t,s,i){var n=\"InfogramEmbeds\",o=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0],d=/^http:/.test(e.location)?\"http:\":\"https:\";if(/^\\/{2}/.test(i)&&(i=d+i),window[n]&&window[n].initialized)window[n].process&&window[n].process();else if(!e.getElementById(s)){var r=e.createElement(\"script\");r.async=1,r.id=s,r.src=i,o.parentNode.insertBefore(r,o)}}(document,0,\"infogram-async\",\"https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js\");\u003c/script>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Lingering Villain: Black Carbon\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Trees release a powerful pollutant, black carbon, as they burn. Black carbon is many thousand times more damaging than greenhouse gases. And the damage doesn’t cease once flames are snuffed out; decaying forests continue to emit harmful pollutants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If a burned-out forest is replaced by chaparral or brush, that landscape loses more than 90 percent of its capacity to take in and retain carbon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"infogram-embed\" data-id=\"50aa90aa-e6b6-46a2-85db-966d43599db0\" data-type=\"interactive\" data-title=\"wildfire card deck, chap 2, card 3\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cscript>!function(e,t,s,i){var n=\"InfogramEmbeds\",o=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0],d=/^http:/.test(e.location)?\"http:\":\"https:\";if(/^\\/{2}/.test(i)&&(i=d+i),window[n]&&window[n].initialized)window[n].process&&window[n].process();else if(!e.getElementById(s)){var r=e.createElement(\"script\");r.async=1,r.id=s,r.src=i,o.parentNode.insertBefore(r,o)}}(document,0,\"infogram-async\",\"https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js\");\u003c/script>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erosion Danger\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When fires rage in California’s mountains, the system that stores and cleans water, feeds streams and rivers, supports fish and other wildlife and literally holds the hillsides together burns up. Forests are watersheds, a critical component of California’s water supply.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• Trees hold water in their limbs, roots and soil and draw it into underground aquifers, a source of drinking water.\u003cbr>\n• Meadows on lower slopes filter and clean water.\u003cbr>\n• Tree loss after fires fosters soil erosion; the runoff clogs waterways.\u003cbr>\n• Unstable hills can threaten public safety with landslides and mudslides.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Regrowth Is Not All Good\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It has to be said that fires are not always bad. Naturally occurring fires clear overgrown forests, creating space for some plants and trees to revitalize. Researchers say less-dense forests are more natural and healthy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But more often in California, wildfires ignite a furious competition for life. Fast-growing and opportunistic non-native plants rush in after fires, with the potential to wholly supplant native species. This phenomenon doesn’t just erase an aspect of California’s botanical history; it affects its fire future. Invasive grasses and weeds often burn more readily, fanning hotter and more frequent fires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"infogram-embed\" data-id=\"2e1eaacb-94b2-4f5e-a2ff-abc78b0bf30c\" data-type=\"interactive\" data-title=\"invasive plants\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cscript>!function(e,t,s,i){var n=\"InfogramEmbeds\",o=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0],d=/^http:/.test(e.location)?\"http:\":\"https:\";if(/^\\/{2}/.test(i)&&(i=d+i),window[n]&&window[n].initialized)window[n].process&&window[n].process();else if(!e.getElementById(s)){var r=e.createElement(\"script\");r.async=1,r.id=s,r.src=i,o.parentNode.insertBefore(r,o)}}(document,0,\"infogram-async\",\"https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js\");\u003c/script>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>The Cost to California\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lives Lost\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wildfires took scores of lives in California in 2018, the deadliest fire year in the state’s recent history. Most of those deaths were related to the blaze that destroyed the Northern California town of Paradise. The numbers include people responding to the fires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"infogram-embed\" data-id=\"e04fe53f-3900-4553-af0d-2a5ef5c05875\" data-type=\"interactive\" data-title=\"Fire Fatalities/updates\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cscript>!function(e,t,s,i){var n=\"InfogramEmbeds\",o=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0],d=/^http:/.test(e.location)?\"http:\":\"https:\";if(/^\\/{2}/.test(i)&&(i=d+i),window[n]&&window[n].initialized)window[n].process&&window[n].process();else if(!e.getElementById(s)){var r=e.createElement(\"script\");r.async=1,r.id=s,r.src=i,o.parentNode.insertBefore(r,o)}}(document,0,\"infogram-async\",\"https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js\");\u003c/script>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Toll on State Finances\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not surprisingly, the wildfire tab is growing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state has exceeded projected fire suppression costs in 7 of the last 10 years. In 2018, California spent nearly $1 billion on fire suppression and emergency response, far exceeding the budgeted $450 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"infogram-embed\" data-id=\"dbd920b7-e9d2-44c2-b2ca-fbd26b6d5c76\" data-type=\"interactive\" data-title=\"Soaring cost of wildfires\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cscript>!function(e,t,s,i){var n=\"InfogramEmbeds\",o=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0],d=/^http:/.test(e.location)?\"http:\":\"https:\";if(/^\\/{2}/.test(i)&&(i=d+i),window[n]&&window[n].initialized)window[n].process&&window[n].process();else if(!e.getElementById(s)){var r=e.createElement(\"script\");r.async=1,r.id=s,r.src=i,o.parentNode.insertBefore(r,o)}}(document,0,\"infogram-async\",\"https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js\");\u003c/script>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire boasts one of the largest, if not the largest, firefighting air fleets in the world, including S-2T air tankers and Huey helicopters. The state will start upgrading the Hueys to Black Hawks and begin to add C-130 Hercules cargo planes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And rather than waiting to respond to a wildfire, emergency personnel have shifted to pre-positioning strike teams before a fire even starts. It’s a strategy that costs more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Financial Toll for Private Citizens\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Seven of the 10 most destructive wildfires in California have occurred in the last five years. The financial toll for homeowners, renters and businesses in the past two fire seasons has topped $10 billion in insured losses each year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Department of Insurance has reported claims from major wildfire seasons going back to 2007. The claims include damages reported to residential and commercial properties as well as auto and other lines of insurance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of course, the figures don’t tell the whole story. We know many wildfire victims lived in high-threat areas without insurance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe style=\"width: 100%; height: 650px;\" src=\"https://cdn.knightlab.com/libs/storyline/latest/embed/index.html?dataURL=https%3A%2F%2Fdocs.google.com%2Fspreadsheets%2Fd%2F103Ma9xiRI2-jYbXNhqoNOKhD3coGvl68lHduDeo6WI8%2Fedit%23gid%3D0&dataYCol=total&dataXCol=year&dataDateFormat=%25Y&chartDateFormat=%25Y&chartYLabel=Insured%20losses&sliderCardTitleCol=title&sliderCardTextCol=text\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Rising Insurance Rates and Canceled Policies\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Insurance in fire-prone areas is getting more expensive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The RAND Corp. found the average premium for high-risk areas was up 15 percent between 2007 and 2014 in reviewing prices in a portion of San Bernardino County. It was up 12 percent in the same period in the Sierra Foothills east of Sacramento.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"infogram-embed\" data-id=\"ef504129-17e6-407f-bca1-c68f370cbd56\" data-type=\"interactive\" data-title=\"Insurance premiums in high-risk areas\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cscript>!function(e,t,s,i){var n=\"InfogramEmbeds\",o=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0],d=/^http:/.test(e.location)?\"http:\":\"https:\";if(/^\\/{2}/.test(i)&&(i=d+i),window[n]&&window[n].initialized)window[n].process&&window[n].process();else if(!e.getElementById(s)){var r=e.createElement(\"script\");r.async=1,r.id=s,r.src=i,o.parentNode.insertBefore(r,o)}}(document,0,\"infogram-async\",\"https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js\");\u003c/script>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Santa Monica-based nonprofit research firm conducted the study as part of California’s Fourth Climate Change Assessment and was funded by the California Natural Resources Agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>RAND researcher Lloyd Dixon found the higher prices were influencing purchasing patterns: Policyholders are buying less coverage, lowballing the cost to fully replace their belongings and tending to elect higher deductibles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But are insurers cancelling policies? This is harder to say.