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"title": "Who’s Checking Your Neighborhood for Flammable Brush? Maybe No One",
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"content": "\u003cp>It’s one of the most confounding sights of California’s recent firestorms: One home is completely destroyed, and another right next door is still standing, even untouched.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"small\"]Cal Fire inspected just 17% of properties in 2018 in areas where the agency is responsible for checking defensible space, according to a KQED analysis of almost a half-million inspection records. That is just over half of the agency’s 33% goal.[/pullquote]Might be luck. Or it could be because that homeowner took care of the property’s “defensible space,” an area around the building where flammable brush and grass have been cut back, depriving the fire of fuel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Experts say even a few homes surrounded by too much growth can put an entire neighborhood at risk. So in many parts of the state, inspectors go door to door, checking a home’s defensible space and issuing citations for violations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But a KQED investigation has found homes and buildings in Northern California, in some of the most at-risk fire areas in the state, are rarely inspected \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">by Cal Fire, the state firefighting agency responsible for checking defensible space in much of California\u003c/span>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In one Cal Fire region in the Sierra Nevada, just 6% of properties were inspected in 2018. In the Bay Area, Cal Fire inspected just 12% of properties in its jurisdiction that includes Napa and Sonoma counties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, in Southern California coastal counties, county fire departments are checking homes at much higher rates, with some counties looking at 100% of properties and sending homeowners multiple reminders to make their houses safer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We should be doing more, doing better,” said Max Moritz, a wildfire specialist with the University of California Cooperative Extension, after reviewing the findings. “We need to have more people aware they live on a fire-prone landscape and taking action.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"small\" citation=\"Assemblymember Laura Friedman, D-Glendale\"]‘Having one property that’s badly out of compliance can put an entire neighborhood at risk.’[/pullquote]Cal Fire, for its part, says it’s struggling to meet its inspection goals due to a lack of inspectors and resources.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For many Californians, a defensible space inspection will be the only exposure to wildfire planning they get.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s not too many other ways people will learn about the vulnerability of their own home other than having an inspector or firefighter at their property,” Moritz said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lake County: Many Fires, Few Inspections\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One place struggling to enforce defensible space is also one of the hardest hit by wildfires in recent years: Lake County, just north of the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Cal Fire unit that covers Lake County inspected just 12% of properties in its overall region in 2018. Local fire departments have also tried to do inspections, but have been busy with the catastrophic fires of recent years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2015, the \u003ca href=\"http://cdfdata.fire.ca.gov/incidents/incidents_details_info?incident_id=1226\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Valley Fire\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> burned almost 2,000 homes and structures in the county. Then came the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"http://cdfdata.fire.ca.gov/incidents/incidents_details_info?incident_id=1390\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Clayton Fire\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in 2016, the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"http://cdfdata.fire.ca.gov/incidents/incidents_details_info?incident_id=1876\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sulphur Fire\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in 2017 and the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/6073/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mendocino Complex\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in 2018. That four-county blaze was the largest in state history, scorching 717 square miles, a bigger area than is taken up by the cities of Houston or Phoenix.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-1943083\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/KQEDScience_Defensible_190607C.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve burned up about 45 percent of our county land mass,” said Willie Sapeta, fire chief for the Lake County Fire Protection District. “Lake County as a whole is suffering from PTSD just because everyone is so traumatized by it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sapeta has seen first-hand the difference that maintaining defensible space can make. In 2015, the Clayton Fire was racing through tall grass and brush on the outskirts of the town of Lower Lake. But it slowed down when it approached the Lower Lake Historic Schoolhouse Museum; there, the grasses had been mowed within 100 feet of the wooden building, creating a buffer. The shrubs around the museum also had large gaps between them, another important defensible space tactic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The museum, and the buildings behind it, were left untouched by the fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Definitely a big part of Lower Lake was saved by having that defensible space in place,” Sapeta said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, the hills remain covered with dead, blackened trees, but the undergrowth has sprung back, fed by this winter’s abundant rain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even with the scars of wildfire still visible, Sapeta says, many homeowners still haven’t cleared their defensible space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Life happens,” he said. “They’ve got kids. They’ve got jobs. And then all of a sudden they don’t realize we’re in June and all that brush is right up against their home.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The firefighters in Sapeta’s fire district, one of several covering the county, try to make defensible space inspections when they can. But mostly they’re responding to emergency calls like fires, car crashes and heart attacks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1943085\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1943085\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/lake-county-800x752.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"752\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/lake-county-800x752.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/lake-county-160x150.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/lake-county-768x722.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/lake-county-1020x959.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/lake-county.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lake County, where Willie Sapeta leads the fire protection district, passed a defensible space ordinance for the first time this year. \u003ccite>(Lauren Sommer/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>To really educate homeowners and enforce the rules, Sapeta says, he needs dedicated inspectors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I would love to have a fire prevention program where I’ve got a staff of six or eight people,” he said. “Nothing more in the world I’d love, to be able to do that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He says the funds, however, aren’t there. “It takes everything we have just to keep our doors open. The small rural counties just don’t have the resources.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lake County’s Board of Supervisors passed its first defensible space ordinance earlier this year, despite the opposition of some members of the public concerned about the cost of clearing their properties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, even without additional funding, inspectors are visiting homes for the first time. To do that, the planning department is temporarily pulling building inspectors off their jobs to focus on vegetation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Other counties are in the same boat, particularly like Butte and Shasta counties,” said Mary Jane Montana, Lake County’s chief building official. “None of us have a lot money, and we’re faced with the same thing. So, we kind of just had to say, ‘We’re doing it this year.’ ”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>‘Everybody Wants to Save Their Community’\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fire safety is very different in other parts of California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"small\" citation=\"Fire Protection District Chief Willie Sapeta, on the lack of defensible space inspections in Lake County\"]‘It takes everything we have just to keep our doors open. The small rural counties just don’t have the resources.’[/pullquote]“All these homes have chimneys,” said Charles Butler, code enforcement officer for San Diego Fire-Rescue, squinting at a row of suburban homes. “Another thing I look for is tree canopy up over the chimney. That is a violation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Butler enters the information on an iPad, something he does at thousands of homes every year. He’s one of five inspectors responsible for about 45,000 homes in San Diego’s wildland-urban interface, where houses are nestled against open space or rugged canyons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When he finds dead brush or tall weeds, he leaves the homeowner a notice about what to fix, with several weeks to comply. The city then does another inspection, and if the work still isn’t complete, follows up a third time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If problems persist, the city hires a contractor to clear the brush. The owner is then on the hook for the cost, and a lien is put on their property. The city has to resort to this process, called “forced abatement,” on a few dozen properties each year, often at \u003ca href=\"https://www.voiceofsandiego.org/topics/science-environment/this-company-will-clear-fire-hazards-from-your-property-whether-you-asked-it-to-or-not/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">considerable cost \u003c/a>to the owner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most people who don’t follow the rules are elderly or financially burdened, says Marcy Garcia\u003cstrong>,\u003c/strong> San Diego Fire-Rescue’s code compliance supervisor. In those cases, the city tries to connect violators with local fire-safe councils, the community-led groups that have \u003ca href=\"http://firesafesdcounty.org/dsap/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">grants or have other resources\u003c/a> available to help get the work done.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1943081\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1943081\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/san-diego-fire-800x714.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"714\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/san-diego-fire-800x714.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/san-diego-fire-160x143.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/san-diego-fire-768x685.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/san-diego-fire-1020x910.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/san-diego-fire.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San Diego code enforcement officer Charles Butler enters defensible space inspection data. \u003ccite>(Lauren Sommer/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Garcia says the overall compliance rate is high because the city provides crucial reminders to homeowners who may care about fire safety but haven’t gotten around to fixing their property.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Especially in the areas where there have been fires before, they’re very receptive to it,” said Garcia. “Everybody wants to save their community.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cal Fire Struggling\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to local governments, Cal Fire is also responsible for enforcing defensible space regulations, for more than 750,000 homes and buildings within 31 million acres that fall outside city and town limits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But across that territory, Cal Fire is struggling to meet its inspection goals, especially in rural Northern California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A defensible space law, passed in 2005, \u003ca href=\"http://calfire.ca.gov/communications/communications_firesafety_100feet\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">requires a 100-foot buffer\u003c/a> around homes in fire zones. From zero to 30 feet, homeowners must create a “lean and green” zone by trimming trees so they don’t hang over roofs and clearing dead grass and brush. Between 30 and 100 feet, they must keep shrubs spaced apart and grasses mowed to 4 inches or less.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our goal is to inspect every property in our responsibility area every three years,” said Steven Hawks, deputy chief for Cal Fire’s wildland fire-prevention engineering program. “Defensible space is a critical component to a home surviving a wildland fire.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire reports it’s close to its goal. From July 2017 through June 2018, it completed 217,666 inspections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But doesn’t mean Cal Fire visited 217,666 properties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A KQED analysis of almost a half- million inspection records shows the agency’s inspection rate was just 17% of properties in 2018, far below the agency’s 33% goal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One reason for the discrepancy is that Cal Fire includes multiple trips to the same properties that failed a first inspection.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It also includes visits in areas where responsibility for inspections has been handed to county fire departments. And those rates are dramatically higher than Cal Fire’s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Orange County and Ventura County fire departments each inspect 100% of properties in risky fire zones every year. The Los Angeles County and Santa Barbara County fire departments get to around 60%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While Cal Fire sends money to those counties, as well as Marin and Kern, because they do their own firefighting, it generally doesn’t cover the costs of their entire defensible space programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1943088\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 750px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1943088\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/KQEDScience_Defensible_SideBar_190607B.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"750\" height=\"1050\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/KQEDScience_Defensible_SideBar_190607B.jpg 750w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/KQEDScience_Defensible_SideBar_190607B-160x224.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">California’s defensible space law requires managing vegetation 100 feet around structures. \u003ccite>(Teodros Hailye/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Achieving those high inspection rates takes substantial county investment. Some county fire departments have dedicated teams of year-round inspectors, while others rely on firefighting engine crews.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It does take resources and commitment, but we do it because it’s one of the most important programs in the department,” says Ventura County Fire Marshal Massoud Araghi. “This is what we believe will save structures and will help our firefighters be safe.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Araghi estimated a 99.9% compliance rate from the county’s homeowners, something he attributes to annual inspections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s very important the time period is consistent,” he said. “Everyone knows they have to have it clean by a certain time. If you have long periods of time in between, you won’t be successful.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Resources Lacking\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In some high-risk fire areas where Cal Fire does inspections, properties receive dramatically few inspections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the low end, just 6% of properties received inspections in 2018 by the Cal Fire unit that covers the Sierra Nevada counties of Amador, El Dorado, Sacramento and Alpine. At that rate, which has remained mostly consistent since 2010, each property would be visited about once every 16 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The same pattern is found in the nearby rural counties of Nevada, Yuba, Placer, Sierra and Sutter, where 7% of properties were inspected in 2018.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even in Sonoma, Napa and Lake counties, where recent fires have been historically devastating, Cal Fire inspected just 12% of properties last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire gives several reasons for the low numbers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Every year, the agency hires between four and six defensible space inspectors in each of its 21 units throughout the state, but those inspectors are only funded to work three months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Beginning in 2011, that money came from a $152 annual fee on homeowners within Cal Fire’s jurisdiction\u003cstrong>. \u003c/strong>But the levy was opposed by many in rural counties who saw it as an added tax, and in 2017, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill to suspend it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since then, Cal Fire’s defensible space funding has come from revenue generated by the state’s cap-and-trade program, designed to lower carbon emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Without more funding, Cal Fire Deputy Chief Hawks says, it will be tough to increase the inspection rate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another issue is that inspectors are not distributed in proportion to the number of properties in each region. A Cal Fire unit that covers 35,000 properties has four seasonal inspectors, for example, but one with double that number has just six.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1943091\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1943091\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Cal-fire-edited-800x657.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"657\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Cal-fire-edited-800x657.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Cal-fire-edited-160x131.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Cal-fire-edited-768x630.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Cal-fire-edited-1020x837.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Cal-fire-edited.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cal Fire firefighter Tony Kochis discusses defensible space with a homeowner in Yountville, California in 2014. \u003ccite>(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We should look at the numbers like you’re looking at them,” Hawks told KQED. “We may have some units that have a larger number of parcels than others, and they should get more of the resources.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire has the power to hire contractors to clean up properties when homeowners don’t comply, but it’s not something the agency currently does.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We don’t really have the staff to accomplish that mission,” Hawks said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In general, Hawks says, Cal Fire hasn’t been able to hire enough people to take care of its defensible space responsibilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have not been able to fill our defensible space inspectors in every unit every year,” he said. “So having enough qualified people on the list to fill our positions is important.” Hawks could not provide numbers for how many positions have gone unfilled or the reasons why.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Typically, some inspections are done by the agency’s firefighters during down times. But with fire seasons getting longer and more intense, there hasn’t been much of that in recent years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s difficult with the fire seasons being the way they’ve been,” Hawks said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Doubling Inspections\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lawmakers in Sacramento are now considering a bill, \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB1516\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">AB 1516\u003c/a>, that mandates Cal Fire do inspections at a rate double what it does now. The bill requires the agency to inspect properties once every three years, beginning in 2021.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have to change the way that we think about clearing the foliage off of private property,” said the bill’s sponsor, Assemblymember Laura Friedman, D-Glendale. “Having one property that’s badly out of compliance can put an entire neighborhood at risk.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bill would also create new defensible space rules specifically for the zone within five feet of a building, something many defensible space experts recommend. Cal Fire would be responsible for identifying which kinds of plants homeowners aren’t allowed to grow in that zone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I would say absolutely the zero-to-5 feet is the most important place to focus on,” said Alexandra Syphard, chief scientist at Sage Underwriters, a company that evaluates the fire risk of homes for the insurance industry. “The things that tend to be the most important are those things that are right up against the house: trees overhanging your roof, vegetation that’s touching the structure.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many homes are ignited by embers that are blown ahead of a wildfire as opposed to actually being lit by flames. If a tree or bush next to a house catches fire that way, it can spread to the house.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Defensible space can reduce that risk and also give firefighters the necessary space to maneuver and defend a home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It doesn’t have to be drastic,” said Syphard. “You can still have a lot of vegetation on your property, but reducing it by at least 20% is a critical threshold where you do significantly improve survival chances.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, she cautions that there’s no guarantee a home will be spared.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of homes with more defensible space than is even required are still destroyed by fires.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With many Californians struggling to get fire insurance policies, there’s also a push for insurance companies to consider the maintenance of defensible space when setting rates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have to look at how do we allow Californians to get maybe a discount for mitigating wildfire risk, for hardening their home … similar to what we give in terms of discounts for good drivers,” said Ricardo Lara, California’s insurance commissioner. “We’re pushing insurance companies now, and surprisingly they’re coming to the table.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire has not said what doubling inspections would cost, but if AB 1516 passes, the agency would request the funding as part of its annual budget.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We do need more resources for Cal Fire,” said Assemblymember Friedman. “I do believe that Governor Newsom is very serious about investing to make our communities more resilient to fire and he’ll see the wisdom in investing in these kinds of programs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"100%\" height=\"780\" frameborder=\"0\" src=\"https://kqednews.carto.com/builder/eb7d93a3-2cc8-410e-826a-22d3e7e97721/embed\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "A KQED investigation found homes and buildings in rural parts of Northern California, in some of the state's most fire-prone areas, are rarely inspected for brush and grass that can ignite and put whole neighborhoods in jeopardy.",
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"description": "A KQED investigation found homes and buildings in rural parts of Northern California, in some of the state's most fire-prone areas, are rarely inspected for brush and grass that can ignite and put whole neighborhoods in jeopardy.",
"title": "Who’s Checking Your Neighborhood for Flammable Brush? Maybe No One | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>It’s one of the most confounding sights of California’s recent firestorms: One home is completely destroyed, and another right next door is still standing, even untouched.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "Cal Fire inspected just 17% of properties in 2018 in areas where the agency is responsible for checking defensible space, according to a KQED analysis of almost a half-million inspection records. That is just over half of the agency’s 33% goal.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Might be luck. Or it could be because that homeowner took care of the property’s “defensible space,” an area around the building where flammable brush and grass have been cut back, depriving the fire of fuel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Experts say even a few homes surrounded by too much growth can put an entire neighborhood at risk. So in many parts of the state, inspectors go door to door, checking a home’s defensible space and issuing citations for violations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But a KQED investigation has found homes and buildings in Northern California, in some of the most at-risk fire areas in the state, are rarely inspected \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">by Cal Fire, the state firefighting agency responsible for checking defensible space in much of California\u003c/span>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In one Cal Fire region in the Sierra Nevada, just 6% of properties were inspected in 2018. In the Bay Area, Cal Fire inspected just 12% of properties in its jurisdiction that includes Napa and Sonoma counties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, in Southern California coastal counties, county fire departments are checking homes at much higher rates, with some counties looking at 100% of properties and sending homeowners multiple reminders to make their houses safer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We should be doing more, doing better,” said Max Moritz, a wildfire specialist with the University of California Cooperative Extension, after reviewing the findings. “We need to have more people aware they live on a fire-prone landscape and taking action.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘Having one property that’s badly out of compliance can put an entire neighborhood at risk.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Cal Fire, for its part, says it’s struggling to meet its inspection goals due to a lack of inspectors and resources.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For many Californians, a defensible space inspection will be the only exposure to wildfire planning they get.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s not too many other ways people will learn about the vulnerability of their own home other than having an inspector or firefighter at their property,” Moritz said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lake County: Many Fires, Few Inspections\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One place struggling to enforce defensible space is also one of the hardest hit by wildfires in recent years: Lake County, just north of the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Cal Fire unit that covers Lake County inspected just 12% of properties in its overall region in 2018. Local fire departments have also tried to do inspections, but have been busy with the catastrophic fires of recent years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2015, the \u003ca href=\"http://cdfdata.fire.ca.gov/incidents/incidents_details_info?incident_id=1226\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Valley Fire\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> burned almost 2,000 homes and structures in the county. Then came the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"http://cdfdata.fire.ca.gov/incidents/incidents_details_info?incident_id=1390\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Clayton Fire\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in 2016, the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"http://cdfdata.fire.ca.gov/incidents/incidents_details_info?incident_id=1876\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sulphur Fire\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in 2017 and the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/6073/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mendocino Complex\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in 2018. That four-county blaze was the largest in state history, scorching 717 square miles, a bigger area than is taken up by the cities of Houston or Phoenix.