By Chuck Woodbury
EDITOR
How do you live in a place where the electricity to your home or business can be turned off with virtually no warning to you because of high fire danger? That’s what’s happening in California. I strongly suspect the same thing will occur soon in other wildfire-prone states. The fire season nowadays lasts longer than ever before.
Decades ago, when I fought fires near Lake Tahoe for the U.S. Forest Service, the wildfire season typically ended in October, with the first big rain. The Camp Fire in Paradise occurred in November, 2018. More than 300,000 people were forced to evacuate. Nearly 19,000 homes and businesses burned to the ground and 85 people died. The Camp Fire is the subject of a 2019 Netflix documentary titled “Fire in Paradise”.
How does a person today live knowing the same thing could happen to them — or that their utility company could turn off their power whenever the fire danger was high? How about business people, where a power outage for even a few days could mean the difference between profit or going bust? What does a restaurant do with spoiled food? How does a gas station provide gas without electricity to its pumps? How long can a supermarket go without its frozen food spoiling?
Yes, there are backup generators, but few have one.
I spent more than 10 years living in a community near Paradise. Nevada City is high on the danger list for a similar wildfire disaster. I can tell you that if I still lived there I would be seriously considering moving away. (How about you? Please take the survey below.)
My staff and I were talking last week about what would happen if our power were cut off suddenly. We’d find ways to work, but it would be challenging. I imagine if the outage continued those of us in the local area would gather at my motorhome, using my generator for power and to get online with my MiFi card (if the Verizon towers had power).
It would be entirely possible that we could not produce this newsletter, at least with all of its regular features.
One thing I suspect is that a lot of people who do not plan to leave California are seriously thinking of buying an RV as an escape vehicle and backup home should their stick-and-brick model go up in flames. Some, I would guess, are considering an RV as a full-time residence – move it when danger approaches. The people of Paradise and other fire disaster areas who lost their homes but were able to escape with their RVs were lucky, and I know they will tell you that.
If you are one of those people, please leave a comment below with your story. Or email me at chuck (at) RVtravel.com to discuss this. We need to explore this subject in more depth. Nobody expects PG&E and Southern California Edison to stop turning off power. PG&E went bankrupt with $30 billion in liabilities after the Camp Fire and it can’t afford another financial disaster.
I can’t see the end of this. PG&E turned off power to 51,036 homes in 11 counties as recently as Thursday. It will keep happening.
Please take a moment to answer this survey:
It’s always a hoot to hear non-Californians talk about wildfires as if they a constant threat to the entire state. There are 11,502,000 households in California. If PGE turns off the electricity for a couple of days to 51,000 households, that’s .04% of the state’s households. Less than 1/2 of 1%. Hardly an earth shattering number.
If you want to talk widespread damage and power outages for months, consider Gulf states after a massive hurricane. Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas.
The bottom line, if you live in natural disaster prone area you should be prepared. Obviously not many are.
During Hurricane Katrina, 90 miles from strike zone, we lost power for 11 hours. Mr. Onan kept us up and going.
Not a big deal if you are ready. RV is a great escape vehicle. Mine is ready for the entire season.
Yeah, its no big deal at all, unless you or a loved one are caught in an inescapable ring of fire. But until then, its all fear mongering, right?
“ Less than 1/2 of 1%. Hardly an earth shattering number.”
unless, of course, you’re one of the .04%.
Will, of course they are not a threat to the entire state! PG&E turns off power thinking something bad might happen. You equate that with the Gulf states turning it off AFTER a big event. Do you not see you are talking apples and oranges? Of course everyone should be prepared for a disaster — no, let’s make that every “conceivable” disaster — sounds good, but come on, you’re talking a perfect world which never has existed and never will.
Will, it’s “a hoot” to hear about other people talking about their troubles? Just love that. Your comment is about power being off in the Gulf AFTER a disaster. In California, the power is being turned off BEFORE what some people at a power company deem a POTENTIAL disaster. Those are two different things. It’s not, as you say, an earth-shattering matter, but if you just so happen to live somewhere where this sort of thing was done, you might consider it more than minor inconvenience. As you say in your bottom line, “if you live in a natural disaster prone area you should be prepared” . . . well, most of us will agree with you about that, but we might also agree that most people aren’t motivated or smart enough to do that. Good ol’ human nature — “that will never happen to me. . .” Wrong! Sometimes it does.
