An Analysis by Terry P Rodriguez
(Four Part Series)
Part I: The Situation
As citizens of California, we are all subjected to the costs incurred in enforcing wildfire laws, paying for defense against potential wildfire events, and the cost of living within wildfire prone areas of the state. We must work proactively through our State government institutions to support legislation that provides for wildfire defense, plus work with the wildfire defense community to alleviate the financial economic impact.
As California's rural areas transition through their year they, and environmentally similar communities, are unfortunately unique in having an additional season commonly known as the “Wildfire Season.” Rural California communities, most of which are labeled as the "wildland-urban interface (WUI)," are confronted with the reality that, like any other season, preparation is a must to reduce the possibility of wildfires. When these cataclysmic events do erupt its’ inhabitants, and State government fire defense agencies, must prepare to defend these properties. In the aftermath of such wildfire events, many within these rural communities are forced into the recovery process to salvage what's left of their living environment, filing insurance claims to rebuild their homes and businesses, and re-establishing a way of life that has been destroyed or severely damaged.
Rural communities recovering from wildfire incidents have the expectations their insurance providers will follow through with all efforts to restore what had previously existed. These costs have a reverberation effect within the insurance industry faced with recovering the tremendous losses paid out to cover the homeowner insureds' claims. As rural residents return to their property with plans to rebuild they often find their insurance rates have increased, often exorbitantly, or that the insurance companies will no longer provide insurance for the area.
Wildfire season prevention programs, defense systems, and the recovery process have costs that are borne by all rural communities living within the WUI areas. The increase in wildfire intensity and activity has also inflicted a heavy financial toll on the State of California's budget in the process of doing the business of governing. These costs are not only coming out of the wallets of rural California citizens through their taxes and personal finances, but also the wallets of all California citizens - urban, suburban, and rural.
In recent years, the wildfire seasons have developed as the norm for living in the state's rural areas and have, with each successive year, become increasingly more devastatingly destructive. For example, the 2018 California wildfire season became major national and international news events showing massive fire damage to homes, properties, and rural landscapes and incidents of unprecedented deaths and injuries to both human and animal inhabitants. In 2019, wildfire incidents were less severe due to an extended winter season, providing ground water saturation that extended the green vegetation period well into the late spring. Nevertheless, even with fewer wildfire events, 2019 was just as disastrous to the rural communities afflicted. Currently, the 2020 sparse California winter season is creating an ominous foreboding that rural areas will need to be more vigilant to avoid similar wildfire results.
Table 1 provides a representative list of the most destructive Wildfires that have occurred in California in recent history (CalFire, August 8 2019). October 2017 was the most harrowing of these events, having been labeled collectively as the "Northern California Firestorm," the "North Bay Fires," and the "Wine Country Fires." From October 8th through the 31st of 2017, wildfires raged in Northern California and parts of Nevada scarring approximately 231,503 acres, destroying an estimated 8,651 structures, and causing 44 deaths. The ferocity of a wildfire is shown using the Tubb Fire as an example. It started just outside of Calistoga at approximately 9:43 PM on October 8th and reached into the Santa Rosa communities of Fountaingrove and Coffey Park by approximately 3:00 AM the next morning, travelling over 20 miles of rugged terrain East to West, pushed by winds sometimes reaching 50 mph, and thrusting burning embers in its wake and often igniting other areas ahead of its p
This is essentially, the current state of California's wildfire disaster situation, and what the residents of our state contend with as part of their way of life. Part II, The Consequences, will discuss how these wildfire events financially/economically impact the State of California's government, insurance industry, and its residents.