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-1943083\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/KQEDScience_Defensible_190607C.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve burned up about 45 percent of our county land mass,” said Willie Sapeta, fire chief for the Lake County Fire Protection District. “Lake County as a whole is suffering from PTSD just because everyone is so traumatized by it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sapeta has seen first-hand the difference that maintaining defensible space can make. In 2015, the Clayton Fire was racing through tall grass and brush on the outskirts of the town of Lower Lake. But it slowed down when it approached the Lower Lake Historic Schoolhouse Museum; there, the grasses had been mowed within 100 feet of the wooden building, creating a buffer. The shrubs around the museum also had large gaps between them, another important defensible space tactic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The museum, and the buildings behind it, were left untouched by the fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Definitely a big part of Lower Lake was saved by having that defensible space in place,” Sapeta said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, the hills remain covered with dead, blackened trees, but the undergrowth has sprung back, fed by this winter’s abundant rain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even with the scars of wildfire still visible, Sapeta says, many homeowners still haven’t cleared their defensible space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Life happens,” he said. “They’ve got kids. They’ve got jobs. And then all of a sudden they don’t realize we’re in June and all that brush is right up against their home.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The firefighters in Sapeta’s fire district, one of several covering the county, try to make defensible space inspections when they can. But mostly they’re responding to emergency calls like fires, car crashes and heart attacks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1943085\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1943085\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/lake-county-800x752.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"752\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/lake-county-800x752.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/lake-county-160x150.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/lake-county-768x722.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/lake-county-1020x959.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/lake-county.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lake County, where Willie Sapeta leads the fire protection district, passed a defensible space ordinance for the first time this year. \u003ccite>(Lauren Sommer/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>To really educate homeowners and enforce the rules, Sapeta says, he needs dedicated inspectors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I would love to have a fire prevention program where I’ve got a staff of six or eight people,” he said. “Nothing more in the world I’d love, to be able to do that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He says the funds, however, aren’t there. “It takes everything we have just to keep our doors open. The small rural counties just don’t have the resources.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lake County’s Board of Supervisors passed its first defensible space ordinance earlier this year, despite the opposition of some members of the public concerned about the cost of clearing their properties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, even without additional funding, inspectors are visiting homes for the first time. To do that, the planning department is temporarily pulling building inspectors off their jobs to focus on vegetation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Other counties are in the same boat, particularly like Butte and Shasta counties,” said Mary Jane Montana, Lake County’s chief building official. “None of us have a lot money, and we’re faced with the same thing. So, we kind of just had to say, ‘We’re doing it this year.’ ”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>‘Everybody Wants to Save Their Community’\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fire safety is very different in other parts of California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘It takes everything we have just to keep our doors open. The small rural counties just don’t have the resources.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“All these homes have chimneys,” said Charles Butler, code enforcement officer for San Diego Fire-Rescue, squinting at a row of suburban homes. “Another thing I look for is tree canopy up over the chimney. That is a violation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Butler enters the information on an iPad, something he does at thousands of homes every year. He’s one of five inspectors responsible for about 45,000 homes in San Diego’s wildland-urban interface, where houses are nestled against open space or rugged canyons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When he finds dead brush or tall weeds, he leaves the homeowner a notice about what to fix, with several weeks to comply. The city then does another inspection, and if the work still isn’t complete, follows up a third time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If problems persist, the city hires a contractor to clear the brush. The owner is then on the hook for the cost, and a lien is put on their property. The city has to resort to this process, called “forced abatement,” on a few dozen properties each year, often at \u003ca href=\"https://www.voiceofsandiego.org/topics/science-environment/this-company-will-clear-fire-hazards-from-your-property-whether-you-asked-it-to-or-not/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">considerable cost \u003c/a>to the owner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most people who don’t follow the rules are elderly or financially burdened, says Marcy Garcia\u003cstrong>,\u003c/strong> San Diego Fire-Rescue’s code compliance supervisor. In those cases, the city tries to connect violators with local fire-safe councils, the community-led groups that have \u003ca href=\"http://firesafesdcounty.org/dsap/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">grants or have other resources\u003c/a> available to help get the work done.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1943081\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1943081\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/san-diego-fire-800x714.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"714\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/san-diego-fire-800x714.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/san-diego-fire-160x143.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/san-diego-fire-768x685.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/san-diego-fire-1020x910.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/san-diego-fire.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San Diego code enforcement officer Charles Butler enters defensible space inspection data. \u003ccite>(Lauren Sommer/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Garcia says the overall compliance rate is high because the city provides crucial reminders to homeowners who may care about fire safety but haven’t gotten around to fixing their property.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Especially in the areas where there have been fires before, they’re very receptive to it,” said Garcia. “Everybody wants to save their community.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cal Fire Struggling\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to local governments, Cal Fire is also responsible for enforcing defensible space regulations, for more than 750,000 homes and buildings within 31 million acres that fall outside city and town limits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But across that territory, Cal Fire is struggling to meet its inspection goals, especially in rural Northern California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A defensible space law, passed in 2005, \u003ca href=\"http://calfire.ca.gov/communications/communications_firesafety_100feet\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">requires a 100-foot buffer\u003c/a> around homes in fire zones. From zero to 30 feet, homeowners must create a “lean and green” zone by trimming trees so they don’t hang over roofs and clearing dead grass and brush. Between 30 and 100 feet, they must keep shrubs spaced apart and grasses mowed to 4 inches or less.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our goal is to inspect every property in our responsibility area every three years,” said Steven Hawks, deputy chief for Cal Fire’s wildland fire-prevention engineering program. “Defensible space is a critical component to a home surviving a wildland fire.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire reports it’s close to its goal. From July 2017 through June 2018, it completed 217,666 inspections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But doesn’t mean Cal Fire visited 217,666 properties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A KQED analysis of almost a half- million inspection records shows the agency’s inspection rate was just 17% of properties in 2018, far below the agency’s 33% goal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One reason for the discrepancy is that Cal Fire includes multiple trips to the same properties that failed a first inspection.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It also includes visits in areas where responsibility for inspections has been handed to county fire departments. And those rates are dramatically higher than Cal Fire’s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Orange County and Ventura County fire departments each inspect 100% of properties in risky fire zones every year. The Los Angeles County and Santa Barbara County fire departments get to around 60%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While Cal Fire sends money to those counties, as well as Marin and Kern, because they do their own firefighting, it generally doesn’t cover the costs of their entire defensible space programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1943088\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 750px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1943088\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/KQEDScience_Defensible_SideBar_190607B.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"750\" height=\"1050\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/KQEDScience_Defensible_SideBar_190607B.jpg 750w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/KQEDScience_Defensible_SideBar_190607B-160x224.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">California’s defensible space law requires managing vegetation 100 feet around structures. \u003ccite>(Teodros Hailye/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Achieving those high inspection rates takes substantial county investment. Some county fire departments have dedicated teams of year-round inspectors, while others rely on firefighting engine crews.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It does take resources and commitment, but we do it because it’s one of the most important programs in the department,” says Ventura County Fire Marshal Massoud Araghi. “This is what we believe will save structures and will help our firefighters be safe.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Araghi estimated a 99.9% compliance rate from the county’s homeowners, something he attributes to annual inspections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s very important the time period is consistent,” he said. “Everyone knows they have to have it clean by a certain time. If you have long periods of time in between, you won’t be successful.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Resources Lacking\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In some high-risk fire areas where Cal Fire does inspections, properties receive dramatically few inspections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the low end, just 6% of properties received inspections in 2018 by the Cal Fire unit that covers the Sierra Nevada counties of Amador, El Dorado, Sacramento and Alpine. At that rate, which has remained mostly consistent since 2010, each property would be visited about once every 16 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The same pattern is found in the nearby rural counties of Nevada, Yuba, Placer, Sierra and Sutter, where 7% of properties were inspected in 2018.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even in Sonoma, Napa and Lake counties, where recent fires have been historically devastating, Cal Fire inspected just 12% of properties last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire gives several reasons for the low numbers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Every year, the agency hires between four and six defensible space inspectors in each of its 21 units throughout the state, but those inspectors are only funded to work three months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Beginning in 2011, that money came from a $152 annual fee on homeowners within Cal Fire’s jurisdiction\u003cstrong>. \u003c/strong>But the levy was opposed by many in rural counties who saw it as an added tax, and in 2017, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill to suspend it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since then, Cal Fire’s defensible space funding has come from revenue generated by the state’s cap-and-trade program, designed to lower carbon emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Without more funding, Cal Fire Deputy Chief Hawks says, it will be tough to increase the inspection rate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another issue is that inspectors are not distributed in proportion to the number of properties in each region. A Cal Fire unit that covers 35,000 properties has four seasonal inspectors, for example, but one with double that number has just six.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1943091\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1943091\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Cal-fire-edited-800x657.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"657\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Cal-fire-edited-800x657.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Cal-fire-edited-160x131.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Cal-fire-edited-768x630.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Cal-fire-edited-1020x837.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Cal-fire-edited.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cal Fire firefighter Tony Kochis discusses defensible space with a homeowner in Yountville, California in 2014. \u003ccite>(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We should look at the numbers like you’re looking at them,” Hawks told KQED. “We may have some units that have a larger number of parcels than others, and they should get more of the resources.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire has the power to hire contractors to clean up properties when homeowners don’t comply, but it’s not something the agency currently does.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We don’t really have the staff to accomplish that mission,” Hawks said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In general, Hawks says, Cal Fire hasn’t been able to hire enough people to take care of its defensible space responsibilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have not been able to fill our defensible space inspectors in every unit every year,” he said. “So having enough qualified people on the list to fill our positions is important.” Hawks could not provide numbers for how many positions have gone unfilled or the reasons why.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Typically, some inspections are done by the agency’s firefighters during down times. But with fire seasons getting longer and more intense, there hasn’t been much of that in recent years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s difficult with the fire seasons being the way they’ve been,” Hawks said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Doubling Inspections\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lawmakers in Sacramento are now considering a bill, \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB1516\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">AB 1516\u003c/a>, that mandates Cal Fire do inspections at a rate double what it does now. The bill requires the agency to inspect properties once every three years, beginning in 2021.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have to change the way that we think about clearing the foliage off of private property,” said the bill’s sponsor, Assemblymember Laura Friedman, D-Glendale. “Having one property that’s badly out of compliance can put an entire neighborhood at risk.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bill would also create new defensible space rules specifically for the zone within five feet of a building, something many defensible space experts recommend. Cal Fire would be responsible for identifying which kinds of plants homeowners aren’t allowed to grow in that zone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I would say absolutely the zero-to-5 feet is the most important place to focus on,” said Alexandra Syphard, chief scientist at Sage Underwriters, a company that evaluates the fire risk of homes for the insurance industry. “The things that tend to be the most important are those things that are right up against the house: trees overhanging your roof, vegetation that’s touching the structure.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many homes are ignited by embers that are blown ahead of a wildfire as opposed to actually being lit by flames. If a tree or bush next to a house catches fire that way, it can spread to the house.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Defensible space can reduce that risk and also give firefighters the necessary space to maneuver and defend a home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It doesn’t have to be drastic,” said Syphard. “You can still have a lot of vegetation on your property, but reducing it by at least 20% is a critical threshold where you do significantly improve survival chances.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, she cautions that there’s no guarantee a home will be spared.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of homes with more defensible space than is even required are still destroyed by fires.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With many Californians struggling to get fire insurance policies, there’s also a push for insurance companies to consider the maintenance of defensible space when setting rates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have to look at how do we allow Californians to get maybe a discount for mitigating wildfire risk, for hardening their home … similar to what we give in terms of discounts for good drivers,” said Ricardo Lara, California’s insurance commissioner. “We’re pushing insurance companies now, and surprisingly they’re coming to the table.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire has not said what doubling inspections would cost, but if AB 1516 passes, the agency would request the funding as part of its annual budget.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We do need more resources for Cal Fire,” said Assemblymember Friedman. “I do believe that Governor Newsom is very serious about investing to make our communities more resilient to fire and he’ll see the wisdom in investing in these kinds of programs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"100%\" height=\"780\" frameborder=\"0\" src=\"https://kqednews.carto.com/builder/eb7d93a3-2cc8-410e-826a-22d3e7e97721/embed\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "We Can Make California Wildfires Less Horrific. Will We?",
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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;\">A\u003c/span>s California wildfires scar more lives and char more property year after year, residents must now grapple with the distinct possibility of opening their front door one day to the sight of a raging inferno.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To be sure, fire has always been a part of life in the state, and it always will — many landscapes are actually unhealthy without periodic blazes. What’s new is the increasing scale of catastrophe and the corresponding toll on human life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fires of 2017 were the worst on record, that is, until the fires of 2018. Of the \u003ca href=\"http://fire.ca.gov/communications/downloads/fact_sheets/top20_destruction.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">top 20\u003c/a> most destructive California wildfires, 10 have occured since 2015. Of the top 10, seven have burned over the last four years. (See sidebar.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"small\"]Why Are Wildfires Getting Worse?\u003cbr>\n\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/GettyImages-591627312.jpg\">\u003cbr>\nThe threat from wildfire comes partly from weak building codes, a lack of fire breaks, and poorly thought out evacuation routes, and partly from a history of logging big trees, which were replaced with those that are smaller and more flammable. More than a century of fire suppression has also resulted in the accumulation of scrub vegetation and other fuels that cover the forest floor and contribute to hotter, more destructive flames. And climate change has altered fire behavior, making it more unpredictable.[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Does It Have to Be This way?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s the great question,” said Scott Stephens, a professor of fire science at UC Berkeley, before thinking for a moment. “No. In a lot of ways, it could be better.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The situation can’t be fixed easily or quickly, not even in the next decade or two, Stephens says. “But you can change the trajectory of where we’re headed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Californians could have safer homes, healthier forests, cleaner air and a drastically reduced risk of catastrophic fires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While this future requires sweeping changes in fire management, state and local policy, and individual behavior, California has a history of making bold changes and coming out the better. Stephens thinks the state can do it again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If this became a priority for health, for our kids, our grandkids and everybody else, it would just happen. It’s not like something that’s impossible,” he said. “It’s going to take time, but we really need to think about this and move a little bit decisively.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here, in eight stories, we examine some of the issues Californians will need to grapple with if we’re going to adapt to the increasing wildfire threat. We’re calling the series “\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/wildfires\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Living With Wildfire: California Reimagined\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Can We Make Sure It Never Happens Again?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"small\"]10 Most Destructive Fires in California\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Camp Fire, Nov. 2018; 85 deaths; 18,804 structures destroyed; 153,336 acres burned in Butte County\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Tubbs, Oct. 2017; 22 deaths; 5,636 structures; 36,807 acres; Napa and Sonoma counties\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Tunnel, Oct. 1991; 25 deaths; 2,900 structures; 1,600 acres; Alameda County\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Cedar, Oct. 2003; 15 deaths; 2,820 structures; 273,246 acres; San Diego County\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Valley, Sept. 2015; 4 deaths; 1,955 structures; 76,067 acres; Lake, Napa and Sonoma counties\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Witch, Oct. 2007; 2 deaths; 1,650 structures; 197,990 acres; San Diego County\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Woolsey, Nov. 2018; 3 deaths; 1,643 structures; 96,949 acres; Ventura County\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Carr, July 2018; 8 deaths; 1,614 structures; 229,651 acres; Shasta, Trinity counties\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>CZU August Complex, Aug. 2020; 1 death; 1,490 structures; 85,467 acres; Santa Cruz County\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>LNU Lightning Complex, Aug. 2020; 5 deaths; 1,457 structures; 375,209 acres; Lake, Napa, Sonoma, Yolo & Solano counties\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>[/pullquote]The Camp Fire that ripped through the communities of Paradise and Concow last November was the deadliest blaze anywhere in the United States in 100 years. It killed 85 people, more than the Loma Prieta earthquake, and left a path of ash and ruin that stunned people across the state. The devastation was so severe, the obvious question is:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Can we prevent it from happening again?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many may think a California constantly aflame is the state’s inevitable future. But it seems worth remembering that transformations around public safety rarely come easily or unprompted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Americans were in a similar moment in 1912, after the sinking of the Titanic. It wasn’t the first time a ship had gone down, but the disaster was so high-profile, so shocking, that the public demanded immediate action.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“From the moment the ship sank, it became clear that there hadn’t been provision to save everybody’s life on the ship,” said Steven Biel, a Harvard Historian and author of “\u003ca href=\"https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1426951.Down_with_the_Old_Canoe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Down with the Old Canoe: A Cultural History of the Titanic Disaster\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1941412\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1941412 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/20120507201420Sto%CC%88wer_Titanic-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/20120507201420Stöwer_Titanic-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/20120507201420Stöwer_Titanic-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/20120507201420Stöwer_Titanic-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/20120507201420Stöwer_Titanic-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/20120507201420Stöwer_Titanic.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The sinking of the Titanic prompted swift safety overhauls for the shipping industry. Untergang der Titanic (“Sinking of the Titanic”) by Willy Stöwer, 1912\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The shipbuilders, from their perspective, took safety seriously. In fact, they’d installed more than the required number of lifeboats on board. But that number was based on a vessel’s tonnage, not on how many people it carried.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And so there was a huge outcry about this,” Biel said. “And that’s really what led to change.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Within two years, new safety regulations were adopted worldwide, a common — and not unreasonable — reaction to catastrophes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One of the things about the story of disasters is that we don’t want them to be meaningless,” said Biel. “We want some good to have come from this … so that supposedly this kind of thing, whatever the disaster is, will never happen again.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Collective Safety Versus Personal Freedom\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If California is to do all it can to prevent disasters like the 2018 Camp Fire, it will mean working through some contentious issues. Are there some locations where we shouldn’t rebuild? Should we fine homeowners who don’t clear vegetation? Can we agree on how to manage forests?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Grappling with these questions will call on Californians to evaluate competing priorities. In some cases, personal freedom and property rights may be pitted against collective safety and the common good.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That debate also played out during the years the country came to grips with its cigarette problem. The first report of the Surgeon General’s Advisory Committee on Smoking and Health in 1964 identified smoking as a cause of lung cancer. The first major studies demonstrating a link between second-hand smoke and lung cancer were published in 1981. Yet, smoking in public places such as restaurants persisted for many years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People simply took it for granted that the indoor spaces were going to be contaminated with tobacco smoke,” said James Repace, an anti-smoking advocate who helped pass some of the first nonsmoking bills in New England in the late 1970s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-1941870 \" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/babies_09-1020x1294.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"440\" height=\"558\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/babies_09-1020x1294.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/babies_09-160x203.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/babies_09-800x1015.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/babies_09-768x974.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/babies_09-946x1200.jpg 946w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/babies_09.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 440px) 100vw, 440px\">“At the time, the thought of telling people they couldn’t smoke wherever they liked was unthinkable,” Repace said. That started to shift when public information campaigns taught people about the dangers of breathing tobacco smoke. “You know, you might have the right to smoke, but you don’t have a right to let your smoke make other people sick.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Grassroots pressure and the political will to change led to prioritizing public health over individual desire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So it did take a generation,” said Repace. “But with respect to climate issues, we don’t have a generation. Time is running out.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California state Sen. \u003ca href=\"https://sd03.senate.ca.gov/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bill Dodd\u003c/a>, whose district includes areas burned during the 2017 Wine Country fires, already sees an attitude change among his constituents. Dodd says the once unpalatable idea of fining homeowners who don’t maintain what fire officials call “\u003ca href=\"https://calfire.ca.gov/communications/downloads/fact_sheets/DefensibleSpaceFlyer.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">defensible space\u003c/a>” around their homes is seeming more reasonable to those who lived through recent conflagrations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Instead of government intrusion in their life,” said Dodd, characterizing the public’s change of thinking, “this is something where we all have to work together to protect not only your land, but your neighbor’s land as well, because if you don’t, that puts your neighbor in harm’s way.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Americans have made great strides toward solving a host of problems. The air used to be dirtier, rivers more polluted, food-safety regulations nonexistent. Acid rain once fell from the sky and the ozone hole continually grew. These issues, if not totally behind us, are vastly improved.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is hope for our ecosystems to be more fire resilient, better adapted to climate change,” Scott Stephens said. “So there really is hope, a way to step forward.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "California is in a state of crisis over more frequent, intense and deadly wildfires. But it doesn't have to be this way. Can the state summon the will to fix the problem?",