I live in Chico CA. It is the city that absorbed the residents of the Camp fire in Paradise CA. We had to prepare to evacuate as the fire had come over the last ridge and entered the valley I live in and crossed the freeway. I live on the fire side of the freeway. I also live around the corner from one of the largest city owned parks that was tinder dry. We were packing to go. My class A was in the shop and unavailable. We now have it gassed up and ready to go. It only needs food. My other house that my son lives in was right in the path of the Camp fire. He lives in Berry Creek CA. He has had to evacuate many times since the fire. His power has been turned off so many times it’s impossible to count. He has had to sneak in accross Lake Oroville to get home to save his dogs when they closed the road to his house. Lake Oroville is the lake that people had to be evacuated from because it had major damage done to it, and 220k people lived down stream. (only 2 years ago). My son barely made it out alive from Paradise on the morning of the fire as he was working there that morning. He could feel the heat in his car as he drove down the hill.
With all that said we won’t be leaving the area. Our lives have changed as we feel we must be ready to move out at any time. We have become very adept at weather watching. My son has a new electric generator and we are thinking of getting one. Life goes on. We still love the area that we live.
Why is this annual fire event a huge disaster to people within the State of California, and not so much in any of the other 49? And why only customers of PG&E? What is so unique within that demographic? Well, first one could consider that the State among the wealthiest per capita and highest taxes per capita could afford to pay for improved preventative tactics to mitigate the disastrous effects on human life, rather than wait for the predictable annual fire season. With disasters in other parts of the country, governments anticipate hurricane damage by erecting seawalls and encourage nearby housing to be built on stilts. Governments in tornado alley erect tornado warning systems, and encourage building of private shelters. Some areas anticipate the ‘rainy season, by erecting flood control plans, infrastructure, and warning systems. And even some governments require utilities to be underground for protection of integrity (and aesthetics). Some are considering ways to limit density and/or rebuilding and near known hazards. While disasters anywhere that affect as many as 300,000 per event are truly catastrophic to them, and Government has the responsibility to be proactive to their safety. Controlled anticipatory burns in the other 49 seems to help, as does other programs to encourage clearing of dead vegetation, require sophisticated fire warning systems, control proliferation of dangerous infrastructure and generally do things that anticipate that some areas are historically prone to certain types of disasters. Seems like every year, the news from California contains the same descriptions of widespread wildfires, Santa Ana winds, fires starting in lower areas moving to upper areas, fires ‘spontaneously’ starting from utilities, and inadequate warning infrastructure. So because California is among the highest taxed per capita, where does all that tax revenue go?
Where does all that $$$ go? I think we all know the answer to that.
These natural disasters are happening everywhere. The East coast has had coastal flooding due to hurricane effect rains. Massive snow pileups, greater than years in the past. The Midwest has had major flooding of the Missouri river displacing farmers from their homes and livelihoods. Winter weather is here and their land is still under water from earlier in the season and will stay that way. Talks of next year’s flooding is not uncommon. Alaska had ravaging wild fires that occur due to natural causes, just like the Santa Anna winds. The Swan Lake fire to name just one. Venus Italy is in fear of losing priceless history as it’s experiencing flooding above its natural waterways. These events, while they have happened throughout history, have shifted into a more catastrophic level. Government hasn’t updated the infrastructure to meet the times but that isn’t the normal chain of events. Disaster breeds change (when funds are available). As for cleaning up the underbrush to avoid fires, the underbrush is a very important part of our ecosystem. It generates the nutrients that sustain life and grow our forests. It is open forums like this that can spur new ideas of valid prevention and preemptive management in order to avoid what we can avoid. Climate change is happening. Some is natural in the history of our earth but the acceleration and subsequent impacts are something we all need to own. Let’s all become custodians of our earth and work together to save California and our entire planet.
