The housing crisis mentioned here is not hypothetical: my sister lives a few miles north of Chico and was just given notice to vacate her apartment or pay much higher rent. There had been minimal increases before the fire. She has pointed to others who are facing the same problem. Authorities in Chico and Butte county are talking about measures to prevent price gouging, but that doesn’t apply in surrounding areas.
5
This is a disaster that may have been sparked (literally) by a faulty power line owned by Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E).
The news media is really missing this story. More than a dozen fires in California may have been ignited by faulty PG&E equipment. Not a careless smoker throwing a cigarette out the window or some sick arsonist. These fires were created by the negligence of a massive utility company that every one of these poor people pay monthly bills to. This is a HUGE scandal.
Get on this story!
9
Time to move out of CA?
Think about it at least?
2
More shoes drop in Prop. 13 driven collapse of government in an age of Climate Chaos.
Welcome to Walmart Nation.
3
Like the aftermath of the war that we just commemorated, the housing problem [among many others] is both "vast and deep" and "sharp and local".
Like the participants in that war, we have the opportunity to address these troubles, none of them new, with imagination and generosity while they are urgent. How to improve our notification and evacuation systems to include entire communities? Whether to build in areas clearly vulnerable to fire, and what preventions to enforce? How to provide shelter and infrastructure for those thousands who moved to the burned areas for jobs and are now homeless? If PG&E proves responsible for this disaster, who--customers and shareholders--must pay? Do we want to keep PG&E at all or after many years of debate turn to a community- and hopefully less profit-driven source of energy?
This catastrophe challenges us to seriously and imaginatively address long-standing issues. Every time we breathe, the smoky air reminds us how urgent it is to solve these problems.
Harriet in (very smoky) San Francisco
31
Its high time the nation now used its best minds not for space travel, or transportation, or military superiority, but for a new approach to government funded housing using new technology to mass produce modular or containerized small homes to get through this and other housing emergencies. The long term economic returns of having a stable, healthy population will cover the cost. Maybe we can build fewer rockets and weapons and invest in our neighbors now in dire need. Its not a budget -buster.
31
In Trump's eloquent vernacular, "Sad..."
Sadly, not only is this his federal land as well, all these burned out residents voted for Trump. Sad days indeed.
Equally sad is the poverty of the populace, the agedness and the pathos of a population that one local real estate agent framed, "People move here to die".
They have so little and so little time left, unable to recover the loss. These are the blue collar and financially marginal people who depend on all the help Trump and the Republicans want to deny.
What does a President with gold toilet fittings have to offer the lonely wheelchair bound octogenarian sitting in a shelter living on $900 a month with nothing left to her name?
43
Can't we develop some kind of modular, pre-fabricated housing that can be manufactured and installed on a large scale to deal with these situations? Can we use shipping containers? Let's have a contest for the best design. We can't solve our housing problems in the traditional way.
26
ICE has deported many highly skilled construction workers so who will build the 8,000-10,000 new homes now?
6
The population exceeds the carrying ability of the land. Nature must always be respected because we have to live with nature even if we never go outside. When we do not control our footprint on the land and destroy the balance to the point of no return, we have to expect these kind of disasters. Trump calls it all a Chinese
hoax and has no intention of supporting global reduction of climate changing methane and carbon dioxide. He also tends to ignore the disasters that result. This is criminal neglect. It may not be too late to change, and we are in line to lose the planets ability to support life if we continue down this road. This planet has a miraculous balance that allows everything its niche and together its life is much more than the sum of its parts. Undercut the base and we all are obsolete. (Support and encourage Al Gore for president. He knows what is needed and may be able to make change happen.)
2
If there's a hurricane in a red state, trailers sprout like mushrooms overnight. What's the problem here? If FEMA's going to discriminate, then we need to close it down and let the states deal with hurricanes.
6
In this time when assistance, charity and deep empathy is called for by common decency (not to mention real Christianity), there is a hardened, merciless and almost gleeful response from those who are buying into the them/us demonization of California. There is shameless Schadenfreude among several Trumpeteers I know. California deserves this living hell because, you know... anti-Trumpers live there.
9
Climate refugees.
6
This fire may have killed one out of every 40 people in Paradise, based on the number of missing. The intensity of the wildfires now being experienced makes life on the urban-wildland interface unsustainable.
3
Please refrain from calling Internally Displaced People (IDP) Refugees. Semantics are important.
7
It will be instructive to compare and contrast President Trump’s response to the floods in Houston with his response to California’s fires.
In Republican Houston, developers sold lots and houses on a sure to flood zone. When that area flooded, Trump visited, was all sugar, lots of praise, and promises to help. No villain here. Jut people needing help.
In Democratic California, will he be able to send the same positive message to locals, or we he focus on local (Democratic) mismanagent
4
@Brian Maybe Trump didn't realize that Houston and much of the surrounding area is heavily Democratic. Harris County, where Houston is located, voted for Obama and Hillary. Houston also elected (and re-elected) a lesbian mayor and is largely run by Democrats.
2
@TexasTabby
Thanks, my error.
I am very sorry to see all the people now homeless and suffering. The government needs to step in and force the affordable housing issue to occur. The GOP support capitalism which really does not work for the 99 percent of Americans. They allow there supporters to charge high rents high mortgages so give me government intervention any day. We have a Democratic congress coming in they can make it happen. The GOP culture of corruption will stick with capitalism and continued status homelessness forever.
