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"content": "\u003cp>California’s twin crises of rampant wildfire and hard-to-get, unaffordable home insurance have collided in rural Butte County. Here, the fire-prone landscape has seen several record-breaking fires, including the 2020 North Complex, the million-acre 2021 Dixie Fire and the 2018 Camp Fire that took 85 lives and destroyed the town of Paradise. For those who live on the remaining unburned forested ridges of Butte County, full insurance can easily run over $10,000 a year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the last season of KQED’s podcast \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/podcasts/soldout\">Sold Out: Rethinking Housing in America\u003c/a>, we \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1985175/insurance-in-california-is-changing-heres-how-it-may-affect-you\">examined the causes of California’s insurance crisis\u003c/a> and looked forward to what it might mean for homeowners. Now, a year later, as insurance has become more expensive and less available, we follow what happens when a fire moves through a community where many people and their homes aren’t covered.\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm?e=KQINC3534580718&light=true\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In July, the Park Fire touched off in Bidwell Park in Chico after a man rolled a burning car into a forested gully. The flames quickly raced across the landscape, moving uphill toward the unincorporated communities of Cohasset and Forest Ranch. Cohasset was especially hard hit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rachel Traficante came to this community 25 years ago and made a life under the trees. She and her husband Mark spent the last few decades perfecting a three-story barn that housed horses on the ground floor and beautiful living apartments on the second and third floors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1994871\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1994871\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/10/240726-ParkFire-100-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/10/240726-ParkFire-100-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/10/240726-ParkFire-100-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/10/240726-ParkFire-100-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/10/240726-ParkFire-100-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/10/240726-ParkFire-100-BL_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/10/240726-ParkFire-100-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/10/240726-ParkFire-100-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A charred vehicle sits along Cohasset Road in Cohasset, outside of Chico, on July 26, 2024, after the Park Fire swept through the area the evening before. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It was really sweet because, after 20 years, this barn that was always evolving was finally done,” Traficante said. “Then we just lost all of it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Park Fire tore through her property, and the barn is now flattened, charred rubble. She didn’t have insurance for it, so there’s no ready payout available to help rebuild. She’s finding you need a lot of money right after a fire and is relying on a GoFundMe started by her dad.[aside postID=science_1985175 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/GettyImages-1177682057-qut.jpg']“We need the generator, we need the travel trailer. I gotta go buy hay because my $1,200 stack just got incinerated to the ground,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her home was paid off, so insurance wasn’t required by a bank or lender. She’s far from alone. A report this year from the Consumer Federation of America estimated that 1 in 13 homeowners in the U.S. do not have coverage. Homeowners who make under $50,000 a year are twice as likely to be uninsured. The prevalence of noninsurance in Cohasset may be much more severe than nationally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, how do you recover from a fire when insurance is not an option? We look at Rachel’s story as she works with her husband, Mark, to get their lives back in order.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>California’s twin crises of rampant wildfire and hard-to-get, unaffordable home insurance have collided in rural Butte County. Here, the fire-prone landscape has seen several record-breaking fires, including the 2020 North Complex, the million-acre 2021 Dixie Fire and the 2018 Camp Fire that took 85 lives and destroyed the town of Paradise. For those who live on the remaining unburned forested ridges of Butte County, full insurance can easily run over $10,000 a year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the last season of KQED’s podcast \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/podcasts/soldout\">Sold Out: Rethinking Housing in America\u003c/a>, we \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1985175/insurance-in-california-is-changing-heres-how-it-may-affect-you\">examined the causes of California’s insurance crisis\u003c/a> and looked forward to what it might mean for homeowners. Now, a year later, as insurance has become more expensive and less available, we follow what happens when a fire moves through a community where many people and their homes aren’t covered.\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm?e=KQINC3534580718&light=true\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In July, the Park Fire touched off in Bidwell Park in Chico after a man rolled a burning car into a forested gully. The flames quickly raced across the landscape, moving uphill toward the unincorporated communities of Cohasset and Forest Ranch. Cohasset was especially hard hit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rachel Traficante came to this community 25 years ago and made a life under the trees. She and her husband Mark spent the last few decades perfecting a three-story barn that housed horses on the ground floor and beautiful living apartments on the second and third floors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1994871\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1994871\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/10/240726-ParkFire-100-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/10/240726-ParkFire-100-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/10/240726-ParkFire-100-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/10/240726-ParkFire-100-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/10/240726-ParkFire-100-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/10/240726-ParkFire-100-BL_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/10/240726-ParkFire-100-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/10/240726-ParkFire-100-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A charred vehicle sits along Cohasset Road in Cohasset, outside of Chico, on July 26, 2024, after the Park Fire swept through the area the evening before. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It was really sweet because, after 20 years, this barn that was always evolving was finally done,” Traficante said. “Then we just lost all of it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Park Fire tore through her property, and the barn is now flattened, charred rubble. She didn’t have insurance for it, so there’s no ready payout available to help rebuild. She’s finding you need a lot of money right after a fire and is relying on a GoFundMe started by her dad.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“We need the generator, we need the travel trailer. I gotta go buy hay because my $1,200 stack just got incinerated to the ground,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her home was paid off, so insurance wasn’t required by a bank or lender. She’s far from alone. A report this year from the Consumer Federation of America estimated that 1 in 13 homeowners in the U.S. do not have coverage. Homeowners who make under $50,000 a year are twice as likely to be uninsured. The prevalence of noninsurance in Cohasset may be much more severe than nationally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, how do you recover from a fire when insurance is not an option? We look at Rachel’s story as she works with her husband, Mark, to get their lives back in order.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>In March 2023, the rain-swollen Pajaro River burst the seams of a levee, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1982079/this-winters-floods-may-be-only-a-taste-of-the-megafloods-to-come-climate-scientists-warn\">flooding the rural Northern Monterey County town of Pajaro\u003c/a> in the dark of night and damaging hundreds of homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the last season of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/podcasts/soldout\">Sold Out\u003c/a>, we followed the story of the Escutia family as \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1984643/reluctant-retreat-one-familys-fight-against-climate-induced-flooding\">they set out to find a new place to call home.\u003c/a> Now, a year later, we share their next chapter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm?e=KQINC3448175992&light=true\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The family’s housing journey was anything but quick or easy. For a year and a half, they \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1994168/the-pajaro-flood-forced-them-to-flee-californias-high-rents-forced-them-to-return\">cycled through a shelter, group homes, and the homes of friends and family members\u003c/a> as they searched for a permanent place they could afford.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They vowed never to return to the floodplain but came up against the reality that this part of coastal California is the most expensive rental market in the county, and the number of homes is limited.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=science_1994168]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In August, the family broke their vow and moved into a home in Pajaro, right across the street from the house they fled from when the levee burst. They are happy to be settled again but are nervous that their new home will meet a similar demise if winter rains prove too strong for the levee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I am scared the flooding might happen again, but I try to put it in the back of my head, telling myself it won’t happen for a few years and in a few years, we will probably not live here,” Carla Escutia said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1994749\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1994749\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/10/240820-PajaroFolo-091-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/10/240820-PajaroFolo-091-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/10/240820-PajaroFolo-091-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/10/240820-PajaroFolo-091-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/10/240820-PajaroFolo-091-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/10/240820-PajaroFolo-091-BL_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/10/240820-PajaroFolo-091-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/10/240820-PajaroFolo-091-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Denia Escutia (left) and her mother, Carla, stand outside their new apartment in Pajaro on Aug. 20, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But there is good news for the Escutia and other Pajaro residents. The federal government recently \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1994596/pajaro-river-levee-project-breaks-ground-as-winter-flood-concerns-loom\">broke ground on a massive levee revitalization project to withstand the storms of the future\u003c/a> made worse by human-caused climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials expect crews to finish widening the levee by 2031. Still, the area that crumbled won’t be completed for a few years, leaving residents whose homes were destroyed in fear they will succumb to floodwaters every year until the project is finished.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If it floods again, where will we go when we just settled down? We’re taking that chance,” Denia Escutia said. [ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>In March 2023, the rain-swollen Pajaro River burst the seams of a levee, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1982079/this-winters-floods-may-be-only-a-taste-of-the-megafloods-to-come-climate-scientists-warn\">flooding the rural Northern Monterey County town of Pajaro\u003c/a> in the dark of night and damaging hundreds of homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the last season of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/podcasts/soldout\">Sold Out\u003c/a>, we followed the story of the Escutia family as \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1984643/reluctant-retreat-one-familys-fight-against-climate-induced-flooding\">they set out to find a new place to call home.\u003c/a> Now, a year later, we share their next chapter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm?e=KQINC3448175992&light=true\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The family’s housing journey was anything but quick or easy. For a year and a half, they \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1994168/the-pajaro-flood-forced-them-to-flee-californias-high-rents-forced-them-to-return\">cycled through a shelter, group homes, and the homes of friends and family members\u003c/a> as they searched for a permanent place they could afford.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They vowed never to return to the floodplain but came up against the reality that this part of coastal California is the most expensive rental market in the county, and the number of homes is limited.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In August, the family broke their vow and moved into a home in Pajaro, right across the street from the house they fled from when the levee burst. They are happy to be settled again but are nervous that their new home will meet a similar demise if winter rains prove too strong for the levee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I am scared the flooding might happen again, but I try to put it in the back of my head, telling myself it won’t happen for a few years and in a few years, we will probably not live here,” Carla Escutia said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1994749\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1994749\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/10/240820-PajaroFolo-091-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/10/240820-PajaroFolo-091-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/10/240820-PajaroFolo-091-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/10/240820-PajaroFolo-091-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/10/240820-PajaroFolo-091-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/10/240820-PajaroFolo-091-BL_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/10/240820-PajaroFolo-091-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/10/240820-PajaroFolo-091-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Denia Escutia (left) and her mother, Carla, stand outside their new apartment in Pajaro on Aug. 20, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But there is good news for the Escutia and other Pajaro residents. The federal government recently \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1994596/pajaro-river-levee-project-breaks-ground-as-winter-flood-concerns-loom\">broke ground on a massive levee revitalization project to withstand the storms of the future\u003c/a> made worse by human-caused climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials expect crews to finish widening the levee by 2031. Still, the area that crumbled won’t be completed for a few years, leaving residents whose homes were destroyed in fear they will succumb to floodwaters every year until the project is finished.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If it floods again, where will we go when we just settled down? We’re taking that chance,” Denia Escutia said. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>This story is part of the third season of KQED’s podcast Sold Out: Rethinking Housing in America. You can \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/podcasts/soldout\" data-stringify-link=\"https://www.kqed.org/podcasts/soldout\" data-sk=\"tooltip_parent\">find that series here\u003c/a> and read about why \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1984697/why-kqed-focused-a-season-of-its-housing-podcast-on-climate-change#:~:text=Sold%20Out%20Is%20Back%20With%20Season%203&text=Host%20Erin%20Baldassari%20leads%20a,an%20affordable%20place%20to%20live.\" data-stringify-link=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1984697/why-kqed-focused-a-season-of-its-housing-podcast-on-climate-change#:~:text=Sold%20Out%20Is%20Back%20With%20Season%203&text=Host%20Erin%20Baldassari%20leads%20a,an%20affordable%20place%20to%20live.\" data-sk=\"tooltip_parent\">KQED chose to focus a season of its housing podcast on climate change\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[dropcap]S[/dropcap]hari Wilson woke up and stared at the sun, dull and orange against a ruddy sky. She checked the Air Quality Index app on her phone and put on a mask.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I felt just kind of down,” she said. “You know, there’s that orange sky, gray day.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like millions of people across the Midwest and Northeast this past June, she saw smoke from Canadian wildfires. Though the fires were thousands of miles away, she couldn’t shake an uneasy feeling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I felt trapped in the smoke,” she said. “And it made me think a lot about my friends in California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shari Wilson and her husband had moved back to their home state of Michigan less than a year prior. Before that, they had spent nearly four decades in California, more than half of it in Nevada City, a small town on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada mountains, about an hour’s drive from Lake Tahoe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985405\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1985405 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230815-BlueForestInitiative-61-BL-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230815-BlueForestInitiative-61-BL-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230815-BlueForestInitiative-61-BL-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230815-BlueForestInitiative-61-BL-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230815-BlueForestInitiative-61-BL-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230815-BlueForestInitiative-61-BL-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230815-BlueForestInitiative-61-BL-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dark clouds roll into Nevada City, Nevada County, on Aug. 15, 2023.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The quintessential Gold Rush-era town, complete with a vibrant arts scene and quaint, historic downtown, is surrounded by pine forests. Shari Wilson’s husband, Mark Wilson, said when they first moved there, those trees were a big part of the draw.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We had a great evergreen tree that grew two feet away from our deck,” he said. “We thought, ‘This is so great, we can watch the birds.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For more than two decades, the idea that a wildfire could level their house seemed distant. The \u003ca href=\"https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/a-walk-in-the-ashes-of-the-tubbs-fire-five-years-later-in-sonoma-county/\">2017 Tubbs Fire\u003c/a> in California’s wine country brought it home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fire tore through a suburban neighborhood, killing 22 people. A year later, \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-08-20/five-years-after-the-camp-fire-paradise-survivors-see-hard-future-for-maui\">the Camp Fire\u003c/a> decimated the town of Paradise and killed 85 people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That made it real,” Mark Wilson said. “And it became a real feeling that this could easily happen to us tomorrow.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985421\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985421\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230809-SoldOutParadise-59-BL-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A sign in the form of a cross sits next to the side of a road in dusk light.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230809-SoldOutParadise-59-BL-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230809-SoldOutParadise-59-BL-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230809-SoldOutParadise-59-BL-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230809-SoldOutParadise-59-BL-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230809-SoldOutParadise-59-BL-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230809-SoldOutParadise-59-BL-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A memorial reads, ‘Faith, Hope, Paradise,’ in Paradise on Aug. 9, 2023. The Camp Fire, a deadly fire that destroyed much of the towns of Paradise and Concow, swept through the area in 2018. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The couple started thinking about where else to live. Shari Wilson was quick to say it wasn’t just due to the fires. “We aren’t climate refugees,” she said. They both grew up in Michigan and wanted to live close to family.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But when this summer’s smoke began to blot out the sun, Mark Wilson said it was a grim reminder.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It made me sad because it was a reminder that it’s not just California. It’s not just in one place. It’s everywhere,” he said. “And no matter where you go, climate change is going to catch up with you.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985407\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1985407 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230627-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-19-BL-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A red sign with white lettering is nailed to a tree.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230627-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-19-BL-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230627-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-19-BL-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230627-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-19-BL-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230627-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-19-BL-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230627-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-19-BL-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230627-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-19-BL-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A sign advertising defensible space clearance for wildfire preparation hangs on a tree along the San Juan Ridge near Nevada City on June 27, 2023. The area is heavily forested and borders the Yuba River near historic towns that date back to the 1849 California Gold Rush. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As rising global temperatures bake the surrounding pine trees, oaks and madrones of the Sierra Nevada mountains, residents living in its scattered communities have a choice: to remain in the fire’s path or hedge their bets elsewhere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It is a question my family found ourselves facing, but in reverse, after my partner inherited a house in Nevada County. It is a place where we both spent our childhoods and where we hoped to one day raise our daughter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fire has always been part of the bargain of living there. But as climate change fuels wildfires of unprecedented proportions, it’s rewriting the terms of that old agreement. As it does, that’s forced us, like many in the forested foothills, to renegotiate what we’re willing to do — and how much we’re willing to risk — to live there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm/?e=KQINC1360589321&light=true\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Nevada County, measures to mitigate the threat of wildfires are underway, but their effectiveness has been stunted by decades of land management policies that sought to suppress all fires and led to an overabundance of brush and trees. Now, residents are racing to make up for lost time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For communities across the globe similarly poised on the knife’s edge of catastrophe — whether the threat is rising seas, stronger hurricanes or longer periods of extreme heat — the question is how to preserve and protect these places, or as retired fire scientist and Nevada County resident Jo Ann Fites-Kaufman put it, “What does it mean to live in different environments? What does it mean to grow up in an area? What does it mean to be human?”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Barbara’s house\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>My partner’s mom, Barbara, was 79 when she passed away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She left behind a two-bedroom Mediterranean-style home with an orange exterior, its hue varied and weathered, one wall splashed robin’s egg blue. Situated on a 13-acre property in the northwestern corner of Nevada County, the house is not only a mausoleum of her artifacts but a physical manifestation of her memory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Barbara had suffered a stroke, and we spent 10 days in the hospital hoping for an improvement in her condition that never came. During that time, and in the weeks after she passed away, the house was a vessel for our grief. It held us because it held so much of her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985313\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1985313 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230627-SoldOutBarbaraHouse-Barbaras-House_North-San-Juan_1-EB.jpg\" alt=\"A one level house with a tile roof is surrounded by trees.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1273\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230627-SoldOutBarbaraHouse-Barbaras-House_North-San-Juan_1-EB.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230627-SoldOutBarbaraHouse-Barbaras-House_North-San-Juan_1-EB-800x530.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230627-SoldOutBarbaraHouse-Barbaras-House_North-San-Juan_1-EB-1020x676.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230627-SoldOutBarbaraHouse-Barbaras-House_North-San-Juan_1-EB-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230627-SoldOutBarbaraHouse-Barbaras-House_North-San-Juan_1-EB-768x509.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230627-SoldOutBarbaraHouse-Barbaras-House_North-San-Juan_1-EB-1536x1018.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Barbara built her home with wildfires in mind. The walls are made from a concrete-like material a foot thick that’s rated to withstand 12 hours of burning. S-shaped tiles line the roof, and a gravel driveway encircles the home. Photographed in August 2023. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>When we finally turned off the lights and locked the doors to return home to the Bay Area, we did so reluctantly, wondering how and when we might move our lives there. Beneath our decision was an emerging hope for our not-yet-one-year-old daughter — that, although she would never know her grandmother, she might know the house her grandmother built.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That summer, smoke from two dozen wildfires loomed over Nevada County and drifted across the state. On one particularly bad day in the Bay Area, it grew so thick \u003ca href=\"https://www.newyorker.com/culture/video-dept/the-day-the-san-francisco-sky-turned-orange\">daylight turned to dusk\u003c/a>. It was then when I first began to wonder what kind of future our daughter might inherit if we chose to move to Nevada County, and what it would be like to live in a place where my own memories were constantly clashing with new realities.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Nothing left to burn\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>They call her the voice of doom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From her home office overlooking the Yuba River in Nevada County, Pascale Fusshoeller translates the precise, militaristic jargon of wildland firefighting departments into English, conveying need-to-know information on a fire’s origins, its speed and direction to readers across the region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985197\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985197\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66840_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-70-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"The charred remains of burnt trees stand out from newly grown plants in a field.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66840_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-70-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66840_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-70-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66840_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-70-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66840_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-70-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66840_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-70-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66840_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-70-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66840_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-70-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jim Mathias, Wildfire Prevention and Safety Manager of the Fire Safe Council of Nevada County, drives through an area of the county burned by wildfire on June 26, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Fusshoeller co-founded and edits YubaNet.com, which began in 1999 as the Internet burgeoned from niche to mainstream. She and her wife, Susan Levitz, both career journalists, intended to run a community events page.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That changed, Fusshoeller said, the day the site went live, and she spotted a towering plume of smoke rising from the ridge facing their home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s how we got into fire information,” she said. She hasn’t looked back. “It helps people.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985203\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985203\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-BEAR-TRAP-PRESCRIBED-BURN_NEVADA-COUNTY_05-EB-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"People wearing hard hats work digging in a forest.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-BEAR-TRAP-PRESCRIBED-BURN_NEVADA-COUNTY_05-EB-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-BEAR-TRAP-PRESCRIBED-BURN_NEVADA-COUNTY_05-EB-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-BEAR-TRAP-PRESCRIBED-BURN_NEVADA-COUNTY_05-EB-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-BEAR-TRAP-PRESCRIBED-BURN_NEVADA-COUNTY_05-EB-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-BEAR-TRAP-PRESCRIBED-BURN_NEVADA-COUNTY_05-EB-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-BEAR-TRAP-PRESCRIBED-BURN_NEVADA-COUNTY_05-EB-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-BEAR-TRAP-PRESCRIBED-BURN_NEVADA-COUNTY_05-EB-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Crew members from the Fire Safe Council of Nevada County walk to the site where they performed a ‘mop up’ following a prescribed burn in Nevada County on June 21, 2023. Using hand tools, the crew members will ensure that all of the fire has been extinguished. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For Fusshoeller, this means that whenever a fire occurs in the Sierra Nevada mountains, her days start early and end late.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/there-s-no-more-typical-wildfire-season-california-it-may-n934521\">It used to be\u003c/a> that fire season began in August and wrapped up by the end of September. Now, she says if there is a “fire season” at all, it begins in May and ends in November.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And of course, some years, there’s large fires in December,” she added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As global temperatures rise, so, too, does the number of wildfires. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, across the western United States, human-caused climate change has doubled the cumulative area burned by wildfires over natural levels since 1984.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985422\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2006px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985422\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/IPCC_AR6_WGII_Figure_2_FAQ_2.3.1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"2006\" height=\"728\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/IPCC_AR6_WGII_Figure_2_FAQ_2.3.1.png 2006w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/IPCC_AR6_WGII_Figure_2_FAQ_2.3.1-800x290.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/IPCC_AR6_WGII_Figure_2_FAQ_2.3.1-1020x370.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/IPCC_AR6_WGII_Figure_2_FAQ_2.3.1-160x58.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/IPCC_AR6_WGII_Figure_2_FAQ_2.3.1-768x279.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/IPCC_AR6_WGII_Figure_2_FAQ_2.3.1-1536x557.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/IPCC_AR6_WGII_Figure_2_FAQ_2.3.1-1920x697.png 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2006px) 100vw, 2006px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Figure FAQ2.3.1 | (a) Springs Fire, May 2, 2013, Thousand Oaks, California, USA (photo by Michael Robinson Chávez, Los Angeles Times). (b) Cumulative area burned by wildfire in the western USA, with (orange) and without (yellow) the increased heat and aridity of climate change. \u003ccite>(IPCC Sixth Assessment Report)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Patrick Gonzalez, a forest ecologist and climate change scientist at UC Berkeley, said the problem is particularly acute in California, where \u003ca href=\"https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/western-megadrought-is-the-worst-in-1-200-years/#:~:text=An%20exceptionally%20dry%20year%20in%202021%20helped%20break%20the%20record,least%20a%20couple%20of%20decades.\">a prolonged drought in recent years\u003c/a> has dried out plants and soils.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In Northern and Central California, almost all of the increase in burned area [over natural levels] has come from human-caused climate change since 1996,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In California, \u003ca href=\"https://34c031f8-c9fd-4018-8c5a-4159cdff6b0d-cdn-endpoint.azureedge.net/-/media/calfire-website/our-impact/fire-statistics/featured-items/top20_destruction.pdf?rev=ee6ea855632a4b56a46adea1d3c8022f&hash=5B8B3A1A35CBB52CB0ED7A010F0B52E0\">18 of the state’s 20 most destructive wildfires (PDF)\u003c/a> have occurred since 2003. Nevada County had been spared. Looking at a map, Fusshoeller noted that all the surrounding counties had experienced large and destructive wildfires during that time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s not to say that one day we will not have a large catastrophic fire here,” she said. Nevada County shares the same mix of vegetation, topography and climate conditions. “There is nothing else left to burn in the foothills.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The forerunner\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>There is something very Californian about believing it’s possible to survive anywhere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Joan Didion knew this. In her 1968 collection of essays, \u003cem>Slouching Toward Bethlehem\u003c/em>, Didion wrote of the desert metropolis’ clime, “Los Angeles weather is the weather of catastrophe, of apocalypse, and, just as the reliably long and bitter winters of New England determine the way life is lived there, so the violence and the unpredictability of the Santa Ana affect the entire quality of life in Los Angeles, accentuate its impermanence, its unreliability.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The same could be said of the entire state. Where early white settlers found a floodplain, they built their capital city, Sacramento. And even amid the rubble of the city’s most destructive earthquake, San Franciscans nonetheless rebuilt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985404\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985404\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SoldOut-Diptych-02.jpg\" alt=\"Left: Dark smoke billows above a structure. Right: Light gray and reddish smoke rises above a home surrounded by trees.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"923\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SoldOut-Diptych-02.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SoldOut-Diptych-02-800x385.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SoldOut-Diptych-02-1020x490.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SoldOut-Diptych-02-160x77.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SoldOut-Diptych-02-768x369.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SoldOut-Diptych-02-1536x738.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Left: A column of smoke rises behind a house in Lake Wildwood, California, as Mark and Kathy Baldassari prepare to evacuate from the 49er Fire on Sept. 11, 1988. Right: Smoke from the 49er Fire rises behind homes in Lake Wildwood, a small community in Nevada County, on Sept. 11, 1988. The fire burned through nearly 36,000 acres and destroyed almost 150 homes, making it California’s third most destructive wildfire at the time. Now, it’s not even in the top 20. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Mark and Kathy Baldassari)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>My own earliest memory, if an infant can be said to have one, is of a thick column of gray and black smoke rising behind my family’s house the day we evacuated from a wildfire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.theunion.com/opinion/49er-fire-memories-where-were-you-30-years-ago-today/article_960384f0-6667-5f66-a6f9-fb0508006a76.html\">It was Sept. 11, 1988\u003c/a>. I was just over a year old. My dad would later describe the fire’s path: not a continuous wall, but jagged, like fingers on a hand, touching some homes, refusing others — sparing ours.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And you kind of wonder why,” he mused, “why did it spare that house and burn that one?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was called the 49er Fire because it broke out near Highway 49 in Nevada County. It tore through nearly 36,000 acres of forest and grasslands and destroyed almost 150 homes. At the time, it was the state’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.cbsnews.com/sacramento/news/49er-fire-destruction/\">third-largest wildfire\u003c/a> and is still the county’s most destructive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985219\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985219\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-SO-S3-E6-SCAN-1-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Several houses beside fire-scorched terrain.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1543\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-SO-S3-E6-SCAN-1-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-SO-S3-E6-SCAN-1-KQED-800x617.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-SO-S3-E6-SCAN-1-KQED-1020x787.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-SO-S3-E6-SCAN-1-KQED-160x123.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-SO-S3-E6-SCAN-1-KQED-768x593.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-SO-S3-E6-SCAN-1-KQED-1536x1185.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-SO-S3-E6-SCAN-1-KQED-1920x1481.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The 1988 49er Fire burned through nearly 36,000 acres in Nevada County and destroyed almost 150 homes. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Mark and Kathy Baldassari)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In a prediction that feels prescient today, Jerry Partain, then-director of California’s Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, now called Cal Fire, \u003ca href=\"https://www.newspapers.com/image/624226617/?clipping_id=115881062&fcfToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJmcmVlLXZpZXctaWQiOjYyNDIyNjYxNywiaWF0IjoxNjk4OTU1MDA4LCJleHAiOjE2OTkwNDE0MDh9.s5IFZHnqPAFNjR2pbvWX3mHL3voE5oItjgwOsPg0Srk\">told \u003cem>The Sacramento Bee\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, “This [fire] is the classic. This is what we’ve been preaching about for the past several years. This is just the forerunner.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What Partain had been preaching about — fireproofing homes and managing the surrounding vegetation — is now a familiar sermon to anyone living in Northern California today, but one that was met with obstinance by the willful inhabitants of that era, a generally unyielding lot with a profound distrust of government matronism and a deep reverence for stick-to-itiveness, the miner’s luck and the sanctity of private property.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Speaking with \u003cem>The Sacramento Bee\u003c/em>, Partain stood in front of a map detailing the fire’s course, acknowledging there was no way to save every home. “It will continue to happen in the future,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985217\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1985217 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-SIERRA-STORYTELLING-FESTIVAL_NORTH-SAN-JUAN01-EB-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"People sit on blankets and fold out chairs in a grassy space.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-SIERRA-STORYTELLING-FESTIVAL_NORTH-SAN-JUAN01-EB-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-SIERRA-STORYTELLING-FESTIVAL_NORTH-SAN-JUAN01-EB-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-SIERRA-STORYTELLING-FESTIVAL_NORTH-SAN-JUAN01-EB-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-SIERRA-STORYTELLING-FESTIVAL_NORTH-SAN-JUAN01-EB-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-SIERRA-STORYTELLING-FESTIVAL_NORTH-SAN-JUAN01-EB-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-SIERRA-STORYTELLING-FESTIVAL_NORTH-SAN-JUAN01-EB-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-SIERRA-STORYTELLING-FESTIVAL_NORTH-SAN-JUAN01-EB-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Attendees lounge on the grass during the dinner hour at the Sierra Storytelling Festival at the North Columbia Schoolhouse Cultural Center in North San Juan on July 8, 2023. (Photo by Erin Baldassari/KQED) \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>With the future came more residents, living with more risk. Between 1990 and 2010, the county’s population \u003ca href=\"https://www.nevadacountyca.gov/378/Demographics-Statistics\">grew 26%\u003c/a>, mirroring a trend seen across the \u003ca href=\"https://www.usfa.fema.gov/downloads/pdf/publications/wui-issues-resolutions-report.pdf\">country (PDF)\u003c/a> as more people than ever flooded into wildland areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In California, nearly \u003ca href=\"https://silvis.forest.wisc.edu/data/wui-change/\">half of all homes built during that time period\u003c/a> were constructed in areas designated at “high or extreme risk of wildfire,” according to the Center for Insurance Policy and Research. Nevada County was no exception, where more than \u003ca href=\"https://www.nevadacountyca.gov/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=5247\">nine out of every 10\u003c/a> residents live in “high or very high” fire hazard zones.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That wildfires have become more destructive over the past 40 years is simple math, UC Berkeley’s Gonzalez said. “The losses of homes and people, who sadly die in a wildfire, is a function of the number of people who live in fire-prone areas,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985215\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1985215 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY14-EB-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"The smoldering remains of a fire near a house.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY14-EB-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY14-EB-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY14-EB-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY14-EB-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY14-EB-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY14-EB-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY14-EB-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A controlled fire burns near a home on a private property in Penn Valley, a small, rural community in Nevada County, California, on June 22, 2023. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>He continued: “Climate change is exacerbating the risk. So, that makes it even more important [to limit] the number of people who move into or build new houses in fire-prone areas.