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A December 2017 survey by the California Department of Insurance found an uptick in renewal complaints in areas designated by Cal Fire as having the greatest risk of wildfire. The department received 41 complaints in 2010 but 143 in 2016. And the insurance department found that insurer-initiated cancellations went up from 8,796 in 2015 in high fire areas to 10,151 in 2016.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"infogram-embed\" data-id=\"17de4aff-f6b8-4372-b53c-3f4a85a99ccc\" data-type=\"interactive\" data-title=\"California insurance policy cancellation in high-threat areas\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cscript>!function(e,t,s,i){var n=\"InfogramEmbeds\",o=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0],d=/^http:/.test(e.location)?\"http:\":\"https:\";if(/^\\/{2}/.test(i)&&(i=d+i),window[n]&&window[n].initialized)window[n].process&&window[n].process();else if(!e.getElementById(s)){var r=e.createElement(\"script\");r.async=1,r.id=s,r.src=i,o.parentNode.insertBefore(r,o)}}(document,0,\"infogram-async\",\"https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js\");\u003c/script>\u003cbr>\nHowever, those figures are a fraction of the more than 36,000 cancellations initiated by policyholders. In fact, RAND’s study found more insurers are actually offering in high-risk areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the same time, insurance policies of last resort written for brush and wildfire areas have increased from 22,397 policies to 33,898 policies, a 51 percent increase over five years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This suggests people are more likely to be priced out and taking on more risk. Property owners in fire-threat areas can expect insurance prices to keep rising. In areas with the highest risk, people can expect their premiums by 2055 to go up 18 percent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Utilities Debacle\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pacific Gas and Electric Company filed for Chapter 11 reorganization in U.S. Bankruptcy Court on Jan. 29, 2019 in the aftermath of the 2017 and 2018 wildfire seasons, the two most destructive in state history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The utility, which provides natural gas and electricity to 16 million people in northern and central California, cited up to $30 billion in liabilities since many blazes have been linked to its equipment. Legal experts say it could take two to three years to rehabilitate PG&E, a process that could leave energy goals hampered and wildfire victims shortchanged.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But even before PG&E’s bankruptcy, there was debate about who bears the costs as wildfires become more frequent and destructive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"infogram-embed\" data-id=\"fe56f9a1-3e75-4563-ac1f-ef5a36a71449\" data-type=\"interactive\" data-title=\"Utilities debacle timeline\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cscript>!function(e,t,s,i){var n=\"InfogramEmbeds\",o=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0],d=/^http:/.test(e.location)?\"http:\":\"https:\";if(/^\\/{2}/.test(i)&&(i=d+i),window[n]&&window[n].initialized)window[n].process&&window[n].process();else if(!e.getElementById(s)){var r=e.createElement(\"script\");r.async=1,r.id=s,r.src=i,o.parentNode.insertBefore(r,o)}}(document,0,\"infogram-async\",\"https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js\");\u003c/script>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>The Debate Over Solutions\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Detection and Prevention\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s wildfire season is essentially year-round now. And with wildfires expected to get worse, residents, utilities and the state play a role in minimizing the impact of the wildfire seasons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Residents\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Residents have a responsibility to create a defensible space around their property and “harden” homes to make them fire resistant. California law requires creating a buffer by clearing out trees, brush and grass within 100 feet around homes in wildfire-affected areas. Fire officials say it can increase the likelihood of a house surviving a wildfire eight-fold. In addition, homes with wood or shingle roofs are at high risk of being destroyed. Consider materials such as composition, metal or tile.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/YuyuMgXkhU8\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Utilities\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under new law, investor-owned utilities must prepare wildfire mitigation plans that describe what they are doing to prevent, combat and respond to wildfires. The three largest utilities, Pacific Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison, San Diego Gas & Electric, all plan to spend millions clearing brush and trees away from transmission lines, insulate or underground power lines, and install or maintain a network of remote cameras and weather stations to detect wind, smoke and other dangers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PG&E and SCE are now following in the footsteps of SDG&E in expanding the use of public safety power shutoffs, also known as de-energization. The practice of shutting off electric power during dangerous weather conditions is viewed as a public-safety measure of last resort because it can cut off internet access and make communication difficult for hospitals, firefighters and emergency personnel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The State\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On March 22, 2019, Gov. Newsom declared a wildfire state of emergency for California and waived environmental regulations to speed up forest management projects aimed at reducing the fuel load for the upcoming wildfire season. By removing dead trees or clearing brush, the programs aim to reduce the threat of wildfires by creating fuel breaks, defensible space and safe travel corridors around vulnerable communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some environmental groups, however, question whether logging would damage ecosystems and suggest it’s more effective to clear vegetation around homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Restrictions on Where and How to Build\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even when fires threaten homes and no help is in sight, all is not lost. There is much homeowners can do to prepare and protect their property in the face of wildfire, beginning with clearing trees, brush and wood piles around their houses,.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The manner of construction and the types of materials used can help give structures a fighting chance against the advance of flames. California building codes for new homes require forgoing wooden roofs and decks in favor of fire-resistant materials, among other things.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among the actions homeowners can take to protect their property:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• Install double-paned windows\u003cbr>\n• Detach garages and storage sheds from the main house\u003cbr>\n• Put ember-resistant vents in attics and elsewhere\u003cbr>\n• Consider fire-resistant cladding such as stucco or stone\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are, however, some places where the risk is so great that fire scientists say homes simply should not be built there—even in a state where housing shortages have reached crisis levels. In California from 1990 to 2010, an estimated 45 percent of new housing units were constructed in the “wildland-urban interface”—where suburbia and rural towns back up onto wild, and combustible, landscapes. With more residences sprouting on the edge of wildlands or deep in narrow canyons, fires become an inevitability and firefighters have a tougher and larger territory to defend.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thirty-four percent of new housing units in California were built in what experts refer to as the wildland-urban interface—where the state’s cul-de-sac’d suburban subdivisions and rural communities meet its flammable forests and shrub landscapes. With more and more residences sprouting on the edge of wildlands or deep in narrow canyons, fires become an inevitability, an ever-larger and more challenging front for firefighters to defend.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What to do? State lawmakers have already extended some state restrictions to local lands, and some have talked about possible rebates or other subsidies for residents who cannot afford to “harden” their homes. But essentially legislators are grappling with an unpalatable reality: Require even more extensive and expensive upgrades to existing homes, or ban building altogether in some areas. That discussion is as potentially explosive as the fires themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/YsXMV6l_pIE\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Bills to Watch: 2019\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>While Gov. Newsom is monitoring PG&E bankruptcy developments, state lawmakers have turned their focus toward prevention. Here are some key proposals for the 2019 legislative session:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>•SB 190 (Sen. Bill Dodd of Napa) Would direct the State Fire Marshal to develop a defensible space ordinance for local governments to adopt and enforce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>•SB 209 (Sen. Dodd) establishes the California Wildfire Warning Center in order to better predict weather conditions and share information around the state. Requires that utilities install additional weather monitoring equipment in high fire threat areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>•SB 290 (Sen. Dodd) Sponsored by Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara and Treasurer Fiona Ma, the bill would authorize the state to explore purchasing a policy to cover wildfires, earthquakes, floods and other disasters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>•AB 235 (Assemblyman Chad Mayes of Yucca Valley) Would create the California Wildfire Catastrophe Fund Authority financed by participating utilities to reimburse the utility for liability costs that exceed their established insurance levels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>•AB 281 (Assemblyman Jim Frazier of Fairfield) A bill with early-stage language that proposes to have California utilities relocate underground or otherwise enhance the safety of transmission and distribution lines in high fire-threat areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Graphics assistance by Elizabeth Castillo\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>CALmatters is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "California's Monster Snow Year ... 'It's Been a Wild Ride'",