3
Government exists for a reason. Caring for people in dire need is a reason. Desperate people devastated by the fires and without resources should be provided (financial assistance) to relocate out of California to other states where housing is far more affordable, available. It has come to this. Welcome to reality..
7
The Los Angeles Times has a report on the failures of the local governments to warn the residents about the approaching fire. They aren't afraid to say the authorities failed the citizens.
6
Climate change is causing disturbance in our weather worldwide but people still refuse to think it is real. I'm moved by the plight of all Californians but there are people like the Koch Brothers who think that no one deserves help from the government. Have a problem and need help. Too bad for you. The really SMART people are all also really rich. This is their philosophy and what is behind the idiots in Congress who allowed Trump to leave the Paris Agreement.
Perhaps some people don't think the government should step in to provide housing, or to help out. Perhaps some wealthy don't care about others very much. Perhaps some people do not see the dots connecting these fires and the long drought and shifting weather patterns. Maybe some people do not understand "social" welfare, as they have been well taught by FOX to fear it.
If the government is clever it will sponsor a "construct a new, strong, minimal house" contest immediately. Individuals can live in 250 sq ft and do nicely. A family maybe 400 sf.
The only way we can survive is to be generous, unselfish, compassionate and motivated. Some billionaires (tPOTUS) have no clue. "Buy a box of cereal and get a voter ID" Trump will throw paper towels again. I would hope someone points out to any Trump voters in CA that their vote for him shot their state in the foot.
Sending healing thoughts to all Californians. When you recover, vote for those who will strengthen, not weaken, the government. Study Sweden's system.
8
If these catastrophic fires continue, which they will, vast swaths of California will quickly become un-insurable. Without insurance, only the most desperate or reckless will continue to live in these fire-prone environments. This is a much, much larger issue than just a housing crisis.
7
The main comments all seem to blame the Federal government. But it is the state that controls the regs it lives with, makes the decisions about water use and allocation. The power lines growing or falling into dead pine trees supposedly caused this disaster. Those should have been cleared, but then why are communities built so close? CA is over populated, and growing. While most I know have left due to the loss of living quality and lousy public schools, with high taxes, many more continue to come. Mostly from south of the border. Where will people be housed? It had better be a different state, because CA has been abused enough. But no, it's not the fault of the federal government, who with FEMA are working as hard as possible. It is the fault of over population!!!!
7
@Ma
You're wanting to blame immigrants, but that's completely ridiculous. It's not immigrants that build big houses on acreages in the woods, and the people who do are not forced to do so by population growth. There are vast areas to build houses near Chico and it's not a densely populated area by any normal standard. There are many reasons for the crisis, but immigration isn't one of them.
4
They need new building regulations strictly enforced.Nothing but brick,adobe, stone, metal. no vinyl that goes up like petroleum. No underbrush within a certain established distance of the home. No wood or flammable material used in external structures. A rock and gravel lawn immediately around the house. No extremely flamable trees like eucalyptus. Green areas have to be cleaned of underbrush within a certain distance. Grazing is a good idea around long grass. If lightning can ignite a fire extreme care needs to be taken about underbrush around anywhere near housing. This cost is a terrible price to pay for dry ornamental shrubs, trees, long grass,underbrush, external wood or vinyl on a home. Take a tip from Mexico cities where literally everything is either stone, cement, or adobe. Wood is seldom used,
I know the fire was devouring everything, but if it is not fed very well near housing that will help.
2
@joyce -That won't work in CA because brick and stone structures crumble when an earthquake hits.
4
I loved living in California, so I understand why people would want to live there. I’d consider returning if housing prices were not so exhorbitant - even higher than the expensive northeast.
But even if it were affordable, it was never meant to support this many people, intensive agriculture, or people living in dry, fire or earthquake-prone land - while wanting to live close to nature, whether beach or forests.
11
A large segment of highly skilled home construction workers have been deported or have left the country to avoid ICE. This is a real problem in many areas of California and many industries. We have full employment, and it takes months and years to train new workers, if they can be found. Rebuilding is barely getting started in other burnt out areas long after their fires, and only at a very slow pace. This is a major part of California's housing crisis that is only rarely discussed in the newspapers, but it certainly is in the construction business.
10
@Henry
Also, I'm no expert in the field, but my architect friends are discussing a slowdown in construction due to increased steel prices as a result of new tariffs.
6
@jcz: But the failure of the housing market to keep pace with the growing number of households predates the tariffs. And the houses that *are* being built aren't the types of houses that many people -- millennial, younger families, working-class people, and fixed-income older and disabled people can afford.
What we really need is medium-density, modest-sized urban and close-in suburban (read: near transit) housing, like what a lot of Europe does. A two or three story row house, with 3 beds, 2 baths, 1100 to 1400 square feet, with a little back yard/garden could be affordable to many people, not to mention that proximity to transit and services would cut down on transportation expenses for those with tighter budgets. Instead, builders keep building large, suburban homes on 1-2 acres in places you can only live with a car and selling them for $500K or more, out of the price range of most.
8
@Rose
Completely agree with you, Rose. Where I live in North Hollywood there are at least a dozen new high-rise apartment buildings within walking distance to the Metro. (Under construction or built in the last 2 years.) But the rents - usually starting around $1800 for a studio - are out of reach for most single people. You have to be a couple or have a few roommates. It's absurd.