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Brute reckoning\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The 49er Fire left its mark on my psyche, attuning me to dry, summer winds, focusing my attention on anything that could produce an errant spark, and heightening my awareness, early on, of my own precarity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But for many in Nevada County, myself included, it was still only a glimpse into a distant future. Brute reckoning came much later, in 2018, with the Camp Fire in Paradise, California, which is one county away from Nevada County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985409\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1985409 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-19-BL-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Trucks with piles of logs in the truck beds form a line in a lot near a wooded area.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-19-BL-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-19-BL-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-19-BL-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-19-BL-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-19-BL-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-19-BL-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Vehicles filled with green waste wait in line during a free residential disposal hosted by the Fire Safe Council of Nevada County in Grass Valley on June 26, 2023. Residents can bring all tree and plant trimmings, weeds, leaves, branches, and pine needles, except for some plants like scotch broom and poison oak, in an effort to create defensible space on their properties. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>YubaNet’s Fusshoeller held a town hall event a week after the fire began. Minutes after the doors opened, the seats had filled to capacity, followed by the building’s overflow rooms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And then there were still people outside,” Fusshoeller recalled. “It was the whole community. They were scared.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fire became a wake-up call — and a rallying cry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We regularly hear that this is the next Camp Fire,” said Jamie Jones, the executive director of the Fire Safe Council of Nevada County, a nonprofit formed in the wake of the 49er Fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985202\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985202\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-BEAR-TRAP-PRESCRIBED-BURN_NEVADA-COUNTY_01-EB-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A group of people wearing hard hats walk along a roadway beside a stretch of burnt forest.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-BEAR-TRAP-PRESCRIBED-BURN_NEVADA-COUNTY_01-EB-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-BEAR-TRAP-PRESCRIBED-BURN_NEVADA-COUNTY_01-EB-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-BEAR-TRAP-PRESCRIBED-BURN_NEVADA-COUNTY_01-EB-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-BEAR-TRAP-PRESCRIBED-BURN_NEVADA-COUNTY_01-EB-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-BEAR-TRAP-PRESCRIBED-BURN_NEVADA-COUNTY_01-EB-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-BEAR-TRAP-PRESCRIBED-BURN_NEVADA-COUNTY_01-EB-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-BEAR-TRAP-PRESCRIBED-BURN_NEVADA-COUNTY_01-EB-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Crew members from the Fire Safe Council of Nevada County walk to the site where they were performing a ‘mop up’ following a prescribed burn in Nevada County on June 21, 2023. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We have watersheds that if a fire starts on the wrong day and the wrong conditions — or you could call it the right conditions — we could have a potential catastrophic loss like Paradise did,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Spurred by that rallying cry, Jones’ organization ballooned from three employees to more than 50, with its own land management crew, \u003ca href=\"https://www.areyoufiresafe.com/programs/defensible-space-advisory-visit-dsav\">free advisory visits\u003c/a> for homeowners, a \u003ca href=\"https://www.areyoufiresafe.com/programs/chipping-program\">roving wood-chipper\u003c/a>, and a robust grant-writing department, among \u003ca href=\"https://www.areyoufiresafe.com/programs\">other initiatives\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It became a huge priority to fund [wildfire] mitigation work,” Jones said. “We just kind of grabbed the bull by the horns and said, ‘We’ll do it. We’ll be that large nonprofit to work in this space.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985191\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1985191 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66792_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-08-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Two people use a rake-like device to remove all of the dried green waste from the bed of a truck.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66792_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-08-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66792_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-08-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66792_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-08-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66792_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-08-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66792_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-08-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66792_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-08-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66792_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-08-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Employees help people unload green waste during a free residential disposal hosted by the Fire Safe Council of Nevada County in Grass Valley on June 26, 2023. Residents can bring all tree and plant trimmings, weeds, leaves, branches, and pine needles, except for some plants like scotch broom and poison oak, in an effort to create defensible space on their properties. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But the Camp Fire also incited residents to act. Today, Nevada County, with a population of just over \u003ca href=\"https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/nevadacountycalifornia/PST045222\">100,000 people\u003c/a>, boasts the highest number of \u003ca href=\"https://www.nfpa.org/education-and-research/wildfire/firewise-usa\">Firewise Communities\u003c/a> in the country — a program run by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) that encourages neighborhoods to organize and collectively complete fire safety projects, such as thinning trees along evacuation routes and clearing excess brush on individual properties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before the Camp Fire, Jones said there were 22 Firewise Communities in the county. As of October, there were 94, according to the NFPA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think it speaks volumes to how committed our community is to protecting their families, their loved ones, their neighbors, and the community that we live in,” Jones said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, she said \u003ca href=\"https://www.capradio.org/articles/2021/06/23/newsom-misled-the-public-about-wildfire-prevention-efforts-ahead-of-worst-fire-season-on-record/\">progress remains stilted in other ways\u003c/a>. For instance, Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2019 \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2020/01/29/governor-newsom-announces-completion-of-emergency-projects-to-protect-wildfire-vulnerable-communities/\">fast-tracked 35 wildfire defense projects\u003c/a> across the state, including one in Nevada County, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.nevadacountyca.gov/3748/Ponderosa-West-Grass-Valley-Defense-Zone#:~:text=The%20shaded%20fuel%20break%20lies,Newtown%20Road%20to%20the%20north.\">Ponderosa West Grass Valley Defense Zone shaded fuel break\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.ponderosawestproject.org/\">project\u003c/a> provided free brush clearing on residents’ properties to allow firefighters to more easily defend the town of Grass Valley. But four years after the first phase began, many of the property owners have failed to maintain their land.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985410\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985410\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-75-BL-qut-1.jpg\" alt=\"One hand holds up a paper map while the other hand points to an area on the map.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-75-BL-qut-1.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-75-BL-qut-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-75-BL-qut-1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-75-BL-qut-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-75-BL-qut-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-75-BL-qut-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jim Mathias, the wildfire prevention and safety manager of the Fire Safe Council of Nevada County, holds a map of a plan for a shaded fuel break in southern Nevada County on June 26, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>On a recent tour, Jones pointed to a property where the homeowner had positioned himself as a poster child of compliance. Crispy brush and small trees, perfect kindling for a big wildfire, now crowded beneath towering oak and manzanita trees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He sold two years into the project,” she lamented. The new property owner never picked up the work. Continued compliance requires constant care — and a long memory.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Our place on the planet\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>As the spokesperson for the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe, Shelly Covert carries with her a cultural memory that spans centuries. What it takes to live in wildland areas today, she said, is in some ways not so different from when her relatives lived freely off the land — and that is constant tending.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For her relatives, that meant cutting trees, harvesting smaller branches, and collecting reeds — work now done with chainsaws and machines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985420\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1985420 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/GettyImages-1241501048-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A woman's face is reflected in a mirror with brown writing.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/GettyImages-1241501048-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/GettyImages-1241501048-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/GettyImages-1241501048-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/GettyImages-1241501048-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/GettyImages-1241501048-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/GettyImages-1241501048-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/GettyImages-1241501048-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/GettyImages-1241501048-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Shelly Covert, spokesperson for the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe, in Nevada City, on June 6, 2022. \u003ccite>(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The difference, she said, is that the Nisenan used these materials in their homes, acorn granaries, tools and baskets. That these same actions also made the forests more resilient to — and protected the Nisenan from — catastrophic wildfires was secondary. Today, the accumulation of these same plant materials is a burden.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Nobody wants it,” she said. “So, how are forests ever going to be tended in that way again when we don’t need the freaking stuff that’s all over the ground?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nevada County’s Fire Safe Council is trying to help relieve that burden with a free \u003ca href=\"https://www.areyoufiresafe.com/programs/residential-green-waste-disposal-2023\">green waste disposal site\u003c/a> in Grass Valley. This past June, on the last day it was open for the season, crews heaped logs into towering piles, mounded branches atop each other, and stacked firewood for the taking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985193\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1985193 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66813_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-38-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A person wearing a large wicker hat and sunglasses stands in front of piles of wood and speaks to the driver of a vehicle.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66813_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-38-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66813_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-38-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66813_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-38-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66813_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-38-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66813_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-38-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66813_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-38-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66813_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-38-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jonny Sjobeck (left) talks with Roland Harrison during a free green waste residential disposal hosted by the Fire Safe Council of Nevada County in Grass Valley on June 26, 2023. Residents can bring all tree and plant trimmings, weeds, leaves, branches, and pine needles, except for some plants like scotch broom and poison oak, in an effort to create defensible space on their properties. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Suzi and Doug Clipperton waited in line for their turn to unload the towering pile of branches in the back of their truck. They had moved to the county from Palm Springs two years ago, and though their property is relatively small, at one acre, it still produces an abundance of vegetation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Without the green waste disposal site, Suzi Clipperton said she would be forced to pay to get rid of the materials at the dump.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s so expensive, even the green waste,” she said. “Over $25 a truckload, over and over several times a month.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Getting to a truly sustainable lifestyle in the forested foothills is still a long way off, Covert said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s just the way we’ve built our built lives,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that’s not what people, myself included, want to talk to her about these days. All we want to talk to her about is how to use fire to fight fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985211\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985211\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY06-EB-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A person holds a device to dried grass to start a fire.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY06-EB-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY06-EB-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY06-EB-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY06-EB-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY06-EB-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY06-EB-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY06-EB-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dylan Drummond wields a drip torch, which he uses to ignite grasses during a prescribed burn on a private property in Penn Valley, a small, rural community in Nevada County on June 22, 2023. The burn aims to reduce the brush and grasses that fuel megafires while also helping to restore native plants to the region. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The practice, called controlled or prescribed burns, has gained momentum in recent years as a way to clear the brush and grasses that fuel megafires. But Covert’s relatives also burned the land to remove bug infestations from trees, clear land for hunting and travel and promote certain kinds of plants. Public officials have been increasingly turning to her to tap into the tribe’s cultural knowledge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On one hand, Covert said she appreciates having a seat at the table, an opportunity her grandparents were never afforded. On the other, she said it’s hard for her not to roll her eyes during those same meetings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Don’t tell me those old people didn’t sit there and say, ‘You can’t not burn the land.’ It was unfathomable to them,” she said. “We have to burn the land, and we have to burn our dead.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985413\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985413\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County15-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Green plants sprout from a burned land.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County15-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County15-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County15-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County15-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County15-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County15-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">This yampa root survives a prescribed burn on a private property in Penn Valley, a small, rural community in Nevada County, California, on June 22, 2023. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>When white settlers arrived during the Gold Rush, they not only outlawed the practice of burning the land but also the Nisenan practice of cremating their dead. And, while government officials now recognize fire as essential to maintaining forest health, Nisenan cremations are still outlawed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During those ceremonies, the nearest female relatives of the deceased would mix pine pitch with ash to blacken their heads and shoulders, washing their faces only after the mixture had worn off, thus defining the period of mourning. Other relatives and friends gathered around to sing and cry. Every year, an annual mourning ceremony, or “Second Burning,” was held for everyone who died that year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My grandma said that the old ladies used to wipe each other’s tears and hold each other up because they were so fraught with sadness,” Covert said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To Covert, burning the land and burning the dead are not two practices with distinct purposes and outcomes. They are the same practice for the same purpose of binding humanity to all other life and to the land.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985210\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985210\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY04-EB-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A fire burns dried grasses around the truck of a tree.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY04-EB-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY04-EB-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY04-EB-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY04-EB-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY04-EB-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY04-EB-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY04-EB-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Workers perform a prescribed burn on a private property in Penn Valley, a small, rural community in Nevada County on June 22, 2023. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>She said the cremation ceremony is at the core: “It is the kickstarter of all these other protocols that come into play that are respect for the land, respect for the animals, respect for the spirit, respect for one another. And that’s it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It is the foundation that allows them to see themselves as both indebted to a place and responsible for it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have thumbs. We can light fire. We can pull and tend the rubbish in the forests,” Covert said. “That is our place on this planet.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Good fire\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In a small community on the western flank of Nevada County, atop a ridge overlooking Lake Wildwood, where the 49er Fire raged 35 years ago, three young men holding drip torches set fire to the land.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was an abnormally cool June day. The crew of roughly a dozen, dressed in flannel shirts, blue jeans and boots, worked methodically downhill. Some held water bladders to douse fires burning into tree roots. Others were posted at control lines to ensure the fire stayed within its boundaries. One roamed the perimeter on a motorcycle to watch for spotfires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985414\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985414\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County11-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A man holds a water hose near a smoked filled forest area.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County11-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County11-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County11-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County11-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County11-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County11-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kevin Bratton uses a hose to douse the roots of a pine tree during a prescribed burn on a private property in Penn Valley, a small, rural community in Nevada County on June 22, 2023. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>They were lighting a controlled burn on the roughly 80-acre property, with the twin goals of reducing the wildfire risk and promoting native plants, which often need the low-intensity fires to drop seeds or sprout from dormancy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you see the effects of fire, it all makes sense,” said Tim Van Wagner, an organic farmer in Nevada County and broadcast burn practitioner, who led the burn that day. “All of a sudden, you actually realize the insanity of how we have been able to suppress fire and the damage it’s done.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The more fuel there is to burn, the hotter the fire becomes, and the more likely they are to \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-07-20/california-forests-are-vanishing-as-wildfires-worsen\">permanently incinerate\u003c/a> even the most fire-adapted forests.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985214\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985214\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY13-EB-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A person in a baseball cap walks through a smokey open space.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY13-EB-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY13-EB-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY13-EB-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY13-EB-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY13-EB-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY13-EB-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY13-EB-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tim Van Wagner, a broadcast burn practitioner, oversees a prescribed burn on a private property in Penn Valley, a small, rural community in Nevada County on June 22, 2023. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But bringing “good fire” back hasn’t been easy, said fire historian and author Stephen Pyne.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We spent 50 years trying to take all fire out of the landscape,” he said, “and we’ve spent 50 years trying to put good fire back in.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Federal regulators restricted broadcast burns beginning in 1910, following a particularly fearsome spate of fires known as the “Big Blowup,” when some 3 million acres of forestland in Idaho and Montana \u003ca href=\"https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5444731.pdf\">burned over the course of two short days (PDF)\u003c/a>, killing 86 people — the most in US history, until \u003ca href=\"https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/maui-hawaii-fires-death-toll-rcna105387\">this year’s fires in Maui\u003c/a>. By the time the National Parks Service \u003ca href=\"https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2019/11/californias-wildfire-controlled-prescribed-burns-native-americans/#:~:text=In%201968%2C%20the%20National%20Park,introduced%20fire%20to%20their%20landscapes.\">changed its policy\u003c/a> in 1968, areas that had been accustomed to periodic fires were overloaded with fuels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Combine that excess vegetation with rising temperatures, and Pyne said existing models of fire behavior no longer hold.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They are being overwhelmed,” he said. “We’re seeing it in Canada now and parts of the Mediterranean, as well as parts of the U.S., and we’re creating a new world out of this.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Humans once controlled fire. Now, Pyne said fire is controlling us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve taken what had always been our best friend, and we’re making it our worst enemy,” he said. “Even if we tame the climate, we remove the fossil fuel part of it, we still have a relentless obligation to work with fire in the lands that remain.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985415\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985415\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County02-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A man looks up and away from the camera while holding his arm out while brush burns nearby.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County02-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County02-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County02-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County02-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County02-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County02-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tim Van Wagner, a broadcast burn practitioner, oversees a prescribed burn on private property in Penn Valley, a small, rural community in Nevada County, on June 22, 2023. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In California, policy leaders from Gov. Newsom down to local leaders are encouraging controlled burns. But the process has been hampered, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1979560/cal-fire-fumbles-key-responsibilities-to-prevent-catastrophic-wildfires-despite-historic-budget\">in part\u003c/a>, by the slow rollout of its certification program for burn bosses. The designation is crucial for people like Van Wagner because it would allow them to tap into a \u003ca href=\"https://wildfiretaskforce.org/prescribed-fire-liability-claims-fund-pilot/#:~:text=Administered%20by%20CAL%20FIRE%2C%20the,burn%20boss%20or%20cultural%20practitioner.\">$20 million pool of insurance to cover damages from fires set under prescribed conditions\u003c/a>. But, as of August, there were \u003ca href=\"https://osfm.fire.ca.gov/divisions/state-fire-training/cfstes-professional-certification/state-certified-prescribed-fire-burn-boss/\">only two dozen state-certified burn bosses\u003c/a> in the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It hasn’t been a smooth process,” said Van Wagner, who is in the process of obtaining the certification. Without access to insurance, “it can be a basic game-over,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985401\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1985401 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SoldOut-Diptych-01.jpg\" alt=\"Left: A man walks through dry yellow grasses while using a torch to light the grass on fire.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"881\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SoldOut-Diptych-01.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SoldOut-Diptych-01-800x367.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SoldOut-Diptych-01-1020x468.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SoldOut-Diptych-01-160x73.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SoldOut-Diptych-01-768x352.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SoldOut-Diptych-01-1536x705.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dylan Drummond wields a drip torch, which he uses to ignite grasses during a prescribed burn on private property in Penn Valley, a small, rural community in Nevada County, on June 22, 2023. The burn aims to reduce the brush and grasses that fuel mega-fires while also helping to restore native plants to the region. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>According to the U.S. Forest Service, \u003ca href=\"https://www.fs.usda.gov/news/releases/statement-forest-service-chief-randy-moore-announcing-pause-prescribed-fire\">fewer than 1%\u003c/a> of controlled burns get out of control, but they still make neighbors nervous.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s foreign to most people,” Van Wagner said. “So, there’s more of a fear response than understanding.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Fancy Fechser, who owns the Nevada County property where Van Wagner was burning, learning to live with fire is part of what it means to live in the foothills. She and her husband moved there with their family from Los Angeles in 2021.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s the luck of the draw here, and that’s something you have to live with,” she said. “But the control you can have — I mean, I feel so much better now that we did this.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985417\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985417\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Fancy-Fechser_Penn-Valley_01-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Two people stand on the side of a hill with a forest behind them.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Fancy-Fechser_Penn-Valley_01-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Fancy-Fechser_Penn-Valley_01-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Fancy-Fechser_Penn-Valley_01-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Fancy-Fechser_Penn-Valley_01-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Fancy-Fechser_Penn-Valley_01-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Fancy-Fechser_Penn-Valley_01-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fancy Fechser (right) talks with prescribed burn practitioner Tim Van Wagner following a prescribed burn on her property in Penn Valley on June 16, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Fechser hopes that in the long run, the work done here will make both her property and the surrounding community safer from megafires and that it’ll be more resilient for the climate changes to come.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t love looking at a charred backyard, but I know the point,” she said. “We have to look in the future here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Grieving the future\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For Oakland-based journalist Erica Hellerstein, part of looking into California’s future means grieving — not a lost past, but a future that may never come to be.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reflecting on this idea in a \u003ca href=\"https://www.codastory.com/rewriting-history/grieving-california/\">2022 Coda Story essay\u003c/a>, she wrote, “A building that burns can be rebuilt. But if fire incinerates a state of mind, can that be put back together?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985209\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985209\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-ERICA-HELLERSTEIN_OAKLAND_03-EB-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A person with long hairs sits in front of a bookshelf indoors.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-ERICA-HELLERSTEIN_OAKLAND_03-EB-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-ERICA-HELLERSTEIN_OAKLAND_03-EB-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-ERICA-HELLERSTEIN_OAKLAND_03-EB-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-ERICA-HELLERSTEIN_OAKLAND_03-EB-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-ERICA-HELLERSTEIN_OAKLAND_03-EB-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-ERICA-HELLERSTEIN_OAKLAND_03-EB-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-ERICA-HELLERSTEIN_OAKLAND_03-EB-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oakland-based journalist Erica Hellerstein poses for a portrait in her apartment overlooking Lake Merritt on June 30, 2023. In her Coda Story essay, Grieving California, she explored feelings of climate anxiety associated with grief — specifically, ‘grieving a future that may never come to pass’ as a result of warming global temperatures. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Hellerstein remembers the rupture when her memories of the past severed from her expectations of the future. It was September 2020, and smoke from fires burning across the state had smothered the sky. She watched, with jarring dissonance, as partygoers in hazmat masks waited outside a nightclub in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They were just pretending everything was normal,” she said. “That was another turning point for me, just cognitively of being like, ‘OK, yeah, things are really not what I remember from my childhood growing up here.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For me, it was visiting Paradise this summer five years after the Camp Fire ravaged the area, and seeing its pine trees replaced with shrubby manzanita and sprouting oaks. As fires and drought kill the mixed conifer trees that give the Sierra foothills their signature beauty, other plants more accustomed to Southern California’s clime are slowly replacing them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985418\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985418\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230809-SoldOutParadise-46-BL-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A house sits on a hillside dotted with green shrubs and dry grasses in the foreground.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230809-SoldOutParadise-46-BL-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230809-SoldOutParadise-46-BL-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230809-SoldOutParadise-46-BL-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230809-SoldOutParadise-46-BL-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230809-SoldOutParadise-46-BL-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230809-SoldOutParadise-46-BL-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Empty lots dot the side of a residential area of Paradise on Aug. 9, 2023. The Camp Fire, a deadly fire that destroyed much of the towns of Paradise and Concow, swept through the area in 2018. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>These pine trees — whose smell, earthy and fresh after the first fall rain, is permanently imprinted in my olfactory memory — are some of the most threatened. Of all the impacts climate change may bring, their prospective loss is one I haven’t quite reconciled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s so much grief there because we’ve had it so good in our life,” said Sam Hinrichs, a resident of Nevada County for 35 years. “We’ve had it so good, and we didn’t pay attention to that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hinrichs was once a volunteer firefighter and used to do wildfire mitigation work. Now, she sits on the board of the North San Juan Fire Protection District in Nevada County. She’s keenly aware of her own risk of living three miles down a gravel road, surrounded by forest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I do look at those climate maps, and I see where the danger zones are,” she said. “I think about fire every day, all the time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985419\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985419\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Inimim-Forest_San-Juan-Ridge_05-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A dead tree is surrounded by green trees.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Inimim-Forest_San-Juan-Ridge_05-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Inimim-Forest_San-Juan-Ridge_05-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Inimim-Forest_San-Juan-Ridge_05-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Inimim-Forest_San-Juan-Ridge_05-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Inimim-Forest_San-Juan-Ridge_05-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Inimim-Forest_San-Juan-Ridge_05-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A dead tree stands in the Inimim Forest on Aug. 9, 2023. A prolonged drought in California that began in 2000 and has been the most extreme since the 1500s has resulted in significant tree mortality. The mixed conifer trees of the mid-elevation Sierra Nevada Foothills are particularly threatened. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>She’s watched the pine trees around her house turn brown from bark beetles that thrive in hotter weather and overproduce, killing the trees they feed on. It’s something she wants her son, Stanley, to see, so he can learn what to do about it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though he’s only 6 years old, she’s already gotten him involved in tending their land, identifying which pine and cedar trees to fell, their seedlings replanted upslope, where it’s cooler, and which Black Oaks that can tolerate warmer weather, to leave in place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m not feeling precious about [the pines] anymore,” she said. “I just want to give him skills for resilience and noticing what needs to happen.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985423\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985423\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Inimim-Forest_San-Juan-Ridge_03-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A clearing in a wooded area.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Inimim-Forest_San-Juan-Ridge_03-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Inimim-Forest_San-Juan-Ridge_03-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Inimim-Forest_San-Juan-Ridge_03-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Inimim-Forest_San-Juan-Ridge_03-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Inimim-Forest_San-Juan-Ridge_03-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Inimim-Forest_San-Juan-Ridge_03-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A significantly thinned area of the Inimim Forest on the San Juan Ridge in Nevada County on Aug. 9, 2023, co-managed by the federal Bureau of Land Management and the Yuba Watershed Institute, a local nonprofit that got its start in the back-to-the-land movement of the 1970s. The management plan has thinned the forest, allowing light to filter through the trees and keeping brush close to the ground, making the area more likely to survive a wildfire. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Noticing, and knowing, what needs to happen is not an innate skill. It’s one Hinrichs developed from growing up in the area and from hand-clearing most of her 17-acre property. Using chainsaws and pole saws, she’s worked acre-by-acre, determining which plants hold birds’ nests or provide cover for nursing deers and which can be removed. It’s a labor-intensive process, but it also gives her unique insight into the forest’s health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The quail have come back since we’ve done this clearing,” she said. “I had only 12 quail, and now we’re up to like, 40, which is really cool.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hinrichs cannot know whether these efforts will be enough to save her home from a wildfire. Like many in this more remote part of the county, she lives without an insurer willing to cover her losses, relying instead on her own prevention efforts of hand-clearing the land and using prescribed fire to reduce her risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I married this land. I’ve made this my project,” she said. “If my house burns down, I’ll build another one. Probably. I’m trying to make it so my house doesn’t burn down, but fire is also just part of this place.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Taking care\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In her book, \u003cem>Fire Monks: Zen Mind Meets Wildfire\u003c/em>, Berkeley author Colleen Morton Busch describes how a group of Buddhist monks at the Tassajara Zen Center in California’s Carmel Valley prepared for a wildfire bearing down on them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was 2008, during the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Tassajara-monks-practice-Zen-of-firefighting-3277372.php\">Basin Complex Fire\u003c/a>, and there was a debate among the monks and their students about the Zen Buddhist idea of non-attachment. Some argued to let the monastery burn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985206\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985206\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-COLLEEN-MORTON-BUSCH_BERKELEY_02-EB-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A person with glasses sits at a table in an indoor setting.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-COLLEEN-MORTON-BUSCH_BERKELEY_02-EB-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-COLLEEN-MORTON-BUSCH_BERKELEY_02-EB-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-COLLEEN-MORTON-BUSCH_BERKELEY_02-EB-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-COLLEEN-MORTON-BUSCH_BERKELEY_02-EB-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-COLLEEN-MORTON-BUSCH_BERKELEY_02-EB-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-COLLEEN-MORTON-BUSCH_BERKELEY_02-EB-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-COLLEEN-MORTON-BUSCH_BERKELEY_02-EB-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Berkeley author Colleen Morton Busch poses for a portrait at her home on Sept. 19, 2023. Morton Busch is the author of ‘Fire Monks: Zen Mind Meets Wildfire,’ which describes the ways a group of monks at the Tassajara Zen Center in California’s Carmel Valley prepared and then defended against a wildfire bearing down on them. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In the end, a group of five decided to stay and defend it. Morton-Busch wrote:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A clever Zen teacher might say that standing back and letting the monastery burn belies a kind of attachment to the idea of non-attachment. That trying to save it when it could all burn anyway is true non-attachment. In trying to save Tassajara from the fire, or your own life from disaster, you can’t be sure you will. In fact, you can lose everything you love in a moment. And that’s not a reason to give up. If anything, it’s a reason to turn toward the fire, recognizing it as a force of both creation and destruction and to take care of what’s right in front of you because that’s all you actually have.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In some ways, the fire bearing down on Tassajara is a lot like climate change — a planetary fire bearing down on all of us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In other ways, it is very different. The monks had one fire to contend with, but across the globe, we all face a different climate. It may be a hurricane in one area, record-breaking temperatures in another, deadly wildfires one year, heavy rains the next.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then, there are the ways these changes quietly manifest, and are mourned or endured, in each heart and mind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Barbara was alive, and in the years since she passed away, most of our monthly trips up there were, and still are, spent tending the land.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985469\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985469\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Barbaras-House_North-San-Juan_3-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A river and bank with trees.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1273\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Barbaras-House_North-San-Juan_3-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Barbaras-House_North-San-Juan_3-qut-800x530.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Barbaras-House_North-San-Juan_3-qut-1020x676.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Barbaras-House_North-San-Juan_3-qut-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Barbaras-House_North-San-Juan_3-qut-768x509.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Barbaras-House_North-San-Juan_3-qut-1536x1018.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Yuba River winds through the Sierra Nevada foothills north of Hoyt’s Crossing in August 2023. The river is one of many world-class amenities that lure people to the area. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In a continuous cycle of labor defined by the seasons, we begin after the first fall rain, limbing trees and pulling the flammable and invasive scotch broom. In the spring, we mow down annual grasses to preemptively rob the summer’s fires of their fuel. This year, I’ll bring my now four-year-old along with me. Together, we’ll gather branches from the ground to stack for kindling. And hopefully one day, we’ll both learn how to put good fire on the ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There is something liberating about this labor, which is itself a daily act of defiance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It is here, in Nevada County and places like it, where no veneer of denialism can cover the stark realities already underway and where there is little time to brood over what is to come because there is too much work to be done now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In these places, precariously poised on the knife’s edge of a shifting climate, the choice is clear: leave or turn toward the fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "In the Sierra Nevada foothills, residents confront what it means to live in fire country in an era of increasingly destructive wildfires.",
