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| My heart goes out to these communities that are seeing loss of life and property. One positive thing we are experiencing is how many are stepping up to help out others in need in these fire areas. It's a reminder about how good and strong the fabric of our communities are. Also the first responders within the state and others coming in from other states are pretty impressive for what they do in these deadly fires.
It looks like there will possibly be lawsuits against Pacific Gas & Electric as there is an indication the fire could have been caused by their faulty equipment. The issue becomes that their insurance coverage is only up to $1.5B and the total losses is looking to be in excess of $25B. This is leading to massive devaluation for the company which might challenge their solvency. Unfortunately this may delay or limit payouts to home and small business owners. As mentioned earlier the population expansion in California over several decades has brought about a shortage of water resources(even in non-drought years) and available housing is being pushed into risky fire areas.
Having grown up in California during the 50s, 60s, and early 70s earthquakes and fires were a common occurrence but were managed pretty well. These extended drought periods and lack of regenerating rains is drying up the landscape in many years which seems to be a large change from the years I lived there. Since I'm in the grape growing business a lot of viticulture experience and research comes out of California. A few years back a UCDavis professor did show research that points to the expected long term climate changes for California. Most areas will get hotter and drier. Grape growers have been seeing this trend over the past 40 years. | |
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California wildfires