"headTitle": "California’s Monster Snow Year … ‘It’s Been a Wild Ride’ | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>It’s been a beast of a year for snow in the Sierra Nevada range.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is the time of year—April 1—when the snowpack is typically at its peak and on Tuesday, the monthly manual survey revealed a \u003ca href=\"http://cdec.water.ca.gov/snowapp/sweq.action\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">snowpack at 162 percent\u003c/a> of the long-term average, thanks to more than 30 atmospheric river storms that swept across the state over the winter.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">Ski slopes are still expecting to be open this summer on the 4th of July.\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Mammoth Mountain, which soars to 11,000 feet in the central Sierra, has had 50 feet of snow pile onto its sweeping inclines. The nearby Mammoth ski resort tweeted that it had broken its snowfall record for February—and it was only two weeks into the month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Absolutely fantastic,” is how Ben Hatchett sums up the snow season. Hatchett is an atmospheric scientist at the Western Regional Climate Center in Reno, but he’ll rhapsodize at length about how the storm sequence lined up to produce a “dream season” on the slopes, with few intermittent melts and little rain at high elevations to create the fabled “Sierra cement” snow conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/k0oS7/7/\" width=\"100%\" height=\"500\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We never got those storms that end and then the sun comes out and it goes to 42 degrees, and everything gets cooked,” Hatchett recalls. “It just really stayed incredible for what we were hoping would be days, but then turned into weeks and then even to months.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s been a wild ride,” admits Lara Kaylor, who works in the tourism office in Mammoth Lakes. She lives in a lower-elevation part of town, known locally as the Banana Belt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our snow banks are probably only about 20 feet high,” she muses, “versus 40 to 50 feet high.” And she’s not kidding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kaylor says some extra snow shoveling is a fair trade-off for the obvious benefits. Tax collections from the tourist economy have already topped $3 million in the town of Mammoth Lakes, setting a local record. The town is nestled just below California’s highest ski slopes, which are projected to be open on the Fourth of July this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s just kind of mind-blowing to people that you can come and ski in June,” says Kaylor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1939793\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1950px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/01_2019-02-15-New-Snow-Miles-Weaver-11.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1939793\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/01_2019-02-15-New-Snow-Miles-Weaver-11.jpeg\" alt=\"Photo: snow piled on tables\" width=\"1950\" height=\"1302\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/01_2019-02-15-New-Snow-Miles-Weaver-11.jpeg 1950w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/01_2019-02-15-New-Snow-Miles-Weaver-11-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/01_2019-02-15-New-Snow-Miles-Weaver-11-800x534.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/01_2019-02-15-New-Snow-Miles-Weaver-11-768x513.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/01_2019-02-15-New-Snow-Miles-Weaver-11-1020x681.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/01_2019-02-15-New-Snow-Miles-Weaver-11-1200x801.jpeg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/01_2019-02-15-New-Snow-Miles-Weaver-11-1920x1282.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1950px) 100vw, 1950px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tabletops outside of Smokeyard Restaurant in the Village at Mammoth. \u003ccite>(Mammoth Lakes Tourism/Dakota Snider)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The string of cold storms was also a boon to California’s water supply, increasing snow cover even at lower elevations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We had such low [elevation] snow levels that we were able to accumulate snow over a humongous area of the Sierra Nevada,” notes Hatchett. “There’s a snowpack at two-or-three-thousand feet this year.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Californians count on Sierra snow for about a third of their water supply.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For flood managers, though, it’s right on the brink of having too much of a good thing. An abrupt warm-up at this point could melt much of that accumulated snow and send it cascading into reservoirs that are \u003ca href=\"http://cdec.water.ca.gov/reportapp/javareports?name=rescond.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">already brimming\u003c/a>—or at least at the point where operators are required to start releasing water to maintain room for flood control.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was a pulse of runoff two years ago that caused the collapse of both the primary and emergency spillways at Oroville Dam in Butte County. The state’s Department of Water Resources says \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11735564/oroville-dams-rebuilt-spillway-is-nearing-its-first-use-since-2017-disaster\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the first test\u003c/a> of the newly rebuilt spillway could come as early as this week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And Hatchett says that, unlike the winter just passed, the outlook for this spring is for above-average temperatures throughout most of California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"description": "The year's biggest snowpack survey is tomorrow, and state officials are expecting to find near-record numbers. 4th of July skiing, ample water, big money for resort towns; is there a downside?",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>It’s been a beast of a year for snow in the Sierra Nevada range.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is the time of year—April 1—when the snowpack is typically at its peak and on Tuesday, the monthly manual survey revealed a \u003ca href=\"http://cdec.water.ca.gov/snowapp/sweq.action\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">snowpack at 162 percent\u003c/a> of the long-term average, thanks to more than 30 atmospheric river storms that swept across the state over the winter.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">Ski slopes are still expecting to be open this summer on the 4th of July.\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Mammoth Mountain, which soars to 11,000 feet in the central Sierra, has had 50 feet of snow pile onto its sweeping inclines. The nearby Mammoth ski resort tweeted that it had broken its snowfall record for February—and it was only two weeks into the month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Absolutely fantastic,” is how Ben Hatchett sums up the snow season. Hatchett is an atmospheric scientist at the Western Regional Climate Center in Reno, but he’ll rhapsodize at length about how the storm sequence lined up to produce a “dream season” on the slopes, with few intermittent melts and little rain at high elevations to create the fabled “Sierra cement” snow conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/k0oS7/7/\" width=\"100%\" height=\"500\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We never got those storms that end and then the sun comes out and it goes to 42 degrees, and everything gets cooked,” Hatchett recalls. “It just really stayed incredible for what we were hoping would be days, but then turned into weeks and then even to months.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s been a wild ride,” admits Lara Kaylor, who works in the tourism office in Mammoth Lakes. She lives in a lower-elevation part of town, known locally as the Banana Belt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our snow banks are probably only about 20 feet high,” she muses, “versus 40 to 50 feet high.” And she’s not kidding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kaylor says some extra snow shoveling is a fair trade-off for the obvious benefits. Tax collections from the tourist economy have already topped $3 million in the town of Mammoth Lakes, setting a local record. The town is nestled just below California’s highest ski slopes, which are projected to be open on the Fourth of July this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s just kind of mind-blowing to people that you can come and ski in June,” says Kaylor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1939793\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1950px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/01_2019-02-15-New-Snow-Miles-Weaver-11.