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"title": "Facing the Fire: California's Sierra Foothills Residents Race to Adapt | KQED",
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"headline": "Facing the Fire: California's Sierra Foothills Residents Race to Adapt",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>This story is part of the third season of KQED’s podcast Sold Out: Rethinking Housing in America. You can \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/podcasts/soldout\" data-stringify-link=\"https://www.kqed.org/podcasts/soldout\" data-sk=\"tooltip_parent\">find that series here\u003c/a> and read about why \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1984697/why-kqed-focused-a-season-of-its-housing-podcast-on-climate-change#:~:text=Sold%20Out%20Is%20Back%20With%20Season%203&text=Host%20Erin%20Baldassari%20leads%20a,an%20affordable%20place%20to%20live.\" data-stringify-link=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1984697/why-kqed-focused-a-season-of-its-housing-podcast-on-climate-change#:~:text=Sold%20Out%20Is%20Back%20With%20Season%203&text=Host%20Erin%20Baldassari%20leads%20a,an%20affordable%20place%20to%20live.\" data-sk=\"tooltip_parent\">KQED chose to focus a season of its housing podcast on climate change\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">S\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>hari Wilson woke up and stared at the sun, dull and orange against a ruddy sky. She checked the Air Quality Index app on her phone and put on a mask.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I felt just kind of down,” she said. “You know, there’s that orange sky, gray day.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like millions of people across the Midwest and Northeast this past June, she saw smoke from Canadian wildfires. Though the fires were thousands of miles away, she couldn’t shake an uneasy feeling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I felt trapped in the smoke,” she said. “And it made me think a lot about my friends in California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shari Wilson and her husband had moved back to their home state of Michigan less than a year prior. Before that, they had spent nearly four decades in California, more than half of it in Nevada City, a small town on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada mountains, about an hour’s drive from Lake Tahoe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985405\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1985405 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230815-BlueForestInitiative-61-BL-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230815-BlueForestInitiative-61-BL-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230815-BlueForestInitiative-61-BL-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230815-BlueForestInitiative-61-BL-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230815-BlueForestInitiative-61-BL-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230815-BlueForestInitiative-61-BL-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230815-BlueForestInitiative-61-BL-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dark clouds roll into Nevada City, Nevada County, on Aug. 15, 2023.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The quintessential Gold Rush-era town, complete with a vibrant arts scene and quaint, historic downtown, is surrounded by pine forests. Shari Wilson’s husband, Mark Wilson, said when they first moved there, those trees were a big part of the draw.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We had a great evergreen tree that grew two feet away from our deck,” he said. “We thought, ‘This is so great, we can watch the birds.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For more than two decades, the idea that a wildfire could level their house seemed distant. The \u003ca href=\"https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/a-walk-in-the-ashes-of-the-tubbs-fire-five-years-later-in-sonoma-county/\">2017 Tubbs Fire\u003c/a> in California’s wine country brought it home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fire tore through a suburban neighborhood, killing 22 people. A year later, \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-08-20/five-years-after-the-camp-fire-paradise-survivors-see-hard-future-for-maui\">the Camp Fire\u003c/a> decimated the town of Paradise and killed 85 people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That made it real,” Mark Wilson said. “And it became a real feeling that this could easily happen to us tomorrow.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985421\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985421\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230809-SoldOutParadise-59-BL-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A sign in the form of a cross sits next to the side of a road in dusk light.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230809-SoldOutParadise-59-BL-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230809-SoldOutParadise-59-BL-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230809-SoldOutParadise-59-BL-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230809-SoldOutParadise-59-BL-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230809-SoldOutParadise-59-BL-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230809-SoldOutParadise-59-BL-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A memorial reads, ‘Faith, Hope, Paradise,’ in Paradise on Aug. 9, 2023. The Camp Fire, a deadly fire that destroyed much of the towns of Paradise and Concow, swept through the area in 2018. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The couple started thinking about where else to live. Shari Wilson was quick to say it wasn’t just due to the fires. “We aren’t climate refugees,” she said. They both grew up in Michigan and wanted to live close to family.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But when this summer’s smoke began to blot out the sun, Mark Wilson said it was a grim reminder.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It made me sad because it was a reminder that it’s not just California. It’s not just in one place. It’s everywhere,” he said. “And no matter where you go, climate change is going to catch up with you.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985407\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1985407 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230627-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-19-BL-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A red sign with white lettering is nailed to a tree.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230627-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-19-BL-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230627-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-19-BL-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230627-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-19-BL-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230627-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-19-BL-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230627-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-19-BL-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230627-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-19-BL-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A sign advertising defensible space clearance for wildfire preparation hangs on a tree along the San Juan Ridge near Nevada City on June 27, 2023. The area is heavily forested and borders the Yuba River near historic towns that date back to the 1849 California Gold Rush. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As rising global temperatures bake the surrounding pine trees, oaks and madrones of the Sierra Nevada mountains, residents living in its scattered communities have a choice: to remain in the fire’s path or hedge their bets elsewhere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It is a question my family found ourselves facing, but in reverse, after my partner inherited a house in Nevada County. It is a place where we both spent our childhoods and where we hoped to one day raise our daughter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fire has always been part of the bargain of living there. But as climate change fuels wildfires of unprecedented proportions, it’s rewriting the terms of that old agreement. As it does, that’s forced us, like many in the forested foothills, to renegotiate what we’re willing to do — and how much we’re willing to risk — to live there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm/?e=KQINC1360589321&light=true\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Nevada County, measures to mitigate the threat of wildfires are underway, but their effectiveness has been stunted by decades of land management policies that sought to suppress all fires and led to an overabundance of brush and trees. Now, residents are racing to make up for lost time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For communities across the globe similarly poised on the knife’s edge of catastrophe — whether the threat is rising seas, stronger hurricanes or longer periods of extreme heat — the question is how to preserve and protect these places, or as retired fire scientist and Nevada County resident Jo Ann Fites-Kaufman put it, “What does it mean to live in different environments? What does it mean to grow up in an area? What does it mean to be human?”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Barbara’s house\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>My partner’s mom, Barbara, was 79 when she passed away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She left behind a two-bedroom Mediterranean-style home with an orange exterior, its hue varied and weathered, one wall splashed robin’s egg blue. Situated on a 13-acre property in the northwestern corner of Nevada County, the house is not only a mausoleum of her artifacts but a physical manifestation of her memory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Barbara had suffered a stroke, and we spent 10 days in the hospital hoping for an improvement in her condition that never came. During that time, and in the weeks after she passed away, the house was a vessel for our grief. It held us because it held so much of her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985313\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1985313 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230627-SoldOutBarbaraHouse-Barbaras-House_North-San-Juan_1-EB.jpg\" alt=\"A one level house with a tile roof is surrounded by trees.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1273\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230627-SoldOutBarbaraHouse-Barbaras-House_North-San-Juan_1-EB.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230627-SoldOutBarbaraHouse-Barbaras-House_North-San-Juan_1-EB-800x530.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230627-SoldOutBarbaraHouse-Barbaras-House_North-San-Juan_1-EB-1020x676.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230627-SoldOutBarbaraHouse-Barbaras-House_North-San-Juan_1-EB-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230627-SoldOutBarbaraHouse-Barbaras-House_North-San-Juan_1-EB-768x509.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230627-SoldOutBarbaraHouse-Barbaras-House_North-San-Juan_1-EB-1536x1018.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Barbara built her home with wildfires in mind. The walls are made from a concrete-like material a foot thick that’s rated to withstand 12 hours of burning. S-shaped tiles line the roof, and a gravel driveway encircles the home. Photographed in August 2023. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>When we finally turned off the lights and locked the doors to return home to the Bay Area, we did so reluctantly, wondering how and when we might move our lives there. Beneath our decision was an emerging hope for our not-yet-one-year-old daughter — that, although she would never know her grandmother, she might know the house her grandmother built.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That summer, smoke from two dozen wildfires loomed over Nevada County and drifted across the state. On one particularly bad day in the Bay Area, it grew so thick \u003ca href=\"https://www.newyorker.com/culture/video-dept/the-day-the-san-francisco-sky-turned-orange\">daylight turned to dusk\u003c/a>. It was then when I first began to wonder what kind of future our daughter might inherit if we chose to move to Nevada County, and what it would be like to live in a place where my own memories were constantly clashing with new realities.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Nothing left to burn\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>They call her the voice of doom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From her home office overlooking the Yuba River in Nevada County, Pascale Fusshoeller translates the precise, militaristic jargon of wildland firefighting departments into English, conveying need-to-know information on a fire’s origins, its speed and direction to readers across the region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985197\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985197\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66840_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-70-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"The charred remains of burnt trees stand out from newly grown plants in a field.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66840_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-70-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66840_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-70-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66840_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-70-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66840_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-70-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66840_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-70-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66840_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-70-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66840_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-70-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jim Mathias, Wildfire Prevention and Safety Manager of the Fire Safe Council of Nevada County, drives through an area of the county burned by wildfire on June 26, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Fusshoeller co-founded and edits YubaNet.com, which began in 1999 as the Internet burgeoned from niche to mainstream. She and her wife, Susan Levitz, both career journalists, intended to run a community events page.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That changed, Fusshoeller said, the day the site went live, and she spotted a towering plume of smoke rising from the ridge facing their home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s how we got into fire information,” she said. She hasn’t looked back. “It helps people.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985203\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985203\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-BEAR-TRAP-PRESCRIBED-BURN_NEVADA-COUNTY_05-EB-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"People wearing hard hats work digging in a forest.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-BEAR-TRAP-PRESCRIBED-BURN_NEVADA-COUNTY_05-EB-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-BEAR-TRAP-PRESCRIBED-BURN_NEVADA-COUNTY_05-EB-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-BEAR-TRAP-PRESCRIBED-BURN_NEVADA-COUNTY_05-EB-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-BEAR-TRAP-PRESCRIBED-BURN_NEVADA-COUNTY_05-EB-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-BEAR-TRAP-PRESCRIBED-BURN_NEVADA-COUNTY_05-EB-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-BEAR-TRAP-PRESCRIBED-BURN_NEVADA-COUNTY_05-EB-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-BEAR-TRAP-PRESCRIBED-BURN_NEVADA-COUNTY_05-EB-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Crew members from the Fire Safe Council of Nevada County walk to the site where they performed a ‘mop up’ following a prescribed burn in Nevada County on June 21, 2023. Using hand tools, the crew members will ensure that all of the fire has been extinguished. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For Fusshoeller, this means that whenever a fire occurs in the Sierra Nevada mountains, her days start early and end late.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/there-s-no-more-typical-wildfire-season-california-it-may-n934521\">It used to be\u003c/a> that fire season began in August and wrapped up by the end of September. Now, she says if there is a “fire season” at all, it begins in May and ends in November.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And of course, some years, there’s large fires in December,” she added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As global temperatures rise, so, too, does the number of wildfires. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, across the western United States, human-caused climate change has doubled the cumulative area burned by wildfires over natural levels since 1984.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985422\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2006px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985422\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/IPCC_AR6_WGII_Figure_2_FAQ_2.3.1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"2006\" height=\"728\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/IPCC_AR6_WGII_Figure_2_FAQ_2.3.1.png 2006w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/IPCC_AR6_WGII_Figure_2_FAQ_2.3.1-800x290.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/IPCC_AR6_WGII_Figure_2_FAQ_2.3.1-1020x370.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/IPCC_AR6_WGII_Figure_2_FAQ_2.3.1-160x58.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/IPCC_AR6_WGII_Figure_2_FAQ_2.3.1-768x279.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/IPCC_AR6_WGII_Figure_2_FAQ_2.3.1-1536x557.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/IPCC_AR6_WGII_Figure_2_FAQ_2.3.1-1920x697.png 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2006px) 100vw, 2006px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Figure FAQ2.3.1 | (a) Springs Fire, May 2, 2013, Thousand Oaks, California, USA (photo by Michael Robinson Chávez, Los Angeles Times). (b) Cumulative area burned by wildfire in the western USA, with (orange) and without (yellow) the increased heat and aridity of climate change. \u003ccite>(IPCC Sixth Assessment Report)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Patrick Gonzalez, a forest ecologist and climate change scientist at UC Berkeley, said the problem is particularly acute in California, where \u003ca href=\"https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/western-megadrought-is-the-worst-in-1-200-years/#:~:text=An%20exceptionally%20dry%20year%20in%202021%20helped%20break%20the%20record,least%20a%20couple%20of%20decades.\">a prolonged drought in recent years\u003c/a> has dried out plants and soils.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In Northern and Central California, almost all of the increase in burned area [over natural levels] has come from human-caused climate change since 1996,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In California, \u003ca href=\"https://34c031f8-c9fd-4018-8c5a-4159cdff6b0d-cdn-endpoint.azureedge.net/-/media/calfire-website/our-impact/fire-statistics/featured-items/top20_destruction.pdf?rev=ee6ea855632a4b56a46adea1d3c8022f&hash=5B8B3A1A35CBB52CB0ED7A010F0B52E0\">18 of the state’s 20 most destructive wildfires (PDF)\u003c/a> have occurred since 2003. Nevada County had been spared. Looking at a map, Fusshoeller noted that all the surrounding counties had experienced large and destructive wildfires during that time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s not to say that one day we will not have a large catastrophic fire here,” she said. Nevada County shares the same mix of vegetation, topography and climate conditions. “There is nothing else left to burn in the foothills.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The forerunner\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>There is something very Californian about believing it’s possible to survive anywhere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Joan Didion knew this. In her 1968 collection of essays, \u003cem>Slouching Toward Bethlehem\u003c/em>, Didion wrote of the desert metropolis’ clime, “Los Angeles weather is the weather of catastrophe, of apocalypse, and, just as the reliably long and bitter winters of New England determine the way life is lived there, so the violence and the unpredictability of the Santa Ana affect the entire quality of life in Los Angeles, accentuate its impermanence, its unreliability.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The same could be said of the entire state. Where early white settlers found a floodplain, they built their capital city, Sacramento. And even amid the rubble of the city’s most destructive earthquake, San Franciscans nonetheless rebuilt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985404\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985404\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SoldOut-Diptych-02.jpg\" alt=\"Left: Dark smoke billows above a structure. Right: Light gray and reddish smoke rises above a home surrounded by trees.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"923\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SoldOut-Diptych-02.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SoldOut-Diptych-02-800x385.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SoldOut-Diptych-02-1020x490.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SoldOut-Diptych-02-160x77.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SoldOut-Diptych-02-768x369.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SoldOut-Diptych-02-1536x738.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Left: A column of smoke rises behind a house in Lake Wildwood, California, as Mark and Kathy Baldassari prepare to evacuate from the 49er Fire on Sept. 11, 1988. Right: Smoke from the 49er Fire rises behind homes in Lake Wildwood, a small community in Nevada County, on Sept. 11, 1988. The fire burned through nearly 36,000 acres and destroyed almost 150 homes, making it California’s third most destructive wildfire at the time. Now, it’s not even in the top 20. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Mark and Kathy Baldassari)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>My own earliest memory, if an infant can be said to have one, is of a thick column of gray and black smoke rising behind my family’s house the day we evacuated from a wildfire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.theunion.com/opinion/49er-fire-memories-where-were-you-30-years-ago-today/article_960384f0-6667-5f66-a6f9-fb0508006a76.html\">It was Sept. 11, 1988\u003c/a>. I was just over a year old. My dad would later describe the fire’s path: not a continuous wall, but jagged, like fingers on a hand, touching some homes, refusing others — sparing ours.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And you kind of wonder why,” he mused, “why did it spare that house and burn that one?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was called the 49er Fire because it broke out near Highway 49 in Nevada County. It tore through nearly 36,000 acres of forest and grasslands and destroyed almost 150 homes. At the time, it was the state’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.cbsnews.com/sacramento/news/49er-fire-destruction/\">third-largest wildfire\u003c/a> and is still the county’s most destructive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985219\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985219\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-SO-S3-E6-SCAN-1-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Several houses beside fire-scorched terrain.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1543\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-SO-S3-E6-SCAN-1-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-SO-S3-E6-SCAN-1-KQED-800x617.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-SO-S3-E6-SCAN-1-KQED-1020x787.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-SO-S3-E6-SCAN-1-KQED-160x123.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-SO-S3-E6-SCAN-1-KQED-768x593.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-SO-S3-E6-SCAN-1-KQED-1536x1185.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-SO-S3-E6-SCAN-1-KQED-1920x1481.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The 1988 49er Fire burned through nearly 36,000 acres in Nevada County and destroyed almost 150 homes. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Mark and Kathy Baldassari)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In a prediction that feels prescient today, Jerry Partain, then-director of California’s Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, now called Cal Fire, \u003ca href=\"https://www.newspapers.com/image/624226617/?clipping_id=115881062&fcfToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJmcmVlLXZpZXctaWQiOjYyNDIyNjYxNywiaWF0IjoxNjk4OTU1MDA4LCJleHAiOjE2OTkwNDE0MDh9.s5IFZHnqPAFNjR2pbvWX3mHL3voE5oItjgwOsPg0Srk\">told \u003cem>The Sacramento Bee\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, “This [fire] is the classic. This is what we’ve been preaching about for the past several years. This is just the forerunner.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What Partain had been preaching about — fireproofing homes and managing the surrounding vegetation — is now a familiar sermon to anyone living in Northern California today, but one that was met with obstinance by the willful inhabitants of that era, a generally unyielding lot with a profound distrust of government matronism and a deep reverence for stick-to-itiveness, the miner’s luck and the sanctity of private property.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Speaking with \u003cem>The Sacramento Bee\u003c/em>, Partain stood in front of a map detailing the fire’s course, acknowledging there was no way to save every home. “It will continue to happen in the future,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985217\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1985217 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-SIERRA-STORYTELLING-FESTIVAL_NORTH-SAN-JUAN01-EB-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"People sit on blankets and fold out chairs in a grassy space.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-SIERRA-STORYTELLING-FESTIVAL_NORTH-SAN-JUAN01-EB-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-SIERRA-STORYTELLING-FESTIVAL_NORTH-SAN-JUAN01-EB-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-SIERRA-STORYTELLING-FESTIVAL_NORTH-SAN-JUAN01-EB-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-SIERRA-STORYTELLING-FESTIVAL_NORTH-SAN-JUAN01-EB-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-SIERRA-STORYTELLING-FESTIVAL_NORTH-SAN-JUAN01-EB-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-SIERRA-STORYTELLING-FESTIVAL_NORTH-SAN-JUAN01-EB-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-SIERRA-STORYTELLING-FESTIVAL_NORTH-SAN-JUAN01-EB-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Attendees lounge on the grass during the dinner hour at the Sierra Storytelling Festival at the North Columbia Schoolhouse Cultural Center in North San Juan on July 8, 2023. (Photo by Erin Baldassari/KQED) \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>With the future came more residents, living with more risk. Between 1990 and 2010, the county’s population \u003ca href=\"https://www.nevadacountyca.gov/378/Demographics-Statistics\">grew 26%\u003c/a>, mirroring a trend seen across the \u003ca href=\"https://www.usfa.fema.gov/downloads/pdf/publications/wui-issues-resolutions-report.pdf\">country (PDF)\u003c/a> as more people than ever flooded into wildland areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In California, nearly \u003ca href=\"https://silvis.forest.wisc.edu/data/wui-change/\">half of all homes built during that time period\u003c/a> were constructed in areas designated at “high or extreme risk of wildfire,” according to the Center for Insurance Policy and Research. Nevada County was no exception, where more than \u003ca href=\"https://www.nevadacountyca.gov/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=5247\">nine out of every 10\u003c/a> residents live in “high or very high” fire hazard zones.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That wildfires have become more destructive over the past 40 years is simple math, UC Berkeley’s Gonzalez said. “The losses of homes and people, who sadly die in a wildfire, is a function of the number of people who live in fire-prone areas,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985215\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1985215 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY14-EB-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"The smoldering remains of a fire near a house.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY14-EB-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY14-EB-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY14-EB-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY14-EB-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY14-EB-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY14-EB-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY14-EB-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A controlled fire burns near a home on a private property in Penn Valley, a small, rural community in Nevada County, California, on June 22, 2023. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>He continued: “Climate change is exacerbating the risk. So, that makes it even more important [to limit] the number of people who move into or build new houses in fire-prone areas.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Brute reckoning\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The 49er Fire left its mark on my psyche, attuning me to dry, summer winds, focusing my attention on anything that could produce an errant spark, and heightening my awareness, early on, of my own precarity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But for many in Nevada County, myself included, it was still only a glimpse into a distant future. Brute reckoning came much later, in 2018, with the Camp Fire in Paradise, California, which is one county away from Nevada County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985409\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1985409 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-19-BL-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Trucks with piles of logs in the truck beds form a line in a lot near a wooded area.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-19-BL-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-19-BL-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-19-BL-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-19-BL-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-19-BL-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-19-BL-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Vehicles filled with green waste wait in line during a free residential disposal hosted by the Fire Safe Council of Nevada County in Grass Valley on June 26, 2023. Residents can bring all tree and plant trimmings, weeds, leaves, branches, and pine needles, except for some plants like scotch broom and poison oak, in an effort to create defensible space on their properties. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>YubaNet’s Fusshoeller held a town hall event a week after the fire began. Minutes after the doors opened, the seats had filled to capacity, followed by the building’s overflow rooms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And then there were still people outside,” Fusshoeller recalled. “It was the whole community. They were scared.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fire became a wake-up call — and a rallying cry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We regularly hear that this is the next Camp Fire,” said Jamie Jones, the executive director of the Fire Safe Council of Nevada County, a nonprofit formed in the wake of the 49er Fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985202\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985202\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-BEAR-TRAP-PRESCRIBED-BURN_NEVADA-COUNTY_01-EB-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A group of people wearing hard hats walk along a roadway beside a stretch of burnt forest.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-BEAR-TRAP-PRESCRIBED-BURN_NEVADA-COUNTY_01-EB-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-BEAR-TRAP-PRESCRIBED-BURN_NEVADA-COUNTY_01-EB-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-BEAR-TRAP-PRESCRIBED-BURN_NEVADA-COUNTY_01-EB-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-BEAR-TRAP-PRESCRIBED-BURN_NEVADA-COUNTY_01-EB-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-BEAR-TRAP-PRESCRIBED-BURN_NEVADA-COUNTY_01-EB-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-BEAR-TRAP-PRESCRIBED-BURN_NEVADA-COUNTY_01-EB-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-BEAR-TRAP-PRESCRIBED-BURN_NEVADA-COUNTY_01-EB-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Crew members from the Fire Safe Council of Nevada County walk to the site where they were performing a ‘mop up’ following a prescribed burn in Nevada County on June 21, 2023. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We have watersheds that if a fire starts on the wrong day and the wrong conditions — or you could call it the right conditions — we could have a potential catastrophic loss like Paradise did,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Spurred by that rallying cry, Jones’ organization ballooned from three employees to more than 50, with its own land management crew, \u003ca href=\"https://www.areyoufiresafe.com/programs/defensible-space-advisory-visit-dsav\">free advisory visits\u003c/a> for homeowners, a \u003ca href=\"https://www.areyoufiresafe.com/programs/chipping-program\">roving wood-chipper\u003c/a>, and a robust grant-writing department, among \u003ca href=\"https://www.areyoufiresafe.com/programs\">other initiatives\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It became a huge priority to fund [wildfire] mitigation work,” Jones said. “We just kind of grabbed the bull by the horns and said, ‘We’ll do it. We’ll be that large nonprofit to work in this space.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985191\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1985191 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66792_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-08-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Two people use a rake-like device to remove all of the dried green waste from the bed of a truck.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66792_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-08-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66792_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-08-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66792_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-08-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66792_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-08-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66792_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-08-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66792_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-08-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66792_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-08-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Employees help people unload green waste during a free residential disposal hosted by the Fire Safe Council of Nevada County in Grass Valley on June 26, 2023. Residents can bring all tree and plant trimmings, weeds, leaves, branches, and pine needles, except for some plants like scotch broom and poison oak, in an effort to create defensible space on their properties. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But the Camp Fire also incited residents to act. Today, Nevada County, with a population of just over \u003ca href=\"https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/nevadacountycalifornia/PST045222\">100,000 people\u003c/a>, boasts the highest number of \u003ca href=\"https://www.nfpa.org/education-and-research/wildfire/firewise-usa\">Firewise Communities\u003c/a> in the country — a program run by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) that encourages neighborhoods to organize and collectively complete fire safety projects, such as thinning trees along evacuation routes and clearing excess brush on individual properties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before the Camp Fire, Jones said there were 22 Firewise Communities in the county. As of October, there were 94, according to the NFPA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think it speaks volumes to how committed our community is to protecting their families, their loved ones, their neighbors, and the community that we live in,” Jones said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, she said \u003ca href=\"https://www.capradio.org/articles/2021/06/23/newsom-misled-the-public-about-wildfire-prevention-efforts-ahead-of-worst-fire-season-on-record/\">progress remains stilted in other ways\u003c/a>. For instance, Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2019 \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2020/01/29/governor-newsom-announces-completion-of-emergency-projects-to-protect-wildfire-vulnerable-communities/\">fast-tracked 35 wildfire defense projects\u003c/a> across the state, including one in Nevada County, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.nevadacountyca.gov/3748/Ponderosa-West-Grass-Valley-Defense-Zone#:~:text=The%20shaded%20fuel%20break%20lies,Newtown%20Road%20to%20the%20north.\">Ponderosa West Grass Valley Defense Zone shaded fuel break\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.ponderosawestproject.org/\">project\u003c/a> provided free brush clearing on residents’ properties to allow firefighters to more easily defend the town of Grass Valley. But four years after the first phase began, many of the property owners have failed to maintain their land.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985410\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985410\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-75-BL-qut-1.jpg\" alt=\"One hand holds up a paper map while the other hand points to an area on the map.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-75-BL-qut-1.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-75-BL-qut-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-75-BL-qut-1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-75-BL-qut-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-75-BL-qut-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-75-BL-qut-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jim Mathias, the wildfire prevention and safety manager of the Fire Safe Council of Nevada County, holds a map of a plan for a shaded fuel break in southern Nevada County on June 26, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>On a recent tour, Jones pointed to a property where the homeowner had positioned himself as a poster child of compliance. Crispy brush and small trees, perfect kindling for a big wildfire, now crowded beneath towering oak and manzanita trees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He sold two years into the project,” she lamented. The new property owner never picked up the work. Continued compliance requires constant care — and a long memory.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Our place on the planet\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>As the spokesperson for the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe, Shelly Covert carries with her a cultural memory that spans centuries. What it takes to live in wildland areas today, she said, is in some ways not so different from when her relatives lived freely off the land — and that is constant tending.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For her relatives, that meant cutting trees, harvesting smaller branches, and collecting reeds — work now done with chainsaws and machines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985420\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1985420 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/GettyImages-1241501048-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A woman's face is reflected in a mirror with brown writing.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/GettyImages-1241501048-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/GettyImages-1241501048-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/GettyImages-1241501048-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/GettyImages-1241501048-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/GettyImages-1241501048-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/GettyImages-1241501048-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/GettyImages-1241501048-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/GettyImages-1241501048-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Shelly Covert, spokesperson for the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe, in Nevada City, on June 6, 2022. \u003ccite>(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The difference, she said, is that the Nisenan used these materials in their homes, acorn granaries, tools and baskets. That these same actions also made the forests more resilient to — and protected the Nisenan from — catastrophic wildfires was secondary. Today, the accumulation of these same plant materials is a burden.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Nobody wants it,” she said. “So, how are forests ever going to be tended in that way again when we don’t need the freaking stuff that’s all over the ground?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nevada County’s Fire Safe Council is trying to help relieve that burden with a free \u003ca href=\"https://www.areyoufiresafe.com/programs/residential-green-waste-disposal-2023\">green waste disposal site\u003c/a> in Grass Valley. This past June, on the last day it was open for the season, crews heaped logs into towering piles, mounded branches atop each other, and stacked firewood for the taking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985193\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1985193 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66813_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-38-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A person wearing a large wicker hat and sunglasses stands in front of piles of wood and speaks to the driver of a vehicle.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66813_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-38-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66813_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-38-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66813_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-38-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66813_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-38-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66813_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-38-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66813_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-38-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66813_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-38-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jonny Sjobeck (left) talks with Roland Harrison during a free green waste residential disposal hosted by the Fire Safe Council of Nevada County in Grass Valley on June 26, 2023. Residents can bring all tree and plant trimmings, weeds, leaves, branches, and pine needles, except for some plants like scotch broom and poison oak, in an effort to create defensible space on their properties. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Suzi and Doug Clipperton waited in line for their turn to unload the towering pile of branches in the back of their truck. They had moved to the county from Palm Springs two years ago, and though their property is relatively small, at one acre, it still produces an abundance of vegetation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Without the green waste disposal site, Suzi Clipperton said she would be forced to pay to get rid of the materials at the dump.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s so expensive, even the green waste,” she said. “Over $25 a truckload, over and over several times a month.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Getting to a truly sustainable lifestyle in the forested foothills is still a long way off, Covert said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s just the way we’ve built our built lives,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that’s not what people, myself included, want to talk to her about these days. All we want to talk to her about is how to use fire to fight fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985211\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985211\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY06-EB-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A person holds a device to dried grass to start a fire.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY06-EB-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY06-EB-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY06-EB-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY06-EB-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY06-EB-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY06-EB-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY06-EB-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dylan Drummond wields a drip torch, which he uses to ignite grasses during a prescribed burn on a private property in Penn Valley, a small, rural community in Nevada County on June 22, 2023. The burn aims to reduce the brush and grasses that fuel megafires while also helping to restore native plants to the region. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The practice, called controlled or prescribed burns, has gained momentum in recent years as a way to clear the brush and grasses that fuel megafires. But Covert’s relatives also burned the land to remove bug infestations from trees, clear land for hunting and travel and promote certain kinds of plants. Public officials have been increasingly turning to her to tap into the tribe’s cultural knowledge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On one hand, Covert said she appreciates having a seat at the table, an opportunity her grandparents were never afforded. On the other, she said it’s hard for her not to roll her eyes during those same meetings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Don’t tell me those old people didn’t sit there and say, ‘You can’t not burn the land.’ It was unfathomable to them,” she said. “We have to burn the land, and we have to burn our dead.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985413\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985413\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County15-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Green plants sprout from a burned land.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County15-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County15-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County15-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County15-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County15-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County15-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">This yampa root survives a prescribed burn on a private property in Penn Valley, a small, rural community in Nevada County, California, on June 22, 2023. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>When white settlers arrived during the Gold Rush, they not only outlawed the practice of burning the land but also the Nisenan practice of cremating their dead. And, while government officials now recognize fire as essential to maintaining forest health, Nisenan cremations are still outlawed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During those ceremonies, the nearest female relatives of the deceased would mix pine pitch with ash to blacken their heads and shoulders, washing their faces only after the mixture had worn off, thus defining the period of mourning. Other relatives and friends gathered around to sing and cry. Every year, an annual mourning ceremony, or “Second Burning,” was held for everyone who died that year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My grandma said that the old ladies used to wipe each other’s tears and hold each other up because they were so fraught with sadness,” Covert said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To Covert, burning the land and burning the dead are not two practices with distinct purposes and outcomes. They are the same practice for the same purpose of binding humanity to all other life and to the land.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985210\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985210\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY04-EB-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A fire burns dried grasses around the truck of a tree.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY04-EB-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY04-EB-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY04-EB-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY04-EB-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY04-EB-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY04-EB-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY04-EB-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Workers perform a prescribed burn on a private property in Penn Valley, a small, rural community in Nevada County on June 22, 2023. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>She said the cremation ceremony is at the core: “It is the kickstarter of all these other protocols that come into play that are respect for the land, respect for the animals, respect for the spirit, respect for one another. And that’s it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It is the foundation that allows them to see themselves as both indebted to a place and responsible for it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have thumbs. We can light fire. We can pull and tend the rubbish in the forests,” Covert said. “That is our place on this planet.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Good fire\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In a small community on the western flank of Nevada County, atop a ridge overlooking Lake Wildwood, where the 49er Fire raged 35 years ago, three young men holding drip torches set fire to the land.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was an abnormally cool June day. The crew of roughly a dozen, dressed in flannel shirts, blue jeans and boots, worked methodically downhill. Some held water bladders to douse fires burning into tree roots. Others were posted at control lines to ensure the fire stayed within its boundaries. One roamed the perimeter on a motorcycle to watch for spotfires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985414\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985414\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County11-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A man holds a water hose near a smoked filled forest area.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County11-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County11-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County11-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County11-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County11-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County11-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kevin Bratton uses a hose to douse the roots of a pine tree during a prescribed burn on a private property in Penn Valley, a small, rural community in Nevada County on June 22, 2023. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>They were lighting a controlled burn on the roughly 80-acre property, with the twin goals of reducing the wildfire risk and promoting native plants, which often need the low-intensity fires to drop seeds or sprout from dormancy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you see the effects of fire, it all makes sense,” said Tim Van Wagner, an organic farmer in Nevada County and broadcast burn practitioner, who led the burn that day. “All of a sudden, you actually realize the insanity of how we have been able to suppress fire and the damage it’s done.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The more fuel there is to burn, the hotter the fire becomes, and the more likely they are to \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-07-20/california-forests-are-vanishing-as-wildfires-worsen\">permanently incinerate\u003c/a> even the most fire-adapted forests.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985214\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985214\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY13-EB-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A person in a baseball cap walks through a smokey open space.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY13-EB-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY13-EB-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY13-EB-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY13-EB-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY13-EB-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY13-EB-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY13-EB-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tim Van Wagner, a broadcast burn practitioner, oversees a prescribed burn on a private property in Penn Valley, a small, rural community in Nevada County on June 22, 2023. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But bringing “good fire” back hasn’t been easy, said fire historian and author Stephen Pyne.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We spent 50 years trying to take all fire out of the landscape,” he said, “and we’ve spent 50 years trying to put good fire back in.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Federal regulators restricted broadcast burns beginning in 1910, following a particularly fearsome spate of fires known as the “Big Blowup,” when some 3 million acres of forestland in Idaho and Montana \u003ca href=\"https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5444731.pdf\">burned over the course of two short days (PDF)\u003c/a>, killing 86 people — the most in US history, until \u003ca href=\"https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/maui-hawaii-fires-death-toll-rcna105387\">this year’s fires in Maui\u003c/a>. By the time the National Parks Service \u003ca href=\"https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2019/11/californias-wildfire-controlled-prescribed-burns-native-americans/#:~:text=In%201968%2C%20the%20National%20Park,introduced%20fire%20to%20their%20landscapes.\">changed its policy\u003c/a> in 1968, areas that had been accustomed to periodic fires were overloaded with fuels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Combine that excess vegetation with rising temperatures, and Pyne said existing models of fire behavior no longer hold.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They are being overwhelmed,” he said. “We’re seeing it in Canada now and parts of the Mediterranean, as well as parts of the U.S., and we’re creating a new world out of this.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Humans once controlled fire. Now, Pyne said fire is controlling us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve taken what had always been our best friend, and we’re making it our worst enemy,” he said. “Even if we tame the climate, we remove the fossil fuel part of it, we still have a relentless obligation to work with fire in the lands that remain.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985415\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985415\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County02-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A man looks up and away from the camera while holding his arm out while brush burns nearby.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County02-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County02-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County02-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County02-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County02-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County02-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tim Van Wagner, a broadcast burn practitioner, oversees a prescribed burn on private property in Penn Valley, a small, rural community in Nevada County, on June 22, 2023. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In California, policy leaders from Gov. Newsom down to local leaders are encouraging controlled burns. But the process has been hampered, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1979560/cal-fire-fumbles-key-responsibilities-to-prevent-catastrophic-wildfires-despite-historic-budget\">in part\u003c/a>, by the slow rollout of its certification program for burn bosses. The designation is crucial for people like Van Wagner because it would allow them to tap into a \u003ca href=\"https://wildfiretaskforce.org/prescribed-fire-liability-claims-fund-pilot/#:~:text=Administered%20by%20CAL%20FIRE%2C%20the,burn%20boss%20or%20cultural%20practitioner.\">$20 million pool of insurance to cover damages from fires set under prescribed conditions\u003c/a>. But, as of August, there were \u003ca href=\"https://osfm.fire.ca.gov/divisions/state-fire-training/cfstes-professional-certification/state-certified-prescribed-fire-burn-boss/\">only two dozen state-certified burn bosses\u003c/a> in the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It hasn’t been a smooth process,” said Van Wagner, who is in the process of obtaining the certification. Without access to insurance, “it can be a basic game-over,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985401\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1985401 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SoldOut-Diptych-01.jpg\" alt=\"Left: A man walks through dry yellow grasses while using a torch to light the grass on fire.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"881\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SoldOut-Diptych-01.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SoldOut-Diptych-01-800x367.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SoldOut-Diptych-01-1020x468.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SoldOut-Diptych-01-160x73.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SoldOut-Diptych-01-768x352.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SoldOut-Diptych-01-1536x705.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dylan Drummond wields a drip torch, which he uses to ignite grasses during a prescribed burn on private property in Penn Valley, a small, rural community in Nevada County, on June 22, 2023. The burn aims to reduce the brush and grasses that fuel mega-fires while also helping to restore native plants to the region. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>According to the U.S. Forest Service, \u003ca href=\"https://www.fs.usda.gov/news/releases/statement-forest-service-chief-randy-moore-announcing-pause-prescribed-fire\">fewer than 1%\u003c/a> of controlled burns get out of control, but they still make neighbors nervous.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s foreign to most people,” Van Wagner said. “So, there’s more of a fear response than understanding.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Fancy Fechser, who owns the Nevada County property where Van Wagner was burning, learning to live with fire is part of what it means to live in the foothills. She and her husband moved there with their family from Los Angeles in 2021.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s the luck of the draw here, and that’s something you have to live with,” she said. “But the control you can have — I mean, I feel so much better now that we did this.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985417\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985417\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Fancy-Fechser_Penn-Valley_01-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Two people stand on the side of a hill with a forest behind them.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Fancy-Fechser_Penn-Valley_01-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Fancy-Fechser_Penn-Valley_01-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Fancy-Fechser_Penn-Valley_01-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Fancy-Fechser_Penn-Valley_01-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Fancy-Fechser_Penn-Valley_01-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Fancy-Fechser_Penn-Valley_01-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fancy Fechser (right) talks with prescribed burn practitioner Tim Van Wagner following a prescribed burn on her property in Penn Valley on June 16, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Fechser hopes that in the long run, the work done here will make both her property and the surrounding community safer from megafires and that it’ll be more resilient for the climate changes to come.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t love looking at a charred backyard, but I know the point,” she said. “We have to look in the future here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Grieving the future\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For Oakland-based journalist Erica Hellerstein, part of looking into California’s future means grieving — not a lost past, but a future that may never come to be.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reflecting on this idea in a \u003ca href=\"https://www.codastory.com/rewriting-history/grieving-california/\">2022 Coda Story essay\u003c/a>, she wrote, “A building that burns can be rebuilt. But if fire incinerates a state of mind, can that be put back together?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985209\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985209\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-ERICA-HELLERSTEIN_OAKLAND_03-EB-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A person with long hairs sits in front of a bookshelf indoors.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-ERICA-HELLERSTEIN_OAKLAND_03-EB-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-ERICA-HELLERSTEIN_OAKLAND_03-EB-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-ERICA-HELLERSTEIN_OAKLAND_03-EB-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-ERICA-HELLERSTEIN_OAKLAND_03-EB-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-ERICA-HELLERSTEIN_OAKLAND_03-EB-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-ERICA-HELLERSTEIN_OAKLAND_03-EB-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-ERICA-HELLERSTEIN_OAKLAND_03-EB-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oakland-based journalist Erica Hellerstein poses for a portrait in her apartment overlooking Lake Merritt on June 30, 2023. In her Coda Story essay, Grieving California, she explored feelings of climate anxiety associated with grief — specifically, ‘grieving a future that may never come to pass’ as a result of warming global temperatures. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Hellerstein remembers the rupture when her memories of the past severed from her expectations of the future. It was September 2020, and smoke from fires burning across the state had smothered the sky. She watched, with jarring dissonance, as partygoers in hazmat masks waited outside a nightclub in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They were just pretending everything was normal,” she said. “That was another turning point for me, just cognitively of being like, ‘OK, yeah, things are really not what I remember from my childhood growing up here.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For me, it was visiting Paradise this summer five years after the Camp Fire ravaged the area, and seeing its pine trees replaced with shrubby manzanita and sprouting oaks. As fires and drought kill the mixed conifer trees that give the Sierra foothills their signature beauty, other plants more accustomed to Southern California’s clime are slowly replacing them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985418\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985418\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230809-SoldOutParadise-46-BL-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A house sits on a hillside dotted with green shrubs and dry grasses in the foreground.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230809-SoldOutParadise-46-BL-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230809-SoldOutParadise-46-BL-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230809-SoldOutParadise-46-BL-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230809-SoldOutParadise-46-BL-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230809-SoldOutParadise-46-BL-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230809-SoldOutParadise-46-BL-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Empty lots dot the side of a residential area of Paradise on Aug. 9, 2023. The Camp Fire, a deadly fire that destroyed much of the towns of Paradise and Concow, swept through the area in 2018. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>These pine trees — whose smell, earthy and fresh after the first fall rain, is permanently imprinted in my olfactory memory — are some of the most threatened. Of all the impacts climate change may bring, their prospective loss is one I haven’t quite reconciled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s so much grief there because we’ve had it so good in our life,” said Sam Hinrichs, a resident of Nevada County for 35 years. “We’ve had it so good, and we didn’t pay attention to that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hinrichs was once a volunteer firefighter and used to do wildfire mitigation work. Now, she sits on the board of the North San Juan Fire Protection District in Nevada County. She’s keenly aware of her own risk of living three miles down a gravel road, surrounded by forest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I do look at those climate maps, and I see where the danger zones are,” she said. “I think about fire every day, all the time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985419\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985419\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Inimim-Forest_San-Juan-Ridge_05-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A dead tree is surrounded by green trees.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Inimim-Forest_San-Juan-Ridge_05-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Inimim-Forest_San-Juan-Ridge_05-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Inimim-Forest_San-Juan-Ridge_05-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Inimim-Forest_San-Juan-Ridge_05-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Inimim-Forest_San-Juan-Ridge_05-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Inimim-Forest_San-Juan-Ridge_05-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A dead tree stands in the Inimim Forest on Aug. 9, 2023. A prolonged drought in California that began in 2000 and has been the most extreme since the 1500s has resulted in significant tree mortality. The mixed conifer trees of the mid-elevation Sierra Nevada Foothills are particularly threatened. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>She’s watched the pine trees around her house turn brown from bark beetles that thrive in hotter weather and overproduce, killing the trees they feed on. It’s something she wants her son, Stanley, to see, so he can learn what to do about it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though he’s only 6 years old, she’s already gotten him involved in tending their land, identifying which pine and cedar trees to fell, their seedlings replanted upslope, where it’s cooler, and which Black Oaks that can tolerate warmer weather, to leave in place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m not feeling precious about [the pines] anymore,” she said. “I just want to give him skills for resilience and noticing what needs to happen.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985423\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985423\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Inimim-Forest_San-Juan-Ridge_03-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A clearing in a wooded area.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Inimim-Forest_San-Juan-Ridge_03-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Inimim-Forest_San-Juan-Ridge_03-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Inimim-Forest_San-Juan-Ridge_03-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Inimim-Forest_San-Juan-Ridge_03-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Inimim-Forest_San-Juan-Ridge_03-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Inimim-Forest_San-Juan-Ridge_03-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A significantly thinned area of the Inimim Forest on the San Juan Ridge in Nevada County on Aug. 9, 2023, co-managed by the federal Bureau of Land Management and the Yuba Watershed Institute, a local nonprofit that got its start in the back-to-the-land movement of the 1970s. The management plan has thinned the forest, allowing light to filter through the trees and keeping brush close to the ground, making the area more likely to survive a wildfire. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Noticing, and knowing, what needs to happen is not an innate skill. It’s one Hinrichs developed from growing up in the area and from hand-clearing most of her 17-acre property. Using chainsaws and pole saws, she’s worked acre-by-acre, determining which plants hold birds’ nests or provide cover for nursing deers and which can be removed. It’s a labor-intensive process, but it also gives her unique insight into the forest’s health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The quail have come back since we’ve done this clearing,” she said. “I had only 12 quail, and now we’re up to like, 40, which is really cool.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hinrichs cannot know whether these efforts will be enough to save her home from a wildfire. Like many in this more remote part of the county, she lives without an insurer willing to cover her losses, relying instead on her own prevention efforts of hand-clearing the land and using prescribed fire to reduce her risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I married this land. I’ve made this my project,” she said. “If my house burns down, I’ll build another one. Probably. I’m trying to make it so my house doesn’t burn down, but fire is also just part of this place.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Taking care\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In her book, \u003cem>Fire Monks: Zen Mind Meets Wildfire\u003c/em>, Berkeley author Colleen Morton Busch describes how a group of Buddhist monks at the Tassajara Zen Center in California’s Carmel Valley prepared for a wildfire bearing down on them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was 2008, during the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Tassajara-monks-practice-Zen-of-firefighting-3277372.php\">Basin Complex Fire\u003c/a>, and there was a debate among the monks and their students about the Zen Buddhist idea of non-attachment. Some argued to let the monastery burn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985206\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985206\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-COLLEEN-MORTON-BUSCH_BERKELEY_02-EB-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A person with glasses sits at a table in an indoor setting.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-COLLEEN-MORTON-BUSCH_BERKELEY_02-EB-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-COLLEEN-MORTON-BUSCH_BERKELEY_02-EB-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-COLLEEN-MORTON-BUSCH_BERKELEY_02-EB-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-COLLEEN-MORTON-BUSCH_BERKELEY_02-EB-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-COLLEEN-MORTON-BUSCH_BERKELEY_02-EB-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-COLLEEN-MORTON-BUSCH_BERKELEY_02-EB-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-COLLEEN-MORTON-BUSCH_BERKELEY_02-EB-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Berkeley author Colleen Morton Busch poses for a portrait at her home on Sept. 19, 2023. Morton Busch is the author of ‘Fire Monks: Zen Mind Meets Wildfire,’ which describes the ways a group of monks at the Tassajara Zen Center in California’s Carmel Valley prepared and then defended against a wildfire bearing down on them. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In the end, a group of five decided to stay and defend it. Morton-Busch wrote:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A clever Zen teacher might say that standing back and letting the monastery burn belies a kind of attachment to the idea of non-attachment. That trying to save it when it could all burn anyway is true non-attachment. In trying to save Tassajara from the fire, or your own life from disaster, you can’t be sure you will. In fact, you can lose everything you love in a moment. And that’s not a reason to give up. If anything, it’s a reason to turn toward the fire, recognizing it as a force of both creation and destruction and to take care of what’s right in front of you because that’s all you actually have.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In some ways, the fire bearing down on Tassajara is a lot like climate change — a planetary fire bearing down on all of us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In other ways, it is very different. The monks had one fire to contend with, but across the globe, we all face a different climate. It may be a hurricane in one area, record-breaking temperatures in another, deadly wildfires one year, heavy rains the next.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then, there are the ways these changes quietly manifest, and are mourned or endured, in each heart and mind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Barbara was alive, and in the years since she passed away, most of our monthly trips up there were, and still are, spent tending the land.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985469\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985469\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Barbaras-House_North-San-Juan_3-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A river and bank with trees.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1273\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Barbaras-House_North-San-Juan_3-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Barbaras-House_North-San-Juan_3-qut-800x530.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Barbaras-House_North-San-Juan_3-qut-1020x676.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Barbaras-House_North-San-Juan_3-qut-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Barbaras-House_North-San-Juan_3-qut-768x509.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Barbaras-House_North-San-Juan_3-qut-1536x1018.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Yuba River winds through the Sierra Nevada foothills north of Hoyt’s Crossing in August 2023. The river is one of many world-class amenities that lure people to the area. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In a continuous cycle of labor defined by the seasons, we begin after the first fall rain, limbing trees and pulling the flammable and invasive scotch broom. In the spring, we mow down annual grasses to preemptively rob the summer’s fires of their fuel. This year, I’ll bring my now four-year-old along with me. Together, we’ll gather branches from the ground to stack for kindling. And hopefully one day, we’ll both learn how to put good fire on the ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There is something liberating about this labor, which is itself a daily act of defiance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It is here, in Nevada County and places like it, where no veneer of denialism can cover the stark realities already underway and where there is little time to brood over what is to come because there is too much work to be done now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In these places, precariously poised on the knife’s edge of a shifting climate, the choice is clear: leave or turn toward the fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "insurance-in-california-is-changing-heres-how-it-may-affect-you",
"title": "Insurance In California Is Changing. Here's How It May Affect You",
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"headTitle": "Insurance In California Is Changing. Here’s How It May Affect You | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>This story is part of the third season of KQED’s podcast Sold Out: Rethinking Housing in America. You can \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/podcasts/soldout\">find that series here\u003c/a> and read about why \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1984697/why-kqed-focused-a-season-of-its-housing-podcast-on-climate-change#:~:text=Sold%20Out%20Is%20Back%20With%20Season%203&text=Host%20Erin%20Baldassari%20leads%20a,an%20affordable%20place%20to%20live.\">KQED chose to focus a season of its housing podcast on climate change\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For most people, insurance is the first line of defense against climate change. When struck by wildfire, flooding or other calamity, an adequate insurance policy can come to the rescue. It’s like a financial first responder, an ambulance full of money to help people back onto their feet. Insurance is the reason something bad happening to you, like losing your home in a wildfire, doesn’t guarantee a slide into poverty.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the industry is in serious trouble. Climate disasters around the state, especially worsening wildfires, threaten the current business model and millions of middle-class Californians. Climate risks exist everywhere. However, California is notable for companies racing out of Dodge. Seven of the top 12 insurance companies in the state, including Allstate, State Farm, Farmers Insurance and American International Group (AIG), have left California or pulled back from offering new policies in the last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the Golden State grapples with the devastating consequences of increasingly frequent and intense wildfires, California officials are crafting a major overhaul to insurance regulations. It is meant to stop the exodus of companies and promote market stability, but it will almost certainly mean that insurance premiums will rise. Here is what we know, what to expect, and how it may affect you.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm/?e=KQINC3046460401&light=true\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Jump straight to:\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli style=\"list-style-type: none\">\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\n\u003ch5>\u003ca href=\"#action\">\u003cstrong>California announces action, at last\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/h5>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\n\u003ch5>\u003ca href=\"#trouble\">\u003cstrong>Why the insurance market is in trouble\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/h5>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\n\u003ch5>\u003ca href=\"#afoot\">\u003cstrong>Change is afoot\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/h5>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\n\u003ch5>\u003ca href=\"#deep\">\u003cstrong>Dive deep: How insurance works\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/h5>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\n\u003ch5>\u003ca href=\"#fair\">\u003cstrong>The FAIR plan: California’s least-loved insurer\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/h5>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\n\u003ch5>\u003ca href=\"#mean\">\u003cstrong>What will the changes mean?\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/h5>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\n\u003ch5>\u003ca href=\"#next\">\u003cstrong>What comes next\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/h5>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch3>\u003ca id=\"action\">\u003c/a>California announces action, at last\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>For the better part of the last year, California did not make any structural changes to its insurance marketplace despite the ballooning crisis and the urgency of the problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Structural changes are not sexy,” said Sashi Sabaratnam, former mayor of Mill Valley and manager of Sonoma County’s UC Cooperative Extension wildfire vegetation mitigation program. “Making those changes [won’t] win anybody big fans or win elections. You need somebody with the kind of political courage to look at the problem and really be able to take the heat for making those structural changes.”[pullquote align='right' citation='State Sen. Bill Dodd']‘To state the obvious, we do not have a stable insurance market. And when you don’t have that, a lot of things can go awfully wrong.’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some members of the state legislature considered putting forth a bill to fix some of the many problems. But the effort dissolved at the last minute before the close of the legislative session. Some officials were reportedly afraid they would not be seen as being tough enough on insurance companies and felt that maintaining the status quo would be politically safer.[pullquote align='right' citation='Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara']‘Modernizing our insurance market is not going to be easy or happen overnight. We are in really unchartered territory, and we must make difficult choices when the world is changing rapidly.’[/pullquote]State Sen. Bill Dodd (D-Napa) said he was disappointed when the legislative effort fell through.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To state the obvious, we do not have a stable insurance market. And when you don’t have that, a lot of things can go awfully wrong,” he said in the hours after the legislative collapse. “High costs force people to go naked without insurance. That’s happening all over my district. It’s going to affect home and business mortgages because if you can’t get insurance, your mortgages will get called in.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the state legislature stepped back from the problem, it placed increased pressure on California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara, who had mostly avoided talking about making big regulatory changes all year. Instead, he largely focused on talking about reducing the risk of wildfire through mitigation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As important as mitigation is, Sabaratnam said, “It means nothing if you do not deal with those structural issues.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Insurance commissioner is an elected position, but Lara was re-elected in 2022, so his seat is secure until his term ends in 2026. That ought to give him a little room to breathe, suggested Sabaratnam.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, an \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2023/09/21/governor-newsom-signs-executive-order-to-strengthen-property-insurance-market/\">executive order from Gov. Gavin Newsom urging the insurance commission to take swift action\u003c/a> to strengthen the property market apparently gave Lara enough political cover to announce changes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In September, he announced that a significant regulatory overhaul would be in place by the end of next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“California’s current regulatory framework does not meet our needs,” Lara said. “We need to update regulations.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All that is to say, policymakers felt strongly that someone needed to do something. Just who would do what took the better part of a year to figure out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And, as anticipated by policy experts, few people cheered. Some TV news outlets framed the announced changes as a win for the insurance industry. Advocacy groups personally attacked Lara. The powerful Consumer Watchdog even attacked other advocacy groups who expressed some support for Lara’s changes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985224\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985224\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/IMG_9350-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A couple embraces next to a Weed Community Center sign made of wood.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/IMG_9350-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/IMG_9350-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/IMG_9350-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/IMG_9350-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/IMG_9350-qut-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/IMG_9350-qut-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">After losing two homes in the Mill Fire of 2022, Chester and Denise Hopkins are working to help the Lincoln Heights neighborhood of Weed rebuild. Many of their neighbors were underinsured or had no insurance. That’s part of what’s determining who can stay and rebuild. They’re committed to staying but don’t know how many of their neighbors will. “We’re putting our trust in God that we have at least 50 % [coming back],” Denise Hopkins said. \u003ccite>(Danielle Venton/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003ca id=\"trouble\">\u003c/a>Why the insurance market is in trouble\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Perhaps curiously, home insurance in California \u003ca href=\"https://www.forbes.com/advisor/homeowners-insurance/average-cost-homeowners-insurance/\">actually costs less than in other states with the same sorts of climate risks\u003c/a>. From the insurance industry’s point of view, this is a sign that risk in California is not priced accurately.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Companies trace this situation back to 1988, when voters approved a law limiting how much insurance companies could raise rates and said the state has to approve. It was a voter-backed initiative that attempted to improve insurance for consumers, protecting them from arbitrary insurance rate hikes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Groups that did not like a proposed rate hike could intervene and recoup the legal and administrative costs of doing so. Insurance companies had to set rates tied to historical data from the past 20 years of losses, but they could not look forward to estimates of future losses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 1988 measure — Proposition 103 — was prompted by skyrocketing auto insurance, but it also worked on home insurance. The \u003ca href=\"https://consumerfed.org/press_release/30-years-and-154-billion-of-savings-californias-proposition-103-insurance-reforms-still-saving-drivers-money/\">law has saved Californians billions of dollars\u003c/a>, but insurance companies, who have had to shell out tens of billions of dollars to cover losses from the Camp, Tubbs, Thomas, LNU Lightning Complex, Dixie and other major fires in recent years, hate this rule. Many have effectively said, ‘Hey, we are not doing this anymore.’\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Parr Schoolman, Allstate’s chief risk officer, told California insurance officials at a hearing this year that the company needs to be able to raise prices or else it would drop more individual customers or even totally leave the state’s home insurance market.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The current system makes it very difficult for insurance companies to get rate increases of anything more than 7%. It can take years. Typically, the state does not grant requests in total.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, from an insurance company’s perspective, their rates lag years behind the actual price of the risk they are insuring. Meanwhile, reinsurance, which is insurance for insurers, has skyrocketed, along with construction costs and other expenses impacted by inflation. That is all laid against the backdrop of jaw-slackening wildfire losses, which have wiped out decades of profits, particularly in 2017 and 2018.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003ca id=\"afoot\">\u003c/a>Change is afoot\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The big elements of Lara’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.insurance.ca.gov/0400-news/0100-press-releases/2023/release051-2023.cfm\">announced changes\u003c/a> include:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli style=\"list-style-type: none\">\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>An agreement with insurance companies to write more policies and collectively offer coverage to at least 85% of homeowners in high wildfire-risk areas. This would allow homeowners currently on the state’s insurer of last resort, the FAIR plan, to transition back to the normal market.