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"title": "We Can Make California Wildfires Less Horrific. Will We? | KQED",
"description": "California is in a state of crisis over more frequent, intense and deadly wildfires. But it doesn't have to be this way. Can the state summon the will to fix the problem?",
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"headline": "We Can Make California Wildfires Less Horrific. Will We?",
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"source": "Living With Wildfire",
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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;\">A\u003c/span>s California wildfires scar more lives and char more property year after year, residents must now grapple with the distinct possibility of opening their front door one day to the sight of a raging inferno.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To be sure, fire has always been a part of life in the state, and it always will — many landscapes are actually unhealthy without periodic blazes. What’s new is the increasing scale of catastrophe and the corresponding toll on human life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fires of 2017 were the worst on record, that is, until the fires of 2018. Of the \u003ca href=\"http://fire.ca.gov/communications/downloads/fact_sheets/top20_destruction.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">top 20\u003c/a> most destructive California wildfires, 10 have occured since 2015. Of the top 10, seven have burned over the last four years. (See sidebar.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "Why Are Wildfires Getting Worse?\u003cbr>\n\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/GettyImages-591627312.jpg\">\u003cbr>\nThe threat from wildfire comes partly from weak building codes, a lack of fire breaks, and poorly thought out evacuation routes, and partly from a history of logging big trees, which were replaced with those that are smaller and more flammable. More than a century of fire suppression has also resulted in the accumulation of scrub vegetation and other fuels that cover the forest floor and contribute to hotter, more destructive flames. And climate change has altered fire behavior, making it more unpredictable.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Does It Have to Be This way?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s the great question,” said Scott Stephens, a professor of fire science at UC Berkeley, before thinking for a moment. “No. In a lot of ways, it could be better.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The situation can’t be fixed easily or quickly, not even in the next decade or two, Stephens says. “But you can change the trajectory of where we’re headed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Californians could have safer homes, healthier forests, cleaner air and a drastically reduced risk of catastrophic fires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While this future requires sweeping changes in fire management, state and local policy, and individual behavior, California has a history of making bold changes and coming out the better. Stephens thinks the state can do it again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If this became a priority for health, for our kids, our grandkids and everybody else, it would just happen. It’s not like something that’s impossible,” he said. “It’s going to take time, but we really need to think about this and move a little bit decisively.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here, in eight stories, we examine some of the issues Californians will need to grapple with if we’re going to adapt to the increasing wildfire threat. We’re calling the series “\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/wildfires\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Living With Wildfire: California Reimagined\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Can We Make Sure It Never Happens Again?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "10 Most Destructive Fires in California\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Camp Fire, Nov. 2018; 85 deaths; 18,804 structures destroyed; 153,336 acres burned in Butte County\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Tubbs, Oct. 2017; 22 deaths; 5,636 structures; 36,807 acres; Napa and Sonoma counties\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Tunnel, Oct. 1991; 25 deaths; 2,900 structures; 1,600 acres; Alameda County\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Cedar, Oct. 2003; 15 deaths; 2,820 structures; 273,246 acres; San Diego County\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Valley, Sept. 2015; 4 deaths; 1,955 structures; 76,067 acres; Lake, Napa and Sonoma counties\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Witch, Oct. 2007; 2 deaths; 1,650 structures; 197,990 acres; San Diego County\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Woolsey, Nov. 2018; 3 deaths; 1,643 structures; 96,949 acres; Ventura County\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Carr, July 2018; 8 deaths; 1,614 structures; 229,651 acres; Shasta, Trinity counties\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>CZU August Complex, Aug. 2020; 1 death; 1,490 structures; 85,467 acres; Santa Cruz County\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>LNU Lightning Complex, Aug. 2020; 5 deaths; 1,457 structures; 375,209 acres; Lake, Napa, Sonoma, Yolo & Solano counties\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The Camp Fire that ripped through the communities of Paradise and Concow last November was the deadliest blaze anywhere in the United States in 100 years. It killed 85 people, more than the Loma Prieta earthquake, and left a path of ash and ruin that stunned people across the state. The devastation was so severe, the obvious question is:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Can we prevent it from happening again?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many may think a California constantly aflame is the state’s inevitable future. But it seems worth remembering that transformations around public safety rarely come easily or unprompted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Americans were in a similar moment in 1912, after the sinking of the Titanic. It wasn’t the first time a ship had gone down, but the disaster was so high-profile, so shocking, that the public demanded immediate action.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“From the moment the ship sank, it became clear that there hadn’t been provision to save everybody’s life on the ship,” said Steven Biel, a Harvard Historian and author of “\u003ca href=\"https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1426951.Down_with_the_Old_Canoe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Down with the Old Canoe: A Cultural History of the Titanic Disaster\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1941412\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1941412 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/20120507201420Sto%CC%88wer_Titanic-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/20120507201420Stöwer_Titanic-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/20120507201420Stöwer_Titanic-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/20120507201420Stöwer_Titanic-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/20120507201420Stöwer_Titanic-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/20120507201420Stöwer_Titanic.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The sinking of the Titanic prompted swift safety overhauls for the shipping industry. Untergang der Titanic (“Sinking of the Titanic”) by Willy Stöwer, 1912\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The shipbuilders, from their perspective, took safety seriously. In fact, they’d installed more than the required number of lifeboats on board. But that number was based on a vessel’s tonnage, not on how many people it carried.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And so there was a huge outcry about this,” Biel said. “And that’s really what led to change.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Within two years, new safety regulations were adopted worldwide, a common — and not unreasonable — reaction to catastrophes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One of the things about the story of disasters is that we don’t want them to be meaningless,” said Biel. “We want some good to have come from this … so that supposedly this kind of thing, whatever the disaster is, will never happen again.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Collective Safety Versus Personal Freedom\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If California is to do all it can to prevent disasters like the 2018 Camp Fire, it will mean working through some contentious issues. Are there some locations where we shouldn’t rebuild? Should we fine homeowners who don’t clear vegetation? Can we agree on how to manage forests?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Grappling with these questions will call on Californians to evaluate competing priorities. In some cases, personal freedom and property rights may be pitted against collective safety and the common good.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That debate also played out during the years the country came to grips with its cigarette problem. The first report of the Surgeon General’s Advisory Committee on Smoking and Health in 1964 identified smoking as a cause of lung cancer. The first major studies demonstrating a link between second-hand smoke and lung cancer were published in 1981. Yet, smoking in public places such as restaurants persisted for many years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People simply took it for granted that the indoor spaces were going to be contaminated with tobacco smoke,” said James Repace, an anti-smoking advocate who helped pass some of the first nonsmoking bills in New England in the late 1970s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-1941870 \" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/babies_09-1020x1294.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"440\" height=\"558\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/babies_09-1020x1294.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/babies_09-160x203.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/babies_09-800x1015.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/babies_09-768x974.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/babies_09-946x1200.jpg 946w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/babies_09.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 440px) 100vw, 440px\">“At the time, the thought of telling people they couldn’t smoke wherever they liked was unthinkable,” Repace said. That started to shift when public information campaigns taught people about the dangers of breathing tobacco smoke. “You know, you might have the right to smoke, but you don’t have a right to let your smoke make other people sick.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Grassroots pressure and the political will to change led to prioritizing public health over individual desire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So it did take a generation,” said Repace. “But with respect to climate issues, we don’t have a generation. Time is running out.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California state Sen. \u003ca href=\"https://sd03.senate.ca.gov/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bill Dodd\u003c/a>, whose district includes areas burned during the 2017 Wine Country fires, already sees an attitude change among his constituents. Dodd says the once unpalatable idea of fining homeowners who don’t maintain what fire officials call “\u003ca href=\"https://calfire.ca.gov/communications/downloads/fact_sheets/DefensibleSpaceFlyer.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">defensible space\u003c/a>” around their homes is seeming more reasonable to those who lived through recent conflagrations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Instead of government intrusion in their life,” said Dodd, characterizing the public’s change of thinking, “this is something where we all have to work together to protect not only your land, but your neighbor’s land as well, because if you don’t, that puts your neighbor in harm’s way.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Americans have made great strides toward solving a host of problems. The air used to be dirtier, rivers more polluted, food-safety regulations nonexistent. Acid rain once fell from the sky and the ozone hole continually grew. These issues, if not totally behind us, are vastly improved.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is hope for our ecosystems to be more fire resilient, better adapted to climate change,” Scott Stephens said. “So there really is hope, a way to step forward.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "In the Age of Fast-Moving Fires, What's the Best Way to Get People Out?",
"headTitle": "In the Age of Fast-Moving Fires, What’s the Best Way to Get People Out? | KQED",
"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;\">F\u003c/span>oresthill Road, which extends from Interstate 80 deep into the Tahoe National Forest, is a beautiful drive. Well-paved and scenic, it takes you across the North Fork American River over the breathtaking Foresthill Bridge, one of the tallest spans in the country. As you move farther from the highway and closer to the Sierra Nevada Foothills, it’s the density of the growing number of trees lining each side of the roadway that claims your attention.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\"]New ideas on how to protect residents when the entire community is engulfed in flames include ditching a single ‘this way out’ evacuation route.[/pullquote]The road’s 5-star \u003ca href=\"https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g32396-d113865-r275617274-Foresthill_Divide-Foresthill_California.html\">TripAdvisor rating\u003c/a> makes sense; it’s the kind of drive you take for fun.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet, it’s also the source of considerable anxiety for Foresthill, a community of around 1,500 residents. That’s because there’s only a single main route in and out of town, and Foresthill Road, with one narrow lane going and one narrow lane coming, is it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>A Potential Disaster\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During a wildfire, you could imagine, the roads would clutter with the cars of panicking people all trying to make it out of town one step ahead of the flames.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s something Gary Kirk thinks about. A lot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A single ingress-egress is not good for a community,” said Kirk, a volunteer firefighter for decades who worked his way up to captain at the Foresthill Fire Protection District. He’s retired now and spends his time as director of the Foresthill Fire Safe Council, a nonprofit group working to keep residents prepared for wildfires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He knows this community inside and out — what makes it prone to wildfire danger and what makes it a beautiful place to live. He’s hunted and fished in the area for years, and he loves living in the forest. But in the event of a wildfire, he said, Foresthill Road could be disastrous.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I know Paradise. I’ve been there several times. And Skyway was just like Foresthill Road,” he said, referring to the main route out of the town that last year became \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/paradise\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">synonymous\u003c/a> with lethal California fires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Compared to Paradise, according to a USA Today-California Network \u003ca href=\"https://www.apnews.com/6f621c1c54734d0b95d374556c2cf5c0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">analysis\u003c/a> of wildfire evacuation routes, Foresthill actually has a \u003ca href=\"https://www.vvdailypress.com/news/20190504/few-ways-out-escape-routes-limited-in-california-towns-at-risk-from-fires\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">worse population-to-lane ratio\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kirk’s not the only one who worries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think it’s a big concern for most of the people here,” said Shonne Elgin, a resident since 1989.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1942699\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1942699\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Foresthill-Wildfire-800x546.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"546\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Foresthill-Wildfire-800x546.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Foresthill-Wildfire-160x109.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Foresthill-Wildfire-768x524.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Foresthill-Wildfire-1020x696.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Foresthill-Wildfire-1200x819.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Foresthill-Wildfire.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Foresthill Road in Foresthill, California is the only main route in and out of town. \u003ccite>(Lindsey Moore/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>‘The Fire Was Outrunning Us’\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the Camp Fire swept through Paradise in November 2018, residents took to Skyway en masse, and 27,000 people, with flames bearing down, were caught in gridlock. Some residents abandoned their cars to flee on foot. Others were found dead in their vehicles. For some who made it out, it took up to 10 hours to get to an evacuation center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The fire was outrunning us, in terms of our ability to notify people, get evacuations done, before we even knew we were in a race.” Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11711175/butte-county-to-reassess-emergency-alert-system-in-aftermath-of-camp-fire\">told\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11711175/butte-county-to-reassess-emergency-alert-system-in-aftermath-of-camp-fire\">KQED\u003c/a> in the aftermath of the catastrophe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Are there better ways to notify people? Are there better ways to conduct evacuations? Those are all things that I want to look at, perhaps have studies done, to determine if there are lessons to be learned.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, Honea said, nothing could have prepared Butte County and Paradise for the disaster of the Camp Fire. The town and county indeed had an \u003ca href=\"https://www.townofparadise.com/index.php/residents/emergency-services-information\">evacuation\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.townofparadise.com/index.php/residents/emergency-services-information\">plan\u003c/a>, one that included dividing the town into 14 zones, the creation of assembly areas, and even a fire drill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The systems that the county put in place helped to get tens of thousands of people to safety, Honea said, but they still couldn’t defend against the speed of the Camp Fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Is the system perfect?” he said. “There’s no system that is ever perfect.”\u003cbr>\n[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Rethinking Evacuations\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many other towns living under the threat of wildfire don’t have a plan, perfect or not. A recent USA Today California Network \u003ca href=\"https://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/fires/article229547244.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">survey\u003c/a> found that just 22 percent of at-risk communities have robust evacuation plans available to the public.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Placer County, which would oversee an evacuation of Foresthill, is working on its own blueprint for leaving town during a wildfire, and officials hope to have it finished this summer. But it’s not necessarily one you might expect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of people think that we’re going to come up with a specific evacuation route — that this is the way you have to go out. And that’s just not the case, because the fire’s going to predict how we’re going to do the evacuation,” said Ty Conners, a sergeant with the Placer County Sheriff’s Office, who works as the station commander for Colfax and Foresthill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Conners was a first responder during the Camp Fire and saw for himself what happens when an entire community tries to leave on one road.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They had a very good evacuation plan,” Conners said. “Only thing is, that fire was moving so fast that even if you have the best plan, you can’t beat the fire.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Seeing the devastation in Butte County has caused Conners to re-examine town evacuations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Giving people an evacuation route, trying to get them out— yeah, it’s important,” he said. “But if you’re not going to be able to do it … divert people to these temporary safe refuge areas.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The idea is that if you have a fast-moving fire and only one way out, residents would be directed to somewhere in town with defensible space and fewer trees, making it safe to take shelter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Foresthill, Conners said, that could be the local high school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Foresthill High School has a huge area of clear-cut,” he said. “That’s a place that’s a temporary safe refuge for people to congregate and go while the actual fire front pushes through, and then you can evacuate them out.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Simulating Disaster\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Temporary refuge could indeed be the answer when there’s a fast-moving fire and limited escape routes, says Dapeng Li, an assistant professor of geography at South Dakota State University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are many places we can use as the shelters,” Li said. “For example, places like high schools, where there are a lot of open spaces, or other facilities in town.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Li studies wildfire evacuations by overlaying fire progression models with traffic simulations to see how incoming flames can influence exit plans, making them dynamic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We could use a traffic simulation model to estimate how much time we would need for the community to evacuate,” he said. “If we don’t have enough lead time, we might need to ask them to go to those shelters or to shelter in place.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Using this modeling technique, Li said, a community can virtually explore an infinite number of evacuation scenarios when it comes to how a wildfire progresses. For example, officials might see what would happen when a fire is spreading from a particular direction and shutting down a specific portion of roadway.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We can also do simulations [for] if we build a new evacuation route,” Li said. “That could be used for planning and transportation purposes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The idea is that if emergency managers were to model different wildfire situations, they could devise multiple plans from which to choose when disaster strikes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California counties could make use of similar models in order to create contingency evacuation plans, Li said, but it would take time, resources and a lot of training.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we are to make an evacuation plan, we need to consider different scenarios,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1942701\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1942701\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Foresthill-evacuations-wildfire-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Foresthill-evacuations-wildfire-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Foresthill-evacuations-wildfire-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Foresthill-evacuations-wildfire-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Foresthill-evacuations-wildfire-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Foresthill-evacuations-wildfire-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Foresthill-evacuations-wildfire.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gary Kirk, Foresthill Firesafe Council director, outside of the Foresthill fire station, May 20, 2019. \u003ccite>(Lindsey Moore/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>It Starts With an Alert\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even if a community has foolproof and adaptable evacuation protocols in place, there’s still the matter of letting residents know there’s a wildfire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During both the Camp Fire and the North Bay fires of 2017, county officials came under scrutiny for using so-called “opt-in” alert systems, which only sent emergency notifications to people if they’d signed up for the service.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Butte County, that emergency system is called “\u003ca href=\"https://public.coderedweb.com/CNE/en-US/BFA19C579EA5\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Code Red\u003c/a>.” In the aftermath of the Camp Fire, many residents \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11711175/butte-county-to-reassess-emergency-alert-system-in-aftermath-of-camp-fire\">told\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11711175/butte-county-to-reassess-emergency-alert-system-in-aftermath-of-camp-fire\">KQED\u003c/a> they didn’t learn about the fire from officials, but rather through word of mouth, media reports, or actually seeing or smelling flames.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In March, the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services released statewide \u003ca href=\"http://calalerts.org/documents/2019-CA-Alert-Warning-Guidelines.pdf\">guidelines\u003c/a> for counties on how to issue emergency alerts. The 85-page document suggests a number of ways communities can better prepare for disasters, including using Wireless Emergency Alerts, or WEA, a system run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency that allows geo-targeted notifications to be sent, much like an amber alert, to every cellphone in a given area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The guidelines provide “consistency across all of our 58 counties and jurisdictions,” said Cal OES director Mark Ghilarducci. While the suggested protocols stop short of requiring use of WEA, Ghilarducci hopes they’ll push communities in the right direction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Without establishing a mandate, [we] recommend the use of WEA and the expectation [is] that all of the counties would use WEA,” he said. “And this guideline was put together as a collaborative effort with our local government partners, and every indication is that that will become the standard bearer in the state.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials in Placer County are prepared to use WEA in the event of a devastating fire in Foresthill, according to Holly Powers, the county’s assistant director of emergency services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our alerting protocol is across the board,” she said, noting that in some remote areas WEA may not be enough to reach every resident.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Something that a lot of people may not realize is that WEA is based on cell towers and cell data,” Powers said. “So if you have a fire that burns down a cell tower, even if I sent a WEA alert, it’s not going to be able to go through.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>‘Be Prepared’\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For isolated areas like Foresthill, where cell service could be an issue, it’s important for people to know one another and to stay informed, says Gary Kirk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s where his Fire Safe Council comes in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This time of the year is when we start really ramping up to get this information out to people,” Kirk said. “We do hold meetings once a month, and we get the community together.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are also communities in the area certified by the National Fire Protection Association’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.nfpa.org/Public-Education/By-topic/Wildfire/Firewise-USA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Firewise USA program\u003c/a>, Kirk said. The program teaches wildfire preparedness and fire safety initiatives, such as brush clearing. Kirk said these communities could potentially serve as temporary refuge during a fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of course, the entire town isn’t showing up to Kirk’s monthly meetings. But the idea is that if you get some people informed, they’ll spread the word about what to do in the event of a fire, until eventually everyone is living and breathing fire safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a chain reaction that we try to create,” he said. “And it works.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, for a community like Foresthill, there’s no real formula for an evacuation where everything goes just right. If you’re living in an isolated and fire-prone area, the most important thing is:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Always be ready.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=5&v=pfbEcMeYFFA\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "During the Camp Fire, residents of Paradise, California took to the one main road out of town, and it quickly became a parking lot. So some communities and academics are looking at new ways to evacuate during a fast-moving blaze.",
