![]() ![]() On Thursday, 487 wildfires burned across Canada, sending thick, choking smoke across East Coast and Midwest cities and parts of Europe. “We live in this new reality,” he added, “where we can’t necessarily attach ourselves to some of the more predictive models of the past because of a world that is getting a lot hotter, a lot drier and a lot more uncertain because of climate change.” “In the last four years, we’ve had two of the most extreme wildfire seasons - some of the worst and most destructive in terms of acreage and property and lives lost - and then two of the more modest fire seasons,” Newsom said during a visit to the Cal Fire Air Attack Base in Grass Valley. Gavin Newsom and state fire leaders urged residents on Thursday not to be complacent as the Fourth of July nears and summer weather begins to heat up. “Yes, we have the best mutual aid system in the world, but it’s also about mutual responsibility, and the state cannot do all of that alone,” he said.With reservoirs full and snow still deep across the Sierra Nevada following one of the wettest winters in recent decades, California’s fire season is off to a slow start this year.īut Gov. He and other officials asked that residents do their part by creating a minimum of 100 feet of defensible space clearance around their homes and structures to help prevent a blaze from catching. However, the governor noted that only about 3% of wild lands in California are owned by the state, with the majority belonging to private owners and the federal government. (California has set a goal of 400,000 acres of controlled burns per year by 2025). The grants will provide protections for practitioners of controlled burns, or intentional fires used to eliminate dry vegetation and other fuels. Newsom said he is working with the insurance commissioner to address the market in the state, and hoped that new liability insurance grants would help accelerate vegetation management projects to reduce the risk of fire. But there are reasons to question that explanation.īut while significant preparations are underway, the reality of California’s worsening fires is already playing out for many Californians.Įarlier this year, insurance giants State Farm and Allstate both announced that they would stop writing new policies in the state, citing worsening wildfires and other catastrophes. Many of the state’s most advanced firefighting efforts have been funded through federal and state investments, including $2.7 billion from the Legislature, he said.īusiness State Farm’s California freeze: Looming insurance apocalypse or political ploy?Ĭalifornia’s biggest seller of homeowners insurance says regulations and wildfires make new policies a financial loser. “I don’t think that point is made enough of how we are modernizing our approach and how we’re meeting, dare I say, the moment,” Newsom said, “addressing the nature of the change, and the extremes that we’re now challenged with in this state.” Similar tools have allowed the state to create 3-D model maps of 30 million acres of California. The state is also working with the Biden administration, the Environmental Defense Fund and Lockheed Martin to streamline its use of existing defense technologies and satellites to provide constant monitoring and data collection. Just a few years ago, such monitoring had to be conducted by people in towers. What’s more, the state’s firefighting portfolio now has about 1,000 mountaintop cameras that can provide real-time, 360-degree monitoring of the state’s forestlands pinpoint firestarts using artificial intelligence and help organize resources for early suppression, Newsom said. The Fire Hawks “can seamlessly transition from fire suppression to hoist-air rescue to vegetation management without any further configuration.” ![]() “It has been a game-changer,” said Benjamin Berman, chief pilot of Cal Fire’s helicopter program. At least three Fire Hawks will be staffed 24 hours a day. Newsom and other officials outlined a war-like strategy for responding to the worsening threat.Īmong the state’s latest tools is the Fire Integrated Real Time Intelligence System, or FIRIS, which includes advanced aircraft than can deliver real-time updates on fire behavior to crews on the ground.įor the second year in a row, the state will also deploy “Fire Hawks,” or modified Black Hawk helicopters that can fight fires at night. Thirteen of the state’s 20 largest fires on record have burned in the last decade, according to Cal Fire. Indeed, recent research found that California wildfires consumed five times more area between 19 than in the 25 years prior, an increase chiefly attributed to climate change. Scientists say climate change is to blame. California Wildfire burn areas in California are growing ever larger due to greenhouse gas emissionsīetween 19, wildfire burn areas in California grew five times larger than in the 25 years prior. ![]()
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