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Allowing insurance companies to use forward-looking climate catastrophe models instead of historical data about risk.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Letting companies pass on California-related reinsurance costs.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Increase California Department of Insurance staffing to allow rate increases to be approved faster.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Some consumer advocates and ensuing news coverage suggested it was a victory and bailout for the insurance industry. One of the most strident opposing voices comes from Consumer Watchdog, which has spent years attacking not only the insurance industry but the insurance commissioner himself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The consumer protection organizations painted Lara as an industry insider and said the deal would not guarantee coverage and would increase premiums. In response, the commission pointed out in recently released data that Consumer Watchdog has also benefited from collecting $8.9 million over a decade in compensation for its work-challenging rate increases. Proposition 103 allows members of the public to intervene on behalf of ratepayers and apply for compensation for the expenses of doing so. That money \u003ca href=\"https://www.insurance.ca.gov/01-consumers/150-other-prog/01-intervenor/upload/CDI_Public-Chart_Total-Compensations-Awarder-to-Intervenors.pdf\">comes from insurers, who pass those costs on to their customers\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Amy Bach, executive director of United Policyholders, an organization that advocates for insurance customers, dismissed Consumer Watchdog’s view as ignoring the very real threats to the market. Some of the announced changes will likely mean higher premiums. But what is most important, Bach said, was that a compromise would be workable for both consumers and insurers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t like [all the changes],” Bach said. “Using catastrophe models and passing on some reinsurance costs? As far as I know, every other state in the union does that — it is not the end of the world. But what is the end of the world if [the insurance flight] keeps going on like this?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While public utilities are legally required to serve customers, insurance companies can do business in the state or not, as they please.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To stop selling insurance entirely the way that [insurance companies are] doing suggests to me that they are genuinely worried about the adequacy of their rates,” Bach said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the insurance market collapses in the state, people can’t buy homes or sell homes. Most homes have mortgages, and banks won’t lend money unless it’s insured. If the real estate industry collapses, it will reverberate through the entire economy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California is not the only market with insurance troubles. Around the nation, climate-driven disasters are accelerating price hikes, coverage withdrawals and instability.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If insurance market trends continue on the current path, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island), speaking at a congressional hearing this year, said it puts the global economy at systemic risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The term “global systemic risk,” he said, “has a rather bland quality to it. But it describes something that is anything but bland.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It is bland in the way talking about subprime mortgages seemed in 2007, just before they triggered a global financial meltdown. The current insurance market situation poses the same kind of risk to the economy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983896\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1983896\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/230810-JASON-MAJORS-DV-KQED_1.jpg\" alt=\"A man in sunglasses stands in an outdoor setting.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/230810-JASON-MAJORS-DV-KQED_1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/230810-JASON-MAJORS-DV-KQED_1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/230810-JASON-MAJORS-DV-KQED_1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/230810-JASON-MAJORS-DV-KQED_1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/230810-JASON-MAJORS-DV-KQED_1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/230810-JASON-MAJORS-DV-KQED_1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/230810-JASON-MAJORS-DV-KQED_1-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jason Majors in front of the creek bordering his former property. His home outside Santa Rosa survived nearly half a dozen fires in recent years. Despite his efforts to mitigate hazards around his house, Majors was dropped by insurance carriers numerous times. And when he decided to sell his house, prospective buyers had trouble finding insurance coverage. He had to drop the price four times before the home was sold. \u003ccite>(Danielle Venton/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003ca id=\"deep\">\u003c/a>Dive deep: How insurance works\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>There are three different ways you can get home insurance in California. By way of a high school lunchroom analogy: You can eat with the “the cool kids,” the “not-cool kids,” or the vice principal, who is your last choice, but it might be better than having lunch alone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cool kids are the “admitted market.” They are licensed to sell in the state, California has to approve rate increases, and if the company fails, California will pay out the claims. Being a cool kid comes with a lot of rules, but if you are a company that wants to sell in bulk to Californians, this is the route you need to go. These companies, like Allstate, State Farm or Farmers, are generally best to have your insurance with. But they have scaled back their offerings in wildfire-prone parts of the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then there’s the “not-cool-kids.” These are specialty or surplus lines of coverage from companies such as Lloyds of London, Chubb Custom Insurance Company or Spinnaker Specialty Insurance. They’ll write riskier policies for homeowners or businesses, but they are also more high-risk themselves. They’re not guaranteed if they fail, which means more exposure for a consumer. And they can basically charge what they want. These rates are typically more expensive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The vice principal is the FAIR Plan, the state’s insurer of last resort. It is expensive, and the coverage is lousy. But you can get some coverage when no one else will take you.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003ca id=\"fair\">\u003c/a>The FAIR plan: California’s least-loved insurer\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.cfpnet.com/about-fair-plan/\">FAIR plan\u003c/a> stands for Fair Access to Insurance Requirements, and it’s derisively known as “the un-fair plan” by some of its customers, who feel frustrated they have to use it. It was one of those well-intentioned solutions created to fill a need, but it has ballooned and taken on the dimensions of its own problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The FAIR plan now has 330,000 policyholders. That’s up from 140,000 in 2018 before insurance companies began their flight from California. More people are using it today than were ever intended to. This places the financial foundation of the plan on really shaky ground. And the more people who join, the worse it gets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The FAIR plan is regulated by the state but it’s funding is guaranteed by private insurers. California\u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-watts-riots-explainer-20150715-htmlstory.html\"> created it after the Watts Riots in the 1960s\u003c/a>, when years of simmering anger and distrust had built up between mostly Black residents of the Watts neighborhood and police around Los Angeles exploded for days of unrest. Following those days, \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/1992/05/04/business/riots-raise-concerns-about-insurance-redlining.html\">insurance companies began canceling policies for homeowners and businesses\u003c/a>. The FAIR plan was crafted to provide homeowners and businesses some coverage when nothing else was available. Most states have their own version.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Fair Plan, which is supposed to be sort of a temporary last resort insurance policy, is becoming a permanent insurance policy for many people in high fire risk areas in California,” said Michael Wara, a climate and energy lawyer and researcher at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The economic structure of the FAIR plan is that homeowners pay a lot more money for less insurance,” he added. “And hopefully that’s enough. The reality is it’s not.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Apart from offering fairly poor coverage, the FAIR plan is just about one big disaster away from not having enough money to pay claims to its customers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If the FAIR plan were a regular insurer, the insurance department would have to step in and shut it down because it’s so undercapitalized,” Wara said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If there were a big fire, something on the scale of the Tubbs Fire or Camp Fire, in an area where the FAIR Plan covered many homes, the plan would then charge insurers in the admitted market, aka the “cool kids,” for the rest of the money. In insurance jargon, this is called “levying an assessment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here is the scary thing: insurance companies do not have the money saved for this, and they are not allowed to make up the deficit by charging their customers more, so many of them would probably go bankrupt. Other companies would offload policies, basically firing their customers, to try to become financially stable again. The whole market could collapse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That would stop the buying and selling of homes and also the building of any new ones. California is doing a lot to build more houses, but if the insurance market collapses, that progress will evaporate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One entity that is going to sell a lot of houses is a builder,” Wara said. “And if they can’t sell their houses because the people that want to buy them with a mortgage can’t get insurance. It threatens everything that we’re trying to do to make the state more affordable and more equitable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985222\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985222\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230815-BlueForestInitiative-29-BL-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230815-BlueForestInitiative-29-BL-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230815-BlueForestInitiative-29-BL-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230815-BlueForestInitiative-29-BL-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230815-BlueForestInitiative-29-BL-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230815-BlueForestInitiative-29-BL-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230815-BlueForestInitiative-29-BL-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An area of the National Forest is thinned as a fuel management technique, removing brush and understory vegetation and allowing water to go into ground storage rather than feeding vegetation, near Camptonville, Calif., on Aug. 15, 2023. Fuel management includes thinning, chipping, burning, and removing fuels to reduce the amount of burnable vegetation. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003ca id=\"mean\">\u003c/a>What will the changes mean?\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The changes coming to California’s market are a start, but no one seems to think they’re sufficient on their own, least of all officials at the state’s insurance department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Modernizing our insurance market is not going to be easy or happen overnight,” Lara said. “We are in really unchartered territory, and we must make difficult choices when the world is changing rapidly.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While no consumers, elected officials, or consumer advocates want to see prices increase, there is a sense that the era of cheap insurance is over for good.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Do I like the days when people were paying a thousand bucks a year for their home insurance? Of course, everybody liked it,” said Bach from United Policyholders. “But we don’t have that option anymore, so something has to change.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, how much rates may increase is an open question. One of the few people who has studied how rates rise using historical data versus catastrophic data is \u003ca href=\"https://www.milliman.com/en/insight/wildfire-catastrophe-models-california-ratemaking\">Nancy Watkins, an actuary at Milliman, an independent consulting firm\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://www.milliman.com/-/media/milliman/pdfs/2022-articles/10-19-22_pci-pifc-cdi-summary.ashx\">2022 study she did indicated that using catastrophic models did not necessarily mean higher rates\u003c/a>. Her work also found that rates were more stable using modeling and, crucially, that models could incorporate wildfire preparation into risk estimates — something historic data fails at.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That can \u003ca href=\"https://www.carriermanagement.com/features/2023/08/29/252411.htm?bypass=9c98e38eb4bd3d9fa4d836afcadbaa24\">incentivize home- and community-level fire mitigation work\u003c/a>, something she and many fire and insurance experts hope is the way of the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985179\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985179\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Bear-Trap-Prescribed-Burn_Nevada-County_05-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A person in a yellow jacket brings a hand tool down in a sweeping motion to the ground. \" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Bear-Trap-Prescribed-Burn_Nevada-County_05-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Bear-Trap-Prescribed-Burn_Nevada-County_05-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Bear-Trap-Prescribed-Burn_Nevada-County_05-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Bear-Trap-Prescribed-Burn_Nevada-County_05-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Bear-Trap-Prescribed-Burn_Nevada-County_05-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Bear-Trap-Prescribed-Burn_Nevada-County_05-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Crewmembers from the Fire Safe Council of Nevada County walk to the site where they performed ” mop-up” after a prescribed burn on June 21, 2023. Controlled burns like this are one of the best ways communities can reduce the risk from megafire. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003ca id=\"next\">\u003c/a>What comes next\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>In the coming months, the state’s insurance department will shape the new regulations and implement reforms. Michael Soller, spokesperson for the department, said this work would focus on a couple of fronts, with some tasks being administrative in nature and some taking place through public meetings and hearings. The state will:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli style=\"list-style-type: none\">\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Create maps of where they will require insurance companies to write more policies, offering coverage to 85% of homeowners.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Evaluate catastrophe models and consider the creation of a new public model, owned by the state, versus adopting existing models made by companies.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Consider incorporating some California-related reinsurance costs into rates.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Hire more staff.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Deny intervenor petitions by advocacy groups that replicate the work already being done by staff.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Bach said following the announcement of coming reforms, she hoped the exodus would be staunched. But she said many companies still seem wary of offering coverage. She thinks they’re afraid advocates, like Consumer Watchdog, will sue to block the changes. “I think that’s part of the problem of why nothing has really shifted since the announcement,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The nature of hard problems is that there are no easy, short-term wins, policy expert Sabratnam said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If these changes are made and people’s rates go up and some people still lose their insurance and some people still go on the FAIR Plan, people will then turn around and say, ‘Well look, you didn’t succeed, you failed,’” Sabaratnam said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, she added, structural change is what is needed, even if it is unpopular.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Everything else is just a Band-Aid,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>This story is part of the third season of KQED’s podcast Sold Out: Rethinking Housing in America. You can \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/podcasts/soldout\">find that series here\u003c/a> and read about why \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1984697/why-kqed-focused-a-season-of-its-housing-podcast-on-climate-change#:~:text=Sold%20Out%20Is%20Back%20With%20Season%203&text=Host%20Erin%20Baldassari%20leads%20a,an%20affordable%20place%20to%20live.\">KQED chose to focus a season of its housing podcast on climate change\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For most people, insurance is the first line of defense against climate change. When struck by wildfire, flooding or other calamity, an adequate insurance policy can come to the rescue. It’s like a financial first responder, an ambulance full of money to help people back onto their feet. Insurance is the reason something bad happening to you, like losing your home in a wildfire, doesn’t guarantee a slide into poverty.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the industry is in serious trouble. Climate disasters around the state, especially worsening wildfires, threaten the current business model and millions of middle-class Californians. Climate risks exist everywhere. However, California is notable for companies racing out of Dodge. Seven of the top 12 insurance companies in the state, including Allstate, State Farm, Farmers Insurance and American International Group (AIG), have left California or pulled back from offering new policies in the last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the Golden State grapples with the devastating consequences of increasingly frequent and intense wildfires, California officials are crafting a major overhaul to insurance regulations. It is meant to stop the exodus of companies and promote market stability, but it will almost certainly mean that insurance premiums will rise. Here is what we know, what to expect, and how it may affect you.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm/?e=KQINC3046460401&light=true\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Jump straight to:\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli style=\"list-style-type: none\">\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\n\u003ch5>\u003ca href=\"#action\">\u003cstrong>California announces action, at last\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/h5>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\n\u003ch5>\u003ca href=\"#trouble\">\u003cstrong>Why the insurance market is in trouble\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/h5>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\n\u003ch5>\u003ca href=\"#afoot\">\u003cstrong>Change is afoot\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/h5>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\n\u003ch5>\u003ca href=\"#deep\">\u003cstrong>Dive deep: How insurance works\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/h5>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\n\u003ch5>\u003ca href=\"#fair\">\u003cstrong>The FAIR plan: California’s least-loved insurer\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/h5>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\n\u003ch5>\u003ca href=\"#mean\">\u003cstrong>What will the changes mean?\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/h5>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\n\u003ch5>\u003ca href=\"#next\">\u003cstrong>What comes next\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/h5>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch3>\u003ca id=\"action\">\u003c/a>California announces action, at last\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>For the better part of the last year, California did not make any structural changes to its insurance marketplace despite the ballooning crisis and the urgency of the problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Structural changes are not sexy,” said Sashi Sabaratnam, former mayor of Mill Valley and manager of Sonoma County’s UC Cooperative Extension wildfire vegetation mitigation program. “Making those changes [won’t] win anybody big fans or win elections. You need somebody with the kind of political courage to look at the problem and really be able to take the heat for making those structural changes.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘To state the obvious, we do not have a stable insurance market. And when you don’t have that, a lot of things can go awfully wrong.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some members of the state legislature considered putting forth a bill to fix some of the many problems. But the effort dissolved at the last minute before the close of the legislative session. Some officials were reportedly afraid they would not be seen as being tough enough on insurance companies and felt that maintaining the status quo would be politically safer.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘Modernizing our insurance market is not going to be easy or happen overnight. We are in really unchartered territory, and we must make difficult choices when the world is changing rapidly.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>State Sen. Bill Dodd (D-Napa) said he was disappointed when the legislative effort fell through.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To state the obvious, we do not have a stable insurance market. And when you don’t have that, a lot of things can go awfully wrong,” he said in the hours after the legislative collapse. “High costs force people to go naked without insurance. That’s happening all over my district. It’s going to affect home and business mortgages because if you can’t get insurance, your mortgages will get called in.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the state legislature stepped back from the problem, it placed increased pressure on California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara, who had mostly avoided talking about making big regulatory changes all year. Instead, he largely focused on talking about reducing the risk of wildfire through mitigation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As important as mitigation is, Sabaratnam said, “It means nothing if you do not deal with those structural issues.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Insurance commissioner is an elected position, but Lara was re-elected in 2022, so his seat is secure until his term ends in 2026. That ought to give him a little room to breathe, suggested Sabaratnam.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, an \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2023/09/21/governor-newsom-signs-executive-order-to-strengthen-property-insurance-market/\">executive order from Gov. Gavin Newsom urging the insurance commission to take swift action\u003c/a> to strengthen the property market apparently gave Lara enough political cover to announce changes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In September, he announced that a significant regulatory overhaul would be in place by the end of next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“California’s current regulatory framework does not meet our needs,” Lara said. “We need to update regulations.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All that is to say, policymakers felt strongly that someone needed to do something. Just who would do what took the better part of a year to figure out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And, as anticipated by policy experts, few people cheered. Some TV news outlets framed the announced changes as a win for the insurance industry. Advocacy groups personally attacked Lara. The powerful Consumer Watchdog even attacked other advocacy groups who expressed some support for Lara’s changes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985224\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985224\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/IMG_9350-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A couple embraces next to a Weed Community Center sign made of wood.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/IMG_9350-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/IMG_9350-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/IMG_9350-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/IMG_9350-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/IMG_9350-qut-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/IMG_9350-qut-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">After losing two homes in the Mill Fire of 2022, Chester and Denise Hopkins are working to help the Lincoln Heights neighborhood of Weed rebuild. Many of their neighbors were underinsured or had no insurance. That’s part of what’s determining who can stay and rebuild. They’re committed to staying but don’t know how many of their neighbors will. “We’re putting our trust in God that we have at least 50 % [coming back],” Denise Hopkins said. \u003ccite>(Danielle Venton/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003ca id=\"trouble\">\u003c/a>Why the insurance market is in trouble\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Perhaps curiously, home insurance in California \u003ca href=\"https://www.forbes.com/advisor/homeowners-insurance/average-cost-homeowners-insurance/\">actually costs less than in other states with the same sorts of climate risks\u003c/a>. From the insurance industry’s point of view, this is a sign that risk in California is not priced accurately.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Companies trace this situation back to 1988, when voters approved a law limiting how much insurance companies could raise rates and said the state has to approve. It was a voter-backed initiative that attempted to improve insurance for consumers, protecting them from arbitrary insurance rate hikes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Groups that did not like a proposed rate hike could intervene and recoup the legal and administrative costs of doing so. Insurance companies had to set rates tied to historical data from the past 20 years of losses, but they could not look forward to estimates of future losses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 1988 measure — Proposition 103 — was prompted by skyrocketing auto insurance, but it also worked on home insurance. The \u003ca href=\"https://consumerfed.org/press_release/30-years-and-154-billion-of-savings-californias-proposition-103-insurance-reforms-still-saving-drivers-money/\">law has saved Californians billions of dollars\u003c/a>, but insurance companies, who have had to shell out tens of billions of dollars to cover losses from the Camp, Tubbs, Thomas, LNU Lightning Complex, Dixie and other major fires in recent years, hate this rule. Many have effectively said, ‘Hey, we are not doing this anymore.’\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Parr Schoolman, Allstate’s chief risk officer, told California insurance officials at a hearing this year that the company needs to be able to raise prices or else it would drop more individual customers or even totally leave the state’s home insurance market.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The current system makes it very difficult for insurance companies to get rate increases of anything more than 7%. It can take years. Typically, the state does not grant requests in total.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, from an insurance company’s perspective, their rates lag years behind the actual price of the risk they are insuring. Meanwhile, reinsurance, which is insurance for insurers, has skyrocketed, along with construction costs and other expenses impacted by inflation. That is all laid against the backdrop of jaw-slackening wildfire losses, which have wiped out decades of profits, particularly in 2017 and 2018.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003ca id=\"afoot\">\u003c/a>Change is afoot\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The big elements of Lara’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.insurance.ca.gov/0400-news/0100-press-releases/2023/release051-2023.cfm\">announced changes\u003c/a> include:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli style=\"list-style-type: none\">\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>An agreement with insurance companies to write more policies and collectively offer coverage to at least 85% of homeowners in high wildfire-risk areas. This would allow homeowners currently on the state’s insurer of last resort, the FAIR plan, to transition back to the normal market.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Allowing insurance companies to use forward-looking climate catastrophe models instead of historical data about risk.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Letting companies pass on California-related reinsurance costs.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Increase California Department of Insurance staffing to allow rate increases to be approved faster.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Some consumer advocates and ensuing news coverage suggested it was a victory and bailout for the insurance industry. One of the most strident opposing voices comes from Consumer Watchdog, which has spent years attacking not only the insurance industry but the insurance commissioner himself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The consumer protection organizations painted Lara as an industry insider and said the deal would not guarantee coverage and would increase premiums. In response, the commission pointed out in recently released data that Consumer Watchdog has also benefited from collecting $8.9 million over a decade in compensation for its work-challenging rate increases. Proposition 103 allows members of the public to intervene on behalf of ratepayers and apply for compensation for the expenses of doing so. That money \u003ca href=\"https://www.insurance.ca.gov/01-consumers/150-other-prog/01-intervenor/upload/CDI_Public-Chart_Total-Compensations-Awarder-to-Intervenors.pdf\">comes from insurers, who pass those costs on to their customers\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Amy Bach, executive director of United Policyholders, an organization that advocates for insurance customers, dismissed Consumer Watchdog’s view as ignoring the very real threats to the market. Some of the announced changes will likely mean higher premiums. But what is most important, Bach said, was that a compromise would be workable for both consumers and insurers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t like [all the changes],” Bach said. “Using catastrophe models and passing on some reinsurance costs? As far as I know, every other state in the union does that — it is not the end of the world. But what is the end of the world if [the insurance flight] keeps going on like this?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While public utilities are legally required to serve customers, insurance companies can do business in the state or not, as they please.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To stop selling insurance entirely the way that [insurance companies are] doing suggests to me that they are genuinely worried about the adequacy of their rates,” Bach said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the insurance market collapses in the state, people can’t buy homes or sell homes. Most homes have mortgages, and banks won’t lend money unless it’s insured. If the real estate industry collapses, it will reverberate through the entire economy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California is not the only market with insurance troubles. Around the nation, climate-driven disasters are accelerating price hikes, coverage withdrawals and instability.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If insurance market trends continue on the current path, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island), speaking at a congressional hearing this year, said it puts the global economy at systemic risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The term “global systemic risk,” he said, “has a rather bland quality to it. But it describes something that is anything but bland.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It is bland in the way talking about subprime mortgages seemed in 2007, just before they triggered a global financial meltdown. The current insurance market situation poses the same kind of risk to the economy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983896\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1983896\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/230810-JASON-MAJORS-DV-KQED_1.jpg\" alt=\"A man in sunglasses stands in an outdoor setting.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/230810-JASON-MAJORS-DV-KQED_1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/230810-JASON-MAJORS-DV-KQED_1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/230810-JASON-MAJORS-DV-KQED_1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/230810-JASON-MAJORS-DV-KQED_1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/230810-JASON-MAJORS-DV-KQED_1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/230810-JASON-MAJORS-DV-KQED_1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/230810-JASON-MAJORS-DV-KQED_1-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jason Majors in front of the creek bordering his former property. His home outside Santa Rosa survived nearly half a dozen fires in recent years. Despite his efforts to mitigate hazards around his house, Majors was dropped by insurance carriers numerous times. And when he decided to sell his house, prospective buyers had trouble finding insurance coverage. He had to drop the price four times before the home was sold. \u003ccite>(Danielle Venton/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003ca id=\"deep\">\u003c/a>Dive deep: How insurance works\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>There are three different ways you can get home insurance in California. By way of a high school lunchroom analogy: You can eat with the “the cool kids,” the “not-cool kids,” or the vice principal, who is your last choice, but it might be better than having lunch alone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cool kids are the “admitted market.” They are licensed to sell in the state, California has to approve rate increases, and if the company fails, California will pay out the claims. Being a cool kid comes with a lot of rules, but if you are a company that wants to sell in bulk to Californians, this is the route you need to go. These companies, like Allstate, State Farm or Farmers, are generally best to have your insurance with. But they have scaled back their offerings in wildfire-prone parts of the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then there’s the “not-cool-kids.” These are specialty or surplus lines of coverage from companies such as Lloyds of London, Chubb Custom Insurance Company or Spinnaker Specialty Insurance. They’ll write riskier policies for homeowners or businesses, but they are also more high-risk themselves. They’re not guaranteed if they fail, which means more exposure for a consumer. And they can basically charge what they want. These rates are typically more expensive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The vice principal is the FAIR Plan, the state’s insurer of last resort. It is expensive, and the coverage is lousy. But you can get some coverage when no one else will take you.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003ca id=\"fair\">\u003c/a>The FAIR plan: California’s least-loved insurer\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.cfpnet.com/about-fair-plan/\">FAIR plan\u003c/a> stands for Fair Access to Insurance Requirements, and it’s derisively known as “the un-fair plan” by some of its customers, who feel frustrated they have to use it. It was one of those well-intentioned solutions created to fill a need, but it has ballooned and taken on the dimensions of its own problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The FAIR plan now has 330,000 policyholders. That’s up from 140,000 in 2018 before insurance companies began their flight from California. More people are using it today than were ever intended to. This places the financial foundation of the plan on really shaky ground. And the more people who join, the worse it gets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The FAIR plan is regulated by the state but it’s funding is guaranteed by private insurers. California\u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-watts-riots-explainer-20150715-htmlstory.html\"> created it after the Watts Riots in the 1960s\u003c/a>, when years of simmering anger and distrust had built up between mostly Black residents of the Watts neighborhood and police around Los Angeles exploded for days of unrest. Following those days, \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/1992/05/04/business/riots-raise-concerns-about-insurance-redlining.html\">insurance companies began canceling policies for homeowners and businesses\u003c/a>. The FAIR plan was crafted to provide homeowners and businesses some coverage when nothing else was available. Most states have their own version.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Fair Plan, which is supposed to be sort of a temporary last resort insurance policy, is becoming a permanent insurance policy for many people in high fire risk areas in California,” said Michael Wara, a climate and energy lawyer and researcher at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The economic structure of the FAIR plan is that homeowners pay a lot more money for less insurance,” he added. “And hopefully that’s enough. The reality is it’s not.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Apart from offering fairly poor coverage, the FAIR plan is just about one big disaster away from not having enough money to pay claims to its customers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If the FAIR plan were a regular insurer, the insurance department would have to step in and shut it down because it’s so undercapitalized,” Wara said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If there were a big fire, something on the scale of the Tubbs Fire or Camp Fire, in an area where the FAIR Plan covered many homes, the plan would then charge insurers in the admitted market, aka the “cool kids,” for the rest of the money. In insurance jargon, this is called “levying an assessment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here is the scary thing: insurance companies do not have the money saved for this, and they are not allowed to make up the deficit by charging their customers more, so many of them would probably go bankrupt. Other companies would offload policies, basically firing their customers, to try to become financially stable again. The whole market could collapse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That would stop the buying and selling of homes and also the building of any new ones. California is doing a lot to build more houses, but if the insurance market collapses, that progress will evaporate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One entity that is going to sell a lot of houses is a builder,” Wara said. “And if they can’t sell their houses because the people that want to buy them with a mortgage can’t get insurance. It threatens everything that we’re trying to do to make the state more affordable and more equitable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985222\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985222\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230815-BlueForestInitiative-29-BL-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230815-BlueForestInitiative-29-BL-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230815-BlueForestInitiative-29-BL-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230815-BlueForestInitiative-29-BL-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230815-BlueForestInitiative-29-BL-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230815-BlueForestInitiative-29-BL-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230815-BlueForestInitiative-29-BL-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An area of the National Forest is thinned as a fuel management technique, removing brush and understory vegetation and allowing water to go into ground storage rather than feeding vegetation, near Camptonville, Calif., on Aug. 15, 2023. Fuel management includes thinning, chipping, burning, and removing fuels to reduce the amount of burnable vegetation. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003ca id=\"mean\">\u003c/a>What will the changes mean?\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The changes coming to California’s market are a start, but no one seems to think they’re sufficient on their own, least of all officials at the state’s insurance department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Modernizing our insurance market is not going to be easy or happen overnight,” Lara said. “We are in really unchartered territory, and we must make difficult choices when the world is changing rapidly.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While no consumers, elected officials, or consumer advocates want to see prices increase, there is a sense that the era of cheap insurance is over for good.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Do I like the days when people were paying a thousand bucks a year for their home insurance? Of course, everybody liked it,” said Bach from United Policyholders. “But we don’t have that option anymore, so something has to change.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, how much rates may increase is an open question. One of the few people who has studied how rates rise using historical data versus catastrophic data is \u003ca href=\"https://www.milliman.com/en/insight/wildfire-catastrophe-models-california-ratemaking\">Nancy Watkins, an actuary at Milliman, an independent consulting firm\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://www.milliman.com/-/media/milliman/pdfs/2022-articles/10-19-22_pci-pifc-cdi-summary.ashx\">2022 study she did indicated that using catastrophic models did not necessarily mean higher rates\u003c/a>. Her work also found that rates were more stable using modeling and, crucially, that models could incorporate wildfire preparation into risk estimates — something historic data fails at.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That can \u003ca href=\"https://www.carriermanagement.com/features/2023/08/29/252411.htm?bypass=9c98e38eb4bd3d9fa4d836afcadbaa24\">incentivize home- and community-level fire mitigation work\u003c/a>, something she and many fire and insurance experts hope is the way of the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985179\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985179\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Bear-Trap-Prescribed-Burn_Nevada-County_05-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A person in a yellow jacket brings a hand tool down in a sweeping motion to the ground. \" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Bear-Trap-Prescribed-Burn_Nevada-County_05-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Bear-Trap-Prescribed-Burn_Nevada-County_05-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Bear-Trap-Prescribed-Burn_Nevada-County_05-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Bear-Trap-Prescribed-Burn_Nevada-County_05-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Bear-Trap-Prescribed-Burn_Nevada-County_05-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Bear-Trap-Prescribed-Burn_Nevada-County_05-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Crewmembers from the Fire Safe Council of Nevada County walk to the site where they performed ” mop-up” after a prescribed burn on June 21, 2023. Controlled burns like this are one of the best ways communities can reduce the risk from megafire. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003ca id=\"next\">\u003c/a>What comes next\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>In the coming months, the state’s insurance department will shape the new regulations and implement reforms. Michael Soller, spokesperson for the department, said this work would focus on a couple of fronts, with some tasks being administrative in nature and some taking place through public meetings and hearings. The state will:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli style=\"list-style-type: none\">\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Create maps of where they will require insurance companies to write more policies, offering coverage to 85% of homeowners.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Evaluate catastrophe models and consider the creation of a new public model, owned by the state, versus adopting existing models made by companies.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Consider incorporating some California-related reinsurance costs into rates.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Hire more staff.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Deny intervenor petitions by advocacy groups that replicate the work already being done by staff.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Bach said following the announcement of coming reforms, she hoped the exodus would be staunched. But she said many companies still seem wary of offering coverage. She thinks they’re afraid advocates, like Consumer Watchdog, will sue to block the changes. “I think that’s part of the problem of why nothing has really shifted since the announcement,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The nature of hard problems is that there are no easy, short-term wins, policy expert Sabratnam said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If these changes are made and people’s rates go up and some people still lose their insurance and some people still go on the FAIR Plan, people will then turn around and say, ‘Well look, you didn’t succeed, you failed,’” Sabaratnam said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, she added, structural change is what is needed, even if it is unpopular.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Everything else is just a Band-Aid,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "electric-avenue-one-oakland-blocks-improbable-journey-to-ditch-gas",