Californians pay more taxes to the federal government than are ever returned for use. Most of the fires are on federal lands. The Federal government does not send enough money back to properly rake the forests. 🔥😕
Well now, no State receives what their residents pay in Federal taxes. That’s always been the case because the Fed provides services like Post Office, an Army, Navy, Coast Guard, & Air Force (32 bases in California!), Congressional salaries and their bloated staffs, Federal court system, and a Federal bureaucracy of millions of unelected lifelong employees. Now, y’all enjoy those Federal lands and services that the rest of us help pay for, don’t ya? 😎
I follow these discussions a lot, and the one thing never or very very rarely ever mentioned is burgeoning populations, all with kids in tow, jamming themselves into places that cannot support the influx, in any way shape or form. Do they care? Hell NO somebody somewhere will pop up and drop a few bucks “to save the kids”
The utter avoidable poverty, fed by wildfire like breeding among the population, comprising most of the problems, is seldom given the ink needed. The sirens and lights should be going off every time a “family” arrives at the gate dripping in kids with no place to sleep, no food, no money, no hope!
I guess the fly now worry about the payments later crowd does just that and likely always will right to the end. In my seventy plus years I’ve seen no abatement.
Walker, it’s not only about taxes, it’s a lot more than that. You write, “With disasters in other parts of the country, governments anticipate hurricane damage by erecting seawalls. . .” That may be true, but it didn’t exactly work out a few years back in New Orleans, did it? Disasters happen. Many of your ideas are good ones, but, you know, we humans will never dominate Mother Nature. I suspect there will be a lot of changes coming in California, and they should probably start with banning people from building view homes atop hills surrounded by seasonally dry grass, oaks, pine trees, and maybe some terrific-burning manzanita bushes — all of which burn real good! Add a little wind blowing up the sides of those hills (often the case). . . not a good scene. People need to quit building in areas like that unless they vow to not complain when their dream home goes up in flames. Or, they can just go ahead and blame everyone else, which seems be the way these days to react to one’s stupidity.
Unfortunately the fires are a symptom of climate change which is affecting the country in other ways. Unless changes are made the problems will continue.
And Paul Terry do tell us what you have done in the way of making changes that will reverse, stall or mitigate climate change?
Climate change, so easy to say, but 99% of people who spill the words don’t know the difference between the cryosphere and the North Atlantic Oscillation, or even heard of either. I suspect you sir, with all due respect, are one of them.
Alvin, when you insult someone and then add “all due respect” you accomplish neither.
Paul made a reasonable statement, and he wasn’t shaming anyone, just making a call to action.
You on the other hand decided to attack him. You waved around some big climate words and then stuck the knife in when he wasn’t looking.
Your fellow RVers deserve better from you and Paul deserves an apology.
When caused the ice age and what melted it? Humans weren’t around to cause it, it is the cycle of the world.
Hi Marvin,
We know pretty much exactly what happened in the last two ice ages and how they melted. Because we have the science to show what happened.
But Paul here is referencing things you and I are doing right now, today, that are impacting the world around us. And its not just one thing, it’s a myriad of things raising the concentrations of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere. It’s not the planet doing this to itself. It isn’t doesn’t “just” happen, things go wrong to make climate change happen. There is no magic here, there is cause and effect. It’s defined and measurable.
Whether or not you decide to heed the evidence is up to you. Sticking your head in the sand is a choice you can make. You can decide “I don’t care if the planet burns or not” and that’s your prerogative.
Just as it the prerogative of people like Paul and I to worry about what effect our actions are having on the future of the planet for generations to come.
Just a thought on “Climate change”. If you look at the climate over time the Last iceages they were likely caused by volcanic activity spewing pollutants into the air and blocking sunlight. As these pollutants settled the temps warmed over time until the next spate of volcanic activity. As volcanic activity has decreased over time our air has cleared and the temps have warmed. As less and less volcanic activity takes place the earth continues to warm and our efforts to “improve air quality” have actually increased the warming effect of the sun. Think of a ball of water filled with dirty water as the atmosphere. Warming sunlight doesn’t pass through but if you fill a ball with crystal clear water the bending of the sun’s rays through such clear water can actually start a fire like a magnifying glass. We witness this magnification every full moon. When the moon first rises it looks BIG until it gets up higher (less atmosphere magnification) and it looks “regular” sized. So by cleaning up our atmosphere we are actually contributing to the warming trend. JMO So let the hate begin……
Hey Rick, no hate here my friend, just fellow folks concerned about the future. If you look through all of the replies in this post, the undercurrent is concern about the future. Even folks who need to get their racism in check are still concerned about the future. Being concerned about what’s coming is a good thing.
