Can I get opinions on California's recovery (from last year)?

[Twisted Crow]

With the wildfires and all that. I feel like we could be doing more for those folks considering that half the state was apparently on fire for apparently all of last year (hyperbole, but you probably  my point).

How is that going?

Was watching the local news on Houston's recovery since the last hurricane beat us down and my thoughts drift to California getting blazed for a while. I don't see many stories on it anymore, but I am assuming many are still probably without a home somewhere. So, what's it actually like now over there? Google seems to be wanting to give me other news or really dated news.

[Twisted Crow]

This is obviously a soundboard topic, by the way.

[Tolvo]

https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/09/politics/trump-california-fire/index.html

Well Trump is still threatening to cut funding to FEMA in California due to his anger about it and California. Though whether he can actually do that, and what impact it would have is another matter.

https://www.claimsjournal.com/news/west/2019/01/23/288859.htm

Insurance premiums are also going up in California in response to the wildfires.

Actual rebuilding I'm unsure on, I see news about plans but not recent ones on actual rebuilding efforts. But they might just be going on and rebuilding doesn't interest people enough to report on it a lot.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/judge-says-uninsulated-power-conductors-caused-california-fires-n960496

And there have been rulings blaming a company's electrical engineering and faulty manufacturing for the fires, that company I think just went bankrupt after this.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-california-wildfires-body/body-found-in-area-of-southern-california-charred-by-wildfire-idUSKCN1PG2RL

And they're still finding bodies from the Wildfires, though are unsure if all are from the Wildfires or died beforehand.

[Twisted Crow]

My thanks, Tolvo. I will take a look at these. Though I think I saw that first link already. :-)

I am more or less planning a "vacation" that might see me over there this year. I happen to have a battle buddy there that is trying to get me involved with something semi-related to all of this. He is retired. I figured I might take a month away from Tejas this year to do something there and catch up with him. He has acquaintences that were affected, so I feel... rather moved to do something about it. Call it the old ex-soldier in me.

[Tolvo]

I'm not sure on specific groups and right now I think they're still focusing on searching and clearing before full rebuilding, but by the time you arrive I think it might be underway and that'd be a good form of public service to do. It'd help a lot of people who are in need. I'm sure your friend would know who there is doing rebuild efforts.

[legomaster00156]

When isn't California on fire?

[HannibalBarca]

Wildfires are a permanent, recurring factor here in much of California.  While I don't have to worry about them where I am--the high desert--many of my extended family live in areas under threat.

Occasional fires are a feature of most of the ecosystems here.  Human abatement attempts, like in other areas of the country and the world, sometimes only exacerbate the problem.  Preventing fires from burning allows dry brush and kindling to accumulate, leading to absolutely massive fires, like the one seen in Yellowstone in 1988.  Periodic fires are actually beneficial to the enviroment in such areas, turning dead biomass back into nutritious ash and returning it to the soil.  Some pine cones won't open and release their seeds unless they are burned.  It is when humans arrived on the scene, with their real estate markets and home prices, that fires were completely suppressed.  The Yellowstone fires woke a lot of people up about the necessity of fire in these ecosystems.  We've spread into areas that are simply fire-prone and suppressing the fires only leads to fewer but more massive blazes.

It goes without saying that climate change is worsening the frequency of wildfires here.  Wood borer beetles kill living trees, many of which can actually resist flames to an extent.  Drier conditions increases the likelihood of more severe fires.  State officials seem to understand this much better now...but with as many people as we have in the state, there will continue to be many people in danger for as far into the future as I can see.

[Twisted Crow]

Occasional fires are a feature of most of the ecosystems here.  Human abatement attempts, like in other areas of the country and the world, sometimes only exacerbate the problem.  Preventing fires from burning allows dry brush and kindling to accumulate, leading to absolutely massive fires, like the one seen in Yellowstone in 1988.  Periodic fires are actually beneficial to the enviroment in such areas, turning dead biomass back into nutritious ash and returning it to the soil.  Some pine cones won't open and release their seeds unless they are burned.  It is when humans arrived on the scene, with their real estate markets and home prices, that fires were completely suppressed.  The Yellowstone fires woke a lot of people up about the necessity of fire in these ecosystems.  We've spread into areas that are simply fire-prone and suppressing the fires only leads to fewer but more massive blazes.

Actually, this part here was rather educational for me. I did not know this at all! Thank you for this contribution as well as the rest of what you shared, it gives me more of an idea of what I would be dealing with and how these fires affect the state as a whole.

[Envious]

Yeah, California is pretty much always on fire. The massive fire problem is, in part, man-made. Fires which would normally be manageable turn into billion-dollar blazes because of the way fire and forest debris is currently handled. Like HannibalBarca said, fire is a necessary component to the ecosystem and because people are tampering with it, the destructive force has become unbalanced.