"title": "Electric Avenue: One Oakland Block's Improbable Journey to Ditch Gas",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>This story is part of the third season of KQED’s podcast Sold Out: Rethinking Housing in America. You can \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/podcasts/soldout\">find that series here\u003c/a> and read about why \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1984697/why-kqed-focused-a-season-of-its-housing-podcast-on-climate-change#:~:text=Sold%20Out%20Is%20Back%20With%20Season%203&text=Host%20Erin%20Baldassari%20leads%20a,an%20affordable%20place%20to%20live.\">KQED chose to focus a season of its housing podcast on climate change\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The residents of one block in East Oakland have been quietly writing a rough draft of how to ditch natural gas on a neighborhood scale.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/our-work/programs/building-decarbonization\">A quarter of California’s carbon emissions\u003c/a> come from homes, businesses and the energy used to power them. It’s a steady stream of planet-warming gasses pouring from our furnaces, water heaters, clothes dryers and ovens.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To slash those emissions and meet \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2022/11/16/california-releases-worlds-first-plan-to-achieve-net-zero-carbon-pollution/\">the state’s climate targets\u003c/a>, Californians need to replace fossil-fuel-powered appliances with electric ones.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The status quo for electrification is to replace those appliances home-by-home at the end of their useful life. The approach is expensive, excludes people who cannot afford these upgrades and will take decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, there’s growing interest in a different option: neighborhood-scale electrification. It can drive down costs as neighbors purchase electric stoves, heat pumps and solar panels in bulk and guarantee work for contractors. That’s the idea, anyway.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What follows is the story of one group of neighbors in Oakland who spent the last four years trying to electrify their homes collectively as part of a research project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here is what they have learned.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jump straight to:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli style=\"list-style-type: none\">\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"#thevision\">\u003cstrong>The vision\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"#theinitiators\">\u003cstrong>The initiators\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"#thehomeowners\">\u003cstrong>The homeowners\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"#therenters\">\u003cstrong>The renters\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"#theholdouts\">\u003cstrong>The holdouts\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"#theutility\">\u003cstrong>The utility\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"#theresearchers\">\u003cstrong>The researchers\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"#thetakeaways\">\u003cstrong>The takeaways\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm/?e=KQINC5614009078&light=true\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003ca id=\"thevision\">\u003c/a>The vision\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The project is called \u003ca href=\"https://ecoblock.berkeley.edu/\">EcoBlock\u003c/a>, and it is a partnership between academics, professionals, government, utilities, private donors and residents. Its primary goal is to help an entire city block cut emissions through insulation upgrades, electric appliances and solar panels meant to “improve resilience, sustainability and quality of life.”\u003cbr>\n[ad fullwidth]\u003cbr>\nOriginally, project leaders even intended to transform the block into a microgrid — a self-contained electricity system that can run even if power from PG&E shuts off — although funding for that portion of the project remains uncertain.[pullquote align='right' citation='Therese Peffer, UC Berkeley']‘New construction is easy. It’s sexy, and it’s fun, but it’s not where the biggest problem is. If we’re going to try to really combat climate change, it is looking at the existing buildings in this country.’[/pullquote]All these perks are free to homeowners who sign up. In turn, researchers get to learn from the pilot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The project is funded to the tune of $8 million — \u003ca href=\"https://ecoblock.berkeley.edu/about/frequently-asked-questions/\">five of which\u003c/a> come from the \u003ca href=\"https://www.energy.ca.gov/programs-and-topics/programs/electric-program-investment-charge-epic-program\">California Energy Commission\u003c/a>, the other three come from an anonymous donor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The block in East Oakland is a cul-de-sac, with the busy thoroughfare of Fruitvale Avenue on one end and a peaceful creek on the other. There’s a mix of Victorian homes that date back more than 100 years and more recently built duplexes and apartment buildings.[pullquote align='right' citation='Vivian Santana Pacheco']‘All of this is helping us remember that we’re interconnected and that we can rely on each other. That’s the only way that we’re going to solve this climate crisis.’[/pullquote]KQED is not disclosing the name of the block to protect the privacy of the residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The people who live here are a mashup of homeowners and renters, socioeconomic classes, races, and ethnicities. Despite their differences, the residents come together annually for a block party, and have a WhatsApp group where topics range from safety to backyard fruit giveaways.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After navigating years of pandemic delays, inflation and onerous regulation, construction began this fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Residents hope to connect their new electric appliances to the larger grid this winter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We think that this is scalable,” said Therese Peffer, a researcher from UC Berkeley’s California Institute for Energy and Environment CITRIS Climate initiative, who heads EcoBlock. “We think addressing the urban residential [housing sector] is a huge, huge win because no one else is doing that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the project may be cutting-edge, it hasn’t been without setbacks. EcoBlock managers had hoped to cap off the street’s gas line, which, based on how utilities interpret \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PUC§ionNum=451.\">state energy code\u003c/a>, would require 100% of residents to agree to swap out their gas appliances for electric ones. Ten out of the 25 neighbors have not.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Building a new green home is fairly straightforward. In recent years, futuristic \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1982984/californias-first-all-electric-neighborhood-may-be-future-of-green-living\">communities have popped up\u003c/a> with this as their express purpose. Instead of using natural gas to heat space and water, dry clothes and cook, these homes are going electric and pulling power from renewable sources like solar.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But what happens to the places already built? In California, that’s \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/sites/default/files/2022-12/2022-sp.pdf\">14 million existing homes, three-quarters of which\u003c/a> were built before energy efficiency standards requiring things like insulation were developed in 1978.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“New construction is easy,” Peffer, EcoBlock’s principal investigator, said. “It’s sexy, and it’s fun, but it’s not where the biggest problem is. If we’re going to try to really combat climate change, it is looking at the existing buildings in this country.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Increasingly, it’s becoming clear that we need to be taking more of a utility-scale or a neighborhood-scale approach to building decarbonization instead of waiting for an individual appliance to break and then trying through education and bribery to cajole people to make the right choice,” said Panama Bartholomy, who heads the Building Decarbonization Coalition, a national nonprofit that advocates to remove fossil fuels from buildings.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003ca id=\"theinitiators\">\u003c/a>The initiators\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1984911\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2400px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1984911\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-03-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Two photos side by side: one of two people and one of a blue house.\" width=\"2400\" height=\"1094\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-03-KQED.jpg 2400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-03-KQED-800x365.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-03-KQED-1020x465.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-03-KQED-160x73.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-03-KQED-768x350.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-03-KQED-1536x700.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-03-KQED-2048x934.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-03-KQED-1920x875.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2400px) 100vw, 2400px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Vivian Santana Pacheco and Isaac Zones and their home in Oakland on Oct. 19, 2023. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Isaac Zones, 42, and Vivian Santana Pacheco, 39\u003cbr>\n\u003c/b>\u003cbr>\nIsaac Zones learned about the Oakland EcoBlock in 2019 from a friend, who’d sent along an email with the subject line, “This looks cool.” The email linked to \u003ca href=\"https://citris-uc.org/oakland-ecoblock-looking-for-interested-neighborhoods/\">a UC Berkeley EcoBlock project\u003c/a> page asked a question: “Do you and your neighbors want to save money on your energy bills, reduce carbon emissions, and survive the next power outage?”[pullquote align='right' citation='Vivian Santana Pacheco']‘Already I feel like we’re behind and that I’m not doing enough. Honestly, this feels more tangible than showing up to a protest.’[/pullquote]“Basically, I read it as like free solar for everybody on my block,” said Zones, a musician. “This sounds great.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Zones applied and went door-to-door, reaching out to his neighbors to gauge interest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vivian Santana Pacheco, who is married to Zones, was also intrigued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Santana Pacheco regularly thinks about the climate crisis. “Already I feel like we’re behind and that I’m not doing enough,” she said. “Honestly, this feels more tangible than showing up to a protest.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In many ways, the two were an ideal pair to champion the project at its start. They’d spent the past several years building community on their block through the street’s annual party. Zones easily strikes up conversations with neighbors, and knocks on doors and calls them to check in. Santana Pacheco, a health educator, shares her own vegetable starts with neighbors who have garden boxes that lay fallow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She’s also one of five neighbors on a steering committee for the newly formed homeowner’s association, created to manage the project’s shared assets, like an electric vehicle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They are motivated by their 4-year-old son. “We want this world to be a habitable one for him, being able to say we did as much as we could to be part of that,” said Santana Pacheco.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003ca id=\"thehomeowners\">\u003c/a>The homeowners\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1984912\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2400px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1984912\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-04-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Two photos side by side: One of two people and a child and one of a house.\" width=\"2400\" height=\"1094\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-04-KQED.jpg 2400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-04-KQED-800x365.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-04-KQED-1020x465.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-04-KQED-160x73.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-04-KQED-768x350.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-04-KQED-1536x700.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-04-KQED-2048x934.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-04-KQED-1920x875.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2400px) 100vw, 2400px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(From left) Ivan Sharamok, Gavin Sharamok (2) and Jarinya Phansathin and their home in Oakland on Oct. 19, 2023. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ivan Sharamok, 39; Jarinya Phansathin, 32; and Gavin Sharamok, 2\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Homeowner Ivan Sharamok, a solutions architect for an IT startup, jokes that he lives in a museum, given that his white Victorian was constructed in 1900. He’s curious how a team of EcoBlock researchers will bring it to the forefront of home electrification.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He also can’t wait to see how he’ll actually like living in a home warmed and cooled by a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1981511/how-the-unassuming-heat-pump-can-stave-off-warming\">heat pump\u003c/a> or how cooking on an induction stove will feel. Sharamok dove into research on the latest technologies, and while he’s excited, he’s also skeptical.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s kind of like a game,” Sharamok said. “Once it gets installed and I try it, would it actually be to my satisfaction?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Growing up in Ukraine, he recalls winters with tons of snow. But over his lifetime, the winters have gotten milder and milder, which he attributes to climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m very skeptical that, on a global scale, society can tackle this problem. But I’m hopeful that we can,” Sharamok said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sharamok has taken on a role in the steering committee for the EcoBlock homeowner’s association.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a super long process, but I also understand why,” Sharamok said. Just creating agreements for the homeowners association took time. “It’s pretty awesome to see what goes into the design, what you need to think about when you’re trying to do something like that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1984910\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2400px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1984910\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-02-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Two photos side by side: one of a person with glasses and one of a house.\" width=\"2400\" height=\"1094\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-02-KQED.jpg 2400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-02-KQED-800x365.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-02-KQED-1020x465.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-02-KQED-160x73.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-02-KQED-768x350.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-02-KQED-1536x700.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-02-KQED-2048x934.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-02-KQED-1920x875.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2400px) 100vw, 2400px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nick Corlett and his home in Oakland on Oct. 12, 2023. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Nick Corlett, 38\u003c/b>\u003cbr>\n“I love humanity with all our flaws and all our ugliness. We’ve pulled off some amazing things, and I hate to see us collectively failing to act [on climate change],” said Nick Corlett, a tutor for high school students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before EcoBlock came to his street, Corlett’s house was the only one with solar panels. Now, he’s gearing up for his roof to be covered with even more.[pullquote align='right' citation='Nick Corlett']‘If their power is out and ours is on, and they want to come over and microwave a burrito or something, they’re welcome to do it.’[/pullquote]He’s taken an active role in the homeowners association, and offered his backyard as a place for the back-up, shared battery, or what he calls the “the energy shack.” If it comes through, Corlett would get some financial compensation from the homeowners association.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He’s learned a lot about collaboration through the process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We had to design it so that anyone who’s joining couldn’t just get all the free stuff and back out immediately. We put together all the agreements to incentivize people to stay in the project,” Corlett said. “I think we’ve got something that hopefully everyone will be happy to be a part of.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Corlett is excited about EcoBlock, and he’s happy to help neighbors who didn’t sign up. “If their power is out and ours is on, and they want to come over and microwave a burrito or something, they’re welcome to do it,” Corlett said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003ca id=\"therenters\">\u003c/a>The renters\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1984913\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2400px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1984913\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-05-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Two photos side by side: One of a family of four and one of a pink house.\" width=\"2400\" height=\"1094\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-05-KQED.jpg 2400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-05-KQED-800x365.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-05-KQED-1020x465.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-05-KQED-160x73.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-05-KQED-768x350.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-05-KQED-1536x700.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-05-KQED-2048x934.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-05-KQED-1920x875.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2400px) 100vw, 2400px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(From left) Cheryls Kleinsmith, Ismael Plasencia, Isla Rose Plasencia (9), and Ismal Plasencia Jr. (6) and their home in Oakland on Oct. 19, 2023. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Cheryl Kleinsmith, 45; Ismael Plasencia, 49; Isla Rose Plasencia, 9; and Ismael Plasencia Jr., 6\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cheryl Kleinsmith and Ismael Plasencia love all the natural light their apartment gets from all its windows. They do not love how vulnerable that makes them to the weather.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When it’s hot, it’s hot. When it’s cold, it’s very cold,” said Kleinsmith. EcoBlock would insulate their home and provide heat pumps, electric appliances that can heat and cool space inside a home, and serve as a water heater.[pullquote align='right' citation='Ismael Plasencia']‘It presented this opportunity to transform Oakland in a way that I don’t think most folks would have prioritized.’[/pullquote]But Kleinsmith and Plasencia are renters. They had to convince their property owners to join, who thought it sounded too good to be true.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was like, it does kind of sound too good to be true,” Plasencia said. “I get that. But what do you have to lose? It’s going to increase your property value.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The owners eventually agreed, as long as Kleinsmith and Plasencia would go to the meetings and share relevant information.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was super interested in the project,” Plasencia said. “Just for educational purposes, I’d love to just sit at all these meetings.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kleinsmith and Plasencia, who hope to buy their own home in the future, both grew up in Oakland. They both work here: she’s a scheduler in a surgeon’s office, and he runs community programs for an art school. Even as rents have increased, they’ve made it work to stay here and raise their kids here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What they saw in EcoBlock was a commitment to all of Oakland, not just the wealthier parts of the city, where people could probably afford to upgrade their own homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It presented this opportunity to transform Oakland in a way that I don’t think most folks would have prioritized,” Plasencia said. “But projects like this are inspiring to me: just to know that we can transform a neighborhood that could potentially transform a whole community.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003ca id=\"theholdouts\">\u003c/a>The holdouts\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1984909\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2400px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1984909\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-01-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Two photos side by side: one of a person leaning on a railing and one of a white house.\" width=\"2400\" height=\"1094\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-01-KQED.jpg 2400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-01-KQED-800x365.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-01-KQED-1020x465.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-01-KQED-160x73.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-01-KQED-768x350.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-01-KQED-1536x700.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-01-KQED-2048x934.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-01-KQED-1920x875.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2400px) 100vw, 2400px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Steven Johnson and his home in Oakland on Oct. 12, 2023. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steve Johnson, 70\u003c/b>\u003cbr>\nNot all neighbors are enthusiastic about EcoBlock.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Steve Johnson lives in a wooden home that’s been in his family for nearly a century. He’s reminded of them in every spot: the room where his mother was born on newspapers or the backyard tree that’s grown from the sapling his grandmother planted 90 years ago.[pullquote align='right' citation='Steve Johnson']‘It’s just they were overwhelmingly, sweepingly changing everything in my life that I wanted.’[/pullquote]Johnson, a retired contractor, bought the house from his grandmother in the 1970s, and has spent decades rebuilding it: he put in insulation, skylights and even a greywater system that runs water from his drain straight to his garden.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I just finally got it completely remodeled and for my tastes,” Johnson said. The idea of outside contractors coming into his home felt overwhelming and unnecessary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I just didn’t want to go through a lot of new construction all over again because I really don’t need it,” Johnson said. He already uses very little energy, plus, he didn’t want to part with his gas stove.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Any time we have a family party, I do all the cooking for everybody. I just can’t imagine not cooking on gas. And the whole EcoBlock wanted to take away the gas,” Johnson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Johnson cares about reducing carbon emissions. But he thinks society should tackle other sources of it before homes, like air travel or shipping. He also has concerns about the energy supply, the cost, and what would happen to an all-electric home during a power outage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And Johnson has another feeling, too. “It’s just they were overwhelmingly, sweepingly changing everything in my life that I wanted.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003ca id=\"theutility\">\u003c/a>The utility\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jeremy Donnell, 47\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PG&E provides the backbone for EcoBlock, as the project will use the utility’s electric grid to support upgraded appliances, solar panels and a potential backup storage battery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jeremy Donnell is a senior manager who works on microgrids for PG&E.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Donnell says the utility “fully supports” EcoBlock and is working with the UC Berkeley team to make it come to pass, but acknowledged that “it is a challenge on multiple levels to do a project of this size.”[pullquote align='right' citation='Jeremy Donnell']‘When you reach for the stars, sometimes you don’t make it all the way, but maybe you make it to the moon.’[/pullquote]Donnell said that because not all of the neighbors bought into the project, it creates challenges when designing a microgrid: it’s hard to exclude some customers. While he believes the state should be funding projects like this, he cautions that they are not free to implement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are always gaps when you move from theory to reality, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you reach for the stars, sometimes you don’t make it all the way, but maybe you make it to the moon. And so that’s progress in and of itself,” Donnell said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983907\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1983907 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/RS67854_20230810-BlossomStreet-24-JY-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A woman with red curly hair and a blue shirt stands in front of a tree. \" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/RS67854_20230810-BlossomStreet-24-JY-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/RS67854_20230810-BlossomStreet-24-JY-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/RS67854_20230810-BlossomStreet-24-JY-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/RS67854_20230810-BlossomStreet-24-JY-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/RS67854_20230810-BlossomStreet-24-JY-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/RS67854_20230810-BlossomStreet-24-JY-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/RS67854_20230810-BlossomStreet-24-JY-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Associate Director of the California Institute for Energy and Environment at UC Berkeley Therese Peffer stands for a portrait in Oakland on Friday, Aug. 11, 2023. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003ca id=\"theresearchers\">\u003c/a>The researchers\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Therese Peffer, 56\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers at UC Berkeley’s California Institute for Energy and Environment \u003ca href=\"https://citris-uc.org/research/climate/\">CITRIS\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://citris-uc.org/research/climate/\">Climate\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://citris-uc.org/research/climate/\">initiative\u003c/a> are studying the EcoBlock in real time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pulling off a project like EcoBlock is akin to directing a synchronized swim with several different marine animals. A lot of Peffer’s time is not spent on the grand ideas but on communicating them. Peffer is coordinating a team of dozens: contractors, architects, civil engineers, urban planners, experts in mobility, energy, and solar, and lawyers of all stripes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They don’t have the same language to talk to each other,” Peffer said. “It takes a lot of meetings to kind of figure that out.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Peffer also spends her days working through minute details, like where to place a charger for a shared electric vehicle for the block. She’s well versed in the labyrinth of city and state code and requirements from a utility.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Peffer leans into this level of head-spinning detail. She feels she is trying to solve a real problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I really do like the approach of targeting the hard-to-reach customers and low-to-middle income [people] because I feel like more wealthy neighborhoods, you’re going to figure it out,” Peffer said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003ca id=\"thetakeaways\">\u003c/a>The takeaways\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Initiative should come from residents\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Choosing a place with strong social ties that volunteered itself for the project was “one of the smartest things we did because they were invested,” said Peffer. “That continues to be the biggest success story, that neighbor-to-neighbor, peer-to-peer communication and selling it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Peffer said it was far faster and more powerful when residents championed the idea.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Residents of a previous Oakland EcoBlock pilot on another street chosen by researchers \u003ca href=\"https://efiling.energy.ca.gov/GetDocument.aspx?tn=228742&DocumentContentId=59996\">never fully bought in\u003c/a>, and the project fell apart.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Timing is everything\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ecoblock has been hampered by pandemic-era supply chain shortages, which has slowed down construction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Delays also stem from regulatory and technical hurdles from the city and PG&E. For example, the utility recently decided to upgrade the electric lines on the street to support a bigger load. While PG&E fast-tracked the process, it will still take six more months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On top of that, the project has had to scale back its plans for a microgrid and other ambitions because of inflation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Frustration can be good\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ram Rajagopal, an engineering professor at Stanford University who is not involved in EcoBlock but has worked on similar ones, views the setbacks EcoBlock has faced as positive. He argues that as a society, we’re past the first phase of electrification when it was a niche hobby, “the super-rich dude in Palo Alto,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The fact that we are all frustrated now is a good sign because we’re frustrated by the right thing,” Rajagopal said. “We’re really trying to replace these things, and we are now seeing the roadblocks.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It would be a mistake to say, okay, we’re not going to support this EcoBlock project because things are too slow,” Rajagopal said. “Actually, I would say we now need to give them money to figure out how to make it go fast.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>A shared project leads to resilience\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the block is not a utopia, numerous residents said participating in EcoBlock brought them closer to their neighbors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve struck a chord here, we just need to finish it,” Peffer said. “But I think there’s something exciting about working with your neighbors. You’re building those relationships and building that ‘social resilience’ I call it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/9/1583\">Research shows\u003c/a> that communities with strong relationships and those that work on shared projects often fare better in the face of climate-related disasters than those that do not.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All of this is helping us remember that we’re interconnected and that we can rely on each other,” said Vivian Santana Pacheco. “That’s the only way that we’re going to solve this climate crisis.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"title": "Electric Avenue: One Oakland Block's Improbable Journey to Ditch Gas | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>This story is part of the third season of KQED’s podcast Sold Out: Rethinking Housing in America. You can \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/podcasts/soldout\">find that series here\u003c/a> and read about why \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1984697/why-kqed-focused-a-season-of-its-housing-podcast-on-climate-change#:~:text=Sold%20Out%20Is%20Back%20With%20Season%203&text=Host%20Erin%20Baldassari%20leads%20a,an%20affordable%20place%20to%20live.\">KQED chose to focus a season of its housing podcast on climate change\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The residents of one block in East Oakland have been quietly writing a rough draft of how to ditch natural gas on a neighborhood scale.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/our-work/programs/building-decarbonization\">A quarter of California’s carbon emissions\u003c/a> come from homes, businesses and the energy used to power them. It’s a steady stream of planet-warming gasses pouring from our furnaces, water heaters, clothes dryers and ovens.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To slash those emissions and meet \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2022/11/16/california-releases-worlds-first-plan-to-achieve-net-zero-carbon-pollution/\">the state’s climate targets\u003c/a>, Californians need to replace fossil-fuel-powered appliances with electric ones.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The status quo for electrification is to replace those appliances home-by-home at the end of their useful life. The approach is expensive, excludes people who cannot afford these upgrades and will take decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, there’s growing interest in a different option: neighborhood-scale electrification. It can drive down costs as neighbors purchase electric stoves, heat pumps and solar panels in bulk and guarantee work for contractors. That’s the idea, anyway.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What follows is the story of one group of neighbors in Oakland who spent the last four years trying to electrify their homes collectively as part of a research project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here is what they have learned.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jump straight to:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli style=\"list-style-type: none\">\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"#thevision\">\u003cstrong>The vision\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"#theinitiators\">\u003cstrong>The initiators\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"#thehomeowners\">\u003cstrong>The homeowners\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"#therenters\">\u003cstrong>The renters\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"#theholdouts\">\u003cstrong>The holdouts\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"#theutility\">\u003cstrong>The utility\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"#theresearchers\">\u003cstrong>The researchers\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"#thetakeaways\">\u003cstrong>The takeaways\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm/?e=KQINC5614009078&light=true\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003ca id=\"thevision\">\u003c/a>The vision\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The project is called \u003ca href=\"https://ecoblock.berkeley.edu/\">EcoBlock\u003c/a>, and it is a partnership between academics, professionals, government, utilities, private donors and residents. Its primary goal is to help an entire city block cut emissions through insulation upgrades, electric appliances and solar panels meant to “improve resilience, sustainability and quality of life.”\u003cbr>\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cbr>\nOriginally, project leaders even intended to transform the block into a microgrid — a self-contained electricity system that can run even if power from PG&E shuts off — although funding for that portion of the project remains uncertain.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘New construction is easy. It’s sexy, and it’s fun, but it’s not where the biggest problem is. If we’re going to try to really combat climate change, it is looking at the existing buildings in this country.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>All these perks are free to homeowners who sign up. In turn, researchers get to learn from the pilot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The project is funded to the tune of $8 million — \u003ca href=\"https://ecoblock.berkeley.edu/about/frequently-asked-questions/\">five of which\u003c/a> come from the \u003ca href=\"https://www.energy.ca.gov/programs-and-topics/programs/electric-program-investment-charge-epic-program\">California Energy Commission\u003c/a>, the other three come from an anonymous donor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The block in East Oakland is a cul-de-sac, with the busy thoroughfare of Fruitvale Avenue on one end and a peaceful creek on the other. There’s a mix of Victorian homes that date back more than 100 years and more recently built duplexes and apartment buildings.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘All of this is helping us remember that we’re interconnected and that we can rely on each other. That’s the only way that we’re going to solve this climate crisis.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>KQED is not disclosing the name of the block to protect the privacy of the residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The people who live here are a mashup of homeowners and renters, socioeconomic classes, races, and ethnicities. Despite their differences, the residents come together annually for a block party, and have a WhatsApp group where topics range from safety to backyard fruit giveaways.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After navigating years of pandemic delays, inflation and onerous regulation, construction began this fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Residents hope to connect their new electric appliances to the larger grid this winter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We think that this is scalable,” said Therese Peffer, a researcher from UC Berkeley’s California Institute for Energy and Environment CITRIS Climate initiative, who heads EcoBlock. “We think addressing the urban residential [housing sector] is a huge, huge win because no one else is doing that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the project may be cutting-edge, it hasn’t been without setbacks. EcoBlock managers had hoped to cap off the street’s gas line, which, based on how utilities interpret \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PUC§ionNum=451.\">state energy code\u003c/a>, would require 100% of residents to agree to swap out their gas appliances for electric ones. Ten out of the 25 neighbors have not.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Building a new green home is fairly straightforward. In recent years, futuristic \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1982984/californias-first-all-electric-neighborhood-may-be-future-of-green-living\">communities have popped up\u003c/a> with this as their express purpose. Instead of using natural gas to heat space and water, dry clothes and cook, these homes are going electric and pulling power from renewable sources like solar.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But what happens to the places already built? In California, that’s \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/sites/default/files/2022-12/2022-sp.pdf\">14 million existing homes, three-quarters of which\u003c/a> were built before energy efficiency standards requiring things like insulation were developed in 1978.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“New construction is easy,” Peffer, EcoBlock’s principal investigator, said. “It’s sexy, and it’s fun, but it’s not where the biggest problem is. If we’re going to try to really combat climate change, it is looking at the existing buildings in this country.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Increasingly, it’s becoming clear that we need to be taking more of a utility-scale or a neighborhood-scale approach to building decarbonization instead of waiting for an individual appliance to break and then trying through education and bribery to cajole people to make the right choice,” said Panama Bartholomy, who heads the Building Decarbonization Coalition, a national nonprofit that advocates to remove fossil fuels from buildings.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003ca id=\"theinitiators\">\u003c/a>The initiators\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1984911\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2400px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1984911\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-03-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Two photos side by side: one of two people and one of a blue house.\" width=\"2400\" height=\"1094\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-03-KQED.jpg 2400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-03-KQED-800x365.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-03-KQED-1020x465.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-03-KQED-160x73.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-03-KQED-768x350.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-03-KQED-1536x700.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-03-KQED-2048x934.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-03-KQED-1920x875.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2400px) 100vw, 2400px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Vivian Santana Pacheco and Isaac Zones and their home in Oakland on Oct. 19, 2023. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Isaac Zones, 42, and Vivian Santana Pacheco, 39\u003cbr>\n\u003c/b>\u003cbr>\nIsaac Zones learned about the Oakland EcoBlock in 2019 from a friend, who’d sent along an email with the subject line, “This looks cool.” The email linked to \u003ca href=\"https://citris-uc.org/oakland-ecoblock-looking-for-interested-neighborhoods/\">a UC Berkeley EcoBlock project\u003c/a> page asked a question: “Do you and your neighbors want to save money on your energy bills, reduce carbon emissions, and survive the next power outage?”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘Already I feel like we’re behind and that I’m not doing enough. Honestly, this feels more tangible than showing up to a protest.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“Basically, I read it as like free solar for everybody on my block,” said Zones, a musician. “This sounds great.