In recent years, devastating fires have been impacting urban areas as well as ranchers—with homes and towns destroyed, and loss of human lives. Fire has become one of the biggest concerns for many rural and urban areas alike.
Before it burned, the town of Paradise in Butte County, in Northern California in the Sierra Nevada foothills above the Sacramento Valley was a pretty place. Many people moved there to build homes. The Camp Fire—named after Camp Creek Road, where the fire originated—was the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California history, and the world’s costliest natural disaster in 2018.
That fire started Nov. 8 and went through the small community of Concow before hitting densely populated Paradise, resulting in nearly 90 civilian fatalities. It burned 153,336 acres and destroyed 18,804 structures. Total damage was $16.5 billion, and one-quarter of that damage was not insured.
Moving into the burn zone
Mark Lacey, president, California Cattlemen’s Association, says state and county governments have a huge responsibility in this problem. “California has continued to allow development pushing farther and farther out, with people building homes in areas that used to be ranches,” he said.
“For instance, when you drive into Sacramento you are driving through old ranches. People have built houses clear out to El Dorado, Shingle Springs, all the way to Placerville, on land transitioning from grasslands to heavy brush and scrub, to conifer forest,” he explains.
The town was built in a forested area where fire could easily travel. “You can’t tell people they can’t live out there, but if counties allow development, they need to have more plans for fire control,” Lacey said.
“After the big San Diego fires more than 10 years ago, the state said they would make legislative changes regarding building materials, layout of development, etc. That only lasted until the financial crisis when the state and counties were going broke. Then counties opened the floodgates and allowed development to take off again, to generate revenue,” he went on.
“People need to think about curbing development that’s pushing into rural areas—and if they are going to allow it, what kind of requirements they should make, to protect those people. When we have extreme fire conditions, power companies may shut down transmissions to protect themselves and not be liable for fires. Then people will be complaining about lack of power,” he said.
Fire’s value impacts
“Another thing that will happen is people will have a hard time insuring their houses,” Lacey added. If people can’t get insurance, this will impact residential property values.
“If you have to take out a mortgage to build a home, the bank or mortgage company will not give a mortgage for something that can’t be insured or can’t be insured for the replacement value,” he continued.
Many people who already own their homes are now under-insured, which creates a similar issue.
“We saw this recently with the fire in Bishop, California that burned about 50 homes,” Lacey related. “People had their homes insured for what it cost when they built them 25 or 30 years ago, which at that time might have been $100 per square foot. Now, building costs in California are closer to $300 per square foot. When they went to collect their insurance, they could not recoup the amount it was going to cost them to rebuild.”
He has friends in Ventura who are still unable to rebuild, two years after losing their homes. They still don’t have their permits approved, due to county building codes,” Lacey said.
— Heather Smith Thomas, WLJ correspondent
