The wave of megafires since 2018 in northern California has led to new interest in emergency management communications using radios. This is because amateur radio systems have long been able to function completely independently of internet and cellphone systems, a feature that is useful during wildfire and other disasters when communications towers may go down. ...
This project investigated how recent wildfire experiences affected housing recovery programming, land use planning, and requirements for household-level mitigation in three Northern California communities. Although the communities varied in population size and density, level of affluence, and fire history, we found several cross-cutting themes, including concerns about providing adequate safe, sustainable, and affordable housing, vegetation...
With the arrival of the Community Wildfire Defense Grant program, many communities are starting their community wildfire protection plans (CWPPs) now, and many other communities are dusting theirs off from the shelf to begin their updates. Our CWPP represents an unexpected saga that I hope other wildfire survivors can learn from. I knew nothing about wildfire...
This year our husband and wife nonprofit team is finally getting around to building a home for ourselves. After seven years following the 2015 Valley Fire in Northern California, this should be good news, but it is actually the admittance of defeat and a fantastic failure. During the intervening years, it must have seemed to...
“What have been the effects on planning and mitigation in the communities affected by wildfire in recent years?” “Could you talk about the demographics of the people affected and how many homes have been rebuilt?” These were just two of the questions posed to my Executive Director and I this morning in an interview with...
“Following the 2015 Valley Fire in Lake County, California, we began our nonprofit, Seigler Springs Community Redevelopment Association (SSCRA), to assist with relief and recovery efforts, and convene support groups and large neighborhood meetings. Having lost our own house in one of the hardest hit neighborhoods, we also inaugurated the development of a cooperative housing model...