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"description": "During the Camp Fire, residents of Paradise, California took to the one main road out of town, and it quickly became a parking lot. So some communities and academics are looking at new ways to evacuate during a fast-moving blaze.",
"title": "In the Age of Fast-Moving Fires, What's the Best Way to Get People Out? | KQED",
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"headline": "In the Age of Fast-Moving Fires, What's the Best Way to Get People Out?",
"datePublished": "2019-06-03T00:01:34-07:00",
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"slug": "in-the-age-of-the-crazy-fast-fire-a-good-evacuation-plan-may-not-be-enough",
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"sourceUrl": "https://www.kqed.org/science/tag/livingwithwildfire",
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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;\">F\u003c/span>oresthill Road, which extends from Interstate 80 deep into the Tahoe National Forest, is a beautiful drive. Well-paved and scenic, it takes you across the North Fork American River over the breathtaking Foresthill Bridge, one of the tallest spans in the country. As you move farther from the highway and closer to the Sierra Nevada Foothills, it’s the density of the growing number of trees lining each side of the roadway that claims your attention.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "New ideas on how to protect residents when the entire community is engulfed in flames include ditching a single ‘this way out’ evacuation route.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The road’s 5-star \u003ca href=\"https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g32396-d113865-r275617274-Foresthill_Divide-Foresthill_California.html\">TripAdvisor rating\u003c/a> makes sense; it’s the kind of drive you take for fun.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet, it’s also the source of considerable anxiety for Foresthill, a community of around 1,500 residents. That’s because there’s only a single main route in and out of town, and Foresthill Road, with one narrow lane going and one narrow lane coming, is it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>A Potential Disaster\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During a wildfire, you could imagine, the roads would clutter with the cars of panicking people all trying to make it out of town one step ahead of the flames.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s something Gary Kirk thinks about. A lot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A single ingress-egress is not good for a community,” said Kirk, a volunteer firefighter for decades who worked his way up to captain at the Foresthill Fire Protection District. He’s retired now and spends his time as director of the Foresthill Fire Safe Council, a nonprofit group working to keep residents prepared for wildfires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He knows this community inside and out — what makes it prone to wildfire danger and what makes it a beautiful place to live. He’s hunted and fished in the area for years, and he loves living in the forest. But in the event of a wildfire, he said, Foresthill Road could be disastrous.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I know Paradise. I’ve been there several times. And Skyway was just like Foresthill Road,” he said, referring to the main route out of the town that last year became \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/paradise\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">synonymous\u003c/a> with lethal California fires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Compared to Paradise, according to a USA Today-California Network \u003ca href=\"https://www.apnews.com/6f621c1c54734d0b95d374556c2cf5c0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">analysis\u003c/a> of wildfire evacuation routes, Foresthill actually has a \u003ca href=\"https://www.vvdailypress.com/news/20190504/few-ways-out-escape-routes-limited-in-california-towns-at-risk-from-fires\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">worse population-to-lane ratio\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kirk’s not the only one who worries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think it’s a big concern for most of the people here,” said Shonne Elgin, a resident since 1989.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1942699\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1942699\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Foresthill-Wildfire-800x546.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"546\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Foresthill-Wildfire-800x546.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Foresthill-Wildfire-160x109.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Foresthill-Wildfire-768x524.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Foresthill-Wildfire-1020x696.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Foresthill-Wildfire-1200x819.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Foresthill-Wildfire.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Foresthill Road in Foresthill, California is the only main route in and out of town. \u003ccite>(Lindsey Moore/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>‘The Fire Was Outrunning Us’\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the Camp Fire swept through Paradise in November 2018, residents took to Skyway en masse, and 27,000 people, with flames bearing down, were caught in gridlock. Some residents abandoned their cars to flee on foot. Others were found dead in their vehicles. For some who made it out, it took up to 10 hours to get to an evacuation center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The fire was outrunning us, in terms of our ability to notify people, get evacuations done, before we even knew we were in a race.” Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11711175/butte-county-to-reassess-emergency-alert-system-in-aftermath-of-camp-fire\">told\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11711175/butte-county-to-reassess-emergency-alert-system-in-aftermath-of-camp-fire\">KQED\u003c/a> in the aftermath of the catastrophe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Are there better ways to notify people? Are there better ways to conduct evacuations? Those are all things that I want to look at, perhaps have studies done, to determine if there are lessons to be learned.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, Honea said, nothing could have prepared Butte County and Paradise for the disaster of the Camp Fire. The town and county indeed had an \u003ca href=\"https://www.townofparadise.com/index.php/residents/emergency-services-information\">evacuation\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.townofparadise.com/index.php/residents/emergency-services-information\">plan\u003c/a>, one that included dividing the town into 14 zones, the creation of assembly areas, and even a fire drill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The systems that the county put in place helped to get tens of thousands of people to safety, Honea said, but they still couldn’t defend against the speed of the Camp Fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Is the system perfect?” he said. “There’s no system that is ever perfect.”\u003cbr>\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Rethinking Evacuations\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many other towns living under the threat of wildfire don’t have a plan, perfect or not. A recent USA Today California Network \u003ca href=\"https://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/fires/article229547244.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">survey\u003c/a> found that just 22 percent of at-risk communities have robust evacuation plans available to the public.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Placer County, which would oversee an evacuation of Foresthill, is working on its own blueprint for leaving town during a wildfire, and officials hope to have it finished this summer. But it’s not necessarily one you might expect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of people think that we’re going to come up with a specific evacuation route — that this is the way you have to go out. And that’s just not the case, because the fire’s going to predict how we’re going to do the evacuation,” said Ty Conners, a sergeant with the Placer County Sheriff’s Office, who works as the station commander for Colfax and Foresthill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Conners was a first responder during the Camp Fire and saw for himself what happens when an entire community tries to leave on one road.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They had a very good evacuation plan,” Conners said. “Only thing is, that fire was moving so fast that even if you have the best plan, you can’t beat the fire.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Seeing the devastation in Butte County has caused Conners to re-examine town evacuations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Giving people an evacuation route, trying to get them out— yeah, it’s important,” he said. “But if you’re not going to be able to do it … divert people to these temporary safe refuge areas.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The idea is that if you have a fast-moving fire and only one way out, residents would be directed to somewhere in town with defensible space and fewer trees, making it safe to take shelter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Foresthill, Conners said, that could be the local high school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Foresthill High School has a huge area of clear-cut,” he said. “That’s a place that’s a temporary safe refuge for people to congregate and go while the actual fire front pushes through, and then you can evacuate them out.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Simulating Disaster\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Temporary refuge could indeed be the answer when there’s a fast-moving fire and limited escape routes, says Dapeng Li, an assistant professor of geography at South Dakota State University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are many places we can use as the shelters,” Li said. “For example, places like high schools, where there are a lot of open spaces, or other facilities in town.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Li studies wildfire evacuations by overlaying fire progression models with traffic simulations to see how incoming flames can influence exit plans, making them dynamic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We could use a traffic simulation model to estimate how much time we would need for the community to evacuate,” he said. “If we don’t have enough lead time, we might need to ask them to go to those shelters or to shelter in place.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Using this modeling technique, Li said, a community can virtually explore an infinite number of evacuation scenarios when it comes to how a wildfire progresses. For example, officials might see what would happen when a fire is spreading from a particular direction and shutting down a specific portion of roadway.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We can also do simulations [for] if we build a new evacuation route,” Li said. “That could be used for planning and transportation purposes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The idea is that if emergency managers were to model different wildfire situations, they could devise multiple plans from which to choose when disaster strikes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California counties could make use of similar models in order to create contingency evacuation plans, Li said, but it would take time, resources and a lot of training.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we are to make an evacuation plan, we need to consider different scenarios,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1942701\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1942701\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Foresthill-evacuations-wildfire-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Foresthill-evacuations-wildfire-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Foresthill-evacuations-wildfire-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Foresthill-evacuations-wildfire-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Foresthill-evacuations-wildfire-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Foresthill-evacuations-wildfire-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Foresthill-evacuations-wildfire.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gary Kirk, Foresthill Firesafe Council director, outside of the Foresthill fire station, May 20, 2019. \u003ccite>(Lindsey Moore/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>It Starts With an Alert\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even if a community has foolproof and adaptable evacuation protocols in place, there’s still the matter of letting residents know there’s a wildfire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During both the Camp Fire and the North Bay fires of 2017, county officials came under scrutiny for using so-called “opt-in” alert systems, which only sent emergency notifications to people if they’d signed up for the service.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Butte County, that emergency system is called “\u003ca href=\"https://public.coderedweb.com/CNE/en-US/BFA19C579EA5\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Code Red\u003c/a>.” In the aftermath of the Camp Fire, many residents \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11711175/butte-county-to-reassess-emergency-alert-system-in-aftermath-of-camp-fire\">told\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11711175/butte-county-to-reassess-emergency-alert-system-in-aftermath-of-camp-fire\">KQED\u003c/a> they didn’t learn about the fire from officials, but rather through word of mouth, media reports, or actually seeing or smelling flames.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In March, the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services released statewide \u003ca href=\"http://calalerts.org/documents/2019-CA-Alert-Warning-Guidelines.pdf\">guidelines\u003c/a> for counties on how to issue emergency alerts. The 85-page document suggests a number of ways communities can better prepare for disasters, including using Wireless Emergency Alerts, or WEA, a system run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency that allows geo-targeted notifications to be sent, much like an amber alert, to every cellphone in a given area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The guidelines provide “consistency across all of our 58 counties and jurisdictions,” said Cal OES director Mark Ghilarducci. While the suggested protocols stop short of requiring use of WEA, Ghilarducci hopes they’ll push communities in the right direction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Without establishing a mandate, [we] recommend the use of WEA and the expectation [is] that all of the counties would use WEA,” he said. “And this guideline was put together as a collaborative effort with our local government partners, and every indication is that that will become the standard bearer in the state.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials in Placer County are prepared to use WEA in the event of a devastating fire in Foresthill, according to Holly Powers, the county’s assistant director of emergency services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our alerting protocol is across the board,” she said, noting that in some remote areas WEA may not be enough to reach every resident.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Something that a lot of people may not realize is that WEA is based on cell towers and cell data,” Powers said. “So if you have a fire that burns down a cell tower, even if I sent a WEA alert, it’s not going to be able to go through.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>‘Be Prepared’\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For isolated areas like Foresthill, where cell service could be an issue, it’s important for people to know one another and to stay informed, says Gary Kirk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s where his Fire Safe Council comes in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This time of the year is when we start really ramping up to get this information out to people,” Kirk said. “We do hold meetings once a month, and we get the community together.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are also communities in the area certified by the National Fire Protection Association’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.nfpa.org/Public-Education/By-topic/Wildfire/Firewise-USA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Firewise USA program\u003c/a>, Kirk said. The program teaches wildfire preparedness and fire safety initiatives, such as brush clearing. Kirk said these communities could potentially serve as temporary refuge during a fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of course, the entire town isn’t showing up to Kirk’s monthly meetings. But the idea is that if you get some people informed, they’ll spread the word about what to do in the event of a fire, until eventually everyone is living and breathing fire safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a chain reaction that we try to create,” he said. “And it works.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, for a community like Foresthill, there’s no real formula for an evacuation where everything goes just right. If you’re living in an isolated and fire-prone area, the most important thing is:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Always be ready.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/pfbEcMeYFFA'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/pfbEcMeYFFA'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Town Unites Against Federal Mismanagement to Save Forest",
"headTitle": "Town Unites Against Federal Mismanagement to Save Forest | KQED",
"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 forest once tore this town apart.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the northwest corner of California, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.wilderness.net/NWPS/wildview?wid=611\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Trinity Alps\u003c/a> tumble down to Weaverville, a community of around 3,600 people. Below the subalpine mountains, the basin has a more Mediterranean climate, and summers are dry as a bone. Most of Trinity County is federal land, including two national forests. Their complex landscape of oak woodland is thick with manzanita brush, mixed with chaparral and dense, creeping pines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote align=\"right\"]In the northwest corner of California, residents assumed local control of the forest through an agreement with the federal government. ‘We assume it’s someone else’s responsibility at our peril,” said Nick Goulette, director of a local land stewardship group. ‘We have to save ourselves.’[/pullquote]Tensions over clear-cut logging and the fate of spotted owls once turned the county into a battleground, sharpening a sprawling argument to a fine point in the 1990s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You either wanted to exploit the forest or protect it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Things have changed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As trees across the Shasta-Trinity and Six Rivers national forests have become drought-stressed and overcrowded, basically all but asking to burn, it’s the forest that has brought people back together. Now, a locally driven partnership forged to make a small community forest healthier is kindling a wider push for resilience and reducing fire risk across the entire county. Community members say a key \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1927354/controlled-burns-can-help-solve-californias-fire-problem-so-why-arent-there-more-of-them\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">strategy\u003c/a> will be preventing what are often high-intensity wildfires by implementing lower-intensity prescribed burns to eradicate chip-dry tinder and grasses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There will be fire on this entire landscape. Do we want it to be controlled or do we want it to be out of control?” said Alex Cousins, a lifelong county resident. “We need to leave these forests ready to accept fire.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>After Prescribed Burn, Wildfire ‘Just Laid Down’\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Preparing for fire has already helped suppress one near Weaverville.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Forested slopes bear the scars of five wildfires, which threatened the community over the last two decades. In August 2014, a spark from a boat that had come off its trailer hit Highway 299 and lifted into the tree crowns. The resulting flames, which turned into the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/145826/california-wildfire-roundup-blaze-burns-close-to-weaverville\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Oregon Fire\u003c/a>, raced across the tight canopy, forcing evacuations and threatening the high school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nine months before, however, federal and local partners removed some trees and thinned brush in an area called Five Cent Gulch. They then lit a \u003ca href=\"https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprd3815317.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">prescribed fire\u003c/a> to burn away remaining brush, logs, snags and forest debris. So when the Oregon Fire came along to threaten the area, the lack of heavy fuel on the land slowed it down, enabling crews and tanker planes to catch up and gain control.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1942718\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 320px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Weaverville-controlled-burn-1200x899.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"479\" class=\"size-complete_open_graph wp-image-1942718\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Weaverville-controlled-burn-1200x899.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Weaverville-controlled-burn-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Weaverville-controlled-burn-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Weaverville-controlled-burn-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Weaverville-controlled-burn-1020x764.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Weaverville-controlled-burn.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dylan Sheedy, a ‘burn boss’ with The Watershed Center in Trinity County, torches piles of manzanita brusch cleared from private land in Hayfork, California.\u003cbr> \u003ccite>(Molly Peterson/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The fire ran head on into this thinned and burned unit, and the fire just laid down,” said Nick Goulette, who directs the Watershed Center, a local land stewardship group. “My home was evacuated as a part of that fire, so I was very thankful.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Five Cent Gulch is located within the \u003ca href=\"https://tcrcd.net/wcf/index.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Weaverville Community Forest\u003c/a>, made up of some 13,000 acres \u003ca href=\"https://www.tcrcd.net/wcf/pdf/WCF_Master_Stewardship_Agreement_USFS_2019_Signed.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">governed\u003c/a> by one of the first federal master stewardship agreements in the country. Authorized by Congress in 2003, these arrangements permit communities and other interested parties to support and fund restoration projects on forest land.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re seeing more and more collaboratives not only be formed but also be effective in terms of trying to deal with forest health issues,” said Al Olson, who directs ecosystem services for the U.S. Forest Service across California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reducing fire risk through active management has been a goal of the community forest since its inception, says Kelly Sheen, executive director of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.tcrcd.net/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Trinity County Resource Conservation District\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“\u003cem>Not\u003c/em> managing it is not an effective tool for managing the forest,” Sheen said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reducing fuels by thinning the understory, removing trees to open up canopy, and burning what’s left on the ground is the strategy that scientists and policymakers say California forests need. Last year, Cal Fire announced it intended to triple the amount of land it treats in order to reduce risk. The U.S. Forest Service says its goal in 2019 is to treat 250,000 acres by either reducing and rearranging vegetation or with prescribed burns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Weaverville, working with the federal government to utilize more fire on the Trinity County landscape has been a huge shift.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>A Common Foe\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the 1980s and ‘90s, the heat of the Timber Wars poured into every public space in the area, says Bob Morris, a 45-year Trinity County resident and environmentalist. In a small town, there’s no place to hide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was terrible,” Morris said. “Death threats were common. People were arming themselves.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It got so bad, parents told their children not to walk in front of windows at night. Morris’ neighbor, a logger named Clarence Rose, became, literally, his enemy, and Rose felt the same way about him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then, a common foe emerged.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What got people talking again was what Morris calls the “dysfunctionality” of federal forest management.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Environmentalists saw it, industry saw it, and that was our first unifying ‘we have something in common,’ that was the first thing that we saw.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1942719\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1942719\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Weaverville-logging-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Weaverville-logging-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Weaverville-logging-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Weaverville-logging-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Weaverville-logging-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Weaverville-logging-1200x900.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Weaverville-logging.