You hit the Ice Age thing on the head. There was also the little ice age which was caused by fresh water stopping the N. Atlantic currents that lead to Europe freezing. Volcanoes also release sulfur into the atmosphere, which some have said we should do to give us more time to fix what;s not working down here. It’s a controversial idea in a controversial topic.
But, you’re second conclusion is a little off the mark. Clean air where we live is different than green house effects of gasses like CO2. Because of the way the atmosphere works, greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere let energy from the sun in and when these gasses become too concentrated they reflect the energy back down to earth. Sort of like a planet wide one way mirror with the reflective side faced in toward us. All of this adds up to a warming planet because we’re getting the sun’s energy in, but we’re not letting the extra we don’t need back out.
Clean air laws mostly targeted emissions in the lower atmosphere, where their negative health effects were clearly documented. While this might have some effect on greenhouse gasses (less carbon monoxide( they don’t regulate green house gasses at all. So even with these “clean air” initiatives, the result is often a case of delaying the inevitable. ie – we burn methane (natural gas) instead of fuel oil or coal. Better for our lungs, but it’s still putting carbon into the air AND Natural Gas mining and transport leaks methane into the atmosphere which is 5x as bad as carbon.
Just a degree or so of warming is a gigantic amount of energy in a system as large as our atmosphere. So the effects of adding all of that energy to where we live is going to have some predictable and unpredictable effects. Dryer summers, higher winds and much worse Western US fire seasons are among the predictable outcomes.
Great start to discussions! I’ve sent you (Chuck) my input and will continue to stay in the lovely state of California, although the price of fuel sux here, that’s the least of our worries! This is one of the most traveled destinations in the U.S.!
Sure the price of fuel for you is the “least” of YOUR worries Ran, but what about half the population living below the poverty line? It’s a big deal for those who haven’t scattered to Washington, Oregon. Tennessee , Texas, or Idaho, the later which has changed radically since a family member moved there ten years ago. I do not recognize Boise as the same town as I found it in 2007 – it’s become a frantic people polluted smaller version of LA or San Fran. So sad!
Ran, California is one of the most beautiful and certainly diverse places in the USA — the deserts, the magnificent Sierra range, the ocean shore, the rolling foothills in the North, the sparsely populated ranch lands in the far Northeast, the majestic Redwoods, and even the sprawling Central Valley with its miles and miles of orchards and farmland. Why do people move to California? Because of all this. The problem today is that there are too many people and they are building their homes in the wrong places — including lands more prone to wildfires than they have been in decades, just waiting to be ignited by a careless human or a lightning strike from Mother Nature herself.
To go along with your survey above I wish you would include the question “How many of you are considering buying an RV as an escape/shelter vehicle”?
We live on the East Coast and have stayed in our MH, (parked in the driveway), for a week when we lost power due to a storm. We were also able to run an extension cord into the house and plug in our fridge and freezer.
Just curious. If you “lost power”, what good would running an extension cord into your house do?
The extension cord was running from the MH (generator), back to the house.
An RV as an “escape vehicle” really? Most people live in subdivisions with restrictions on parking RV’s on or even in front of your houses, especially in California.
James Dumas, Really? Who says MOST people live in subdivisions with restrictions on parking RVs? That’s nonsense, an outright exaggeration. That’s not to say it’s not true for SOME folks. If that’s “you,” then you’ll just need to find a place somewhere else to store the RV — that’s a reality for a whole lot of people.