And I just passed, at 12 noon, two homeless people sleeping at the bus stop outside my front door...
Honestly, I'm thinking about moving out of state in the near future.
5
In Northern Sacramento, there is an abandoned Basketball arena, where the Kings played until recently. It has ample space, a huge parking lot, has toilets, showers, laundry hook ups, space for a health clinic, pet kennels, and space to shelter a large crowd of people. It should be recruited to provide extra space for many of these families or seniors who are camped out in a parking lot as winter begins. When they are done using it, there is a large number of homeless people that could shelter there as well.
21
@esp - It's crazy, right? I mean why on earth would humans choose to live anywhere but in the middle of a mega-city surrounded by concrete, metal and glass?
But of course, even those who make what you apparently consider to be the safe choice live in a very dangerous place in terms of natural disasters. Or do you not understand what a magnitude 8 or 9 earthquake will do to a city?
6
It might have something to do with the fact that Trump has scared off all the excellent Mexican home builders that were everywhere out west and even in the east. They work well and fast, and I doubt if they will be replaced easily.
3
I'm confused. If Levittown was able to spring up in the potato fields of Long Island, why can't we do the same now? Why does it seem to take 3 times as long to build ANYTHING now, than it used to? And while they are at it, clear a nice, WIDE fire break around the town. Maybe even an artificial moat?
5
What is missing from many of these comments, both negative and supportive, is the knowledge that Paradise, CA was primarily composed of senior citizens, 65 and older. These are not, and were not for the vast majority, people who had large savings; but the working class who moved here in order to live out their lives in what "comfort" they could afford. They have lost everything -- their support systems, their friends, their church, the coffee klatch -- everything. Try a little compassion for them, not snarky comments -- this is a crisis ---
42
@Denage Thank you, Denage. I agree.
5
While so many in California have died, and thousands of others have lost their homes and been displaced, it’s comforting to know we have US Army Troops stationed on the Southern Border keeping us safe from a hostile invasion.
13
More housing units will be destroyed by fires next year. It's time to give CA residents (and other climate disaster refugees) a heavily subsidized option to move to a part of the country that is less prone to wildfires, hurricanes, floods, rising sea levels, water shortages etc..
Some of these people have family in other parts of the country that could help with their relocation. For the older people without family... help them monetarily to move into retirement communities.
5
Tall order, to deal with just our "housing crisis." Maybe it's more than a count of new construction housing units in a year?
There are as many reasons for homelessness as there are people in California and those arriving each day.
- people coming for a job in a "booming" recovered economy;
- people chronically poor, mentally ill or drug/alcohol addicted;
- people who do not want a home or a job, just a handout;
- people on the border in Mexico hoping to cross;
- people whose means buys "wilderness isolation" next to a metropolis . . .
And those people who lived in Paradise Valley; many elderly, many retired, many who were born in California, worked here and retired there, whose homes are now gone.
How does one prioritize? Sort the need from the want, the "worthy" from the "less-than-worthy."
Town has had a long history of wildfires in the area. Rumor has it named after the "Pair-o-Dice" saloon.
Much in California is not as it appears, but it's all real.
7
Connecting this article with the one about Facebook today - real climate change issues and unhinged capitalism - just 2 words: Morals matter.
13
Yet somehow or another California will be taking in many 1,000's of refugees and finding housing for them?
Anyone harping on and on about taking in endless amounts of illegals must consider the lack of housing opportunities for our own citizens. Why should immigrant's housing needs be put above that of Americans? This sheltering angle is never covered by immigrant proponents. There is no longer any place to put them. We're not building enough to keep up with the amounts coming annually. If illegals were deported it would open up housing units.
14
Right on
3
Here in Yolo County, California, UC Davis has been shut down for the entire week. The air is horrible and it feels apocalyptic. My deepest sympathies go to those who have been hurt by the Camp fire. It is a California tragedy.
24
Has anyone heard of CRUISE SHIPS? Plenty of rooms there to house those displaced by the fires.
15
It looks to me like many of the displaced folks in California are working class and white. They are members of the very population that Trump has pandered to. I guess he only cares about his base right before election time. I hope those in the red states can see his callousness and disdain for his base.
10
I have two children who live in the Bay area. people are wearing masks. They are being told not to go outside, schools are closed. Why is this not mainstream news.
19
@jo Agreed. Schools are closed, the sun rose in an eerie red sky (for the 6th day? 7th day?). The entire Bay Area has 'unhealthy' or very 'unhealthy' air quality. I shudder when I think that due to climate change forest fires will only increase in frequency, while the duration of the California winter rainy season will decrease. It's not just rural towns that are effected, the most populous areas of the state are living in a smoky hellscape. Do a story on this, NY Times.
17
Refugees fleeing violence and rampant, well armed organized crime, or destruction of their livelihoods because of climate change or corporate rape and plunder, citizens fleeing drought caused fires or agricultural ruin, flooding of highly populated areas, salt water creep due to rising sea levels that is decimating the soil and fertility of large agricultural areas, the increasing destruction of the Gulf of Mexico's ability to support marine life due to Mississippi River pollution from manufacturing and agricultural waste dumped in its waters ---- and here we are in the USA bloviating about a bedraggled caravan of desperate families at our border.