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Trinity River Lumber Mill, the last mill open in the county, has been modified since the ‘Timber Wars’ of the 1990s to handle small- to medium-sized logs, the kind that are cut through ecologically responsible thinning. \u003ccite>(Molly Peterson/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Morris and Rose shared a growing concern about decisions made by the U.S. Forest Service in Shasta -Trinity. Then, in 1999, the Bureau of Land Management \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/31/us/controlled-blaze-that-wasn-t-haunts-firefighters-in-california.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">lost control\u003c/a> of a prescribed fire, which accidentally destroyed 23 homes in Lewiston. Around the same time, BLM proposed a land swap with a private timber company of nearly 1,000 acres near Weaverville, a trade that would have likely clear-cut trees out of some of the best views in town.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That proposal galvanized local concern for the forest. After years of negotiations, those BLM acres became the first patch of the Weaverville Community Forest. Ever since, the former enemies, environmentalist Bob Morris and ex-logger Clarence Rose, have served as two of the land’s informal stewards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Once you find areas of agreement, you can make huge progress,” said Morris. “Dissimilar interests finding common ground and working together, it’s been huge, a huge change after 40 years of polarization.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From the start, the community has stuck to certain values: fire reduction, preserving views and recreational access, and responsible timber harvesting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m proud of it, actually,” Morris said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And he and the other stewards hope their community forest is only the beginning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ecologically Responsible Thinning\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his boyhood, Kelly Sheen says, the forest was just a playground, the place where he ate from invasive blackberry plants and roamed off undermaintained trails.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I took it for granted,” Sheen said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote align=\"right\" citation=\"Alex Cousins, Trinity County Collaborative\"]‘We’re tired of living in smoke.’[/pullquote]Now, as chief local steward for the Weaverville Community Forest, he has mapped its every inch. Timber sales and restoration projects have improved the forest’s health, and there’s a new understanding of the benefits that prescribed burns can bring to the ecology of the land.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Larger and more deadly blazes like the Carr Fire only amplify the risk of a catastrophe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People have started thinking about things on a much more holistic level and across the landscape,” Sheen said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Seeing the community forest as a success, he and other stewards take part in the Trinity County Collaborative, a group formed to expand the application of local values to a wider swath of forest whose health is mixed, at best.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In California, some forest stands are \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/core/lw/2.0/html/tileshop_pmc/tileshop_pmc_inline.html?title=Click%20on%20image%20to%20zoom&p=PMC3&id=4321274_pnas.1410186112fig02.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">five times as dense\u003c/a> as in the past. Oaks and conifers increasingly compete for nutrients and water, while invasive beetles threaten pines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fire scientists generally \u003ca href=\"https://www.nceas.ucsb.edu/files/research/projects/WildfireCommonGround.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">agree\u003c/a> on what might help forest lands in Trinity County and Northern California. But while “brush-crushing” and removal of some trees make sense, these practices alone don’t make a forest healthier. That’s why locals here say adding fire back to the landscape has to be the linchpin of any restoration strategy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the Weaverville Community Forest, three timber sales have yielded funds, called “retained receipts,” that have helped pay for restoration initiatives, including the one at Five Cent Gulch. Several members of the Trinity County Collaborative say this model could work across Shasta-Trinity and Six Rivers national forests, as well as throughout the county.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Advocates like Sheen, Goulette and Morris, who represent different factions and priorities on forest issues, are united in distinguishing ecologically responsible thinning from the logging practices of the past.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All of this isn’t just based on what we want, it’s based on science,” said Alex Cousins, another collaborative member.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cousins used to have Sheen’s job running the Weaverville Community Forest. Now he sells timber for the Trinity River Lumber Company, the last of what was once 14 mills in the county and the area’s largest private employer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A sustainable, restoration-focused local economy is a collaborative goal, too, Cousins says. “We’ve got all of our eggs in this basket,” he said. “We want to see these forests managed, we want to see this mill as a part of that, not as a sole reason for that. And we’re tired of living in smoke.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Trinity County, the choice to use the forest or protect it no longer seems binary. Among forest stewards, the idea now is to do a bit of both.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Federal Underfunding\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For all the change in local values, the federal government still controls most of the county’s land, and federal budgets still don’t reflect the vision that’s taken root in Weaverville.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Data compiled by the nonprofit news organization Climate Central shows that across California, the U.S. Forest Service spends more than five times as much on suppressing fires as it does on prescribed burns and preparing for fire’s inevitable return.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a result, most fires on federal land are still uncontrolled, and they’re often high-intensity. Planned burns are used on only about a tenth as much land as the U.S. Forest Service says it wants to actively manage for fire risk each year. Meanwhile, in that same time period, wildfires have burned 10 times as many acres in California’s federal forests as were treated in prescribed fires, according to an analysis of the Climate Central data by KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s why people here aren’t waiting for the federal government or state authorities. Or, for that matter, the local fire department. The Watershed Center’s Nick Goulette says those agencies and institutions won’t save us. If a community wants to protect its values and its land, the message from Weaverville is clear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We assume it’s someone else’s responsibility at our peril,” Goulette says. “We have to save ourselves.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Conflicts over logging once tore the town of Weaverville apart. But after missteps by the federal government, all sides found a common purpose: taking local control of the forest to preserve its health and prevent wildfire.",
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"description": "Conflicts over logging once tore the town of Weaverville apart. But after missteps by the federal government, all sides found a common purpose: taking local control of the forest to preserve its health and prevent wildfire.",
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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 forest once tore this town apart.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the northwest corner of California, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.wilderness.net/NWPS/wildview?wid=611\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Trinity Alps\u003c/a> tumble down to Weaverville, a community of around 3,600 people. Below the subalpine mountains, the basin has a more Mediterranean climate, and summers are dry as a bone. Most of Trinity County is federal land, including two national forests. Their complex landscape of oak woodland is thick with manzanita brush, mixed with chaparral and dense, creeping pines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "In the northwest corner of California, residents assumed local control of the forest through an agreement with the federal government. ‘We assume it’s someone else’s responsibility at our peril,” said Nick Goulette, director of a local land stewardship group. ‘We have to save ourselves.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Tensions over clear-cut logging and the fate of spotted owls once turned the county into a battleground, sharpening a sprawling argument to a fine point in the 1990s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You either wanted to exploit the forest or protect it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Things have changed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As trees across the Shasta-Trinity and Six Rivers national forests have become drought-stressed and overcrowded, basically all but asking to burn, it’s the forest that has brought people back together. Now, a locally driven partnership forged to make a small community forest healthier is kindling a wider push for resilience and reducing fire risk across the entire county. Community members say a key \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1927354/controlled-burns-can-help-solve-californias-fire-problem-so-why-arent-there-more-of-them\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">strategy\u003c/a> will be preventing what are often high-intensity wildfires by implementing lower-intensity prescribed burns to eradicate chip-dry tinder and grasses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There will be fire on this entire landscape. Do we want it to be controlled or do we want it to be out of control?” said Alex Cousins, a lifelong county resident. “We need to leave these forests ready to accept fire.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>After Prescribed Burn, Wildfire ‘Just Laid Down’\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Preparing for fire has already helped suppress one near Weaverville.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Forested slopes bear the scars of five wildfires, which threatened the community over the last two decades. In August 2014, a spark from a boat that had come off its trailer hit Highway 299 and lifted into the tree crowns. The resulting flames, which turned into the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/145826/california-wildfire-roundup-blaze-burns-close-to-weaverville\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Oregon Fire\u003c/a>, raced across the tight canopy, forcing evacuations and threatening the high school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nine months before, however, federal and local partners removed some trees and thinned brush in an area called Five Cent Gulch. They then lit a \u003ca href=\"https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprd3815317.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">prescribed fire\u003c/a> to burn away remaining brush, logs, snags and forest debris. So when the Oregon Fire came along to threaten the area, the lack of heavy fuel on the land slowed it down, enabling crews and tanker planes to catch up and gain control.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1942718\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 320px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Weaverville-controlled-burn-1200x899.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"479\" class=\"size-complete_open_graph wp-image-1942718\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Weaverville-controlled-burn-1200x899.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Weaverville-controlled-burn-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Weaverville-controlled-burn-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Weaverville-controlled-burn-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Weaverville-controlled-burn-1020x764.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Weaverville-controlled-burn.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dylan Sheedy, a ‘burn boss’ with The Watershed Center in Trinity County, torches piles of manzanita brusch cleared from private land in Hayfork, California.\u003cbr> \u003ccite>(Molly Peterson/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The fire ran head on into this thinned and burned unit, and the fire just laid down,” said Nick Goulette, who directs the Watershed Center, a local land stewardship group. “My home was evacuated as a part of that fire, so I was very thankful.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Five Cent Gulch is located within the \u003ca href=\"https://tcrcd.net/wcf/index.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Weaverville Community Forest\u003c/a>, made up of some 13,000 acres \u003ca href=\"https://www.tcrcd.net/wcf/pdf/WCF_Master_Stewardship_Agreement_USFS_2019_Signed.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">governed\u003c/a> by one of the first federal master stewardship agreements in the country. Authorized by Congress in 2003, these arrangements permit communities and other interested parties to support and fund restoration projects on forest land.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re seeing more and more collaboratives not only be formed but also be effective in terms of trying to deal with forest health issues,” said Al Olson, who directs ecosystem services for the U.S. Forest Service across California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reducing fire risk through active management has been a goal of the community forest since its inception, says Kelly Sheen, executive director of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.tcrcd.net/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Trinity County Resource Conservation District\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“\u003cem>Not\u003c/em> managing it is not an effective tool for managing the forest,” Sheen said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reducing fuels by thinning the understory, removing trees to open up canopy, and burning what’s left on the ground is the strategy that scientists and policymakers say California forests need. Last year, Cal Fire announced it intended to triple the amount of land it treats in order to reduce risk. The U.S. Forest Service says its goal in 2019 is to treat 250,000 acres by either reducing and rearranging vegetation or with prescribed burns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Weaverville, working with the federal government to utilize more fire on the Trinity County landscape has been a huge shift.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>A Common Foe\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the 1980s and ‘90s, the heat of the Timber Wars poured into every public space in the area, says Bob Morris, a 45-year Trinity County resident and environmentalist. In a small town, there’s no place to hide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was terrible,” Morris said. “Death threats were common. People were arming themselves.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It got so bad, parents told their children not to walk in front of windows at night. Morris’ neighbor, a logger named Clarence Rose, became, literally, his enemy, and Rose felt the same way about him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then, a common foe emerged.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What got people talking again was what Morris calls the “dysfunctionality” of federal forest management.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Environmentalists saw it, industry saw it, and that was our first unifying ‘we have something in common,’ that was the first thing that we saw.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1942719\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1942719\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Weaverville-logging-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Weaverville-logging-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Weaverville-logging-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Weaverville-logging-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Weaverville-logging-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Weaverville-logging-1200x900.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Weaverville-logging.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Trinity River Lumber Mill, the last mill open in the county, has been modified since the ‘Timber Wars’ of the 1990s to handle small- to medium-sized logs, the kind that are cut through ecologically responsible thinning. \u003ccite>(Molly Peterson/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Morris and Rose shared a growing concern about decisions made by the U.S. Forest Service in Shasta -Trinity. Then, in 1999, the Bureau of Land Management \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/31/us/controlled-blaze-that-wasn-t-haunts-firefighters-in-california.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">lost control\u003c/a> of a prescribed fire, which accidentally destroyed 23 homes in Lewiston. Around the same time, BLM proposed a land swap with a private timber company of nearly 1,000 acres near Weaverville, a trade that would have likely clear-cut trees out of some of the best views in town.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That proposal galvanized local concern for the forest. After years of negotiations, those BLM acres became the first patch of the Weaverville Community Forest. Ever since, the former enemies, environmentalist Bob Morris and ex-logger Clarence Rose, have served as two of the land’s informal stewards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Once you find areas of agreement, you can make huge progress,” said Morris. “Dissimilar interests finding common ground and working together, it’s been huge, a huge change after 40 years of polarization.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From the start, the community has stuck to certain values: fire reduction, preserving views and recreational access, and responsible timber harvesting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m proud of it, actually,” Morris said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And he and the other stewards hope their community forest is only the beginning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ecologically Responsible Thinning\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his boyhood, Kelly Sheen says, the forest was just a playground, the place where he ate from invasive blackberry plants and roamed off undermaintained trails.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I took it for granted,” Sheen said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Now, as chief local steward for the Weaverville Community Forest, he has mapped its every inch. Timber sales and restoration projects have improved the forest’s health, and there’s a new understanding of the benefits that prescribed burns can bring to the ecology of the land.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Larger and more deadly blazes like the Carr Fire only amplify the risk of a catastrophe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People have started thinking about things on a much more holistic level and across the landscape,” Sheen said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Seeing the community forest as a success, he and other stewards take part in the Trinity County Collaborative, a group formed to expand the application of local values to a wider swath of forest whose health is mixed, at best.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In California, some forest stands are \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/core/lw/2.0/html/tileshop_pmc/tileshop_pmc_inline.html?title=Click%20on%20image%20to%20zoom&p=PMC3&id=4321274_pnas.1410186112fig02.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">five times as dense\u003c/a> as in the past. Oaks and conifers increasingly compete for nutrients and water, while invasive beetles threaten pines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fire scientists generally \u003ca href=\"https://www.nceas.ucsb.edu/files/research/projects/WildfireCommonGround.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">agree\u003c/a> on what might help forest lands in Trinity County and Northern California. But while “brush-crushing” and removal of some trees make sense, these practices alone don’t make a forest healthier. That’s why locals here say adding fire back to the landscape has to be the linchpin of any restoration strategy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the Weaverville Community Forest, three timber sales have yielded funds, called “retained receipts,” that have helped pay for restoration initiatives, including the one at Five Cent Gulch. Several members of the Trinity County Collaborative say this model could work across Shasta-Trinity and Six Rivers national forests, as well as throughout the county.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Advocates like Sheen, Goulette and Morris, who represent different factions and priorities on forest issues, are united in distinguishing ecologically responsible thinning from the logging practices of the past.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All of this isn’t just based on what we want, it’s based on science,” said Alex Cousins, another collaborative member.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cousins used to have Sheen’s job running the Weaverville Community Forest. Now he sells timber for the Trinity River Lumber Company, the last of what was once 14 mills in the county and the area’s largest private employer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A sustainable, restoration-focused local economy is a collaborative goal, too, Cousins says. “We’ve got all of our eggs in this basket,” he said. “We want to see these forests managed, we want to see this mill as a part of that, not as a sole reason for that. And we’re tired of living in smoke.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Trinity County, the choice to use the forest or protect it no longer seems binary. Among forest stewards, the idea now is to do a bit of both.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Federal Underfunding\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For all the change in local values, the federal government still controls most of the county’s land, and federal budgets still don’t reflect the vision that’s taken root in Weaverville.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Data compiled by the nonprofit news organization Climate Central shows that across California, the U.S. Forest Service spends more than five times as much on suppressing fires as it does on prescribed burns and preparing for fire’s inevitable return.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a result, most fires on federal land are still uncontrolled, and they’re often high-intensity. Planned burns are used on only about a tenth as much land as the U.S. Forest Service says it wants to actively manage for fire risk each year. Meanwhile, in that same time period, wildfires have burned 10 times as many acres in California’s federal forests as were treated in prescribed fires, according to an analysis of the Climate Central data by KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s why people here aren’t waiting for the federal government or state authorities. Or, for that matter, the local fire department. The Watershed Center’s Nick Goulette says those agencies and institutions won’t save us. If a community wants to protect its values and its land, the message from Weaverville is clear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We assume it’s someone else’s responsibility at our peril,” Goulette says. “We have to save ourselves.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "This California Neighborhood Was Built to Survive a Wildfire. And It Worked",
"headTitle": "This California Neighborhood Was Built to Survive a Wildfire. And It Worked | KQED",
"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;\">I\u003c/span>n California, it’s a scene all too familiar: a late October day, the winds pick up, and a few sparks explode into a megafire, rapidly overtaking a community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2007, it was Rancho Santa Fe’s turn. It’s not a place you’d want to fight a fire — hundreds of homes sitting on rolling hillsides, surrounded by the scrubby chaparral common to northern San Diego County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"small\" citation=\"Erwin Willis, former Rancho Santa Fe fire chief\"]‘The same communities burn over and over and over again. How many times has Malibu burned? How many times has Santa Barbara burned? So if we don’t learn how to build in those areas, we’re going to keep losing lives and homes.’[/pullquote]“It doesn’t get any worse than this,” said Rancho Santa Fe Fire Chief Fred Cox, looking out at the tidy subdivisions from a hilltop. “This is about as steep as it comes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rancho Santa Fe, like so many other California communities, sits on the vulnerable border between development and open space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Firefighters have a name for this: the wildland-urban interface. Essentially, it means things you don’t want to burn, like houses, have been built next to something that’s supposed to, the ecosystem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Oct. 21, 2007, the Santa Ana winds carried the \u003ca href=\"http://cdfdata.fire.ca.gov/incidents/incidents_details_info?incident_id=225\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Witch Fire\u003c/a> into town, the flames funneled through low valleys or “avenues of fire,” as Cox calls them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was like raining fire,” he said. “I remember going down some streets down here, La Breccia, and it’s like, man, if I go down there, I don’t know if I’m going to make it back out.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even before the fire actually hit, Cox had a problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The fire wasn’t even close, but we had homes burning,” he said. “I would drive down the road and it was, like: How did that house catch on fire?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1942427\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1942427 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Rancho-santa-fe1-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Rancho-santa-fe1-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Rancho-santa-fe1-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Rancho-santa-fe1-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Rancho-santa-fe1-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Rancho-santa-fe1-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Rancho-santa-fe1.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fire chief Fred Cox and forester Conor Lenehan look over the steep hillsides of Rancho Santa Fe. \u003ccite>(Lauren Sommer/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The answer was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1917346/wildfires-can-attack-your-house-from-the-inside-heres-how-to-prevent-it\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">embers\u003c/a>, blown far ahead of the fire front. They’d land on a wood roof or leaf-filled gutter, or even get sucked into an attic vent. In many fires, the majority of homes are ignited this way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cox and his crew rushed around the evacuated neighborhoods, trying to stop the flames from spreading to neighboring homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But then they got to one subdivision that was, surprisingly, calm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The only thing we had to do was put out a couple palm trees and the plastic trash cans that were burning,” Cox said. “The houses were perfectly OK. It was amazing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Why?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The neighborhood had been designed and built with wildfire in mind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Built to Burn\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The transformation of Rancho Santa Fe into a fire-aware town had begun more than a decade earlier.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When I came into Rancho Santa Fe, I saw a community that was built to burn,” said Erwin Willis, who moved there to become fire chief in 1993 and has since retired. “It had large homes with shake roofs, narrow, windey roads, not a good water supply.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote align=\"right\" citation=\"Fred Cox, Rancho Santa Fe fire chief\"]‘We have a couple of inspectors, that’s all they do is check weeds and hazards, and it’s year-round … They get hammered every day until something happens, and then when something happens the people are really gracious.’