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Zones applied and went door-to-door, reaching out to his neighbors to gauge interest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vivian Santana Pacheco, who is married to Zones, was also intrigued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Santana Pacheco regularly thinks about the climate crisis. “Already I feel like we’re behind and that I’m not doing enough,” she said. “Honestly, this feels more tangible than showing up to a protest.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In many ways, the two were an ideal pair to champion the project at its start. They’d spent the past several years building community on their block through the street’s annual party. Zones easily strikes up conversations with neighbors, and knocks on doors and calls them to check in. Santana Pacheco, a health educator, shares her own vegetable starts with neighbors who have garden boxes that lay fallow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She’s also one of five neighbors on a steering committee for the newly formed homeowner’s association, created to manage the project’s shared assets, like an electric vehicle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They are motivated by their 4-year-old son. “We want this world to be a habitable one for him, being able to say we did as much as we could to be part of that,” said Santana Pacheco.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003ca id=\"thehomeowners\">\u003c/a>The homeowners\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1984912\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2400px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1984912\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-04-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Two photos side by side: One of two people and a child and one of a house.\" width=\"2400\" height=\"1094\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-04-KQED.jpg 2400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-04-KQED-800x365.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-04-KQED-1020x465.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-04-KQED-160x73.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-04-KQED-768x350.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-04-KQED-1536x700.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-04-KQED-2048x934.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-04-KQED-1920x875.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2400px) 100vw, 2400px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(From left) Ivan Sharamok, Gavin Sharamok (2) and Jarinya Phansathin and their home in Oakland on Oct. 19, 2023. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ivan Sharamok, 39; Jarinya Phansathin, 32; and Gavin Sharamok, 2\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Homeowner Ivan Sharamok, a solutions architect for an IT startup, jokes that he lives in a museum, given that his white Victorian was constructed in 1900. He’s curious how a team of EcoBlock researchers will bring it to the forefront of home electrification.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He also can’t wait to see how he’ll actually like living in a home warmed and cooled by a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1981511/how-the-unassuming-heat-pump-can-stave-off-warming\">heat pump\u003c/a> or how cooking on an induction stove will feel. Sharamok dove into research on the latest technologies, and while he’s excited, he’s also skeptical.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s kind of like a game,” Sharamok said. “Once it gets installed and I try it, would it actually be to my satisfaction?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Growing up in Ukraine, he recalls winters with tons of snow. But over his lifetime, the winters have gotten milder and milder, which he attributes to climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m very skeptical that, on a global scale, society can tackle this problem. But I’m hopeful that we can,” Sharamok said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sharamok has taken on a role in the steering committee for the EcoBlock homeowner’s association.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a super long process, but I also understand why,” Sharamok said. Just creating agreements for the homeowners association took time. “It’s pretty awesome to see what goes into the design, what you need to think about when you’re trying to do something like that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1984910\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2400px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1984910\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-02-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Two photos side by side: one of a person with glasses and one of a house.\" width=\"2400\" height=\"1094\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-02-KQED.jpg 2400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-02-KQED-800x365.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-02-KQED-1020x465.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-02-KQED-160x73.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-02-KQED-768x350.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-02-KQED-1536x700.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-02-KQED-2048x934.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-02-KQED-1920x875.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2400px) 100vw, 2400px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nick Corlett and his home in Oakland on Oct. 12, 2023. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Nick Corlett, 38\u003c/b>\u003cbr>\n“I love humanity with all our flaws and all our ugliness. We’ve pulled off some amazing things, and I hate to see us collectively failing to act [on climate change],” said Nick Corlett, a tutor for high school students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before EcoBlock came to his street, Corlett’s house was the only one with solar panels. Now, he’s gearing up for his roof to be covered with even more.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>He’s taken an active role in the homeowners association, and offered his backyard as a place for the back-up, shared battery, or what he calls the “the energy shack.” If it comes through, Corlett would get some financial compensation from the homeowners association.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He’s learned a lot about collaboration through the process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We had to design it so that anyone who’s joining couldn’t just get all the free stuff and back out immediately. We put together all the agreements to incentivize people to stay in the project,” Corlett said. “I think we’ve got something that hopefully everyone will be happy to be a part of.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Corlett is excited about EcoBlock, and he’s happy to help neighbors who didn’t sign up. “If their power is out and ours is on, and they want to come over and microwave a burrito or something, they’re welcome to do it,” Corlett said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003ca id=\"therenters\">\u003c/a>The renters\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1984913\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2400px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1984913\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-05-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Two photos side by side: One of a family of four and one of a pink house.\" width=\"2400\" height=\"1094\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-05-KQED.jpg 2400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-05-KQED-800x365.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-05-KQED-1020x465.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-05-KQED-160x73.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-05-KQED-768x350.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-05-KQED-1536x700.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-05-KQED-2048x934.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-05-KQED-1920x875.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2400px) 100vw, 2400px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(From left) Cheryls Kleinsmith, Ismael Plasencia, Isla Rose Plasencia (9), and Ismal Plasencia Jr. (6) and their home in Oakland on Oct. 19, 2023. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Cheryl Kleinsmith, 45; Ismael Plasencia, 49; Isla Rose Plasencia, 9; and Ismael Plasencia Jr., 6\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cheryl Kleinsmith and Ismael Plasencia love all the natural light their apartment gets from all its windows. They do not love how vulnerable that makes them to the weather.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When it’s hot, it’s hot. When it’s cold, it’s very cold,” said Kleinsmith. EcoBlock would insulate their home and provide heat pumps, electric appliances that can heat and cool space inside a home, and serve as a water heater.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘It presented this opportunity to transform Oakland in a way that I don’t think most folks would have prioritized.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>But Kleinsmith and Plasencia are renters. They had to convince their property owners to join, who thought it sounded too good to be true.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was like, it does kind of sound too good to be true,” Plasencia said. “I get that. But what do you have to lose? It’s going to increase your property value.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The owners eventually agreed, as long as Kleinsmith and Plasencia would go to the meetings and share relevant information.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was super interested in the project,” Plasencia said. “Just for educational purposes, I’d love to just sit at all these meetings.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kleinsmith and Plasencia, who hope to buy their own home in the future, both grew up in Oakland. They both work here: she’s a scheduler in a surgeon’s office, and he runs community programs for an art school. Even as rents have increased, they’ve made it work to stay here and raise their kids here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What they saw in EcoBlock was a commitment to all of Oakland, not just the wealthier parts of the city, where people could probably afford to upgrade their own homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It presented this opportunity to transform Oakland in a way that I don’t think most folks would have prioritized,” Plasencia said. “But projects like this are inspiring to me: just to know that we can transform a neighborhood that could potentially transform a whole community.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003ca id=\"theholdouts\">\u003c/a>The holdouts\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1984909\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2400px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1984909\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-01-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Two photos side by side: one of a person leaning on a railing and one of a white house.\" width=\"2400\" height=\"1094\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-01-KQED.jpg 2400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-01-KQED-800x365.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-01-KQED-1020x465.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-01-KQED-160x73.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-01-KQED-768x350.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-01-KQED-1536x700.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-01-KQED-2048x934.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/102321-ELECTRIC-AVE-DIPTYCH-MD-01-KQED-1920x875.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2400px) 100vw, 2400px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Steven Johnson and his home in Oakland on Oct. 12, 2023. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Steve Johnson, 70\u003c/b>\u003cbr>\nNot all neighbors are enthusiastic about EcoBlock.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Steve Johnson lives in a wooden home that’s been in his family for nearly a century. He’s reminded of them in every spot: the room where his mother was born on newspapers or the backyard tree that’s grown from the sapling his grandmother planted 90 years ago.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Johnson, a retired contractor, bought the house from his grandmother in the 1970s, and has spent decades rebuilding it: he put in insulation, skylights and even a greywater system that runs water from his drain straight to his garden.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I just finally got it completely remodeled and for my tastes,” Johnson said. The idea of outside contractors coming into his home felt overwhelming and unnecessary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I just didn’t want to go through a lot of new construction all over again because I really don’t need it,” Johnson said. He already uses very little energy, plus, he didn’t want to part with his gas stove.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Any time we have a family party, I do all the cooking for everybody. I just can’t imagine not cooking on gas. And the whole EcoBlock wanted to take away the gas,” Johnson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Johnson cares about reducing carbon emissions. But he thinks society should tackle other sources of it before homes, like air travel or shipping. He also has concerns about the energy supply, the cost, and what would happen to an all-electric home during a power outage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And Johnson has another feeling, too. “It’s just they were overwhelmingly, sweepingly changing everything in my life that I wanted.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003ca id=\"theutility\">\u003c/a>The utility\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jeremy Donnell, 47\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PG&E provides the backbone for EcoBlock, as the project will use the utility’s electric grid to support upgraded appliances, solar panels and a potential backup storage battery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jeremy Donnell is a senior manager who works on microgrids for PG&E.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Donnell says the utility “fully supports” EcoBlock and is working with the UC Berkeley team to make it come to pass, but acknowledged that “it is a challenge on multiple levels to do a project of this size.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Donnell said that because not all of the neighbors bought into the project, it creates challenges when designing a microgrid: it’s hard to exclude some customers. While he believes the state should be funding projects like this, he cautions that they are not free to implement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are always gaps when you move from theory to reality, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you reach for the stars, sometimes you don’t make it all the way, but maybe you make it to the moon. And so that’s progress in and of itself,” Donnell said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983907\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1983907 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/RS67854_20230810-BlossomStreet-24-JY-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A woman with red curly hair and a blue shirt stands in front of a tree. \" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/RS67854_20230810-BlossomStreet-24-JY-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/RS67854_20230810-BlossomStreet-24-JY-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/RS67854_20230810-BlossomStreet-24-JY-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/RS67854_20230810-BlossomStreet-24-JY-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/RS67854_20230810-BlossomStreet-24-JY-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/RS67854_20230810-BlossomStreet-24-JY-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/RS67854_20230810-BlossomStreet-24-JY-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Associate Director of the California Institute for Energy and Environment at UC Berkeley Therese Peffer stands for a portrait in Oakland on Friday, Aug. 11, 2023. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003ca id=\"theresearchers\">\u003c/a>The researchers\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Therese Peffer, 56\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers at UC Berkeley’s California Institute for Energy and Environment \u003ca href=\"https://citris-uc.org/research/climate/\">CITRIS\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://citris-uc.org/research/climate/\">Climate\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://citris-uc.org/research/climate/\">initiative\u003c/a> are studying the EcoBlock in real time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pulling off a project like EcoBlock is akin to directing a synchronized swim with several different marine animals. A lot of Peffer’s time is not spent on the grand ideas but on communicating them. Peffer is coordinating a team of dozens: contractors, architects, civil engineers, urban planners, experts in mobility, energy, and solar, and lawyers of all stripes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They don’t have the same language to talk to each other,” Peffer said. “It takes a lot of meetings to kind of figure that out.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Peffer also spends her days working through minute details, like where to place a charger for a shared electric vehicle for the block. She’s well versed in the labyrinth of city and state code and requirements from a utility.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Peffer leans into this level of head-spinning detail. She feels she is trying to solve a real problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I really do like the approach of targeting the hard-to-reach customers and low-to-middle income [people] because I feel like more wealthy neighborhoods, you’re going to figure it out,” Peffer said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003ca id=\"thetakeaways\">\u003c/a>The takeaways\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Initiative should come from residents\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Choosing a place with strong social ties that volunteered itself for the project was “one of the smartest things we did because they were invested,” said Peffer. “That continues to be the biggest success story, that neighbor-to-neighbor, peer-to-peer communication and selling it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Peffer said it was far faster and more powerful when residents championed the idea.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Residents of a previous Oakland EcoBlock pilot on another street chosen by researchers \u003ca href=\"https://efiling.energy.ca.gov/GetDocument.aspx?tn=228742&DocumentContentId=59996\">never fully bought in\u003c/a>, and the project fell apart.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Timing is everything\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ecoblock has been hampered by pandemic-era supply chain shortages, which has slowed down construction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Delays also stem from regulatory and technical hurdles from the city and PG&E. For example, the utility recently decided to upgrade the electric lines on the street to support a bigger load. While PG&E fast-tracked the process, it will still take six more months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On top of that, the project has had to scale back its plans for a microgrid and other ambitions because of inflation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Frustration can be good\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ram Rajagopal, an engineering professor at Stanford University who is not involved in EcoBlock but has worked on similar ones, views the setbacks EcoBlock has faced as positive. He argues that as a society, we’re past the first phase of electrification when it was a niche hobby, “the super-rich dude in Palo Alto,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The fact that we are all frustrated now is a good sign because we’re frustrated by the right thing,” Rajagopal said. “We’re really trying to replace these things, and we are now seeing the roadblocks.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It would be a mistake to say, okay, we’re not going to support this EcoBlock project because things are too slow,” Rajagopal said. “Actually, I would say we now need to give them money to figure out how to make it go fast.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>A shared project leads to resilience\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the block is not a utopia, numerous residents said participating in EcoBlock brought them closer to their neighbors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve struck a chord here, we just need to finish it,” Peffer said. “But I think there’s something exciting about working with your neighbors. You’re building those relationships and building that ‘social resilience’ I call it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/9/1583\">Research shows\u003c/a> that communities with strong relationships and those that work on shared projects often fare better in the face of climate-related disasters than those that do not.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All of this is helping us remember that we’re interconnected and that we can rely on each other,” said Vivian Santana Pacheco. “That’s the only way that we’re going to solve this climate crisis.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "reluctant-retreat-one-familys-fight-against-climate-induced-flooding",
"title": "California Levee Disaster: One Family's Flight From Climate-Fueled Flooding",
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"headTitle": "California Levee Disaster: One Family’s Flight From Climate-Fueled Flooding | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>This story is part of the third season of KQED’s podcast Sold Out: Rethinking Housing in America. You can \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/podcasts/soldout\">find that series here\u003c/a> and read about why \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1984697/why-kqed-focused-a-season-of-its-housing-podcast-on-climate-change#:~:text=Sold%20Out%20Is%20Back%20With%20Season%203&text=Host%20Erin%20Baldassari%20leads%20a,an%20affordable%20place%20to%20live.\">KQED chose to focus a season of its housing podcast on climate change\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[dropcap]D[/dropcap]enia Escutia dreamed of moving to Southern California to learn how to care for sick kids at UCLA. But when a river swallowed her town and destroyed her home, she deferred those dreams to take care of her family instead.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s been seven months since a massive storm over California’s Central Coast dropped as much as 13 inches of rain in some places. Swollen with all that water, the Pajaro River ripped a 400-foot hole in the levee a few miles east of Escutia’s raised, one-story house where she lived with her mom, dad, brother and sister.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The emotional pain of that experience, she said quietly with tears in her eyes, has not waned.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Often I feel like crying, but I don’t want to cry in front of my siblings, so I just do it on my own time,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Escutia is 18. The recent high school graduate with shoulder-length wavy brown hair describes herself as part tomboy, part girlie girl.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm/?e=KQINC1518433856&light=true\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In late September, she visited the gutted house where the family still keeps some of their belongings. Lifting a loose floorboard, she examined the crawl space below the tan, two-bedroom home. Deep cracks cut through the soil where floodwaters washed into the dark space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The teenager wiggled her nose at the smell of decay. Her family’s clothes and bags of canned goods lined the bedroom walls, which were once covered with posters of Disney princesses and K-pop stars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Escutia said she has flashbacks several times a day of the early morning that her future was almost washed away — floodwaters the color of chocolate milk filling her room, the trash can floating across her yard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People are going to be like, it already happened, get over it,” she said. “But they wouldn’t get over it if they were in my shoes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Water breached the levee in March. The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office ordered Pajaro’s 3,000 residents to evacuate, before flooding swamped more than 200 homes, rendering Escutia’s unlivable. Her family worried the levee would fail again, so rather than stay and rebuild, they decided to abandon Pajaro in search of someplace safer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The family’s choice — to make their future away from the floodplain — is one that other Californians will face.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rivers and streams across the state are penned in by thousands of miles of levees. Much of that infrastructure is aging and is not built for future storms, which could cause major flooding in any given year. With a potentially wet winter ahead, the state’s top water officials are grasping for solutions. And they are quietly considering a blasphemous idea in California politics: moving whole communities away from dangerous waterways.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Leaving Pajaro thrust the family into a seemingly endless search for affordable housing. And it would have a profound effect on Escutia’s life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We left because we don’t want the same thing to happen again,” she said. “Having to see my family be sad about something they created just washed away in a matter of minutes was difficult.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1984657\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1984657 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/GettyImages-1248040045-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A truck drives through chocolate milk-colored water. \" width=\"1920\" height=\"1118\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/GettyImages-1248040045-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/GettyImages-1248040045-qut-800x466.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/GettyImages-1248040045-qut-1020x594.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/GettyImages-1248040045-qut-160x93.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/GettyImages-1248040045-qut-768x447.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/GettyImages-1248040045-qut-1536x894.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An aerial view shows a truck making its way through a flooded neighborhood in the unincorporated community of Pajaro in Monterey County, on March 11, 2023. \u003ccite>(Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘We are going to tame nature’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Rivers have long served as a meeting place for people on the land we now call California. Indigenous people lived for thousands of years following the ebb and flow of water as signals to move to higher ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lush, sprawling river valleys captivated the intrigue of those colonizing California. In that land, they saw an opportunity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They transformed rivers that once flowed freely to the sea into highly managed waterways, cut off from the people who relied on them. That hubris led to the state’s current flooding vulnerabilities, said Karla Nemeth, California’s top water official.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A big part of how we got here was we had a mindset of ‘We are going to tame nature,’” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As she sat next to a tall potted plant with frilly green leaves in her Sacramento office, she recited a passage by John McPhee, a Pulitzer Prize-winning creative nonfiction writer: “To the conventional wisdom that one ought never to build on a floodplain, California has responded with its capital city.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>McPhee wrote that when the state’s founding citizens \u003ca href=\"https://repository.uclawsf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1454&context=hastings_environmental_law_journal\">built Sacramento alongside two roaring rivers, it exemplified the mindset that humans could control nature (CGI).\u003c/a> Nemeth said California could potentially recommend riverine residents leave the floodplain as storms get more intense.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote align='right' citation='Nancy Faulstich, director, Regeneración — Pájaro Valley Climate Action,']‘It feels like it’s exactly a case of environmental injustice.’[/pullquote]“Ultimately, what we are going to do is move a lot of people,” said Nemeth, who directs the California Department of Water Resources.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moving people en masse away from rivers is a controversial practice called “managed retreat.” It is an idea that many officials are not willing to consider. But nature is forcing the conversation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote align='right' citation='Stu Townsley, deputy district engineer for project management, US Army Corps of Engineers']‘There’s no way that you can build a levee system that will protect any community from the biggest of big storms in the future.’[/pullquote]By the end of the century, \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212094722000275\">climate change may make these deluges up to 37% wetter\u003c/a>, according to a study from Bay Area researchers. UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain recently found that \u003ca href=\"https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abq0995\">the warming climate has already doubled the probability of a megaflood\u003c/a> — weather conditions that could unleash horrific statewide flooding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve gotten a taste of widespread flooding this winter, but I think it’s only a taste,” said Swain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1984647\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1984647 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/04282023_pajaroupdate-021-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A brightly-colored backpack hangs from a white wall. \" width=\"1920\" height=\"1277\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/04282023_pajaroupdate-021-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/04282023_pajaroupdate-021-qut-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/04282023_pajaroupdate-021-qut-1020x678.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/04282023_pajaroupdate-021-qut-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/04282023_pajaroupdate-021-qut-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/04282023_pajaroupdate-021-qut-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Some scattered boxes and chairs sit inside what remains of the Escutia’s living room in Pajaro, California on April 28, 2023. \u003ccite>(Kori Suzuki/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>A burden overnight\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In the predawn hours of March 11, Escutia woke up to what she thought was her Pomeranian, Lucky, peeing on the bed. But she was wrong. Flood water trickled into her room and was ankle-deep in just a few minutes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Escutia’s family, scared and panicked, unplugged appliances and threw anything they could onto tables, counters and beds. Another bad storm had pummeled the area just weeks before, but the levee held. Escutia’s family didn’t feel like they needed to leave.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her mom was shocked by electrical currents in the water. That’s when her family decided to flee, escaping in waist-deep water to an upstairs apartment building across the street.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A few hours later, they caught a ride out of the town in military rescue vehicles. On the way to her grandmother’s, Escutia wondered if she would ever call Pajaro home again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My future, I feel like it will look like it is gone,” she said. “I don’t want to leave because I grew up here. But at the same time, I want to leave because I don’t want the same thing to happen again.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She spent the next two weeks hopping between the homes of different relatives. When she returned to Pajaro in late March, her house was suffocatingly warm and the carpet slick with mud. A photo of her in a blue and black quinceanera dress still hung on the living room wall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Escutia had just been accepted to UCLA. She had not yet shared the good news with her family. After the flood, her happy secret quickly transformed into a burden.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She couldn’t decide between pursuing her dream in Southern California or staying to help her family.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I haven’t told my parents yet, but I was planning on telling them,” she said. “All I can think about is how I’m going to be able to help my parents through this, especially financially.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1984654\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1984654 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/03242023_kqed_pajaroreturning-1362-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A man in a blue t-shirt stands in a dirt yard with a young woman in brown pants. \" width=\"1920\" height=\"1277\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/03242023_kqed_pajaroreturning-1362-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/03242023_kqed_pajaroreturning-1362-qut-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/03242023_kqed_pajaroreturning-1362-qut-1020x678.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/03242023_kqed_pajaroreturning-1362-qut-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/03242023_kqed_pajaroreturning-1362-qut-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/03242023_kqed_pajaroreturning-1362-qut-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Denia Escutia and her father Juan, talk outside their mud-coated home in Pajaro, Monterey County, on March 24, 2023. \u003ccite>(Kori Suzuki/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘A case of environmental injustice’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had officially rated the levee along the Pajaro River a “moderate” risk of flooding. The truth is that for decades, officials knew they needed repair but didn’t act. The Corps determined that the town wasn’t worth protecting because property values were too low, according to levee records and interviews with several officials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Nancy Faulstich, executive director of Regeneración — Pájaro Valley Climate Action, this callousness created the tragedy in Monterey County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It feels like it’s exactly a case of environmental injustice,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Escutia agreed and said her old neighborhood deserves justice. Pajaro is home to many lower-income earners and farmworkers who work in the fields of Watsonville, Monterey County and elsewhere in this fertile region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It deserves climate justice because not everyone is financially well off,” she said. Many Pajaro residents “can’t afford housing. They help with the raspberries, strawberries and lettuce. That’s where everyone gets their food from.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other places around the state likely face a similar threat, but the reality is officials don’t even really know the extent of the problem. A KQED analysis of the greater San Francisco Bay Area levees found that \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1981900/fewer-than-10-of-levees-in-the-greater-bay-area-have-a-federal-risk-rating\">just 10% have a federal risk rating\u003c/a>, and statewide levee safety varies wildly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Pajaro, agencies are working to strengthen the levee that failed earlier this year, a project that’s expected to cost half a billion dollars. Gov. Gavin Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/8.4.23-Executive-Order-water.pdf\">signed an executive order in early August to streamline levee repairs across the state (PDF)\u003c/a>, and lawmakers introduced a bill \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB876\">to accelerate flood control upgrades along the Pajaro River\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new levee will provide more protection to Pajaro, but there’s still no guarantee the town won’t flood again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s no way that you can build a levee system that will protect any community from the biggest of big storms in the future,” said Stu Townsley, deputy district engineer for project management for the San Francisco region of the Corps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When crews finish building the Pajaro River levee in around a decade, it will have 1-in-100-year storm protection — half the protection some water experts believe is needed. That means a house has a 25% chance of flooding during a typical homeowner’s 30-year mortgage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jeffrey Mount, senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California, said the bare minimum standard for protection everywhere in the state should be based on the likelihood of a 1-in-200-year storm, which has around a 0.5% chance of happening in any given year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State Sen. John Laird (D-Santa Cruz), who oversees the region, said he intellectually has “a total appetite” for that idea but said the price tag of doubling protection everywhere in California is in the billions of dollars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you start to tell me how we’re going to pay for it, I want to jump off the top of the building,” he said. “I would not be surprised if it doesn’t take some crisis, just as New Orleans had theirs, to realize that we really have to up our game in California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1984658\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1984658 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/GettyImages-1250226412-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A overhead view of a mud-caked field. \" width=\"1920\" height=\"1079\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/GettyImages-1250226412-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/GettyImages-1250226412-qut-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/GettyImages-1250226412-qut-1020x573.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/GettyImages-1250226412-qut-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/GettyImages-1250226412-qut-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/GettyImages-1250226412-qut-1536x863.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The repaired Pajaro River levee looking towards Pajaro on March 26, 2023. \u003ccite>(Photo by Paul Kuroda for The Washington Post via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘Failing as a mother’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Denia’s mother Carla Escutia searched all over Monterey County to find a new home to rent. She didn’t find much in her price range.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A two-bedroom apartment can cost upwards of $3,000 a month in this part of Monterey County, according to \u003ca href=\"https://communityrentals.ucsc.edu/cost/index.html\">rental cost statistics from UC Santa Cruz\u003c/a>. She found one house on a hill in the woods about 10 miles outside Pajaro. The family loved that it was nowhere near a river, but the house fell through.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For a while, the Escutias lived in a small trailer just feet from their ruined house. Their landlord tore the mucky, brown carpet out of the house — no more quinceanera photo. The loss of her home and the stress of finding a new place has been too much for Carla Escutia at times.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I feel like I have failed as a mother because we’re in a place I didn’t want my family,” she said, with her long brown hair covered by a black baseball cap. “I want to provide the best for them, but there’s nothing we can do right now but sit and wait.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Carla Escutia moved to Pajaro from Michoacan, Mexico, over two decades ago. She works as a custodian at UC Santa Cruz.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But even with so much uncertainty around them, the mother and daughter often smile. Television is their main outlet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have an antenna that does not require Wi-Fi, and all we do is just sit here eating chips and drinking sodas while watching Top Chef,” Escutia said, laughing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She finally told her parents that she had been accepted to UCLA. They were supportive and encouraged her to pursue her dream.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I want her to succeed and to be able to provide for herself so she can live somewhere else that is a bit better than what I have given her and her future children,” Carla Escutia said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But ultimately, Escutia decided not to go so she could stay closer to home to help her family.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I wanted to stay a little bit here longer with my mom,” she said. “I want to do community college and try to work. To help my mom with some rent and bills, so I can help provide for my siblings.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1984648\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1984648 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/04282023_pajaroupdate-253-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A woman in a blue and white striped shirt embraces a younger woman with a black shirt. \" width=\"1920\" height=\"1277\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/04282023_pajaroupdate-253-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/04282023_pajaroupdate-253-qut-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/04282023_pajaroupdate-253-qut-1020x678.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/04282023_pajaroupdate-253-qut-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/04282023_pajaroupdate-253-qut-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/04282023_pajaroupdate-253-qut-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Denia Escutia and her mother, Carla, embrace in their now-empty home in Pajaro on April 28, 2023. \u003ccite>(Kori Suzuki/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Retreat is an opportunity not a loss\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Escutia’s family is fleeing the Pajaro River because of a natural disaster.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Maybe there’s another way. What if the state and communities could decide together to move away from rivers before the next disaster? But the concept of managed retreat has become a radioactive phrase in California politics while many residents refuse to move away from rivers that flood again and again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The reluctance to consider the idea is not just an issue with Californians. Obstinance is an American trait.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People don’t like the word ‘retreat’ because it sounds like we’ve lost,” said A.R. Siders, a climate scientist at the University of Delaware. “That can be a little frightening, but it can also be really exciting.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For managed retreat to succeed, Siders said entire communities and all forms of government need to buy in. It is an opportunity for Californians to stop fighting nature.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California is not pursuing managed retreat right now along its rivers. Instead, the state is repairing levees and investing in climate modeling to better predict the intensity of storms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Places like \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-02-24/marina-sea-level-rise\">Marina, a small city in Monterey County\u003c/a>, have embraced the idea in response to sea level rise and erosion along the coast, although, as \u003cem>Los Angeles Times\u003c/em> reporter Rosanna Xia notes in her book, \u003cem>California Against the Sea: Visions for Our Vanishing Coastline\u003c/em>, the words managed retreat “have roiled the few cities and state agencies bold enough to utter them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Residents of Pacifica, a coastal city in San Mateo County, booted former-mayor John Keener for including the idea in the city’s sea level rise plan. His opponents sent out mailers ridiculing his policies and held a parade opposing any kind of managed retreat. Elsewhere, city leaders have stripped the term from climate plans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Xia told KQED that Californians need to stop thinking they are at war with water. “Ultimately, it’s shifting the question from how can we fight the rising ocean to how can we work with it,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1984676\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1984676 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/Pajaro-Side-by-Side-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Two photos next to each other of people standing in doors. On the left a person looks at flood damage. On the right they stand in a bare room as their mother looks on.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"833\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/Pajaro-Side-by-Side-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/Pajaro-Side-by-Side-800x260.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/Pajaro-Side-by-Side-1020x332.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/Pajaro-Side-by-Side-160x52.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/Pajaro-Side-by-Side-768x250.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/Pajaro-Side-by-Side-1536x500.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/Pajaro-Side-by-Side-2048x667.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/Pajaro-Side-by-Side-1920x625.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Left: Denia Escutia outside her mud-coated bedroom in Pajaro on March 24, 2023. Right: Denia and her mother, Carla Escutia, in the same room on April 28, 2023. \u003ccite>(Kori Suzuki/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>The impact of the flood doesn’t recede with the water\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>A friend of one of Escutia’s teachers invited her family to live with them in a two-story house in Watsonville, just across the river from Pajaro.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is no other word to call them but our angels,” Carla Escutia said of their new housemates. “They told me to save money, take things slow and to find a home with dignity instead of begging for a good deal.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, the family has yet to find permanent housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Standing in her old room in late September, Escutia reflected on how the flood forced her to grow up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Twice a week, Escutia drives her friends to Cabrillo Community College in a used SUV that her dad bought to replace her car that was destroyed in the flood. The SUV reminds her of a “mom car.” They like to sip iced chai lattes as they talk about their futures and the boys they’re too nervous to talk to.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Escutia said she sometimes feels like the odd one out. Her new friends are not worried about where they will live permanently. Her dad told her she might have to give her dog up for adoption.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My dad’s planning on giving it to a family friend since we don’t have anywhere to keep him,” she said. “I miss my dog a lot.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She doesn’t regret her decision to stay to help with the family’s living expenses, but now she juggles college life along with babysitting her young sister. She recently applied to be a server at a local Applebees but didn’t land the job. She works part-time teaching for an after-school program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m busy with kids and making money,” she said. She’s able to buy things for herself, like a lime green frog phone case she’s particularly excited about. “It feels great to earn my own money instead of asking my parents for it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Leaving the house she grew up in, Escutia locked the door. Officials hung a yellow and black sign from the house that reads in capital letters: “Lawful only to enter for permitted cleanup purposes only.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Whoever decides to live in this house, I hope they rethink living here,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "KQED follows one family, starting on the night that a flood swallowed their hometown of Pajaro, and for months afterward, as they searched for an affordable home on higher ground.",