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1939793\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/01_2019-02-15-New-Snow-Miles-Weaver-11.jpeg\" alt=\"Photo: snow piled on tables\" width=\"1950\" height=\"1302\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/01_2019-02-15-New-Snow-Miles-Weaver-11.jpeg 1950w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/01_2019-02-15-New-Snow-Miles-Weaver-11-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/01_2019-02-15-New-Snow-Miles-Weaver-11-800x534.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/01_2019-02-15-New-Snow-Miles-Weaver-11-768x513.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/01_2019-02-15-New-Snow-Miles-Weaver-11-1020x681.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/01_2019-02-15-New-Snow-Miles-Weaver-11-1200x801.jpeg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/01_2019-02-15-New-Snow-Miles-Weaver-11-1920x1282.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1950px) 100vw, 1950px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tabletops outside of Smokeyard Restaurant in the Village at Mammoth. \u003ccite>(Mammoth Lakes Tourism/Dakota Snider)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The string of cold storms was also a boon to California’s water supply, increasing snow cover even at lower elevations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We had such low [elevation] snow levels that we were able to accumulate snow over a humongous area of the Sierra Nevada,” notes Hatchett. “There’s a snowpack at two-or-three-thousand feet this year.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Californians count on Sierra snow for about a third of their water supply.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For flood managers, though, it’s right on the brink of having too much of a good thing. An abrupt warm-up at this point could melt much of that accumulated snow and send it cascading into reservoirs that are \u003ca href=\"http://cdec.water.ca.gov/reportapp/javareports?name=rescond.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">already brimming\u003c/a>—or at least at the point where operators are required to start releasing water to maintain room for flood control.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was a pulse of runoff two years ago that caused the collapse of both the primary and emergency spillways at Oroville Dam in Butte County. The state’s Department of Water Resources says \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11735564/oroville-dams-rebuilt-spillway-is-nearing-its-first-use-since-2017-disaster\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the first test\u003c/a> of the newly rebuilt spillway could come as early as this week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And Hatchett says that, unlike the winter just passed, the outlook for this spring is for above-average temperatures throughout most of California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "She Was Dancing On The Roof And Talking Gibberish. A Special Kind Of ER Helped Her",
"headTitle": "She Was Dancing On The Roof And Talking Gibberish. A Special Kind Of ER Helped Her | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>For decades, hospitals have strained to accommodate patients in psychiatric crisis in emergency rooms. The horror stories of failure abound:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Patients heavily sedated or shackled to gurneys for days while awaiting placement in a specialized psychiatric hospital, their symptoms exacerbated by the noise and chaos of emergency medicine. Long wait times in crowded ERs for people who show up with serious medical emergencies. High costs for taxpayers, insurers and families as patients languish longer than necessary in the most expensive place to get care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you are living with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, that is a really tough way to begin that road to recovery,” said Dr. Jack Rozel, president of the American Association for Emergency Psychiatry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1939658\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36267_psych-er-14-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1939658\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36267_psych-er-14-qut-800x534.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36267_psych-er-14-qut-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36267_psych-er-14-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36267_psych-er-14-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36267_psych-er-14-qut-1020x681.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36267_psych-er-14-qut-1200x801.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36267_psych-er-14-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chantelle Unique has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. She had been dancing on the roof and speaking gibberish when her mother called 911. Unique says she has had a hard time in regular emergency rooms. “There are a million people,” she says. \u003ccite>(Heidi de Marco/KHN)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In pockets across the country, hospitals are trying something new to address the unique needs of psychiatric patients: opening emergency units specifically designed to help stabilize and treat patients and connect them to longer-term resources and care. These psychiatric ERs aim to address the growing number of patients with mental health conditions who end up hospitalized because traditional emergency rooms don’t have the time or expertise to treat the crisis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The rate of ER visits involving psychoses, bipolar disorder, depression or anxiety \u003ca href=\"https://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/statbriefs/sb216-Mental-Substance-Use-Disorder-ED-Visit-Trends.pdf\">jumped more than 50 percent\u003c/a> from 2006 to 2013, according to the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Roughly 1 in 8 emergency department visits now stem from mental illness or substance use disorders, the data show.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">‘The vast majority of psychiatric emergencies can be resolved in less than 24 hours.’\u003ccite>Dr. Scott Zeller, Vituity\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>The psychiatric ERs, staffed with nurses, social workers and psychiatrists, work to treat and release patients in under 24 hours, much as traditional emergency rooms handle physical ailments. Those who are well enough to go home get discharged, while those who need more treatment are admitted to the hospital or transferred to an inpatient facility.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are now roughly 100 such units across the country, said Dr. Scott Zeller, vice president of acute psychiatry at Vituity, a physician-led organization that provides staffing and consulting services to medical centers nationwide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Zeller pioneered the approach while working as chief of psychiatric emergency services at John George Psychiatric Hospital in Alameda County, Calif. Over time, he transformed the center from a traditional ward where restraints were common into one that treated patients in a more supportive, living-room like setting. The results — in terms of both patient outcomes and cost-savings — made Zeller a believer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1939662\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36271_psych-er-5-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1939662\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36271_psych-er-5-qut-800x534.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36271_psych-er-5-qut-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36271_psych-er-5-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36271_psych-er-5-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36271_psych-er-5-qut-1020x681.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36271_psych-er-5-qut-1200x801.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36271_psych-er-5-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nurse Anya Price, interim clinical supervisor, talks to a new patient about the procedures at a new unit at Providence Little Company of Mary Medical Center San Pedro designed for people in psychiatric crisis. \u003ccite>(Heidi de Marco/KHN)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>He is helping design 10 \u003ca href=\"https://www.researchgate.net/publication/329197331_EmPATH_Units_as_a_Solution_for_ED_Psychiatric_Patient_Boarding\">new units\u003c/a>, including in California, Florida, Illinois and Tennessee. Each is distinct, accepting patients in somewhat different circumstances and offering a slightly different range of services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Patients who arrive at an emergency room for psychiatric or substance use disorders are more than twice as likely to be admitted than other patients, federal data show. And yet about 80 percent of the time, Zeller said, patients’ mental health crises can be resolved without a costly inpatient hospital stay. A patient may be having a psychotic episode because he fell off his medications, for example, or having drug-induced hallucinations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need to treat people at the emergency level of care,” he said. “The vast majority of psychiatric emergencies can be resolved in less than 24 hours.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nowhere To Hide\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wearing a hospital gown, Rachel Diamond lay back in her recliner in a spacious room in a relatively new ward at Providence Little Company of Mary Medical Center San Pedro, a hospital near the Port of Los Angeles. Nearby, a few patients slept on identical recliners, draped in soft blankets. Others communed at a kitchen table over microwaved meals. A nurse walked through the locked unit with a rolling cart, dispensing medications.