[/pullquote]At the time, Rancho Santa Fe was growing, with new homes pushing farther into open space. Willis knew the risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The same communities burn over and over and over again,” he said. “How many times has Malibu burned? How many times has Santa Barbara burned? So if we don’t learn how to build in those areas, we’re going to keep losing lives and homes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So Willis started drafting \u003ca href=\"https://www.rsf-fire.org/new-construction/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">new building codes\u003c/a> for his district, requiring installations proven to protect homes, like noncombustible roofs, noncombustible siding, fire sprinklers and double-pane windows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The idea was far from mainstream at the time. It’s often more expensive to build homes with those features, and developers were concerned.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then in 1996, fires broke out all over Southern California, including one in San Diego.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1942429\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1942429 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Rancho-santa-fe2-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Rancho-santa-fe2-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Rancho-santa-fe2-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Rancho-santa-fe2-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Rancho-santa-fe2-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Rancho-santa-fe2-1200x676.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Rancho-santa-fe2.jpg 1476w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Homes in Rancho Santa Fe have noncombustible roofs and siding. There’s also no street parking on narrow roads. \u003ccite>(Lauren Sommer/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It’s generally much easier to get codes passed right after a fire,” Willis said. “So I took this code to our board right after that fire.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fire district’s board voted to adopt the new building codes. But the first real test didn’t come until 11 years later, with the Witch Fire. Willis watched it approach from a fire station.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Honestly, I was just hoping it was going to work,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And it did. No houses were lost in the newly built neighborhoods, while the older part of town lost about 50.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not long after, California passed similar building codes for all new homes built in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1917374/map-see-if-you-live-in-a-high-risk-fire-zone-and-what-that-means\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">fire-hazard zones\u003c/a>, as designated by statewide Cal Fire maps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Year-Round Inspections\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, even fire-resistant homes become less safe over time, because individual residents make small decisions that collectively put the entire community at risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So Rancho Santa Fe has tried to change how residents think about fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In some neighborhoods, street parking isn’t allowed in front of homes, since it would impede fire trucks on narrow roads. It’s not a popular rule when people want to throw a party.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fire district also strictly enforces state regulations governing weeds and brush. Californians in high fire-risk zones are required to manage vegetation within 100 feet of their homes, with the toughest requirements within 30 feet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That area is known as “\u003ca href=\"https://calfire.ca.gov/communications/communications_firesafety_100feet\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">defensible space\u003c/a>,” and meeting the requirements for maintaining it means clearing out dead leaves and brush, mowing weeds or grasses and establishing gaps between trees and shrubs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Enforcement of these rules is lax in some parts of the state, but not in Rancho Santa Fe. The fire district checks around 29,000 properties for compliance annually.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have a couple of inspectors, that’s all they do is check weeds and hazards, and it’s year-round,” Cox said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fire district has even \u003ca href=\"https://www.rsf-fire.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/116-Landscape_Plan_Check_Form.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">passed its own rules\u003c/a> above and beyond the state’s. No palm, pine or cypress trees are allowed within 30 feet of a home, because they’re too flammable. Mulch cannot be applied within 12 inches of a house, since it easily catches fire. Next year, the district expects to extend the mulch-free zone to 5 feet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If homeowners don’t comply with the rules, the district will hire a contractor to clear the vegetation, and the homeowner will get the bill. If they don’t pay, a lien can be put on their home to recoup the cost.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Inspectors get a lot of pushback, Cox says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They get hammered every day until something happens, and then when something happens the people are really gracious,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1942436\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1942436\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/GettyImages-77479367-edited-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/GettyImages-77479367-edited-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/GettyImages-77479367-edited-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/GettyImages-77479367-edited-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/GettyImages-77479367-edited-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/GettyImages-77479367-edited-1200x676.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/GettyImages-77479367-edited.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Northern Rancho Bernardo, hit by the 2007 Witch Fire. Homes are often ignited by embers that travel far ahead of wildfires, so while those homes burn, other homes can be left standing, even if they’re right next to each other. \u003ccite>(Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Hardening Homes\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even if a community takes all these steps to protect itself, there are no guarantees. Cal Fire says wildfires are becoming more unpredictable. The 2018 Carr Fire created a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1928143/reddings-firenado-was-not-your-garden-variety-fire-whirl\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">fire tornado\u003c/a> that lasted nearly an hour. And climate change is making fires more extreme.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s no such thing as a truly fire-safe community,” Cox said. “They can be safer, but in the environment we live in, nothing’s truly safe, 100% safe.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some worry that having tougher codes will encourage the building of new housing developments in risky fire areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The argument for their approval is that they will use materials, up to the latest fire-safe building codes, and that they’ll have defensible space and great evacuation routes,” said Alexandra Syphard, a fire scientist with SAGE Underwriters. “Many of the homes that burned in the recent years in California had all of those features, and they still burned because the fire was burning under unbelievable wind conditions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rancho Santa Fe’s fire programs also require financial resources, something that’s easier to come by in a higher-income community. The fire district is funded by local taxes on the town’s multimillion dollar homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Honestly, I get concerned … the only people that will be able to afford to live in natural environments will be the very wealthy,” said Chris Dicus, professor of wildland fire at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. “They’ll be the ones who can afford getting through the planning process, the actual building, etc.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Recent fires have shown that California’s wildfire building codes have helped \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1940012/newer-houses-much-less-damaged-in-camp-fire\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">save homes\u003c/a>. But the vast majority of houses at risk from wildfire were built before the 2008 regulations were put in place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have communities like Paradise all up and down the Sierras that were built a long time ago,” Dicus said. “So those homes are at extreme risk.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Older homes can be retrofitted with fire-safe roofs or siding. Less expensive retrofits, such as covering attic vents with a fine mesh screen, can also make a difference.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, state lawmakers had been considering \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB38\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">AB 38\u003c/a>, a bill that would have created a $1 billion fund to help homeowners make these improvements with low-interest loans or rebates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But after the money wasn’t included in the May revision of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s state budget, lawmakers removed the $1 billion amount. The legislation now creates the fund but without a specific number of dollars attached. It the bill passes, lawmakers will have to decide how much to fund it with in next year’s budget.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Hardening homes is profoundly important,” Newsom said in May. “I look forward to working with the Legislature to see if we can identify money along the lines of what we do for earthquake retrofitting.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dicus says that to really make California safer, everyone at risk from fire will have to work consistently to prevent it, whether it’s clearing vegetation, fixing homes or preparing evacuation plans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not going to be easy, but if we want to enjoy the quality of life here in California,” he said, “we’re going to have to make that a decision as a society to do so.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "As the 2007 Witch Fire engulfed the small town of Rancho Santa Fe in flames, some neighborhoods managed to escape burning. How did they do it? ",
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"description": "As the 2007 Witch Fire engulfed the small town of Rancho Santa Fe in flames, some neighborhoods managed to escape burning. How did they do it? ",
"title": "This California Neighborhood Was Built to Survive a Wildfire. And It Worked | KQED",
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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;\">I\u003c/span>n California, it’s a scene all too familiar: a late October day, the winds pick up, and a few sparks explode into a megafire, rapidly overtaking a community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2007, it was Rancho Santa Fe’s turn. It’s not a place you’d want to fight a fire — hundreds of homes sitting on rolling hillsides, surrounded by the scrubby chaparral common to northern San Diego County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘The same communities burn over and over and over again. How many times has Malibu burned? How many times has Santa Barbara burned? So if we don’t learn how to build in those areas, we’re going to keep losing lives and homes.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“It doesn’t get any worse than this,” said Rancho Santa Fe Fire Chief Fred Cox, looking out at the tidy subdivisions from a hilltop. “This is about as steep as it comes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rancho Santa Fe, like so many other California communities, sits on the vulnerable border between development and open space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Firefighters have a name for this: the wildland-urban interface. Essentially, it means things you don’t want to burn, like houses, have been built next to something that’s supposed to, the ecosystem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Oct. 21, 2007, the Santa Ana winds carried the \u003ca href=\"http://cdfdata.fire.ca.gov/incidents/incidents_details_info?incident_id=225\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Witch Fire\u003c/a> into town, the flames funneled through low valleys or “avenues of fire,” as Cox calls them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was like raining fire,” he said. “I remember going down some streets down here, La Breccia, and it’s like, man, if I go down there, I don’t know if I’m going to make it back out.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even before the fire actually hit, Cox had a problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The fire wasn’t even close, but we had homes burning,” he said. “I would drive down the road and it was, like: How did that house catch on fire?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1942427\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1942427 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Rancho-santa-fe1-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Rancho-santa-fe1-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Rancho-santa-fe1-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Rancho-santa-fe1-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Rancho-santa-fe1-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Rancho-santa-fe1-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Rancho-santa-fe1.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fire chief Fred Cox and forester Conor Lenehan look over the steep hillsides of Rancho Santa Fe. \u003ccite>(Lauren Sommer/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The answer was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1917346/wildfires-can-attack-your-house-from-the-inside-heres-how-to-prevent-it\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">embers\u003c/a>, blown far ahead of the fire front. They’d land on a wood roof or leaf-filled gutter, or even get sucked into an attic vent. In many fires, the majority of homes are ignited this way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cox and his crew rushed around the evacuated neighborhoods, trying to stop the flames from spreading to neighboring homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But then they got to one subdivision that was, surprisingly, calm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The only thing we had to do was put out a couple palm trees and the plastic trash cans that were burning,” Cox said. “The houses were perfectly OK. It was amazing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Why?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The neighborhood had been designed and built with wildfire in mind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Built to Burn\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The transformation of Rancho Santa Fe into a fire-aware town had begun more than a decade earlier.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When I came into Rancho Santa Fe, I saw a community that was built to burn,” said Erwin Willis, who moved there to become fire chief in 1993 and has since retired. “It had large homes with shake roofs, narrow, windey roads, not a good water supply.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>At the time, Rancho Santa Fe was growing, with new homes pushing farther into open space. Willis knew the risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The same communities burn over and over and over again,” he said. “How many times has Malibu burned? How many times has Santa Barbara burned? So if we don’t learn how to build in those areas, we’re going to keep losing lives and homes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So Willis started drafting \u003ca href=\"https://www.rsf-fire.org/new-construction/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">new building codes\u003c/a> for his district, requiring installations proven to protect homes, like noncombustible roofs, noncombustible siding, fire sprinklers and double-pane windows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The idea was far from mainstream at the time. It’s often more expensive to build homes with those features, and developers were concerned.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then in 1996, fires broke out all over Southern California, including one in San Diego.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1942429\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1942429 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Rancho-santa-fe2-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Rancho-santa-fe2-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Rancho-santa-fe2-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Rancho-santa-fe2-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Rancho-santa-fe2-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Rancho-santa-fe2-1200x676.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/Rancho-santa-fe2.jpg 1476w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Homes in Rancho Santa Fe have noncombustible roofs and siding. There’s also no street parking on narrow roads. \u003ccite>(Lauren Sommer/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It’s generally much easier to get codes passed right after a fire,” Willis said. “So I took this code to our board right after that fire.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fire district’s board voted to adopt the new building codes. But the first real test didn’t come until 11 years later, with the Witch Fire. Willis watched it approach from a fire station.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Honestly, I was just hoping it was going to work,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And it did. No houses were lost in the newly built neighborhoods, while the older part of town lost about 50.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not long after, California passed similar building codes for all new homes built in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1917374/map-see-if-you-live-in-a-high-risk-fire-zone-and-what-that-means\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">fire-hazard zones\u003c/a>, as designated by statewide Cal Fire maps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Year-Round Inspections\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, even fire-resistant homes become less safe over time, because individual residents make small decisions that collectively put the entire community at risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So Rancho Santa Fe has tried to change how residents think about fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In some neighborhoods, street parking isn’t allowed in front of homes, since it would impede fire trucks on narrow roads. It’s not a popular rule when people want to throw a party.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fire district also strictly enforces state regulations governing weeds and brush. Californians in high fire-risk zones are required to manage vegetation within 100 feet of their homes, with the toughest requirements within 30 feet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That area is known as “\u003ca href=\"https://calfire.ca.gov/communications/communications_firesafety_100feet\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">defensible space\u003c/a>,” and meeting the requirements for maintaining it means clearing out dead leaves and brush, mowing weeds or grasses and establishing gaps between trees and shrubs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Enforcement of these rules is lax in some parts of the state, but not in Rancho Santa Fe. The fire district checks around 29,000 properties for compliance annually.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have a couple of inspectors, that’s all they do is check weeds and hazards, and it’s year-round,” Cox said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fire district has even \u003ca href=\"https://www.rsf-fire.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/116-Landscape_Plan_Check_Form.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">passed its own rules\u003c/a> above and beyond the state’s. No palm, pine or cypress trees are allowed within 30 feet of a home, because they’re too flammable. Mulch cannot be applied within 12 inches of a house, since it easily catches fire. Next year, the district expects to extend the mulch-free zone to 5 feet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If homeowners don’t comply with the rules, the district will hire a contractor to clear the vegetation, and the homeowner will get the bill. If they don’t pay, a lien can be put on their home to recoup the cost.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Inspectors get a lot of pushback, Cox says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They get hammered every day until something happens, and then when something happens the people are really gracious,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1942436\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1942436\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/GettyImages-77479367-edited-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/GettyImages-77479367-edited-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/GettyImages-77479367-edited-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/GettyImages-77479367-edited-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/GettyImages-77479367-edited-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/GettyImages-77479367-edited-1200x676.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/05/GettyImages-77479367-edited.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Northern Rancho Bernardo, hit by the 2007 Witch Fire. Homes are often ignited by embers that travel far ahead of wildfires, so while those homes burn, other homes can be left standing, even if they’re right next to each other. \u003ccite>(Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Hardening Homes\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even if a community takes all these steps to protect itself, there are no guarantees. Cal Fire says wildfires are becoming more unpredictable. The 2018 Carr Fire created a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1928143/reddings-firenado-was-not-your-garden-variety-fire-whirl\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">fire tornado\u003c/a> that lasted nearly an hour. And climate change is making fires more extreme.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s no such thing as a truly fire-safe community,” Cox said. “They can be safer, but in the environment we live in, nothing’s truly safe, 100% safe.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some worry that having tougher codes will encourage the building of new housing developments in risky fire areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The argument for their approval is that they will use materials, up to the latest fire-safe building codes, and that they’ll have defensible space and great evacuation routes,” said Alexandra Syphard, a fire scientist with SAGE Underwriters. “Many of the homes that burned in the recent years in California had all of those features, and they still burned because the fire was burning under unbelievable wind conditions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rancho Santa Fe’s fire programs also require financial resources, something that’s easier to come by in a higher-income community. The fire district is funded by local taxes on the town’s multimillion dollar homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Honestly, I get concerned … the only people that will be able to afford to live in natural environments will be the very wealthy,” said Chris Dicus, professor of wildland fire at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. “They’ll be the ones who can afford getting through the planning process, the actual building, etc.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Recent fires have shown that California’s wildfire building codes have helped \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1940012/newer-houses-much-less-damaged-in-camp-fire\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">save homes\u003c/a>. But the vast majority of houses at risk from wildfire were built before the 2008 regulations were put in place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have communities like Paradise all up and down the Sierras that were built a long time ago,” Dicus said. “So those homes are at extreme risk.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Older homes can be retrofitted with fire-safe roofs or siding. Less expensive retrofits, such as covering attic vents with a fine mesh screen, can also make a difference.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, state lawmakers had been considering \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB38\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">AB 38\u003c/a>, a bill that would have created a $1 billion fund to help homeowners make these improvements with low-interest loans or rebates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But after the money wasn’t included in the May revision of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s state budget, lawmakers removed the $1 billion amount. The legislation now creates the fund but without a specific number of dollars attached. It the bill passes, lawmakers will have to decide how much to fund it with in next year’s budget.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Hardening homes is profoundly important,” Newsom said in May. “I look forward to working with the Legislature to see if we can identify money along the lines of what we do for earthquake retrofitting.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dicus says that to really make California safer, everyone at risk from fire will have to work consistently to prevent it, whether it’s clearing vegetation, fixing homes or preparing evacuation plans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not going to be easy, but if we want to enjoy the quality of life here in California,” he said, “we’re going to have to make that a decision as a society to do so.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "California Lagging Way Behind Southeast in Prescribed Burns to Curb Wildfire",