Meanwhile, in my neighborhood here in California, my evacuation technique is now highly developed after a month long evacuation a year ago, followed by being trapped in our homes with no potable water for weeks after a mudslide that killed almost 90, we talk about the tremendous loss of tax base from all those hundreds of missing homes, and the impact to our schools and communities.
Are we ready to get serious now about climate change, and the elephant in the room nobody is mentioning? There were only 2 billion people on this planet when I was born shortly after a war that wiped out about 63 million of us and hardly registered as a blip. Seven point five now, and barreling towards eight, and expected to double in less than twenty years at current population rates.
51
"As of Nov. 14, about 5,900 active duty troops have been sent in addition to about 2,100 National Guardsmen. The Defense Department anticipates the number to fluctuate between 5,500 and 7,000...Roughly 1,500 troops are currently stationed in California, 1,500 in Arizona and 2,800 in Texas," from Politifact. The cost for this could be over $200 million.
There are currently about 21,000 border patrol agents stationed at the border.
A common sense idea:
Redeploy the troops on the border to help in the most urgently needed area, California
Or at least send in the National Guard. There are 2,100 stationed at the border, not so far away.
California has a humanitarian crisis; people need face masks in S.F. and temporary housing elsewhere. People are living outside in 40 degree weather and relying on neighbors for food.
25
California has a housing crisis because more people want to live there than fit.
Detroit, has tens of thousands of empty deserted houses because people don't want to live there. Buffalo, Utica, Syracuse have half the population they had in the 50's
The solution is not to further increase the population in California but to restore the deserted cities of the US so that people move there
22
@Gerhard: It would help if Amazon and other tech companies would stop locating in already overburdened places Seattle, California, New York, and Boston.
Sure, some people are really invested in being here, because they were born here or have lived her a long time or have some particular attachment to the land. But many are in these parts of the country for the simple reason that they need a job and this is where the work is.
The wealthy tech folks push out the less affluent locals, who don't want to move thousands of miles from home and end up in places like Paradise.
Time to spread the wealthy tech workers around, and Detroit would be a fabulous place to start. Lots of housing, far less traffic. Not to mention that the influx of high-paid workers could create some decent service sector and construction jobs.
8
Is there any kind of plan in place for building trailer parks and cheap houses and apartments for the poor (which in California means basically anyone not wealthy)? Cries to reduce regulation and ‘unleash the developers’ results mainly in profitable luxury homes being built in (formerly) protected areas or in known-dangerous locations that should be off limits. Probably the best that will happen now is that house owners and trailer owners will receive a little FEMA money and will go back to ‘heroically rebuild’ in the same place-and wait for the next fire. Everyone else can, what? Join the migrant caravan? This is not a good plan.
5
In a couple of weeks time, when the fires are contained or put out, the news cycle will move on and those affected by these fires will be forgotten. How quickly we forget those who have lost everything to storms and flooding, tornadoes and other natural disasters. We don't remember them. Same with other calamities such as mass gun murders. You're on your own.
9
A lot of people are needing homes, and that isn't counting the many victims of the bankster's Great Mortgage Heist, nor the veterans damaged by our endless wars, nor the thousands of hearty migrants arriving at the border in search of a better life here. Now we have fire refugees.
One option might be for migrants entering illegally to work the fire lines for 2-3 years to get a green card and a path to homelessness, oops I mean citizenship. They'd have to provide their own tents like hotshots do.
The fact is, gov't detainees (including military) enjoy far better conditions. Those fighting wildfires deserve a Purple Heart award, but they'll likely only end up with black lungs. Thank you for your service.
Forget Trump's costly new Space Force or former Seal Commander/Interior chief Zinke's plan for cutting down all the trees, what's needed is a large Emergency Force for our disaster of a country - rebuilding collapsing bridges, crumbling roads, leaking sewer and water systems in addition to the more frequent, raging wildfires and subsequent mudslides, and inevitable earthquakes.
Everyone deserves decent housing, even temporarily. MASH type tents should be set up with their air conditioning and filtration and cots, and the military knows how to set up those tent cities fast. Fire fighters, fire refugees, and disaster workers in general need them. Housing is still needed long after the fire is out.
8
Stone houses may come back in style. They can survive for thousands of years.
4
@Thomas Not a good idea in earthquake country.
6
You can build reinforced store houses that take earthquake impacts. This needs to be looked at.
Troops deployed to raise chicken wire to fend off an invasion of bedraggled refugees.....as the fool in the White House fails to mobilize assistance for the tragic devastation suffered by Californians struck by these wild fires. And of course, constant demagoguery about immigration, and not a thought about climate change, land use regulation in a changing climate or any "reality" based problem. Sure, the problem far exceeds Trump's responsibility but he only deals with issues that he can use to rile his followers' anger. The enormity of damage wrought by these fires is a foil to the magnitude of Trump's impotence as a leader.
63
@Asher Fried Paradise is (was) Trump country (58% in 2016). Ironic that people who are ok with destroying the government from within, terrible bigotry, denigrating science and environmental concerns, etc are now asking the government and their more compassionate fellow citizens for help.
3
Anyone thought about a military response? The army has lost of equipment heated tents, kitchens and the like. Winter is bearing down on these folks soon.