I’m just tickled pink that those folks had the opportunity to leave but didn’t because some of them might have made it as far as Tennessee where their lack of common sense could have polluted our common sense. I know I’m cruel but I don’t feel sorry for people who move into areas that are prone to disasters, whether it be fires, hurricanes, landslides or whatever. I do feel sorry for victims of tornadoes as they can happen anywhere, but the rest of them asked for it. The only thing I hate is my insurance rates go up to pay for these idiots. Now you can reply with the hate mail.
Agree about the common sense pollution. Look what happened to Colorado, Washington, and Origan. Californians move in sanity moves out. When I was forced to live in Southern California in the 70s and early 80s, fires would decimate an area, Governor would declare a disaster, MORONS would rebuild useing shake shingles, fire would return every couple of years to start the cycle again. I kept reading about people getting disaster recovery funds to rebuild two or three times. That’s taxpayers money paying for them to stay there for the “beautiful views”. After the secound burn, the property should be deemed unfit for rebuilding and the desaster payment should be to purchase the property and be transfered to the national park service.
That way, the homeowners get paid to rebuild once. After that they loose the right to rebuild and are paid to move (to somewhere else on the west coast I hope).
I like that idea. In North Carolina on the outer banks which is hurricane prone, if your house is destroyed more that 60% (I think that’s the number, may be wrong) you cannot rebuild on that land. You still own it but you can’t build on it. I know someone who that happened to. Beach front parking lot now.
Bob P. A lot of people moved to California a long time ago when the forests were not as dry as now, and when there were fewer people living on remote lands, and fewer people to start fires. Nobody “asks for it,” as you say. You insult a lot of good people with a comment like that. Shame on you.
Bob p, I pray that your heart be lightened.
It is truly sad what is happening with the CA forest fires. Someone had mentioned about global warming and we need to act. Don’t really think that is the cause. Sorry but I think it is a result of the CA legislature and environmental activist that are the root cause. I believe the legislature has mandated to the utility companies to do more to go green. Which is ok, but they did that at the expense of their existing system and not maintaining it as it should have been. The Forest Service I do believe knows how to manage a forest, although it has taken them awhile to figure it out, has been stopped at every juncture with lawsuits from environmentalists. They’ve been unable to properly manage the forest. I find it interesting that you only hear of forest fires on national forest grounds. But when was the last time you’ve heard of a forest fire on Weyerhaeuser or Georgia Pacific owned forests? I can’t recall any. Why? because they know how to manage a forest. I feel sorry for the folks caught up in the CA mess. And wish them well.
Climate deniers will NEVER accept the truth of human caused climate change if only because the mere idea, and especially the regulation that any solution implies, has been so closely labeled a “liberal” cause by well-heeled fossil fuel advocates.
Rick, it seems like this is the “go to” answer most people are coming up with to claim that a warming climate isn’t behind the fires in CA, is this a common refrain you’re hearing from your media sources or is this a conclusion you’ve come to when talking with firefighters and forest managers? Serious question because this is a complex issue and talking heads aren’t going to get it right no matter which way they lean.
Personally, I give credence to folks on the ground with years of experience and degrees in forest management over what some talking head trying to make points in the ratings.
So hard to hear the truth over the noise.
Rick, while the CA legislature bears some responsibility for the mismanagement of our forests, most of the publicly owned forested lands in CA are national parks and forests. The state has little to no control over how they are managed. Look to our federal government for the reasons why proper forest management is not happening.
While driving the RV back from Dallas I received a call from an 800 number just after noon on June 29, 2018 that they area we live in was being evacuated due to a wildfire (started by welders on the property South of ours). Wife was out shopping, had her go retrieve the dogs and relocate to our son’s house 15 miles away as I drove towards home not knowing what would be left.
We got lucky that winds were from the South and not Southeast, as the fire went just East of the house burning up trees but no home damage. Spent 12 hours in the RV before the firefighters and helicopters that had been staged the week before were able to control the fire and allow us back in.
Paid a contractor to clear everything but the hardwood trees earlier this year, reducing our fire threat tremendously. We never park the rig with less than 1/2 tank of diesel and freshwater, “just in case” we need to bug out again. Also set up a LPG generator a few years back, used mainly when power fails in ice storms in the winter.
Not planning on leaving.