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"content": "\u003cp>Federal agencies are not performing enough prescribed burns in California and other Western states to curb the risk of wildfire, even as the practice has been adopted more widely by land managers in other regions in the U.S. That’s according to a new \u003ca href=\"https://assets.climatecentral.org/pdfs/2019Wildfires_kolden_prescribed_fire_trends_embargoed.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">analysis \u003c/a>published Wednesday in the journal \u003cem>Fire\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='science_1927354,science_1134217,science_1917346']Prescribed fires are deliberately ignited by forest managers to burn away brush and vegetation that can act as fuel during an uncontrolled wildfire. These prescribed burns are widely considered to be an \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1927354/controlled-burns-can-help-solve-californias-fire-problem-so-why-arent-there-more-of-them\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">effective tool\u003c/a> in reducing wildfire risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The paper, published by fire researcher Crystal Kolden, found that between 1998 and 2018, the number of acres subjected to prescribed burns skyrocketed in the Southeast while basically remaining flat in both Northern and Southern California. Less than 3% of all controlled burns in the U.S. occurred in the state, while 70 percent occurred in the Southeast. Kolden used data from the National Interagency Fire Center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/N9fC2/5/\" width=\"100%\" height=\"500\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Maya Miller, a reporter who worked on a \u003ca href=\"https://assets.climatecentral.org/pdfs/May2019_Report_The_Burning_Solution.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">research brief\u003c/a> on the study for \u003ca href=\"https://climatecentral.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Climate Central\u003c/a>, told KQED’s Brian Watt Wednesday that California is lagging in its use of prescribed burns as a wildfire mitigation tool.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Further analysis state by state shows that California has been burning at one of the lowest rates nationwide,” Miller said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, federal agencies continue to spend considerably more on fire suppression than on prescribed burns, according to data analyzed by Climate Central.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lack of Acceptance in the West\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to helping prevent catastrophic wildfires, prescribed burns are good for overall forest health and can restore balance to ecological processes disrupted by years of fire suppression.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The study notes that prescribed burns produce smoke that can create bad air quality. In rare circumstances, prescribed fires have grown out of control. Kolden, in her paper, suggests that these factors contribute to “social barriers” that have disincentivized fire managers, particularly on the federal level, from utilizing prescribed burns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wildfire smoke, however, contains three times as much pollution as smoke from prescribed fires, according to a groundbreaking 2017 study \u003ca href=\"https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/2016JD026315\">published\u003c/a> in the \u003cem>Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Miller said prescribed fires that burn out of control are rare.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a risk and a contributing factor as to why some agencies have been more skeptical to embrace the practice,” she said. “Having said that, when agencies do cultivate the skill set to be able to conduct a burn in a safe way, 99 percent of the time it’s a safe and productive tool to use.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In February, Cal Fire published a \u003ca href=\"http://www.fire.ca.gov/downloads/45-Day%20Report-FINAL.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">report\u003c/a> that found the state’s forests were being poorly managed by state, federal and private landowners. The report recommended California immediately start to reduce its fuel load. On March 22, Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2019/03/22/governor-newsom-proclaims-state-of-emergency-on-wildfires-to-protect-states-most-vulnerable-communities/\">state of emergency on wildfires\u003c/a> and approved a plan to speed up prescribed burn projects in some locations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Jon Brooks contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Federal agencies are not performing enough prescribed burns in California and other Western states to curb the risk of wildfire, even as the practice has been adopted more widely by land managers in other regions in the U.S. That’s according to a new \u003ca href=\"https://assets.climatecentral.org/pdfs/2019Wildfires_kolden_prescribed_fire_trends_embargoed.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">analysis \u003c/a>published Wednesday in the journal \u003cem>Fire\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Prescribed fires are deliberately ignited by forest managers to burn away brush and vegetation that can act as fuel during an uncontrolled wildfire. These prescribed burns are widely considered to be an \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1927354/controlled-burns-can-help-solve-californias-fire-problem-so-why-arent-there-more-of-them\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">effective tool\u003c/a> in reducing wildfire risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The paper, published by fire researcher Crystal Kolden, found that between 1998 and 2018, the number of acres subjected to prescribed burns skyrocketed in the Southeast while basically remaining flat in both Northern and Southern California. Less than 3% of all controlled burns in the U.S. occurred in the state, while 70 percent occurred in the Southeast. Kolden used data from the National Interagency Fire Center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/N9fC2/5/\" width=\"100%\" height=\"500\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Maya Miller, a reporter who worked on a \u003ca href=\"https://assets.climatecentral.org/pdfs/May2019_Report_The_Burning_Solution.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">research brief\u003c/a> on the study for \u003ca href=\"https://climatecentral.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Climate Central\u003c/a>, told KQED’s Brian Watt Wednesday that California is lagging in its use of prescribed burns as a wildfire mitigation tool.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Further analysis state by state shows that California has been burning at one of the lowest rates nationwide,” Miller said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, federal agencies continue to spend considerably more on fire suppression than on prescribed burns, according to data analyzed by Climate Central.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lack of Acceptance in the West\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to helping prevent catastrophic wildfires, prescribed burns are good for overall forest health and can restore balance to ecological processes disrupted by years of fire suppression.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The study notes that prescribed burns produce smoke that can create bad air quality. In rare circumstances, prescribed fires have grown out of control. Kolden, in her paper, suggests that these factors contribute to “social barriers” that have disincentivized fire managers, particularly on the federal level, from utilizing prescribed burns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wildfire smoke, however, contains three times as much pollution as smoke from prescribed fires, according to a groundbreaking 2017 study \u003ca href=\"https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/2016JD026315\">published\u003c/a> in the \u003cem>Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Miller said prescribed fires that burn out of control are rare.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a risk and a contributing factor as to why some agencies have been more skeptical to embrace the practice,” she said. “Having said that, when agencies do cultivate the skill set to be able to conduct a burn in a safe way, 99 percent of the time it’s a safe and productive tool to use.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In February, Cal Fire published a \u003ca href=\"http://www.fire.ca.gov/downloads/45-Day%20Report-FINAL.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">report\u003c/a> that found the state’s forests were being poorly managed by state, federal and private landowners. The report recommended California immediately start to reduce its fuel load. On March 22, Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2019/03/22/governor-newsom-proclaims-state-of-emergency-on-wildfires-to-protect-states-most-vulnerable-communities/\">state of emergency on wildfires\u003c/a> and approved a plan to speed up prescribed burn projects in some locations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Jon Brooks contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "PG&E Wants to Make a Massive Investment in Weather Stations. Here’s Why",
"headTitle": "PG&E Wants to Make a Massive Investment in Weather Stations. Here’s Why | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>The fire that \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11654027/my-world-was-burning-the-north-bay-fires-and-what-went-wrong\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ripped across the North Bay hills in 2017\u003c/a> was propelled by hurricane-force winds in some places, even as weather stations in the flat lands of Santa Rosa and Napa registered little more than a breeze.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The same was true in the town of Paradise when it was consumed by the Camp Fire. The winds near Paradise were blowing hard and fast, propelling the fire forward, says Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at UCLA. However just a few miles away in the Sacramento Valley, the winds were nearly calm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In many cases, there haven’t been weather stations in close enough proximity to these fires to get a really good handle of what the conditions are actually like on the ground — we are essentially poking around in the dark,” says Swain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Following years of deadly wildfires sparked by faulty electrical equipment, the California Legislature \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11689873/california-legislature-passes-major-reforms-to-wildfire-law\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">passed a law\u003c/a> last August requiring power utilities to come up with detailed proposals to reduce the risk of blazes. On May 30, the California Public Utilities Commission voted unanimously to approve PG&E’s proposal, which includes the construction of hundreds of new weather stations across its Northern California territory. The company’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11750455/what-you-need-to-know-about-pges-state-mandated-wildfire-mitigation-plan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">wildfire plan\u003c/a> could cost billions of dollars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s rich landscape of rolling hills and steep canyons has potentially hundreds of thousands of microclimates, which makes fire prediction an incredible challenge. That’s why PG&E plans to build a dense network of weather stations, which they hope will illuminate the humidity, wind speed and temperature of Northern California’s varied landscape.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Power Shutdown\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Regulators also unanimously approved a related plan to shut off power to areas of the electrical grid when wildfire risk is extreme.\u003cb> \u003c/b>Turning off consumer’s electricity has provoked \u003ca href=\"https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/Supervisor-Warns-SDGE-Be-Careful-with-Power-Shut-Offs-462920363.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">outcry in the past\u003c/a>, but lawmakers and regulators agree that it is — for now — necessary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The risk associated with another fire like the North Bay fires or the Camp Fire makes power shut downs a viable alternative, sadly,” says State Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa. “We cannot have our utilities creating these massive wildfires and have the associated risk of ratepayers having to pay these costs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the proceedings, CPUC President Michael Picker said that because of the increasing threat of wildfire, utilities are expanding on their “current strategies for weather tracking, and more precise and local predictive modeling for wildfires.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are seeing weather conditions in portions of the state that have never been observed before, are not in the meteorological record, and certainly aren’t as granular as we need to be able to provide very precise and local kinds of situational awareness, which then can help us focus and isolate areas of risk and only cut power in those very specific areas,” Picker said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Picker also announced that he will step down from his position as CPUC president later this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PG&E’s plan is, in part, inspired by changes that another utility, San Diego Gas & Electric, made after its power lines ignited wildfires in 2007 and the company\u003ca href=\"https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sdut-fire-lawsuit-witch-creek-settled-electric-2014dec05-story.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> shelled out billions in damages\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2010, SDG&E installed a weather station in every circuit of its territory that had a high risk of fire, and in 2011, they added more. Meteorologists say that information derived from the stations dramatically improved their understanding of local weather patterns and has aided in their predictions of wildfire behavior.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On May 23\u003cstrong>, \u003c/strong>wildfire legislation proposed by Sen. Dodd \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11750339/fire-weather-stations-could-get-expanded-under-state-bill\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">cleared the state Senate\u003c/a>; the two bills compel the state to coordinate with PG&E and other utilities on where weather stations are deployed. They also create a state wildfire warning center and a fire threat potential index.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need to be more proactive in the state of California and have a wildfire warning center where we’ve got data points all throughout the state of California,” Dodd says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Plan\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PG&E’s proposal includes:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Installing an estimated 1,300 new weather stations by 2022, one for about every 20 circuit-miles in its highest fire risk areas. Currently, the utility has just over 350 weather stations across its territory, according to its meteorologists. PG&E will power down the grid based on information from predictive weather models, and overtime, the stations will improve the models. Additionally, weather data will be publicly available.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Fixing approximately 600 high-definition cameras across its territory. PG&E, Cal Fire, and other agencies will use them to confirm wildfires. You can think of a camera as a \u003ca href=\"https://www.marketplace.org/2018/10/26/rekindling-fire-lookout-towers/\">fire\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.marketplace.org/2018/10/26/rekindling-fire-lookout-towers/\">look\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.marketplace.org/2018/10/26/rekindling-fire-lookout-towers/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">out\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.marketplace.org/2018/10/26/rekindling-fire-lookout-towers/\">tower\u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.marketplace.org/2018/10/26/rekindling-fire-lookout-towers/\"> 2.0\u003c/a>. The cameras can pan, zoom, and stream images right to fire agencies, and they have near infrared capabilities — so they work at night, too. Thirty cameras are working now, and a live stream is available\u003ca href=\"http://www.alertwildfire.org/northbay/index.html\"> here\u003c/a>.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Fire detection capabilities provided by NOAA’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1936435/new-satellite-can-provide-immediate-wildfire-warning-but-first-the-govt-shutdown-has-to-end\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">GOES-R series\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1936435/new-satellite-can-provide-immediate-wildfire-warning-but-first-the-govt-shutdown-has-to-end\">satellites\u003c/a>, which rotate in sync with the Earth and scan California once a minute, and from three polar orbiting satellites — NASA’s Aqua, Terra, and VIIRS — that pass over the state each day. The utility’s meteorologists will use the satellites to identify when a wildfire breaks out in near real-time. This is helpful, but not groundbreaking, as the cameras and lookout towers can do the same. But, in filings with the CPUC, PG&E says it will pilot a system that disseminates alerts through a web application and emails to its team. For now, those alerts will stay in-house, but PG&E’s meteorologists hope in the future to notify fire agencies and the public.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Following San Diego \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before SDG&E installed additional weather stations, meteorologists generally understood that the hot, dry Santa Ana winds sped up as they whipped through passes and canyons. They assumed the acceleration stemmed from the Venturi effect — when air or water speeds up as it’s forced through a constricted area, like a thumb on the end of a garden hose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But using information from the weather stations — which now number 177 across San Diego County and parts of Orange County — meteorologists discovered that strong winds reached speeds upward of 100 mph on the hill and mountain slopes, too. That led the utility to replace some wood poles with steel poles and install stronger wires, in places, to better withstand the extreme winds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brian D’Agostino, director of the fire science and climate adaptation program at SDG&E, says the utility learned a great deal about how the Santa Ana winds behave.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We knew they were strong, but we didn’t realize we were having 100 miles-per-hour winds in our backcountry,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Northern California doesn’t have Santa Ana winds, but the region has strong gusts, sometimes called Diablo or Mono winds, according to Scott Strenfel, supervisor of meteorology operations and analytics for PG&E. He says there’s a lot the utility can learn about these winds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re hoping that we’re going to start to tease out some similar learnings of where these events are the most impactful,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Power Downs\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of course, the traditional mark of success in the utility business is keeping the lights on, not shutting them off, but the state’s deadly wildfires have reached a crisis point.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom addressed the power shutdowns while introducing his latest \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1941438/millions-for-climate-environmental-priorities-in-newsoms-may-budget\">budget\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1941438/millions-for-climate-environmental-priorities-in-newsoms-may-budget\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">proposal\u003c/a>, which includes $75 million to study the shutoffs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m worried about it,” he says. “We are all worried about it for [the] elderly. People’s power could be shut off not for a day or two, but potentially a week.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State leaders say the policy is temporary, but it’s still unknown how long it will be used. Extreme fire conditions happen multiple times a year in California, which means every year communities could be without power for days or even a week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UCLA’s Swain says officials will need to carefully decide when to power the grid down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s going to be a balancing act between deciding when it will cause more harm than good to shut off the power to thousands of people, or in which cases it will prevent a potential wildfire catastrophe.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "California's rich landscape of rolling hills and steep canyons has potentially hundreds of thousands of microclimates, which makes fire prediction an incredible challenge. That’s why PG&E wants to build a dense network of weather stations, which they hope will illuminate where the winds blow the hardest in Northern California.",
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"description": "California's rich landscape of rolling hills and steep canyons has potentially hundreds of thousands of microclimates, which makes fire prediction an incredible challenge. That’s why PG&E wants to build a dense network of weather stations, which they hope will illuminate where the winds blow the hardest in Northern California.",
"title": "PG&E Wants to Make a Massive Investment in Weather Stations. Here’s Why | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The fire that \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11654027/my-world-was-burning-the-north-bay-fires-and-what-went-wrong\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ripped across the North Bay hills in 2017\u003c/a> was propelled by hurricane-force winds in some places, even as weather stations in the flat lands of Santa Rosa and Napa registered little more than a breeze.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The same was true in the town of Paradise when it was consumed by the Camp Fire. The winds near Paradise were blowing hard and fast, propelling the fire forward, says Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at UCLA. However just a few miles away in the Sacramento Valley, the winds were nearly calm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In many cases, there haven’t been weather stations in close enough proximity to these fires to get a really good handle of what the conditions are actually like on the ground — we are essentially poking around in the dark,” says Swain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Following years of deadly wildfires sparked by faulty electrical equipment, the California Legislature \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11689873/california-legislature-passes-major-reforms-to-wildfire-law\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">passed a law\u003c/a> last August requiring power utilities to come up with detailed proposals to reduce the risk of blazes. On May 30, the California Public Utilities Commission voted unanimously to approve PG&E’s proposal, which includes the construction of hundreds of new weather stations across its Northern California territory. The company’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11750455/what-you-need-to-know-about-pges-state-mandated-wildfire-mitigation-plan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">wildfire plan\u003c/a> could cost billions of dollars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s rich landscape of rolling hills and steep canyons has potentially hundreds of thousands of microclimates, which makes fire prediction an incredible challenge. That’s why PG&E plans to build a dense network of weather stations, which they hope will illuminate the humidity, wind speed and temperature of Northern California’s varied landscape.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Power Shutdown\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Regulators also unanimously approved a related plan to shut off power to areas of the electrical grid when wildfire risk is extreme.\u003cb> \u003c/b>Turning off consumer’s electricity has provoked \u003ca href=\"https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/Supervisor-Warns-SDGE-Be-Careful-with-Power-Shut-Offs-462920363.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">outcry in the past\u003c/a>, but lawmakers and regulators agree that it is — for now — necessary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The risk associated with another fire like the North Bay fires or the Camp Fire makes power shut downs a viable alternative, sadly,” says State Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa. “We cannot have our utilities creating these massive wildfires and have the associated risk of ratepayers having to pay these costs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the proceedings, CPUC President Michael Picker said that because of the increasing threat of wildfire, utilities are expanding on their “current strategies for weather tracking, and more precise and local predictive modeling for wildfires.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are seeing weather conditions in portions of the state that have never been observed before, are not in the meteorological record, and certainly aren’t as granular as we need to be able to provide very precise and local kinds of situational awareness, which then can help us focus and isolate areas of risk and only cut power in those very specific areas,” Picker said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Picker also announced that he will step down from his position as CPUC president later this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PG&E’s plan is, in part, inspired by changes that another utility, San Diego Gas & Electric, made after its power lines ignited wildfires in 2007 and the company\u003ca href=\"https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sdut-fire-lawsuit-witch-creek-settled-electric-2014dec05-story.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> shelled out billions in damages\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2010, SDG&E installed a weather station in every circuit of its territory that had a high risk of fire, and in 2011, they added more. Meteorologists say that information derived from the stations dramatically improved their understanding of local weather patterns and has aided in their predictions of wildfire behavior.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On May 23\u003cstrong>, \u003c/strong>wildfire legislation proposed by Sen. Dodd \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11750339/fire-weather-stations-could-get-expanded-under-state-bill\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">cleared the state Senate\u003c/a>; the two bills compel the state to coordinate with PG&E and other utilities on where weather stations are deployed. They also create a state wildfire warning center and a fire threat potential index.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need to be more proactive in the state of California and have a wildfire warning center where we’ve got data points all throughout the state of California,” Dodd says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Plan\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PG&E’s proposal includes:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Installing an estimated 1,300 new weather stations by 2022, one for about every 20 circuit-miles in its highest fire risk areas. Currently, the utility has just over 350 weather stations across its territory, according to its meteorologists. PG&E will power down the grid based on information from predictive weather models, and overtime, the stations will improve the models. Additionally, weather data will be publicly available.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Fixing approximately 600 high-definition cameras across its territory. PG&E, Cal Fire, and other agencies will use them to confirm wildfires. You can think of a camera as a \u003ca href=\"https://www.marketplace.org/2018/10/26/rekindling-fire-lookout-towers/\">fire\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.marketplace.org/2018/10/26/rekindling-fire-lookout-towers/\">look\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.marketplace.org/2018/10/26/rekindling-fire-lookout-towers/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">out\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.marketplace.org/2018/10/26/rekindling-fire-lookout-towers/\">tower\u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.marketplace.org/2018/10/26/rekindling-fire-lookout-towers/\"> 2.0\u003c/a>. The cameras can pan, zoom, and stream images right to fire agencies, and they have near infrared capabilities — so they work at night, too. Thirty cameras are working now, and a live stream is available\u003ca href=\"http://www.alertwildfire.org/northbay/index.html\"> here\u003c/a>.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Fire detection capabilities provided by NOAA’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1936435/new-satellite-can-provide-immediate-wildfire-warning-but-first-the-govt-shutdown-has-to-end\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">GOES-R series\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1936435/new-satellite-can-provide-immediate-wildfire-warning-but-first-the-govt-shutdown-has-to-end\">satellites\u003c/a>, which rotate in sync with the Earth and scan California once a minute, and from three polar orbiting satellites — NASA’s Aqua, Terra, and VIIRS — that pass over the state each day. The utility’s meteorologists will use the satellites to identify when a wildfire breaks out in near real-time. This is helpful, but not groundbreaking, as the cameras and lookout towers can do the same. But, in filings with the CPUC, PG&E says it will pilot a system that disseminates alerts through a web application and emails to its team. For now, those alerts will stay in-house, but PG&E’s meteorologists hope in the future to notify fire agencies and the public.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Following San Diego \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before SDG&E installed additional weather stations, meteorologists generally understood that the hot, dry Santa Ana winds sped up as they whipped through passes and canyons. They assumed the acceleration stemmed from the Venturi effect — when air or water speeds up as it’s forced through a constricted area, like a thumb on the end of a garden hose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But using information from the weather stations — which now number 177 across San Diego County and parts of Orange County — meteorologists discovered that strong winds reached speeds upward of 100 mph on the hill and mountain slopes, too. That led the utility to replace some wood poles with steel poles and install stronger wires, in places, to better withstand the extreme winds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brian D’Agostino, director of the fire science and climate adaptation program at SDG&E, says the utility learned a great deal about how the Santa Ana winds behave.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We knew they were strong, but we didn’t realize we were having 100 miles-per-hour winds in our backcountry,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Northern California doesn’t have Santa Ana winds, but the region has strong gusts, sometimes called Diablo or Mono winds, according to Scott Strenfel, supervisor of meteorology operations and analytics for PG&E. He says there’s a lot the utility can learn about these winds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re hoping that we’re going to start to tease out some similar learnings of where these events are the most impactful,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Power Downs\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of course, the traditional mark of success in the utility business is keeping the lights on, not shutting them off, but the state’s deadly wildfires have reached a crisis point.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom addressed the power shutdowns while introducing his latest \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1941438/millions-for-climate-environmental-priorities-in-newsoms-may-budget\">budget\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1941438/millions-for-climate-environmental-priorities-in-newsoms-may-budget\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">proposal\u003c/a>, which includes $75 million to study the shutoffs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m worried about it,” he says. “We are all worried about it for [the] elderly. People’s power could be shut off not for a day or two, but potentially a week.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State leaders say the policy is temporary, but it’s still unknown how long it will be used. Extreme fire conditions happen multiple times a year in California, which means every year communities could be without power for days or even a week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UCLA’s Swain says officials will need to carefully decide when to power the grid down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s going to be a balancing act between deciding when it will cause more harm than good to shut off the power to thousands of people, or in which cases it will prevent a potential wildfire catastrophe.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Millions for Climate, Environmental Priorities in Newsom’s May Budget",