9
@Asher Fried Yep, and why should he pump money into a blue state anyway? They aren't going to vote for him.
hahahaha add to the homeless problem, so catchy.....
i dont think of the "homeless population" as being comprised of people who could pay for a home if one were available , they are completely out of the market, you would have to build like China does, just hundreds of thousands of units a year to get such a point, to where millions of people living in converted garages and tool sheds and rental bedrooms all had places to call home and the rent for converted garages and tool sheds and bedrooms declined enough for homeless people could reasonably afford them.
good luck with that.
11
@bullypulpiteer
Or you could build more housing units, like the rest of the country does.
Just a thought.
2
I'm tired of seeing stories about celebrities who lost their homes. Most of them have more than 1 house and/or the financial ability to purchase something else fairly easily and quickly. They are not living in parking lots in tents nor will they ever be. I want to see stories about the real people who have suffered loss---not those who live in a fantasyland of wealth where hardship is something only the "little people" have.
46
@themoi - Just because somebody happens to be wealthy doesn't mean it's not emotionally devastating to lose your home. Yes, of course, on some levels it's less stressful for those who have the funds and can more easily deal with the financial loss, but you seem to think that just because someone is famous that they're not a "real" person and not deserving of empathy. Although it might seem like it to those who have never had enough, there are some things money can't buy, or replace.
Your post strikes me as just one more example of the inability of Americans to relate to anyone who is not exactly like them, be it in race, religion, political orientation, or class.
BTW, what has stood out to me in those stories about the celebrities who have lost their homes is just how much concern they have shown for others, from other victims of the fires to the people risking their lives fighting them, and how many of them have backed up that expressed concern with significant monetary donations. It's all in the eye of the beholder, I guess...
27
@themoi I'm guessing you didn't read the article. These people aren't wealthy, and they've lost EVERYTHING. Paradise was a community where hard working folks went to spend their retirement in nature's grace. Average age was 50. The human tole is immense. 600 people are still missing, and the assumption is a horrific thought.
Please save your snark, and have a little compassion for the human tragedy that is unfolding.
10
@themoi This story doesn't contain a word about celebrities.
5
Why isn’t this above the (digital) fold??? I mean, Julian Assange’s case is significant, but people are displaced, deceased, and desperate. We really need a realignment of what’s important in society and it always seems that humanitarian crises go on the back burner. That’s sad.
38
And not one sentence devoted to the migrant caravans at the border hoping to make it into California. Where will they be housed? Refugee camps?
We now may face the country's own internal migration as current California residents relocate to other states.
As for reconstruction, note how few residences are getting rebuilt in the Sonoma Valley after its fires last year. And what will happen when the now denuded hills result in landslides? More loss of housing and lives.
But California builds billion-dollar high-speed trains to nowhere and avoids building new reservoirs. Amazing tragedy unfolding before our eyes.
16
@Incredulous We build high-speed trains where? We are still fighting to get the first one up and running, to augment the tragically insufficient light rail in the LA area and the only adequate subway in CA that is the BART System in the Bay Area. We fight for high speed rail because we on the coasts are acutely aware of the crisis of climate change being caused by CO2 emissions, so YES, we want high speed rail and lots of it. We still DREAM of it, unfortunately.
33
@Incredulous The comment about high-speed rail is a red herring. It has absolutely nothing to do with fires and other disasters. If California had actually built the bullet train when it was first proposed, the cost would have been much less. Additionally, said train will take thousands and thousands of cars off over-burdened freeways, and make flying much less expensive, since airlines will actually have to compete for business.
14
I live in the Bay Area. How is it possible that the NYT isn't covering the fact that this fire has caused our air to be unsafe to breathe - in the 300s- for hundreds of miles around the fire? That all outdoor sports have been cancelled for hundreds of surrounding miles? That schools are closed as far south as San Jose? That N95 masks were sold out in San Francisco because the air is hazardous? That air quality in Berkeley was the worst of any major city in the WORLD yesterday? That flights out of every BaY Area airport are delayed because of air quality? Show an image of the Purple Air website, which tracks the AQI worldwide. This is a massive disaster.
118
@Lori Good point! We experienced that terrible air quality the last 2 summers in Vancouver. I am 64 and it did affect my quality of life. Just imagine what this incredible amount of carbon released into the atmosphere is doing to make the climate change even faster. More carbon, higher temperatures, more forest fires and the cycle continues.
7
Couldn't agree more. Schools closed in Nevada County as well. Zero reporting on the air quality for days to come for most of Northern CA and much of Southern CA. Thank you for taking the time to bring this point to the discussion.
7
Your comment is mind-boggling. I know you think that the Bay Area is the center of the universe, but news flash: all of Northern California has terrible air due to the fires. We are all suffering, but the smoke will eventually clear.
This is a story about people who have lost EVERYTHING. Maybe you didn't notice the sentence about 600 people now being reported as missing -- those people are likely dead.
You may experience some inconvenience due to the smoke, and yes some people will experience health impacts. I personally consider that to be a minor inconvenience compared to 1) Death or 2) homelessness.
20
Same old story in progressive controlled California. Letting people build wherever they want despite a long, long history of periodic drought and fires, is the cause of this mess. I lived in California in Corona in the early sixties. Two blocks up the hill from our house were orange groves and chicken farms as far as the eye could see. A recent visit to see our old house was greeted with miles and miles of new subdivisions which obliterated the previous groves and farms. What used to be open land between Corona and the suburbs of Los Angeles are now one housing project and shipping center after another. Californians have nobody but themselves to blame for building where nobody should live.