57% of the forests in California are owned by the Federal Government. With multiple years in a row with heavy drought conditions and the infection of the bark beetle, we have lost a large percentage of healthy trees. Those dead and drying trees are very flammable. At times we have dry lightening storms that start fires. There are a lot of factors that can create a wildfire.
Blaming us for not managing our forests, for being too liberal, or not having sympathy for those who’s homes burn because they live in the woods is really counterproductive and sad. Everyone wants to point a finger at everyone else. I, personally, would not want to live in an area under the constant threat of a hurricane but many people do and they rebuild each year. I would not judge them, that is their choice and their home.
How about we not bash others who make personal choices to live their life as they choose. I moved from a state in the Midwest in my early 20’s due to low employment and poor cost of living. I guess I could have stayed and gone on welfare. However, I chose to go to California and make a new life. I have been very successful here with many opportunities. So how about we all feel a little it of empathy for EVERY state and their unique problems without bashing!
Thank you! All these knee-jerk, anti-immigrant, anti-poor, anti-liberal responses remind me of the same kinds of accusers that blamed the murder of the couple on Padre Island, TX, on “illegals” before the real *American* suspect was arrested by the Mexican police down in MEXICO where he had taken the couple’s stolen RV…
Mary, I find it so sad that so many people think they know the answers to every problem, when most are clueless. It’s the open minded people who are always open to new ideas, thoughts and the idea that maybe, just maybe, the other guy has a point and might even be right, who I hope will one day form most of our audience at RVtravel.com.
Someone tipped the can of worms.
We make business trips to Los Angeles County in our RV and the fire hazard affects our choice of RV Park during the fire season.
Wildfires have been part of the ecosystem here for millennia, but state mismanagement and bowing to environmental activists has raised the risk of fire damage.
Fires don’t start spontaneously. Utility companies have not maintained thousands of miles of power lines, which can now spark electricity. Arsonists have been caught setting fires. Homeless grifters and illegals camp out in dry areas. Logging of insect-killed trees has been curtailed and the state forest service has been reduced by two-thirds.
In California, wildfires and rolling blackouts, along with tent cities of drug addicts, out of control crime, and rutted highways are testament to the failure of career politicians in Sacramento. Power companies bankrupt? The state is carrying 10 times that debt with nothing to show for it.
If I didn’t have business there I would never visit California at all.
bravo, i agree 100%
Yeah, ya betcha… All them homeless should just be locked up in internment camps and kept out of the view of decent, wealthy folks. And California should stop curtailing the USFS…oh, wait! The USFS is part of the federal Department of Agriculture… Still, it’s a good idea to lock up all them homeless, and illegals, and drug addicts, along with all them liberals, that’s causing all our troubles, right? After all, it ain’t money and consumerism that’s ruining California…
Sweeping the forest floor? Wow!
Mary, did someone really suggest that? It’s gotta be a mighty big broom. I’m laughing, but not because I am amused at such an idea, but from frustration that there is someone out there who actually thinks sweeping the forest is even possible.
Yes Chuck somebody did suggest that. It was President Trump, but to be fair I believe he actually said something about raking, not sweeping. I believe he was refering to a program that one of the northern European countries (Sweden, I think) was using. Of course the size of their forested land is mere fraction of that of California’s.
We live in Healdsburg, and have had to experience the 2017 fires, losing 6,000 homes, the Paradise fire, losing even more! Now, the Camp fire… and numerous others the national media never picked up on! We will stay! We have a beautiful farm and home, where we have been fortunate to avoid all fires, so far… although the “wall” of fire (3 miles away) was visible from the top of our property. The amazing “healing” of the land after the 2017 fires gives us hope.
I live in Florida and have for 65 years. I never saw the wisdom of re-building in an area that has proven to time and time again be in danger of being destroyed.
I see condos now where people used to go to the beach. Most of which are build on barrier islands, which come and go depending on the weather.
To rebuild them after an event is stupid, but tax dollars will pay for it all.
The sea levels are rising, it is a proven fact.
The wild fires are also enhanced by climate change, as are the snow storms and floods.
Think about it when your running from the flames or a CAT 5 hurricane.