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">In previous ERs: ‘No one really talked to me. It was like I was a caged animal.’\u003ccite>Rachel Diamond, Torrance\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Except for a nursing station in the middle of the room, the unit didn’t look much like a health care facility. The room was divided into men’s and women’s sides, with separate TVs. A few smaller rooms — where patients could meet with a psychiatrist or social worker — lined the unit’s edge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Anya Price, interim clinical supervisor and a nurse, said the unit was designed to feel more like a home than a hospital. “We’re operating from an understanding that they’re coming here to get better,” Price said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The open design of the unit, known as the “Outpatient Behavioral Health Center,” allows patients to move freely. Staff said it also helps reduce problems because they can quickly spot a patient who may be getting agitated. Dr. Herbert Harman, a psychiatrist and medical director for the facility, said violence and the need for restraints are rare.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1939667\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36270_psych-er-17-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1939667\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36270_psych-er-17-qut-800x534.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36270_psych-er-17-qut-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36270_psych-er-17-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36270_psych-er-17-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36270_psych-er-17-qut-1020x681.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36270_psych-er-17-qut-1200x801.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36270_psych-er-17-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rachel Diamond says she has been diagnosed with depression and anxiety and has landed in multiple ERs over the past decade when her symptoms spiked out of control. During her stay at Providence Little Company of Mary, which lasted just over a day, she slept, received medications and met with nurses, a social worker and a psychiatrist. \u003ccite>(Heidi de Marco/KHN)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The unit is in a building a short walk from the medical center emergency room. It opened in 2017 and accepts patients from emergency rooms across Los Angeles County once they are deemed stable medically. So far this year, its staff has treated about 400 patients, Price said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One recent morning, the patients included a man in his 40s found on the railroad tracks after an alcohol binge, and a woman with a history of schizophrenia who said she was seeing spirits. Some were there on involuntary holds because authorities had decided they were at risk of hurting themselves or others because of their illness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Diamond, 30, said she has been diagnosed with depression and anxiety and has landed in multiple ERs over the past decade when her symptoms spiked out of control. During those stays, she said, she often felt isolated and in the dark about her treatment. Doctors typically numbed her with medications and consigned her to a guarded room. “No one really talked to me,” said Diamond, who lives in Torrance, Calif. “It was like I was a caged animal.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1939670\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36273_psych-er-12-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1939670\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36273_psych-er-12-qut-800x534.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36273_psych-er-12-qut-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36273_psych-er-12-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36273_psych-er-12-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36273_psych-er-12-qut-1020x681.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36273_psych-er-12-qut-1200x801.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36273_psych-er-12-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chantelle Unique takes her medication during her stay at a special psychiatric emergency facility at Providence Little Company of Mary Medical Center San Pedro. \u003ccite>(Heidi de Marco/KHN)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>She had been living in a car and fighting with her boyfriend in late February when she decided she wanted to end her life. She tried jumping out of a moving car, and when that didn’t work, she grabbed a bottle of pills. She gets help for her mental health issues, but sometimes, she said, the stress becomes too much. This time, she was taken to a hospital emergency room in Torrance before being transferred to the San Pedro unit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During her time in the behavioral health center — about 26 hours — she slept, received medications and met with nurses, a social worker and a psychiatrist. She said it was calmer than a regular ER, and the staff had time to talk, listen and help her through the worst of the crisis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I genuinely feel better enough to leave,” she said. “I haven’t been able to say that in a while.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1939671\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36272_psych-er-9-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1939671\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36272_psych-er-9-qut-800x534.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36272_psych-er-9-qut-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36272_psych-er-9-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36272_psych-er-9-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36272_psych-er-9-qut-1020x681.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36272_psych-er-9-qut-1200x801.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36272_psych-er-9-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Anthony Montes eats a snack in the kitchen after arriving at the medical center’s outpatient emergency psychiatric unit, which was designed to feel more like a home than a hospital. “We’re operating from an understanding that they’re coming here to get better,” nurse Anya Price says. \u003ccite>(Heidi de Marco/KHN)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>A Return On Investment\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Zeller argues that the use of emergency psychiatric clinics is both humane and cost-effective. \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24578760\">Research\u003c/a> on the Alameda County model found such units can dramatically reduce how long patients spend in medical emergency rooms, and that about three-quarters of patients treated in the units can be discharged to the community rather than to inpatient care. That, Zeller said, can lessen the overwhelming demand for inpatient psychiatric beds and preserve available spots for those who truly require them. The model saves money for hospitals in part because the patients spend less time in emergency care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The return on investment is exponential,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Montana, the Billings Clinic opened a psychiatric stabilization unit last April across the street from the traditional ER. Dr. Eric Arzubi, psychiatry department chair, said nearly 10 percent of the visits in the Billings Clinic emergency room involve people in psychiatric crisis. Since the new unit opened, wait times for psychiatric patients have dropped from about 10 hours to four hours, and fewer patients are being admitted to the inpatient unit. Arzubi said his staff isn’t trying to cure people of their mental illness but rather stabilize them and get them the care they need.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Just like in the emergency room, you don’t get comprehensive care,” Arzubi said. “But you can stop the bleeding, you stabilize the patient and get them to the right level of care.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In some cases, that means a transfer to an inpatient facility.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Staff at the San Pedro unit decided soon after Chantelle Unique arrived that she would be one of those patients. Unique, who is 23, has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. She had been dancing on the roof and speaking gibberish when her mother called 911.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unique said she has had a hard time in regular emergency rooms. “There are a million people,” she said. For most of a morning at the San Pedro facility, she sat calmly watching TV, talking to nurses and eating spaghetti. But at one point, she started pacing and yelling at other patients. Nurses and security guards quickly surrounded her and persuaded her to return to her recliner and take additional medication.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Finding an inpatient bed for a patient like Unique with more progressed mental illness is not always easy, said clinical social worker Mark Tawfik. But he’s committed to finding a way. “We have to make sure we find them adequate resources,” he said. “Otherwise, they will come right back.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Price, the clinical supervisor, even when a patient requires a transfer for more intensive care, there’s satisfaction in knowing that person is headed in the right direction. If Unique hadn’t been brought in, Price said, she would have been out in the community, lost to her delusions, putting herself at risk of accident or arrest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the unit, staff made sure she was safe, Price said, in addition to providing “a warm bed, some food and some compassion.