15
@paul
Thanks for your compassion. You may be right, but your comments are harsh and unkind.
30
@paul p.s - not just in California, not just in progressive areas - housing and development have transformed large swaths of our country, displacing all in its path who cannot pay usurious rents and pushing further and further into areas that previously were devoted to small farms... which, btw, cannot compete with large corporate factory farms..
so look around there are more areas of our land, both red and blue, that are "deserving" of your cold scorn
25
@paul good grief I began working in Corona in 1999 and the land was so valuable that those misty eyed orange groves you pine for were dead men walking: the farmers were selling out and moving to Las Vegas to live a mortgage free and big-bankrolled life. When will people in rural areas realize that land near cities rises in value exponentially because families want their own home?
4
One comment from a friend and her husband, now sheltering in Chico with their son - Suzy Orman's advice to have an eight to twelve months emergency reserve fund is most important
for everyone.
12
@Thomas
Suzy’s advice is sound - however the reality of 21st century America is the fact that few, if any, American workers will ever realize these savings goals - especially if they have kids.
34
@Thomas, 40% of Americans today do not have an extra $500 available for an emergency. So this idea is not tenable for many people. Too many are living hand to mouth. Well over half of people's incomes are going towards rent alone. Economically, it's not all going as well as it is being reported.
12
@Thomas - When you have a couple of kids and you earn $12 an hour? If you are a grunt at Amazon it might even be $15 but even so, hand to mouth is all you can ever hope for.
4
Tragic events like this are the reason why every single state in this country should maintain a robust portfolio of low income and working class housing units. A certain percentage of that well maintained portfolio of housing should be specifically set aside to house people in the events of disasters and emergencies. The media has been focusing on the celebrities who lost homes and quite frankly most of those people such as Pierce Brosnan and Gerard Butler have other homes they can live in. Most of these people who are not celebrities worked for years to afford their home it is their only real asset and the ONLY place they have to lay their weary heads at the end of a long day. Now they have nothing and no place.As soon as the media stops paying attention (and that will happen probably sooner than later) the politicians and elected officials will stop paying attention as well. The narrative will be this was their fault for not working "hard enough" and these poor souls will be on their own.This is disgraceful.
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Climate refugees and new neighbors, welcome to Southern Oregon!
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@Stone Plinth Is Oregon really better off? I did a ten day road trip around Oregon two summers ago, and I was choking on smoke from wildfires almost every day I was there. (It was really bad by Crater Lake). I'm not sure there's any real refuge from fires to be had on the West Coast.
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I’ve lived through four CA wildfires - it was neighbors helping neighbors in all of them. People who had insurance rebuilt. It’s the same this time - no FEMA - no disaster relief. People using boats to get supplies to Malibu, volunteers feeding and providing clothing. Many are elderly. And Trump is going to show up and deride these people and the state. He should stay in FL - and Tweet about voter fraud there. It’s a huge loss of life and property and Trump sent the military to fend off a band of migrants - at an already fortified border - they could have been used here. Why is he surprised that CA defeated so many Republicans? He is tainted.
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I spoke with a friend in Chico, yesterday. People are wearing masks there - still so much smoke.
Horrible situation. Many, many people living in cars with children and pets.
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The sound of the total lack of visible support from FEMA and the government in general is deafening.
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@Matchdaddy Trump recently transferred 6.8million dollars from Fema to ICE. ,reflecting his obsessive priorities.
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@Matchdaddy I wonder where is the state government and the rich liberals in Silicon Valley and Hollywood? What are they going to do to help their fellow Californians. All these folks always talk about rights and needs of everybody else. Where are they when it is time to help the poor and needy and elderly Americans that suffer from this fire? FEMA is there and helping. But they have limitations on a long term basis. Where are all the rich in California? Why can't you billionaires help these folks? Where is facebook and google. This is your turn to make a difference in the lives of ordinary Americans who live in your own state. I hope you step up and do something that makes a difference in these peoples lives.
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@Joseph
How do YOU know they aren’t helping?
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If trump wants to really help then he can put us back on the Paris Agreement.
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@rosa: Do you really think that's the answer, and that if TRUMP had done so we would not be witnessing the present crisis in your state?No consensus, never has been among "scientifiques" of causes of climate change, man made or not, open question, and an accord which exempted India and China from constraints placed on us was not a good agreement!Accord was a declaration of good intentions, nothing more, and would have cost us billions! Governments no longer serve the interests of the citizens they should be, but are not beholden to!
@Alexander Harrison
Alex: You're a bit tough to take when the news this morning stated that in my area, that this is the most unhealthful air quality on the planet.Take your "climate" denial elsewhere. We have 63 dead and 631 missing. Yes, Alex: a "declaration of good intentions" would have mattered.... and, for crying out loud, how can you be whining about a few "billions" when trump just handed 1.5 TRILLION DOLLARS to his bestest buddies (while at the same time upping the tax-rate on the poorest by 20%)???
I will never understand such swiss cheese logic.
Have a nice day and don't bother to worry about the rising seas.... especially since Florida's highest point is a couple of hundred feet above sea level. You, once again, have Rick Scott who has ordered that the phrase "climate change" NEVER be used on any official matter. You'll be just fine....