Really building the wall and immigrants, illegal homeless criminals are to blame? Seriously I was waiting for the punch line thinking this post must be a joke. I am California born and raised whom choose to leave in the 80’s because of the costs of living there then, but I will always love California.
I just wish I could really let you know what I think. The rules won’t allow it. As you are eating that Thanksgiving dinner maybe you should be thankful to those illegal immigrants for helping to get that food to your dinner table.
Where in the article is there any reference to illegal immigrants?????
Rob, it was likely removed by one of our moderators who believed it was way too far out of line..
Key word “illegal” should be removed from the dictionary. It doesn’t mean a dam thing to people with their head stuck in a dark warm place.
When I read the comment from the reader about “caravans of illegal immigrants” crossing into the USA because there is no border wall being the cause of the wildfires — well, like you, I waited for the punchline. Alas, the commenter was serious. Where are some people’s brains??
Well, having moved to SoCal in 1978, due to being in the USMC, all I can say, you do have it wrong! I ended up living there for 32 years! They are NOT just there to pick crops, anymore, and have Invaded, to the point, they have taken over! Try getting a House Built, with an Legal Citizen doing one second of actual work on it, in SoCal, just won’t happen, and I know this first hand! That and many other industries are strictly Illegal Labor! I Loveed California, but became a Displaced Citizen, fully from them! Period!
During our 30 years in Reno our property endured 2 floods and 3 wildfires. The last fire actually burned a couple of cars on our property and 3 houses on our street before a plane dropped fire retardant on us. Although I love the area, and still own the house, we decided to get an RV and travel full-time when I took early retirement. Now we can visit the places we love, like Florida, without owning property there that could be destroyed by hurricanes, floods, or fires. If the area we are in is being threatened, we can just drive away. I didn’t know how much we needed an RV until we got one.
Here we go again, talking about California like what’s happening there isn’t happening practically everywhere else. Hurricanes along the eastern seaboard and the gulf states. Tornadoes in tornado alley. Flooding everywhere. The combination of climate change and too many people trying to live in places they shouldn’t is causing problems everywhere. California isn’t special.
Honestly, my power was off more when I lived in the Pacific Northwest. Every time there was even a moderate storm, the trees would take out the power lines, and it would take several days for everyone’s power to be restored. Most people had a backup plan of some sort, usually a generator.
But yeah, as many other commenters mentioned. We’re doing this to ourselves.
Ann, how often was your power off in the Northwest before a weather event? After a weather disaster? — of course, power will go off. How about you go to the hospital and request chemotherapy because you think you might get cancer one day? We’re talking about losing the ability to live our normal lives because our public utility is afraid something might happen so they shut down the grid — just in case! I have been in the middle of a lot of tornado watches. I do not remember the power being cut off because there MIGHT be a problem. Comparing the power being shut off after a weather emergency is totally different than it being shut off because there is a danger of an emergency. Are we causing these problems ourselves? Of course. But that is a huge, ongoing story, and not what my article was about.
I live in Santa Rosa, CA. During the Tubbs fire, we were evacuated, and again during the Kincade fire. In both cases, we used our trailer during the evacuation. We have had our power shut off twice, which is a lot less than some of our city neighbors. During the Tubbs fire, we also lost gas, so the trailer provided us with a place with heat and a shower. We store it in our side yard, and will not live somewhere that does not allow us to keep it handy. We consider it our earthquake and wildfire evacuation shelter. We have solar for daytime power (Secure Power option) and a generator for the night, and for the trailer when we travel. We have not lost our home, although the Tubbs fire came close enough. We now hitch our trailer when fires threaten so we can get away quickly. We have done a lot to be ready to evacuate quickly and are working on our home to harden it more for fires.
We plan to stay but if we should lose our house, we will probably leave at that time. But where to go? As other posters said, there is risk just about everywhere.