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/\">Kaiser Health News\u003c/a> (KHN) is a national health policy news service. It is an editorially independent program of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.kff.org/\">Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation\u003c/a> which is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>For decades, hospitals have strained to accommodate patients in psychiatric crisis in emergency rooms. The horror stories of failure abound:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Patients heavily sedated or shackled to gurneys for days while awaiting placement in a specialized psychiatric hospital, their symptoms exacerbated by the noise and chaos of emergency medicine. Long wait times in crowded ERs for people who show up with serious medical emergencies. High costs for taxpayers, insurers and families as patients languish longer than necessary in the most expensive place to get care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you are living with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, that is a really tough way to begin that road to recovery,” said Dr. Jack Rozel, president of the American Association for Emergency Psychiatry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1939658\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36267_psych-er-14-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1939658\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36267_psych-er-14-qut-800x534.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36267_psych-er-14-qut-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36267_psych-er-14-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36267_psych-er-14-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36267_psych-er-14-qut-1020x681.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36267_psych-er-14-qut-1200x801.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36267_psych-er-14-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chantelle Unique has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. She had been dancing on the roof and speaking gibberish when her mother called 911. Unique says she has had a hard time in regular emergency rooms. “There are a million people,” she says. \u003ccite>(Heidi de Marco/KHN)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In pockets across the country, hospitals are trying something new to address the unique needs of psychiatric patients: opening emergency units specifically designed to help stabilize and treat patients and connect them to longer-term resources and care. These psychiatric ERs aim to address the growing number of patients with mental health conditions who end up hospitalized because traditional emergency rooms don’t have the time or expertise to treat the crisis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The rate of ER visits involving psychoses, bipolar disorder, depression or anxiety \u003ca href=\"https://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/statbriefs/sb216-Mental-Substance-Use-Disorder-ED-Visit-Trends.pdf\">jumped more than 50 percent\u003c/a> from 2006 to 2013, according to the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Roughly 1 in 8 emergency department visits now stem from mental illness or substance use disorders, the data show.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">‘The vast majority of psychiatric emergencies can be resolved in less than 24 hours.’\u003ccite>Dr. Scott Zeller, Vituity\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>The psychiatric ERs, staffed with nurses, social workers and psychiatrists, work to treat and release patients in under 24 hours, much as traditional emergency rooms handle physical ailments. Those who are well enough to go home get discharged, while those who need more treatment are admitted to the hospital or transferred to an inpatient facility.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are now roughly 100 such units across the country, said Dr. Scott Zeller, vice president of acute psychiatry at Vituity, a physician-led organization that provides staffing and consulting services to medical centers nationwide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Zeller pioneered the approach while working as chief of psychiatric emergency services at John George Psychiatric Hospital in Alameda County, Calif. Over time, he transformed the center from a traditional ward where restraints were common into one that treated patients in a more supportive, living-room like setting. The results — in terms of both patient outcomes and cost-savings — made Zeller a believer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1939662\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36271_psych-er-5-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1939662\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36271_psych-er-5-qut-800x534.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36271_psych-er-5-qut-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36271_psych-er-5-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36271_psych-er-5-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36271_psych-er-5-qut-1020x681.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36271_psych-er-5-qut-1200x801.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36271_psych-er-5-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nurse Anya Price, interim clinical supervisor, talks to a new patient about the procedures at a new unit at Providence Little Company of Mary Medical Center San Pedro designed for people in psychiatric crisis. \u003ccite>(Heidi de Marco/KHN)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>He is helping design 10 \u003ca href=\"https://www.researchgate.net/publication/329197331_EmPATH_Units_as_a_Solution_for_ED_Psychiatric_Patient_Boarding\">new units\u003c/a>, including in California, Florida, Illinois and Tennessee. Each is distinct, accepting patients in somewhat different circumstances and offering a slightly different range of services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Patients who arrive at an emergency room for psychiatric or substance use disorders are more than twice as likely to be admitted than other patients, federal data show. And yet about 80 percent of the time, Zeller said, patients’ mental health crises can be resolved without a costly inpatient hospital stay. A patient may be having a psychotic episode because he fell off his medications, for example, or having drug-induced hallucinations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need to treat people at the emergency level of care,” he said. “The vast majority of psychiatric emergencies can be resolved in less than 24 hours.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nowhere To Hide\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wearing a hospital gown, Rachel Diamond lay back in her recliner in a spacious room in a relatively new ward at Providence Little Company of Mary Medical Center San Pedro, a hospital near the Port of Los Angeles. Nearby, a few patients slept on identical recliners, draped in soft blankets. Others communed at a kitchen table over microwaved meals. A nurse walked through the locked unit with a rolling cart, dispensing medications.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">In previous ERs: ‘No one really talked to me. It was like I was a caged animal.’\u003ccite>Rachel Diamond, Torrance\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Except for a nursing station in the middle of the room, the unit didn’t look much like a health care facility. The room was divided into men’s and women’s sides, with separate TVs. A few smaller rooms — where patients could meet with a psychiatrist or social worker — lined the unit’s edge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Anya Price, interim clinical supervisor and a nurse, said the unit was designed to feel more like a home than a hospital. “We’re operating from an understanding that they’re coming here to get better,” Price said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The open design of the unit, known as the “Outpatient Behavioral Health Center,” allows patients to move freely. Staff said it also helps reduce problems because they can quickly spot a patient who may be getting agitated. Dr. Herbert Harman, a psychiatrist and medical director for the facility, said violence and the need for restraints are rare.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1939667\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36270_psych-er-17-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1939667\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36270_psych-er-17-qut-800x534.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36270_psych-er-17-qut-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36270_psych-er-17-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36270_psych-er-17-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36270_psych-er-17-qut-1020x681.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36270_psych-er-17-qut-1200x801.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36270_psych-er-17-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rachel Diamond says she has been diagnosed with depression and anxiety and has landed in multiple ERs over the past decade when her symptoms spiked out of control. During her stay at Providence Little Company of Mary, which lasted just over a day, she slept, received medications and met with nurses, a social worker and a psychiatrist. \u003ccite>(Heidi de Marco/KHN)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The unit is in a building a short walk from the medical center emergency room. It opened in 2017 and accepts patients from emergency rooms across Los Angeles County once they are deemed stable medically. So far this year, its staff has treated about 400 patients, Price said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One recent morning, the patients included a man in his 40s found on the railroad tracks after an alcohol binge, and a woman with a history of schizophrenia who said she was seeing spirits. Some were there on involuntary holds because authorities had decided they were at risk of hurting themselves or others because of their illness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Diamond, 30, said she has been diagnosed with depression and anxiety and has landed in multiple ERs over the past decade when her symptoms spiked out of control. During those stays, she said, she often felt isolated and in the dark about her treatment. Doctors typically numbed her with medications and consigned her to a guarded room. “No one really talked to me,” said Diamond, who lives in Torrance, Calif. “It was like I was a caged animal.