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@rosa: Prove to me that rising seas, forest fires, every kind of disaster is (1)man made, and (2)that there is a scientific consensus on this, since researchers are never in total agreement on ANYTHING!Prove to me that these cataclysms would not have happened if Trump had signed the Climate Accord which does not oblige other nations to curb their pollution yet would have forced us to do so!Who's kidding whom? Nancy PELOSI commutes back to SF sometimes once weekly in a private jet at taxpayers' expense, attended the symposium in Copenhagen on climate change a few years back, again in a private jet.Has GORE or Obama decided to travel now by horse and buggy rather than by jet or in gas guzzling s.u.v.'s?Don't do as I do, but do as I say.Overdevelopment combined with an open borders program--few people equals less pressure on the environment--might have enabled California to avoid this catastrophe. Present government does not serve the best interests of the citizenry!
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I keep staring at the map of Paradise, CA. With all due sympathy to the victims of these fires, I find it unbelievable that anyone would choose to live on a ridge surrounded by forest. Nice views are one thing, but living in a place that is guaranteed to someday burn to the ground is hard for me to comprehend. Not to mention it's popularity as a retirement destination? Will be interesting to see how many rebuild in the same place.
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No matter where you decide to live, something can get to you. Nowhere is disaster-proof. There aren't many trees or ridges in the plains, but there are tornadoes. In NC, we get hurricanes, devastating floods, and damaging ice storms. I'll wager you get something in Alexandria, too. If not now, then later.
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I certainly agree that no place is 100% safe from mother nature. I actually have lived in a flood plain for the past 28 years and we did get a major flood in 2003. My home did OK, but if I had lost it, I don't think I would have rebuilt in the same place.
I love this area but I just purchased a new home in a far northern state. There is no doubt in my mind that the river I live next to will make my current neighborhood unlivable within the next 20 years.
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@Sbaty You are accusing the residents of Paradise of doing the exact same thing as you: selecting a location in spite of its natural risks.
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The truth is ugly and very simple. These are people who are no longer units of production. They will be ignored and shoved away to die without dignity. To our government and our current capitalist system, they will be faulted to have not somehow taken enough “personal responsibility”, for their plight.
I am sickened, horrified, and unfortunately- TERRIFIED!
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Coming from a ex communist country, I can tell you the "units of production" value is how the communists and socialists treated you once you retired. I don't think you fully understand how well America treats people...... The thousand clamoring to get In daily from central America can share that with you maybe.
There is always room for improvement, but make no mistake about where we are today.... The best place/country on earth.
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@Cromwell there seem to be people with money and power who are bent on changing that. Our sense of comfort about our situation may be changing in the not too distant future.
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@Harmreduction I agree with you whole heartedly the exploding crisis of homelessness already unfolding in California is testimony to that. We should all be terrified and driven to action to solve this very solvable problem. In 2020 I will be voting to elect candidates that want to increase the resource of affordable and low income housing. Nobody deserves to be homeless.
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I do feel sorry for these people. I feel sorry for these people every time their houses burn, again and again. However,
"I've lost everything". It is always said in a surprised manner.
I can't help but wonder where those people are every time there is a big fire in California (or a hurricane on the East coast). It's not like these are infrequent occurrences. Fires are natural occurring events, like tornadoes. People know they happen and yet they choose to live in fire prone areas, apparently because they are beautiful places to live. I guess they don't understand that where they live are very dangerous places.
I don't think they should be surprised when fire destroys their homes and kills those that attempt to rescue their homes and their lives.
I hope when they resettle it is some place that is not prone to natural fires.
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@esp It's not just the fires - it's the winds. Fast and furious, coming through those canyons. Relatively
safe places become relatively not.
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@esp This is all caused by climate change issues like severe drought of recent magnitude that only happened once every hundred years or so ago. The problem is we live in a country where our president and absolute ruling party has not only pulled us out of the Paris Accord and is sacking the EPA, it now requires all it's members to admit to belief that climate change is a hoax. Insanity.
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@esp
On one hand, yes, some areas are prone to routine natural disasters, and the people living there need to take personal responsibility for their choices. New Orleans, California, south Florida all come to mind.
On the other hand, we still should be compassionate because there is nowhere on earth that is totally free of natural disasters.
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Last year Gov. Brown set aside trillions for natural disaster. The question is how wisely they are going to utilize it.
And will the state's population become comprised of two groups: the 1% and the homeless?
Last autumn a health alert of Hepatitis broke out among the rampant homeless population in San Diego? It looks like this is only the beginning of a long term growing disaster.
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Trillions, really? Governor Brown has managed to maintain a healthy rainy day fund. However, the state is hoping to use that for when the bottom falls out of the economy. We’d like to not have to cut services to the very needy to the bone during the next financial crisis. The Great Recession was a wake up call.
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@MF California's annual budget is $200bn. To "set aside trillions" they would need to commit the entire budget for a full decade.
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@TW I remember when Republican Dukmejian was governor in California. He took the
State's rainy day fund and gave it back to the
taxpayers - to the tune of about $75 each.
Not much wisdom there.
