What’s happening in Northern California after the flames died down?

3 Replies

While in Philadelphia for a conference recently, we had dinner with friends who live near the areas devastated by wildfires. Talking with them, I realized that we were inundated with news while the fires were burning, but the reporting disappeared after the flames went out. So how does a region recover from the loss of thousands of homes and commercial buildings? What about the ecological disaster left in the fires’ wake? What does “recovery” look like? There just hasn’t been much news at all from the fire-damaged region, so we don’t really know what life is like there now.

This realization sent me looking for news.

December 3. As the post-fire North Coast rebuilds, where will the construction workers come from? Over 6,000 construction workers will be needed annually over several years for rebuilding.

December 1. Santa Rosa will seek court orders for property cleanups.

November 28. VIDEO: Truckers frustrated with North Bay fire debris cleanup. Truckers say they are waiting in line for hours to get their loads of ash and debris to the Central Sonoma County Landfill.

November 26. Sonoma County fire cleanup weighs heavy on landfill.

November 21. Sonoma County To Enforce Abatement Of Fire-Affected Properties “The abatement process will allow the county to have the property cleaned and recover all cleanup costs, expenses and attorney’s fees incurred in removing waste that poses a public health danger through summary abatement or judicial enforcement.”

November 21. Dozens of burned private bridges hamper Sonoma County fire recovery. You can’t cleanup or rebuild if you can’t get to your property.

November 12. Private fire crews protected homes during Sonoma County fires. Insurers aided certain high-priced properties.

November 11. Owners of more than two-thirds of Sonoma County’s destroyed homes going with government cleanup. Homeowners had to decide whether to wait for “free” government cleanup or handle their properties privately.

That’s still pretty thin coverage for a disaster that filled the news while it was fresh. No follow through on the aftermath in Houston, even little news now from Puerto Rico. I guess only fresh pain is new, continuing pain becomes non-news?

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3 thoughts on “What’s happening in Northern California after the flames died down?”

  1. Shirley Hasenyager

    One is sensational and the other is something more like “everyday” news. I have wondered how people are managing after the disasters.

    Reply ↓
  3. compare and decide

    Is fire fighting so often socialism for the rich?

    https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/08/us/california-fires-ventura-los-angeles.html

    Sprawling estates on narrow streets were surrounded by towering elms and bitterly dry pine needles. Blackened embers of tree trunks had tumbled down — one had hit a firefighter and burned him around the neck.

    Many of the iron gates that guard the mansions had been broken open by firefighters who needed to get to the slopes burning below. Some driveways were covered with splatters of pink from the fire retardant that had been dumped from aircraft.

    Capt. Brian Ferreira, a firefighter from Oakland, had helped mop up on a hillside near a winery owned by the media mogul Rupert Murdoch. While small patches of the hillside and the wine storage had suffered some damage, most of the winery seemed fine, he said.

    “Rupert will be glad to hear that, he paid a lot of money for that property,” said Hugh Siegman, 71, who lives just above the winery.

    Shouldn’t these mansions simply be fireproofed by their immensely wealthy owners?

    Should places where homes have burnt down be re-wilded?

    Reply ↓

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