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"title": "California Levee Disaster: One Family's Flight From Climate-Fueled Flooding | KQED",
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"headline": "California Levee Disaster: One Family's Flight From Climate-Fueled Flooding",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>This story is part of the third season of KQED’s podcast Sold Out: Rethinking Housing in America. You can \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/podcasts/soldout\">find that series here\u003c/a> and read about why \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1984697/why-kqed-focused-a-season-of-its-housing-podcast-on-climate-change#:~:text=Sold%20Out%20Is%20Back%20With%20Season%203&text=Host%20Erin%20Baldassari%20leads%20a,an%20affordable%20place%20to%20live.\">KQED chose to focus a season of its housing podcast on climate change\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">D\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>enia Escutia dreamed of moving to Southern California to learn how to care for sick kids at UCLA. But when a river swallowed her town and destroyed her home, she deferred those dreams to take care of her family instead.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s been seven months since a massive storm over California’s Central Coast dropped as much as 13 inches of rain in some places. Swollen with all that water, the Pajaro River ripped a 400-foot hole in the levee a few miles east of Escutia’s raised, one-story house where she lived with her mom, dad, brother and sister.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The emotional pain of that experience, she said quietly with tears in her eyes, has not waned.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Often I feel like crying, but I don’t want to cry in front of my siblings, so I just do it on my own time,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Escutia is 18. The recent high school graduate with shoulder-length wavy brown hair describes herself as part tomboy, part girlie girl.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm/?e=KQINC1518433856&light=true\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In late September, she visited the gutted house where the family still keeps some of their belongings. Lifting a loose floorboard, she examined the crawl space below the tan, two-bedroom home. Deep cracks cut through the soil where floodwaters washed into the dark space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The teenager wiggled her nose at the smell of decay. Her family’s clothes and bags of canned goods lined the bedroom walls, which were once covered with posters of Disney princesses and K-pop stars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Escutia said she has flashbacks several times a day of the early morning that her future was almost washed away — floodwaters the color of chocolate milk filling her room, the trash can floating across her yard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People are going to be like, it already happened, get over it,” she said. “But they wouldn’t get over it if they were in my shoes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Water breached the levee in March. The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office ordered Pajaro’s 3,000 residents to evacuate, before flooding swamped more than 200 homes, rendering Escutia’s unlivable. Her family worried the levee would fail again, so rather than stay and rebuild, they decided to abandon Pajaro in search of someplace safer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The family’s choice — to make their future away from the floodplain — is one that other Californians will face.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rivers and streams across the state are penned in by thousands of miles of levees. Much of that infrastructure is aging and is not built for future storms, which could cause major flooding in any given year. With a potentially wet winter ahead, the state’s top water officials are grasping for solutions. And they are quietly considering a blasphemous idea in California politics: moving whole communities away from dangerous waterways.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Leaving Pajaro thrust the family into a seemingly endless search for affordable housing. And it would have a profound effect on Escutia’s life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We left because we don’t want the same thing to happen again,” she said. “Having to see my family be sad about something they created just washed away in a matter of minutes was difficult.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1984657\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1984657 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/GettyImages-1248040045-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A truck drives through chocolate milk-colored water. \" width=\"1920\" height=\"1118\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/GettyImages-1248040045-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/GettyImages-1248040045-qut-800x466.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/GettyImages-1248040045-qut-1020x594.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/GettyImages-1248040045-qut-160x93.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/GettyImages-1248040045-qut-768x447.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/GettyImages-1248040045-qut-1536x894.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An aerial view shows a truck making its way through a flooded neighborhood in the unincorporated community of Pajaro in Monterey County, on March 11, 2023. \u003ccite>(Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘We are going to tame nature’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Rivers have long served as a meeting place for people on the land we now call California. Indigenous people lived for thousands of years following the ebb and flow of water as signals to move to higher ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lush, sprawling river valleys captivated the intrigue of those colonizing California. In that land, they saw an opportunity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They transformed rivers that once flowed freely to the sea into highly managed waterways, cut off from the people who relied on them. That hubris led to the state’s current flooding vulnerabilities, said Karla Nemeth, California’s top water official.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A big part of how we got here was we had a mindset of ‘We are going to tame nature,’” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As she sat next to a tall potted plant with frilly green leaves in her Sacramento office, she recited a passage by John McPhee, a Pulitzer Prize-winning creative nonfiction writer: “To the conventional wisdom that one ought never to build on a floodplain, California has responded with its capital city.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>McPhee wrote that when the state’s founding citizens \u003ca href=\"https://repository.uclawsf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1454&context=hastings_environmental_law_journal\">built Sacramento alongside two roaring rivers, it exemplified the mindset that humans could control nature (CGI).\u003c/a> Nemeth said California could potentially recommend riverine residents leave the floodplain as storms get more intense.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘It feels like it’s exactly a case of environmental injustice.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“Ultimately, what we are going to do is move a lot of people,” said Nemeth, who directs the California Department of Water Resources.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moving people en masse away from rivers is a controversial practice called “managed retreat.” It is an idea that many officials are not willing to consider. But nature is forcing the conversation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘There’s no way that you can build a levee system that will protect any community from the biggest of big storms in the future.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>By the end of the century, \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212094722000275\">climate change may make these deluges up to 37% wetter\u003c/a>, according to a study from Bay Area researchers. UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain recently found that \u003ca href=\"https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abq0995\">the warming climate has already doubled the probability of a megaflood\u003c/a> — weather conditions that could unleash horrific statewide flooding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve gotten a taste of widespread flooding this winter, but I think it’s only a taste,” said Swain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1984647\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1984647 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/04282023_pajaroupdate-021-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A brightly-colored backpack hangs from a white wall. \" width=\"1920\" height=\"1277\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/04282023_pajaroupdate-021-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/04282023_pajaroupdate-021-qut-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/04282023_pajaroupdate-021-qut-1020x678.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/04282023_pajaroupdate-021-qut-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/04282023_pajaroupdate-021-qut-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/04282023_pajaroupdate-021-qut-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Some scattered boxes and chairs sit inside what remains of the Escutia’s living room in Pajaro, California on April 28, 2023. \u003ccite>(Kori Suzuki/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>A burden overnight\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In the predawn hours of March 11, Escutia woke up to what she thought was her Pomeranian, Lucky, peeing on the bed. But she was wrong. Flood water trickled into her room and was ankle-deep in just a few minutes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Escutia’s family, scared and panicked, unplugged appliances and threw anything they could onto tables, counters and beds. Another bad storm had pummeled the area just weeks before, but the levee held. Escutia’s family didn’t feel like they needed to leave.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her mom was shocked by electrical currents in the water. That’s when her family decided to flee, escaping in waist-deep water to an upstairs apartment building across the street.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A few hours later, they caught a ride out of the town in military rescue vehicles. On the way to her grandmother’s, Escutia wondered if she would ever call Pajaro home again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My future, I feel like it will look like it is gone,” she said. “I don’t want to leave because I grew up here. But at the same time, I want to leave because I don’t want the same thing to happen again.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She spent the next two weeks hopping between the homes of different relatives. When she returned to Pajaro in late March, her house was suffocatingly warm and the carpet slick with mud. A photo of her in a blue and black quinceanera dress still hung on the living room wall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Escutia had just been accepted to UCLA. She had not yet shared the good news with her family. After the flood, her happy secret quickly transformed into a burden.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She couldn’t decide between pursuing her dream in Southern California or staying to help her family.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I haven’t told my parents yet, but I was planning on telling them,” she said. “All I can think about is how I’m going to be able to help my parents through this, especially financially.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1984654\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1984654 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/03242023_kqed_pajaroreturning-1362-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A man in a blue t-shirt stands in a dirt yard with a young woman in brown pants. \" width=\"1920\" height=\"1277\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/03242023_kqed_pajaroreturning-1362-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/03242023_kqed_pajaroreturning-1362-qut-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/03242023_kqed_pajaroreturning-1362-qut-1020x678.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/03242023_kqed_pajaroreturning-1362-qut-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/03242023_kqed_pajaroreturning-1362-qut-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/03242023_kqed_pajaroreturning-1362-qut-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Denia Escutia and her father Juan, talk outside their mud-coated home in Pajaro, Monterey County, on March 24, 2023. \u003ccite>(Kori Suzuki/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘A case of environmental injustice’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had officially rated the levee along the Pajaro River a “moderate” risk of flooding. The truth is that for decades, officials knew they needed repair but didn’t act. The Corps determined that the town wasn’t worth protecting because property values were too low, according to levee records and interviews with several officials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Nancy Faulstich, executive director of Regeneración — Pájaro Valley Climate Action, this callousness created the tragedy in Monterey County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It feels like it’s exactly a case of environmental injustice,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Escutia agreed and said her old neighborhood deserves justice. Pajaro is home to many lower-income earners and farmworkers who work in the fields of Watsonville, Monterey County and elsewhere in this fertile region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It deserves climate justice because not everyone is financially well off,” she said. Many Pajaro residents “can’t afford housing. They help with the raspberries, strawberries and lettuce. That’s where everyone gets their food from.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other places around the state likely face a similar threat, but the reality is officials don’t even really know the extent of the problem. A KQED analysis of the greater San Francisco Bay Area levees found that \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1981900/fewer-than-10-of-levees-in-the-greater-bay-area-have-a-federal-risk-rating\">just 10% have a federal risk rating\u003c/a>, and statewide levee safety varies wildly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Pajaro, agencies are working to strengthen the levee that failed earlier this year, a project that’s expected to cost half a billion dollars. Gov. Gavin Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/8.4.23-Executive-Order-water.pdf\">signed an executive order in early August to streamline levee repairs across the state (PDF)\u003c/a>, and lawmakers introduced a bill \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB876\">to accelerate flood control upgrades along the Pajaro River\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new levee will provide more protection to Pajaro, but there’s still no guarantee the town won’t flood again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s no way that you can build a levee system that will protect any community from the biggest of big storms in the future,” said Stu Townsley, deputy district engineer for project management for the San Francisco region of the Corps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When crews finish building the Pajaro River levee in around a decade, it will have 1-in-100-year storm protection — half the protection some water experts believe is needed. That means a house has a 25% chance of flooding during a typical homeowner’s 30-year mortgage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jeffrey Mount, senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California, said the bare minimum standard for protection everywhere in the state should be based on the likelihood of a 1-in-200-year storm, which has around a 0.5% chance of happening in any given year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State Sen. John Laird (D-Santa Cruz), who oversees the region, said he intellectually has “a total appetite” for that idea but said the price tag of doubling protection everywhere in California is in the billions of dollars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you start to tell me how we’re going to pay for it, I want to jump off the top of the building,” he said. “I would not be surprised if it doesn’t take some crisis, just as New Orleans had theirs, to realize that we really have to up our game in California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1984658\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1984658 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/GettyImages-1250226412-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A overhead view of a mud-caked field. \" width=\"1920\" height=\"1079\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/GettyImages-1250226412-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/GettyImages-1250226412-qut-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/GettyImages-1250226412-qut-1020x573.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/GettyImages-1250226412-qut-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/GettyImages-1250226412-qut-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/GettyImages-1250226412-qut-1536x863.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The repaired Pajaro River levee looking towards Pajaro on March 26, 2023. \u003ccite>(Photo by Paul Kuroda for The Washington Post via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘Failing as a mother’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Denia’s mother Carla Escutia searched all over Monterey County to find a new home to rent. She didn’t find much in her price range.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A two-bedroom apartment can cost upwards of $3,000 a month in this part of Monterey County, according to \u003ca href=\"https://communityrentals.ucsc.edu/cost/index.html\">rental cost statistics from UC Santa Cruz\u003c/a>. She found one house on a hill in the woods about 10 miles outside Pajaro. The family loved that it was nowhere near a river, but the house fell through.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For a while, the Escutias lived in a small trailer just feet from their ruined house. Their landlord tore the mucky, brown carpet out of the house — no more quinceanera photo. The loss of her home and the stress of finding a new place has been too much for Carla Escutia at times.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I feel like I have failed as a mother because we’re in a place I didn’t want my family,” she said, with her long brown hair covered by a black baseball cap. “I want to provide the best for them, but there’s nothing we can do right now but sit and wait.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Carla Escutia moved to Pajaro from Michoacan, Mexico, over two decades ago. She works as a custodian at UC Santa Cruz.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But even with so much uncertainty around them, the mother and daughter often smile. Television is their main outlet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have an antenna that does not require Wi-Fi, and all we do is just sit here eating chips and drinking sodas while watching Top Chef,” Escutia said, laughing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She finally told her parents that she had been accepted to UCLA. They were supportive and encouraged her to pursue her dream.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I want her to succeed and to be able to provide for herself so she can live somewhere else that is a bit better than what I have given her and her future children,” Carla Escutia said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But ultimately, Escutia decided not to go so she could stay closer to home to help her family.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I wanted to stay a little bit here longer with my mom,” she said. “I want to do community college and try to work. To help my mom with some rent and bills, so I can help provide for my siblings.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1984648\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1984648 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/04282023_pajaroupdate-253-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A woman in a blue and white striped shirt embraces a younger woman with a black shirt. \" width=\"1920\" height=\"1277\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/04282023_pajaroupdate-253-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/04282023_pajaroupdate-253-qut-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/04282023_pajaroupdate-253-qut-1020x678.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/04282023_pajaroupdate-253-qut-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/04282023_pajaroupdate-253-qut-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/04282023_pajaroupdate-253-qut-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Denia Escutia and her mother, Carla, embrace in their now-empty home in Pajaro on April 28, 2023. \u003ccite>(Kori Suzuki/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Retreat is an opportunity not a loss\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Escutia’s family is fleeing the Pajaro River because of a natural disaster.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Maybe there’s another way. What if the state and communities could decide together to move away from rivers before the next disaster? But the concept of managed retreat has become a radioactive phrase in California politics while many residents refuse to move away from rivers that flood again and again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The reluctance to consider the idea is not just an issue with Californians. Obstinance is an American trait.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People don’t like the word ‘retreat’ because it sounds like we’ve lost,” said A.R. Siders, a climate scientist at the University of Delaware. “That can be a little frightening, but it can also be really exciting.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For managed retreat to succeed, Siders said entire communities and all forms of government need to buy in. It is an opportunity for Californians to stop fighting nature.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California is not pursuing managed retreat right now along its rivers. Instead, the state is repairing levees and investing in climate modeling to better predict the intensity of storms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Places like \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-02-24/marina-sea-level-rise\">Marina, a small city in Monterey County\u003c/a>, have embraced the idea in response to sea level rise and erosion along the coast, although, as \u003cem>Los Angeles Times\u003c/em> reporter Rosanna Xia notes in her book, \u003cem>California Against the Sea: Visions for Our Vanishing Coastline\u003c/em>, the words managed retreat “have roiled the few cities and state agencies bold enough to utter them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Residents of Pacifica, a coastal city in San Mateo County, booted former-mayor John Keener for including the idea in the city’s sea level rise plan. His opponents sent out mailers ridiculing his policies and held a parade opposing any kind of managed retreat. Elsewhere, city leaders have stripped the term from climate plans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Xia told KQED that Californians need to stop thinking they are at war with water. “Ultimately, it’s shifting the question from how can we fight the rising ocean to how can we work with it,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1984676\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1984676 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/Pajaro-Side-by-Side-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Two photos next to each other of people standing in doors. On the left a person looks at flood damage. On the right they stand in a bare room as their mother looks on.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"833\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/Pajaro-Side-by-Side-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/Pajaro-Side-by-Side-800x260.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/Pajaro-Side-by-Side-1020x332.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/Pajaro-Side-by-Side-160x52.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/Pajaro-Side-by-Side-768x250.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/Pajaro-Side-by-Side-1536x500.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/Pajaro-Side-by-Side-2048x667.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/Pajaro-Side-by-Side-1920x625.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Left: Denia Escutia outside her mud-coated bedroom in Pajaro on March 24, 2023. Right: Denia and her mother, Carla Escutia, in the same room on April 28, 2023. \u003ccite>(Kori Suzuki/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>The impact of the flood doesn’t recede with the water\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>A friend of one of Escutia’s teachers invited her family to live with them in a two-story house in Watsonville, just across the river from Pajaro.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is no other word to call them but our angels,” Carla Escutia said of their new housemates. “They told me to save money, take things slow and to find a home with dignity instead of begging for a good deal.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, the family has yet to find permanent housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Standing in her old room in late September, Escutia reflected on how the flood forced her to grow up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Twice a week, Escutia drives her friends to Cabrillo Community College in a used SUV that her dad bought to replace her car that was destroyed in the flood. The SUV reminds her of a “mom car.” They like to sip iced chai lattes as they talk about their futures and the boys they’re too nervous to talk to.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Escutia said she sometimes feels like the odd one out. Her new friends are not worried about where they will live permanently. Her dad told her she might have to give her dog up for adoption.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My dad’s planning on giving it to a family friend since we don’t have anywhere to keep him,” she said. “I miss my dog a lot.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She doesn’t regret her decision to stay to help with the family’s living expenses, but now she juggles college life along with babysitting her young sister. She recently applied to be a server at a local Applebees but didn’t land the job. She works part-time teaching for an after-school program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m busy with kids and making money,” she said. She’s able to buy things for herself, like a lime green frog phone case she’s particularly excited about. “It feels great to earn my own money instead of asking my parents for it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Leaving the house she grew up in, Escutia locked the door. Officials hung a yellow and black sign from the house that reads in capital letters: “Lawful only to enter for permitted cleanup purposes only.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Both housing and climate change are huge problems that seem in many ways unsolvable. As a result, many of us feel so powerless or discouraged that we turn away. The third season of KQED’s podcast Sold Out: Rethinking Housing in America, tells the stories of people who cannot turn away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Our reporters have traveled across the state, listening to stories of Californians who are fighting to make a home here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm/?e=KQINC5961654916&light=true\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You’ll hear from a teenager whose family fled Pajaro following ferocious winter flooding only to struggle to find an affordable place to live. You’ll hear from a mom living on the streets of Fresno, fighting to keep her son from baking during summer heat waves even as temperatures soared north of 110 degrees Fahrenheit. And there’s the story of a group of neighbors along one block in Oakland, who have banded together to try and ditch their gasoline appliances and electrify.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We look at efforts to lower risk for homeowners in wildfire country, where the widespread loss of home insurance is rattling communities at their foundations. We also examine how San Jose is trying to build more infill housing, and in the process atone for California’s total devotion to sprawling suburbs and single family homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The season is anchored by KQED Housing Correspondent Erin Baldassari, who brings us into her own story as she grapples with whether it’s safe to move her family back home to the fire-prone Sierra Nevada foothills where she grew up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s the thing about climate and housing: the two problems are thoroughly intertwined. It’s just that, individually, they are so big and unwieldy that we don’t often consider how they compound.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The soaring cost of living pushes Californians out of cities and into the path of floods and fires. It also forces millions to drive more and emit more carbon pollution, further warming the planet. When disaster does strike, and people must flee, there’s nowhere affordable left for them to go. For many, it’s a fast track to homelessness — a state that, as one homelessness expert told reporter Vanessa Rancaño, is “on the bleeding edge” of this climate emergency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Let’s be clear about what this project is not: it’s not a postmortem on the California Dream, one of those California-Is-Burning-Up or I’m-Fleeing-California stories. This is our attempt to do the opposite.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We stare straight into the headlights of two seemingly intractable problems, and shepherd out the solutions from the people who are actively working to protect their communities.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Both housing and climate change are huge problems that seem in many ways unsolvable. As a result, many of us feel so powerless or discouraged that we turn away. The third season of KQED’s podcast Sold Out: Rethinking Housing in America, tells the stories of people who cannot turn away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Our reporters have traveled across the state, listening to stories of Californians who are fighting to make a home here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm/?e=KQINC5961654916&light=true\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You’ll hear from a teenager whose family fled Pajaro following ferocious winter flooding only to struggle to find an affordable place to live. You’ll hear from a mom living on the streets of Fresno, fighting to keep her son from baking during summer heat waves even as temperatures soared north of 110 degrees Fahrenheit. And there’s the story of a group of neighbors along one block in Oakland, who have banded together to try and ditch their gasoline appliances and electrify.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We look at efforts to lower risk for homeowners in wildfire country, where the widespread loss of home insurance is rattling communities at their foundations. We also examine how San Jose is trying to build more infill housing, and in the process atone for California’s total devotion to sprawling suburbs and single family homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"info": "KQED’s new podcast, Bay Curious, gets to the bottom of the mysteries — both profound and peculiar — that give the Bay Area its unique identity. And we’ll do it with your help! You ask the questions. You decide what Bay Curious investigates. And you join us on the journey to find the answers.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Bay-Curious-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/news/series/baycurious",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 3
},
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}
},
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"id": "bbc-world-service",
"title": "BBC World Service",
"info": "The day's top stories from BBC News compiled twice daily in the week, once at weekends.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 9pm-10pm, TUE-FRI 1am-2am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/BBC-World-Service-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/live:bbc_world_service",
"meta": {
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"source": "BBC World Service"
},
"link": "/radio/program/bbc-world-service",
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"rss": "https://podcasts.files.bbci.co.uk/p02nq0gn.rss"
}
},
"californiareport": {
"id": "californiareport",
"title": "The California Report",
"tagline": "California, day by day",
"info": "KQED’s statewide radio news program providing daily coverage of issues, trends and public policy decisions.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-California-Report-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/californiareport",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 8
},
"link": "/californiareport",
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}
},
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"title": "The California Report Magazine",
"tagline": "Your state, your stories",
"info": "Every week, The California Report Magazine takes you on a road trip for the ears: to visit the places and meet the people who make California unique. The in-depth storytelling podcast from the California Report.",
"airtime": "FRI 4:30pm-5pm, 6:30pm-7pm, 11pm-11:30pm",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/californiareportmagazine",
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"order": 10
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM3NjkwNjk1OTAz",
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},
"city-arts": {
"id": "city-arts",
"title": "City Arts & Lectures",
"info": "A one-hour radio program to hear celebrated writers, artists and thinkers address contemporary ideas and values, often discussing the creative process. Please note: tapes or transcripts are not available",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/05/cityartsandlecture-300x300.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.cityarts.net/",
"airtime": "SUN 1pm-2pm, TUE 10pm, WED 1am",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "City Arts & Lectures"
},
"link": "https://www.cityarts.net",
"subscribe": {
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/City-Arts-and-Lectures-p692/",
"rss": "https://www.cityarts.net/feed/"
}
},
"closealltabs": {
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"info": "Close All Tabs breaks down how digital culture shapes our world through thoughtful insights and irreverent humor.",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/closealltabs",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 1
},
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"id": "code-switch-life-kit",
"title": "Code Switch / Life Kit",
"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
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"meta": {
"site": "radio",
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},
"link": "/radio/program/code-switch-life-kit",
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},
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"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
"airtime": "THU 10pm, FRI 1am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Commonwealth-Club-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
"link": "/radio/program/commonwealth-club",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/commonwealth-club-of-california-podcast/id976334034?mt=2",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
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},
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"id": "forum",
"title": "Forum",
"tagline": "The conversation starts here",
"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 9am-11am, 10pm-11pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Forum with Mina Kim and Alexis Madrigal",
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"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 9
},
"link": "/forum",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5NTU3MzgxNjMz",
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"freakonomics-radio": {
"id": "freakonomics-radio",
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"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/freakonomicsRadio.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://freakonomics.com/",
"airtime": "SUN 1am-2am, SAT 3pm-4pm",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/freakonomics-radio",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/freakonomics-radio/id354668519",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/WNYC-Podcasts/Freakonomics-Radio-p272293/",
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},
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"id": "fresh-air",
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"link": "/radio/program/fresh-air",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=214089682&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"info": "A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. Hosted by Robin Young, Jeremy Hobson and Tonya Mosley.",
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},
"hidden-brain": {
"id": "hidden-brain",
"title": "Hidden Brain",
"info": "Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "NPR"
},
"link": "/radio/program/hidden-brain",
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},
"how-i-built-this": {
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"title": "How I Built This with Guy Raz",
"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/howIBuiltThis.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510313/how-i-built-this",
"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/how-i-built-this",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-built-this-with-guy-raz/id1150510297?mt=2",
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},
"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
"title": "Hyphenación",
"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hyphenacion_FinalAssets_PodcastTile.png",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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"order": 15
},
"link": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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},
"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Political-Mind-of-Jerry-Brown-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 18
},
"link": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
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}
},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
}
},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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"rss": "https://feeds.publicradio.org/public_feeds/marketplace-pm/rss/rss"
}
},
"masters-of-scale": {
"id": "masters-of-scale",
"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WaitWhat"
},
"link": "/radio/program/masters-of-scale",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "http://mastersofscale.app.link/",
"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
"subscribe": {
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/464615685/mind-shift-podcast",
"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/stories-teachers-share",
"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/0MxSpNYZKNprFLCl7eEtyx"
}
},
"morning-edition": {
"id": "morning-edition",
"title": "Morning Edition",
"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3am-9am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Morning-Edition-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/morning-edition/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/morning-edition"
},
"onourwatch": {
"id": "onourwatch",
"title": "On Our Watch",
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