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1939670\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36273_psych-er-12-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1939670\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36273_psych-er-12-qut-800x534.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36273_psych-er-12-qut-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36273_psych-er-12-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36273_psych-er-12-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36273_psych-er-12-qut-1020x681.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36273_psych-er-12-qut-1200x801.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36273_psych-er-12-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chantelle Unique takes her medication during her stay at a special psychiatric emergency facility at Providence Little Company of Mary Medical Center San Pedro. \u003ccite>(Heidi de Marco/KHN)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>She had been living in a car and fighting with her boyfriend in late February when she decided she wanted to end her life. She tried jumping out of a moving car, and when that didn’t work, she grabbed a bottle of pills. She gets help for her mental health issues, but sometimes, she said, the stress becomes too much. This time, she was taken to a hospital emergency room in Torrance before being transferred to the San Pedro unit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During her time in the behavioral health center — about 26 hours — she slept, received medications and met with nurses, a social worker and a psychiatrist. She said it was calmer than a regular ER, and the staff had time to talk, listen and help her through the worst of the crisis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I genuinely feel better enough to leave,” she said. “I haven’t been able to say that in a while.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1939671\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36272_psych-er-9-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1939671\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36272_psych-er-9-qut-800x534.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36272_psych-er-9-qut-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36272_psych-er-9-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36272_psych-er-9-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36272_psych-er-9-qut-1020x681.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36272_psych-er-9-qut-1200x801.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS36272_psych-er-9-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Anthony Montes eats a snack in the kitchen after arriving at the medical center’s outpatient emergency psychiatric unit, which was designed to feel more like a home than a hospital. “We’re operating from an understanding that they’re coming here to get better,” nurse Anya Price says. \u003ccite>(Heidi de Marco/KHN)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>A Return On Investment\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Zeller argues that the use of emergency psychiatric clinics is both humane and cost-effective. \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24578760\">Research\u003c/a> on the Alameda County model found such units can dramatically reduce how long patients spend in medical emergency rooms, and that about three-quarters of patients treated in the units can be discharged to the community rather than to inpatient care. That, Zeller said, can lessen the overwhelming demand for inpatient psychiatric beds and preserve available spots for those who truly require them. The model saves money for hospitals in part because the patients spend less time in emergency care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The return on investment is exponential,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Montana, the Billings Clinic opened a psychiatric stabilization unit last April across the street from the traditional ER. Dr. Eric Arzubi, psychiatry department chair, said nearly 10 percent of the visits in the Billings Clinic emergency room involve people in psychiatric crisis. Since the new unit opened, wait times for psychiatric patients have dropped from about 10 hours to four hours, and fewer patients are being admitted to the inpatient unit. Arzubi said his staff isn’t trying to cure people of their mental illness but rather stabilize them and get them the care they need.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Just like in the emergency room, you don’t get comprehensive care,” Arzubi said. “But you can stop the bleeding, you stabilize the patient and get them to the right level of care.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In some cases, that means a transfer to an inpatient facility.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Staff at the San Pedro unit decided soon after Chantelle Unique arrived that she would be one of those patients. Unique, who is 23, has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. She had been dancing on the roof and speaking gibberish when her mother called 911.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unique said she has had a hard time in regular emergency rooms. “There are a million people,” she said. For most of a morning at the San Pedro facility, she sat calmly watching TV, talking to nurses and eating spaghetti. But at one point, she started pacing and yelling at other patients. Nurses and security guards quickly surrounded her and persuaded her to return to her recliner and take additional medication.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Finding an inpatient bed for a patient like Unique with more progressed mental illness is not always easy, said clinical social worker Mark Tawfik. But he’s committed to finding a way. “We have to make sure we find them adequate resources,” he said. “Otherwise, they will come right back.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Price, the clinical supervisor, even when a patient requires a transfer for more intensive care, there’s satisfaction in knowing that person is headed in the right direction. If Unique hadn’t been brought in, Price said, she would have been out in the community, lost to her delusions, putting herself at risk of accident or arrest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the unit, staff made sure she was safe, Price said, in addition to providing “a warm bed, some food and some compassion.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/\">Kaiser Health News\u003c/a> (KHN) is a national health policy news service. It is an editorially independent program of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.kff.org/\">Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation\u003c/a> which is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "California 'That Much Closer' to Cellphone Earthquake Warnings After Oakland Test",
"headTitle": "California ‘That Much Closer’ to Cellphone Earthquake Warnings After Oakland Test | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Scientists and disaster-response officials say they’re encouraged after their first attempt to push out an alert from the state’s newly-developed earthquake warning system to cellphones, over the same network used for Amber Alerts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State emergency services staff and scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey triggered the local test at 11 a.m. on Wednesday. About 4 seconds later, an array of cellphones laid out in the downtown Oakland test center started lighting up and sounding off with a symphony of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHiqVHeSDvo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">familiar tones\u003c/a> usually associated with \u003ca href=\"https://www.amberalert.gov/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amber Alerts\u003c/a>. This time, though, the subsequent text message advised users that this was only a test and no action was required. For the experiment, phones of various make, model and vintage were arrayed at the command center, going back to the flip-phone era. Most appeared to respond, though with varying time lags. Officials seemed pleased with the early returns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1939636\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 600px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/Array_1908.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1939636 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/Array_1908.jpeg\" alt=\"Photo: phone array\" width=\"600\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/Array_1908.jpeg 600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/Array_1908-160x213.jpeg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Coordinators line up different cellphones to see how they respond to a test for earthquake warnings in downtown Oakland. \u003ccite>(Craig Miller/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“This is a very big step,” says Ryan Arba, the test coordinator for the California Office of Emergency Services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re going to look at all the data in total,” he says “but we always have to remember that today, we have no seconds of warning,” a reference to the fact that California currently has no comprehensive warning system in place for earthquakes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The recently-launched \u003ca href=\"https://www.shakealert.