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What do horrific fires in California, record breaking hurricanes in Florida and Puerto Rico and yesterday's NYC snowstorm chaos have in common? They are public health tragedies, and rather than prevention, we only react after the fact. Deaths and loss of life are preventable. Each problem is, in large part, man made. Aren't these events now public health problems, a threat to life? Climate change is real, just like Ebola is real. Local governments have not done enough to prepare for calamities, nor are they doing enough to educate the public about the risks. Tax give outs to the wealthy won't build roads for the middle class', ensure adequate building codes or repair public transport. We are a 21 st century living in a 1950's infrastructure. Wash hands to prevent disease, but what about the risks from structural decay? Why spend millions on fancy hospitals when cancer prevention would be a better choice? How many Californians will develop smoke related disease from these fires? Roads are woefully insufficient for mass evacuations, building codes pander to real estate interests, and public transport is simply a joke. Complaints remain unheard. One political party believes in privatization of everything, the other, inaction and empty promises. It is time to hold our elected officials responsible. All are guilty until something is done, and words mean nothing without prevention. These are public health tragedies.
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@et.al.nyc Republicans consistently vote down tax proposals which would fund safer environments.
Sad but true.
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Where is FEMA?! How is this different from a hurricane? Or, is Trump not sending them to spite Californians for not voting for him? The PBS News Hour reported that these camps are being staffed by volunteers. Where is the government? Oh right, the military is on the border, playing cards.
These people have been completely wiped out, with nowhere to go and say they can't go back to their "homes" (land they own, perhaps) for six months. And now, disease is spreading through the camps and shelters and rain is in the forecast. Our federal government needs to go there right away and provide shelter and other necessities. NYT, please start asking these questions and put Trump's answer on the front page. This is a disgrace.
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FEMA is on the scene. Read all the articles. But the problems are enormous.
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@Carla, as Murray reassures us in his comment, I'm sure FEMA is on the scene, but that they are simply overwhelmed. But since we now seem to get a "100 year" fire (or hurricane) every month, it would seem to be time to rethink how FEMA responds to these disasters, and ratchet up our capabilities a bunch of levels. As Murray also notes, we might want to think how we can patch in our over one million active duty military personnel and all of their stuff to help. We were had no problem sending 5,000 top-notch soldiers down to the Mexican border to sit there for weeks doing nothing.
Beyond that, we also need to rethink how we can work aggressively to prevent these disasters, help people rebuild, and do the rebuilding in a way that guards us from the next disaster.
AND...we of course have to use these disasters as a wake-up call that we finally have to be much more aggressive in working to reverse global warming. We need to embrace this not as some sort of hair shirt thing we can postpone and minimize but an opportunity (we can make some money!) to be taken on by our great nation on a grand scale.
Of course, this would require a president and political leaders who simply admit that man-made climate change is real, even though this would run the risk of offending their billionaire masters plus any of their other followers who glory in being stupid.
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@Carla Right, let's blame Trump.
Our California citizens are in crisis with nowhere to go, facing an unknown future living in misery, lost hopes and devastation.
The irony is that hundreds of migrants arrived in Tijuana just steps from the border fence, resorted to violence, attacked journalists covering their journey, and clashed with Tijuana residents who want them out of their town.
Authorities say it will cost $4 million to provide food and other necessities to the wave of migrants for two months.
The bleeding-heart liberals in society have turned away from American citizens in crisis, apparently deeming them less worthy than hoards of illegal immigrants.
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@November-Rose-It is unfortunate you've been sold a bill of goods from 'conservative' media. No one resorted to violence. The migrants didn't attack. When you are having an anxiety attack over a bunch of people escaping from Salvadoran gangs, your 'conservative' heart is MIA. Stop being so scared in safe, pretty, blue Delaware. You have nothing to fear. www.ctvnews.ca/world/caravan-migrants-fill-tijuana-shelters-brace-for-long-stay-at-u-s-border-1.4178012: "...Rueda reported that about 1,750 migrants from the caravan had now reached Tijuana. Private shelters can house about 700, and the city-owned gym and sports complex has a capacity of 1,000 with the potential to expand to 3,000. "This is not a crisis," he told reporters, while allowing that "this is an extraordinary situation."
There are 7,000 jobs available in the state for those who can obtain legal status in Mexico, Rueda said. He touted Tijuana's integration of Haitian migrants over the last two years and the state's relatively low unemployment rate.
The migrants have met some resistance from local residents, about 100 of whom confronted a similar-size group of Central Americans who were camped out by the U.S. border fence Wednesday night.
"You're not welcome" and "Get out!" the locals said, marching up to the group. Police kept the two sides apart. Vladimir Cruz, a migrant from El Salvador, shook his head and said: "These people are the racists, because 95 per cent of people here support us."
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Sorry Rabble, but but November Rose is correct. The illegals did turn violent against the media and the citizens of Tijuana want them out of their town
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@November-Rose-59: AMEN YES!
They weep buckets of tears for "babies in cages" (*false and never happened!) but when working class American citizens lose their homes..."meh".
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I am very sorry. This is so symbolic, almost religious, fire at Paradise, world's end. California uber alles! Ruling world through television, movies and magazines half century. Property is not only capital but also contemporary cultural history is destroyed, earth is terrorist most terrifying.
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The eminent MacArthur Fellowship recipient Mike Davis of the University of California has written engagingly about the apocalyptic collapse of the earthly paradise California. Now that it's happening, too bad that so many people believed the hype and real estate agent banter and bought into the California dream. Like so many American dreams, it has become an inescapable nightmare, and where is Uncle Sugar in the form of 45 to allay our fears?
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@Tournachonadar He is the same place Obama was when my home town was devastated by a tornado. Thank God for the Salvation Army and our local churches.
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