"headTitle": "Millions for Climate, Environmental Priorities in Newsom’s May Budget | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>California Gov. Gavin Newsom threw some more money into the environmental pot Thursday as part of the state’s May budget revision. The new funding includes about $250 million for climate-related programs, thanks to the state’s cap-and-trade program, and $75 million to fund an assessment of wildfire protection plans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The update of his January budget proposal, required by the state constitution, reflects tax revenue collected through April 15. The record $213.5 billion spending plan includes about $4 billion in additional revenue above his January budget. The Legislature now has until June 15 to pass a budget for the 2019-20 fiscal year, which begins July 1.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A small portion of the extra funding is related to the state’s announcement yesterday that it would begin the process of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1941369/california-moves-to-ban-chlorpyrifos-widely-used-pesticide\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">banning\u003c/a> the widely used pesticide chlorpyrifos, which studies have shown harms brain development in young children. The budget now includes $5.7 million for research and development into safer alternatives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his public address today, Newsom responded to environmental critics who said the pesticide should be immediately banned, rather than phased out over as many as three years. “The reason we can’t phase it out tomorrow: If we do, we’ll replace it with even more toxic substances,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom also defended a controversial tax on water bills that would fund programs to rebuild broken or degraded drinking water infrastructure in some of the state’s poorest communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are going to get a water deal,” he said. “That’ll be a proud day, when the Legislature and the governor can align on providing a basic fundamental right. That’s clean and drinkable water at an affordable price for the most vulnerable Californians.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state estimates that 1 million Californians lack access to safe drinking water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In March, Newsom floated a plan that could charge most water customers about 95 cents more each month, with heavy users paying up to $10 more. That idea was met with resistance from the Association of California Water Agencies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, Newsom signaled he was wide open to negotiations on the tax.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m not consumed by process, but by outcome,” he said. “We have three or four creative ideas that I’m not going to illuminate you on because I want to get to a solution. But we will get to a solution.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cap and Trade\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s cap-and-trade auctions performed strongly, and the budget includes an extra $251.5 million in cap-and-trade money to promote climate-friendly housing development and sustainability projects. The money includes investments in:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>$92 million for transit-oriented development and “neighborhood projects” that reduce emissions in heavily polluted neighborhoods.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>$130 million for clean-energy vehicle programs. This includes $65 million to replace and upgrade agricultural vehicles, $50 million for electrifying semi-trucks and buses incentives, and $15 million for programs that help people replace old cars with electric vehicles.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>$20 million for “climate smart agriculture.” That includes $10 million for the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1940561/california-has-farmers-growing-weeds-why-to-capture-carbon\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Healthy Soils program\u003c/a> to increase carbon sequestration, the process of removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Additionally, the budget includes $10 million for methane reduction programs.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>$8 million as part of ongoing funding for job training programs—mostly apprenticeships and workforce development initiatives—to help the state transition to a completely carbon neutral economy. The revise also includes $1.5 million for a study to outline “key actions the state must take to transition toward a carbon-neutral economy.”\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Wildfire Protection\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Beyond climate policy, Newsom’s proposal includes $75 million to study shutting down the power grid in certain areas when the risk of wildfire is high. Officials plan to cut power to some communities during windy and hot conditions—a preventative measure to keep utility infrastructure from sparking a fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom said the effects of those shutdowns were worrying.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Public power shutdowns: It’s coming,” he said. “It’s happening soon. I’m worried about it. We are all worried about it for [the] elderly. People’s power could be shut off not for a day or two but potentially a week.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos contributed to this post.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>California Gov. Gavin Newsom threw some more money into the environmental pot Thursday as part of the state’s May budget revision. The new funding includes about $250 million for climate-related programs, thanks to the state’s cap-and-trade program, and $75 million to fund an assessment of wildfire protection plans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The update of his January budget proposal, required by the state constitution, reflects tax revenue collected through April 15. The record $213.5 billion spending plan includes about $4 billion in additional revenue above his January budget. The Legislature now has until June 15 to pass a budget for the 2019-20 fiscal year, which begins July 1.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A small portion of the extra funding is related to the state’s announcement yesterday that it would begin the process of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1941369/california-moves-to-ban-chlorpyrifos-widely-used-pesticide\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">banning\u003c/a> the widely used pesticide chlorpyrifos, which studies have shown harms brain development in young children. The budget now includes $5.7 million for research and development into safer alternatives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his public address today, Newsom responded to environmental critics who said the pesticide should be immediately banned, rather than phased out over as many as three years. “The reason we can’t phase it out tomorrow: If we do, we’ll replace it with even more toxic substances,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom also defended a controversial tax on water bills that would fund programs to rebuild broken or degraded drinking water infrastructure in some of the state’s poorest communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are going to get a water deal,” he said. “That’ll be a proud day, when the Legislature and the governor can align on providing a basic fundamental right. That’s clean and drinkable water at an affordable price for the most vulnerable Californians.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state estimates that 1 million Californians lack access to safe drinking water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In March, Newsom floated a plan that could charge most water customers about 95 cents more each month, with heavy users paying up to $10 more. That idea was met with resistance from the Association of California Water Agencies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, Newsom signaled he was wide open to negotiations on the tax.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m not consumed by process, but by outcome,” he said. “We have three or four creative ideas that I’m not going to illuminate you on because I want to get to a solution. But we will get to a solution.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cap and Trade\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s cap-and-trade auctions performed strongly, and the budget includes an extra $251.5 million in cap-and-trade money to promote climate-friendly housing development and sustainability projects. The money includes investments in:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>$92 million for transit-oriented development and “neighborhood projects” that reduce emissions in heavily polluted neighborhoods.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>$130 million for clean-energy vehicle programs. This includes $65 million to replace and upgrade agricultural vehicles, $50 million for electrifying semi-trucks and buses incentives, and $15 million for programs that help people replace old cars with electric vehicles.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>$20 million for “climate smart agriculture.” That includes $10 million for the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1940561/california-has-farmers-growing-weeds-why-to-capture-carbon\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Healthy Soils program\u003c/a> to increase carbon sequestration, the process of removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Additionally, the budget includes $10 million for methane reduction programs.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>$8 million as part of ongoing funding for job training programs—mostly apprenticeships and workforce development initiatives—to help the state transition to a completely carbon neutral economy. The revise also includes $1.5 million for a study to outline “key actions the state must take to transition toward a carbon-neutral economy.”\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Wildfire Protection\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Beyond climate policy, Newsom’s proposal includes $75 million to study shutting down the power grid in certain areas when the risk of wildfire is high. Officials plan to cut power to some communities during windy and hot conditions—a preventative measure to keep utility infrastructure from sparking a fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom said the effects of those shutdowns were worrying.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Public power shutdowns: It’s coming,” he said. “It’s happening soon. I’m worried about it. We are all worried about it for [the] elderly. People’s power could be shut off not for a day or two but potentially a week.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos contributed to this post.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>In April, Interior Secretary David Bernhardt said the Trump administration was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1940755/u-s-interior-secretary-says-plans-for-offshore-drilling-are-now-on-hold\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">putting on hold\u003c/a> its \u003ca href=\"https://www.boem.gov/NP-DPP-Map-Lower-48-States/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">plans\u003c/a> to open up more coastal waters to oil and gas drilling, including off the coast of California. The decision follows a defeat in federal court and lots of pushback from coastal states, some of which supported Trump in 2016.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size='medium' align='right' citation='Richard Charter, The Ocean Foundation']‘The first thing we always hear from the industry is, “Don’t worry, be happy. We will not have another accident.” And that’s usually shortly before they have another accident.’[/pullquote]It’s been 35 years since new federal leases for drilling along the Pacific coast have been issued. Polls show that a \u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/blog/majority-opposition-drilling-includes-coastal-republicans/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">vast majority\u003c/a> of Californians and \u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/blog/majority-opposition-drilling-includes-coastal-republicans/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">most Americans\u003c/a> oppose offshore drilling. But while the practice is banned in state waters, without federal legislation the possibility for renewed production more than 3 miles from shore still remains.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.oceanfdn.org/our-story/fellows-and-heroes\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Richard Charter\u003c/a>\u003c/strong> is a longtime ocean protection advocate. He talked with KQED’s Brian Watt about the Trump administration’s efforts to upend longstanding policy on the issue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The following excerpts have been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What are the risks from offshore drilling?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The risks begin with the initial drilling, because there are routine discharges into the ocean that just happen day to day from normal operations. So you don’t need to have an accident to have toxics going into your near-shore coastal waters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the big risk, of course, and sort of the poster child for the worst-case scenario, was the \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/tags/127366081/deepwater-horizon\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Deepwater Horizon\u003c/a> accident in the Gulf of Mexico, which of course was many orders of magnitude greater than the \u003ca href=\"https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-oil-spill-50-years-ago-inspired-first-earth-day-180972007/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Santa Barbara blowout\u003c/a> in 1969. If you release oil that is under pressure, under the seabed, into the ocean in an uncontrolled fashion, and you can’t shut it off, it can continue for months or years. A scenario like Deepwater Horizon that happens off the coast of California would wipe out your commercial fishing industry and your coastal-dependent tourism industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Can Trump get this done in California, amid so much opposition?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Well I stopped making predictions about this when Donald Trump became president. One of his first acts in January 2018 was to announce he was \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/01/23/climate/trump-offshore-oil-drilling.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">opening\u003c/a> about 90% of the U.S. coastline to offshore drilling, and most of that had been long protected under bipartisan congressional moratoria that was renewed year after year for 27 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So it was disconcerting to say the least when a week after that announcement, his secretary of Interior, Ryan Zinke, walked out at the Tallahassee airport with Gov. Rick Scott and said that \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/09/climate/trump-florida-offshore-drilling.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Florida\u003c/a> was off the table (for drilling). And that triggered about 16 different governors up and down the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of both parties saying, “We want out, too” — accompanied by about a dozen attorneys general from various states who filed suit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What’s the most common argument for drilling offshore in light of the accidents that have occurred?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Well of course the first thing we always hear from the industry is, “Don’t worry, be happy. We will not have another accident.” And that’s usually shortly before they have another accident. And I think the determining factor for this particular decade was the Deepwater Horizon incident, which obviously was not only an environmental tragedy but a human tragedy in that workers died unnecessarily on that rig mostly because of negligence on the part of the operators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How much can California really do to thwart drilling in federal waters?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It can find that the offshore drilling activity or some follow-on process like building the platform, building a terminal for tankers or barges, or building a pipeline is inconsistent with the state’s federally approved \u003ca href=\"https://coast.noaa.gov/czm/about/?redirect=301ocm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">coastal zone management plan.\u003c/a> In California, that would start with the California Coastal Commission, which is the oversight agency for that. During the 1980s, the state of California, the attorney general, and many local governments took then-Interior Secretary James Watt to the \u003ca href=\"https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/464/312.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">U.S. Supreme Court\u003c/a> on that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The other thing a state can do is ban offshore drilling in its own state waters, which California did many years ago. Last year, California upped the ante by banning infrastructure to support federal offshore drilling anywhere in state waters, from the shoreline to three miles out. In doing that, you’re saying if you do lease, President Trump, off the coast of California, you’re not going to be able to bring it ashore. And that serves as an economic disincentive to the companies to even bid. It’s kind of the porcupine strategy of don’t mess with us. But it’s not a sure thing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Really the litigation is what has derailed Trump’s plan for now. But a lot of people don’t realize Southern California leasing under the Trump plan was going to begin next year in 2020. And Central California and Northern California in 2021, so this is something that’s coming very fast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Until David Bernhardt actually removes the five-year program from consideration, we’re not assuming it’s something we can trust.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>There have been two developments since we spoke with Richard Charter. On Thursday, California Sen. Dianne Feinstein \u003ca href=\"https://www.feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=99562C5C-BEA3-44A4-9BA7-5A39CC976C83\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">introduced legislation\u003c/a> to “permanently ban offshore drilling in federal waters off the coast of California, Oregon and Washington.” The \u003c/em>\u003cem>bill is likely to face stiff opposition in the GOP-controlled Senate. Rep. Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) is sponsoring a companion bill in the House.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>On the same day, citing “unnecessary regulatory burdens,” the Trump administration significantly \u003ca href=\"https://www.politico.com/story/2019/05/02/offshore-drilling-rules-1404098\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">rewrote safety rules\u003c/a> for offshore drilling put in place after the disastrous Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>In April, Interior Secretary David Bernhardt said the Trump administration was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1940755/u-s-interior-secretary-says-plans-for-offshore-drilling-are-now-on-hold\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">putting on hold\u003c/a> its \u003ca href=\"https://www.boem.gov/NP-DPP-Map-Lower-48-States/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">plans\u003c/a> to open up more coastal waters to oil and gas drilling, including off the coast of California. The decision follows a defeat in federal court and lots of pushback from coastal states, some of which supported Trump in 2016.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>It’s been 35 years since new federal leases for drilling along the Pacific coast have been issued. Polls show that a \u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/blog/majority-opposition-drilling-includes-coastal-republicans/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">vast majority\u003c/a> of Californians and \u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/blog/majority-opposition-drilling-includes-coastal-republicans/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">most Americans\u003c/a> oppose offshore drilling. But while the practice is banned in state waters, without federal legislation the possibility for renewed production more than 3 miles from shore still remains.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.oceanfdn.org/our-story/fellows-and-heroes\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Richard Charter\u003c/a>\u003c/strong> is a longtime ocean protection advocate. He talked with KQED’s Brian Watt about the Trump administration’s efforts to upend longstanding policy on the issue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The following excerpts have been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What are the risks from offshore drilling?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The risks begin with the initial drilling, because there are routine discharges into the ocean that just happen day to day from normal operations. So you don’t need to have an accident to have toxics going into your near-shore coastal waters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the big risk, of course, and sort of the poster child for the worst-case scenario, was the \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/tags/127366081/deepwater-horizon\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Deepwater Horizon\u003c/a> accident in the Gulf of Mexico, which of course was many orders of magnitude greater than the \u003ca href=\"https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-oil-spill-50-years-ago-inspired-first-earth-day-180972007/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Santa Barbara blowout\u003c/a> in 1969. If you release oil that is under pressure, under the seabed, into the ocean in an uncontrolled fashion, and you can’t shut it off, it can continue for months or years. A scenario like Deepwater Horizon that happens off the coast of California would wipe out your commercial fishing industry and your coastal-dependent tourism industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Can Trump get this done in California, amid so much opposition?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Well I stopped making predictions about this when Donald Trump became president. One of his first acts in January 2018 was to announce he was \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/01/23/climate/trump-offshore-oil-drilling.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">opening\u003c/a> about 90% of the U.S. coastline to offshore drilling, and most of that had been long protected under bipartisan congressional moratoria that was renewed year after year for 27 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So it was disconcerting to say the least when a week after that announcement, his secretary of Interior, Ryan Zinke, walked out at the Tallahassee airport with Gov. Rick Scott and said that \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/09/climate/trump-florida-offshore-drilling.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Florida\u003c/a> was off the table (for drilling). And that triggered about 16 different governors up and down the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of both parties saying, “We want out, too” — accompanied by about a dozen attorneys general from various states who filed suit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What’s the most common argument for drilling offshore in light of the accidents that have occurred?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Well of course the first thing we always hear from the industry is, “Don’t worry, be happy. We will not have another accident.” And that’s usually shortly before they have another accident. And I think the determining factor for this particular decade was the Deepwater Horizon incident, which obviously was not only an environmental tragedy but a human tragedy in that workers died unnecessarily on that rig mostly because of negligence on the part of the operators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How much can California really do to thwart drilling in federal waters?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It can find that the offshore drilling activity or some follow-on process like building the platform, building a terminal for tankers or barges, or building a pipeline is inconsistent with the state’s federally approved \u003ca href=\"https://coast.noaa.gov/czm/about/?redirect=301ocm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">coastal zone management plan.\u003c/a> In California, that would start with the California Coastal Commission, which is the oversight agency for that. During the 1980s, the state of California, the attorney general, and many local governments took then-Interior Secretary James Watt to the \u003ca href=\"https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/464/312.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">U.S. Supreme Court\u003c/a> on that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The other thing a state can do is ban offshore drilling in its own state waters, which California did many years ago. Last year, California upped the ante by banning infrastructure to support federal offshore drilling anywhere in state waters, from the shoreline to three miles out. In doing that, you’re saying if you do lease, President Trump, off the coast of California, you’re not going to be able to bring it ashore. And that serves as an economic disincentive to the companies to even bid. It’s kind of the porcupine strategy of don’t mess with us. But it’s not a sure thing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Really the litigation is what has derailed Trump’s plan for now. But a lot of people don’t realize Southern California leasing under the Trump plan was going to begin next year in 2020. And Central California and Northern California in 2021, so this is something that’s coming very fast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Until David Bernhardt actually removes the five-year program from consideration, we’re not assuming it’s something we can trust.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>There have been two developments since we spoke with Richard Charter. On Thursday, California Sen. Dianne Feinstein \u003ca href=\"https://www.feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=99562C5C-BEA3-44A4-9BA7-5A39CC976C83\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">introduced legislation\u003c/a> to “permanently ban offshore drilling in federal waters off the coast of California, Oregon and Washington.” The \u003c/em>\u003cem>bill is likely to face stiff opposition in the GOP-controlled Senate. Rep. Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) is sponsoring a companion bill in the House.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>On the same day, citing “unnecessary regulatory burdens,” the Trump administration significantly \u003ca href=\"https://www.politico.com/story/2019/05/02/offshore-drilling-rules-1404098\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">rewrote safety rules\u003c/a> for offshore drilling put in place after the disastrous Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\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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"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": "\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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"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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"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
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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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"tagline": "Art is where you find it",
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"soldout": {
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"tagline": "A new future for housing",
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"info": "",
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"tech-nation": {
"id": "tech-nation",
"title": "Tech Nation Radio Podcast",
"info": "Tech Nation is a weekly public radio program, hosted by Dr. Moira Gunn. Founded in 1993, it has grown from a simple interview show to a multi-faceted production, featuring conversations with noted technology and science leaders, and a weekly science and technology-related commentary.",
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"ted-radio-hour": {
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"title": "TED Radio Hour",
"info": "The TED Radio Hour is a journey through fascinating ideas, astonishing inventions, fresh approaches to old problems, and new ways to think and create.",
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