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ShakeAlert system\u003c/a>, co-developed by USGS and its university partners, provides anywhere from a few seconds to more than a minute of notice before shaking starts — but only to institutions participating in a pilot program. Ultimately, the goal is to give everyone with a cellphone a few seconds to “drop, cover, and hold on” before the earth moves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And you can actually be in a protected place before the shaking even starts,” notes Arba, “which I think is pretty cool.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wednesday’s test was not without its glitches: for instance iPad tablets in the test center did not pick up the alert. The challenge ahead is to get the system dialed in, so it’ll work quickly and reliably with all devices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Toward that end, testers asked people within about a 10-block radius of Oakland’s City Hall, to note exactly when the alert hit their cellphones, and report it on the \u003ca href=\"https://www.caloes.ca.gov/cal-oes-divisions/earthquake-tsunami-volcano-programs/california-earthquake-early-warning-program\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CalOES website\u003c/a>. As of Wednesday afternoon, more than 900 people had responded.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The people responding to that survey will provide us that feedback that we need to see whether or not we should move forward with this option.”\u003cbr>\n[ad fullwidth]\u003cbr>\nExtensive testing of the ShakeAlert system has proven its potential. A West Coast-wide network of ground sensors detect the very first burb from a developing earthquake, calculates the potential shaking and time before it hits a given location, and issues an alarm before the secondary wave — the one we feel — arrives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But according to Robert de Groot with the USGS, it’s still unknown if the cellular system will be fast enough to relay that information in time, when seconds count.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s the part we’re testing,” he says, “so this is citizen science at its best: you have all these people with their multiplicity of devices on them and they’re gonna get this alert coming through them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Exactly when that will happen for everyone is still an open question, but officials say that with continued success in testing, it could be reality within a year’s time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Officials are trying out earthquake warnings on the system used for Amber Alerts.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Scientists and disaster-response officials say they’re encouraged after their first attempt to push out an alert from the state’s newly-developed earthquake warning system to cellphones, over the same network used for Amber Alerts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State emergency services staff and scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey triggered the local test at 11 a.m. on Wednesday. About 4 seconds later, an array of cellphones laid out in the downtown Oakland test center started lighting up and sounding off with a symphony of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHiqVHeSDvo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">familiar tones\u003c/a> usually associated with \u003ca href=\"https://www.amberalert.gov/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amber Alerts\u003c/a>. This time, though, the subsequent text message advised users that this was only a test and no action was required. For the experiment, phones of various make, model and vintage were arrayed at the command center, going back to the flip-phone era. Most appeared to respond, though with varying time lags. Officials seemed pleased with the early returns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1939636\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 600px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/Array_1908.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1939636 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/Array_1908.jpeg\" alt=\"Photo: phone array\" width=\"600\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/Array_1908.jpeg 600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/Array_1908-160x213.jpeg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Coordinators line up different cellphones to see how they respond to a test for earthquake warnings in downtown Oakland. \u003ccite>(Craig Miller/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“This is a very big step,” says Ryan Arba, the test coordinator for the California Office of Emergency Services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re going to look at all the data in total,” he says “but we always have to remember that today, we have no seconds of warning,” a reference to the fact that California currently has no comprehensive warning system in place for earthquakes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The recently-launched \u003ca href=\"https://www.shakealert.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ShakeAlert system\u003c/a>, co-developed by USGS and its university partners, provides anywhere from a few seconds to more than a minute of notice before shaking starts — but only to institutions participating in a pilot program. Ultimately, the goal is to give everyone with a cellphone a few seconds to “drop, cover, and hold on” before the earth moves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And you can actually be in a protected place before the shaking even starts,” notes Arba, “which I think is pretty cool.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wednesday’s test was not without its glitches: for instance iPad tablets in the test center did not pick up the alert. The challenge ahead is to get the system dialed in, so it’ll work quickly and reliably with all devices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Toward that end, testers asked people within about a 10-block radius of Oakland’s City Hall, to note exactly when the alert hit their cellphones, and report it on the \u003ca href=\"https://www.caloes.ca.gov/cal-oes-divisions/earthquake-tsunami-volcano-programs/california-earthquake-early-warning-program\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CalOES website\u003c/a>. As of Wednesday afternoon, more than 900 people had responded.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The people responding to that survey will provide us that feedback that we need to see whether or not we should move forward with this option.”\u003cbr>\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cbr>\nExtensive testing of the ShakeAlert system has proven its potential. A West Coast-wide network of ground sensors detect the very first burb from a developing earthquake, calculates the potential shaking and time before it hits a given location, and issues an alarm before the secondary wave — the one we feel — arrives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But according to Robert de Groot with the USGS, it’s still unknown if the cellular system will be fast enough to relay that information in time, when seconds count.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s the part we’re testing,” he says, “so this is citizen science at its best: you have all these people with their multiplicity of devices on them and they’re gonna get this alert coming through them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Exactly when that will happen for everyone is still an open question, but officials say that with continued success in testing, it could be reality within a year’s time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"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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"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. ",
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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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"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
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"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
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"possible": {
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"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
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"radiolab": {
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},
"rightnowish": {
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"title": "Rightnowish",
"tagline": "Art is where you find it",
"info": "Rightnowish digs into life in the Bay Area right now… ish. Journalist Pendarvis Harshaw takes us to galleries painted on the sides of liquor stores in West Oakland. We'll dance in warehouses in the Bayview, make smoothies with kids in South Berkeley, and listen to classical music in a 1984 Cutlass Supreme in Richmond. Every week, Pen talks to movers and shakers about how the Bay Area shapes what they create, and how they shape the place we call home.",
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"info": "The Snap Judgment radio show and podcast mixes real stories with killer beats to produce cinematic, dramatic radio. Snap's musical brand of storytelling dares listeners to see the world through the eyes of another. This is storytelling... with a BEAT!! Snap first aired on public radio stations nationwide in July 2010. Today, Snap Judgment airs on over 450 public radio stations and is brought to the airwaves by KQED & PRX.",
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"soldout": {
"id": "soldout",
"title": "SOLD OUT: Rethinking Housing in America",
"tagline": "A new future for housing",
"info": "Sold Out: Rethinking Housing in America",
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