As someone who intends to do a lot of backwoods boondocking, I am especially concerned about getting trapped by a wildfire. Just last night I bookmarked a few vendors who sell those $400+ “flameproof” emergency shelters that wildland firefighters carry in the hopes that it will save them if they ever get trapped. Even stumbled across a few pictures of such shelters that had been charred and melted by the intense heat of a forest fire…seems most are good to about 500*F, but forest fires can approach 1,500*F. I guess Plan B will be to always try to camp in an area with at least two exit roads, or near a lake…?
Good luck escaping the USFS…it’s a federal agency, not just a California one. Try moving to northern Nevada or southern Wyoming — you can do just about anything out there because there’s nothing worth protecting but sagebrush and juniper bushes and BLM-authorized mining operations. Now that’s FREEDOM! 😉
My parents lived in Paradise, now deceased, and their house burned.
I can say, my Dads biggest fear was the possibility of a fire. I’m sure he would have moved long ago, as I did when the decline of CA began.
I live in a motorhome in an RV park in SoCal, wild fire has burned to our property line in the past. My coach is mobile, there are two ways out of the park on to different highways. I can be underway in 30 minutes (15 if I am willing to risk some damage). We had a close call when a coach in the park caught fire in the middle of the night – source as yet unknown. Neighbors watered down the nearby undergrowth and two rigs seeing the flames bugged out. We were not there at the time nor was our rig. It didn’t spread, but two died in the coach. Our entire community is working on making preparations for a variety of disaster scenarios including fire and earthquake. I keep my freshwater full and the grey is always drained. Fuel tank is at 75 gallons. We are as ready as we can be.
Which RV Park was that?
When one lives in a third world country such as California has become one must expect less than good outcomes from everything that happens.
Hoss, have you ever been to a Third World Country? Please visit, then come back and tell me Calif., is a Third World Country. Until you have been to such a place, a statement like this is a waste of every intelligent reader’s time.
While not too far in the future, this might be a Valid Statement, as I watched my California Dream, turn into a Mexafornia Nightmare! When it soon reverts to AZTLAN, then it will be that 3rd World Country….In-Fact! The Resiliancy of it’s people will change dramatically, when they do fall! But Love or Hate California, for the time being, and if the get their very heads out of the sand out there, again, then it may remain, one of the most wonderful places to live! Having lived there 32 years, (Half my Life) I may tend to agree they are certainly heading in that direction! My POV, others may disagree….glad I fled, while the fleeing was good!
First, I really feel for all the people affected by the wildfires. But, I think Chuck has taken this to heart because of his familiarity with the area and the situation. My viewpoint is from the Gulf coast, We contend with hurricanes yearly. Not all hurricanes come to our town, but we are watching every storm, every season. I live in the New Orleans area and Katrina is coming back to haunt us constantly. Hurricane Camille hit Gulfport, Ms while I was there in the Navy with 200 MPH winds and over 20 feet of water. Have I considered leaving my lifelong home? Not really, where would I go? Up north, we are having more and more severe winter weather. Texas and Oklahoma are getting beat up by tornadoes worse than ever. We all have our form of disaster to deal with, we all have to decide if where we are is the best place to be. Or is the price we have to pay (financial, emotional, etc.) to leave, worth it.
Been in CA for 60 years…..I love being in LA and OC. The trick to enjoying it is to live close to work….I have. Commuting kills the good life. Traffic in the city makes people move to the hills and then they have fire worries. We put up with quakes, better then living with fire on your mind. The southern cal weather makes all the other worries go away.
And my wife’s name is Betty.
First and foremost when choosing a home, make sure the location is not in a wildfire prone area, if it is keep looking. Many people value “views” over avoiding the consequences that come with those views. This is not a critisism of these folks, just a reminder that their actions and choices have consequences. If you accept the consequences and make the purchase, don’t act surprised when disasters happen. California is a reclaimed desert. especially Southern Ca. Did you ever notice how the greenery of spring, turns brown in summer on the hillsides. That is because of low humidity and the rainey season has ended, so there is no source of natural moisture to keep everything green. As far as the power companies, they will do whatever they feel they have to to avoid lawsuits, and when their profits drop because of their actions they will raise their rates. In years to come California homeowners may just switch to solar and home generators for power, and there will be a huge court battle with the power companies complaining that they have been granted exclusive rights to provide power. Result it will take a while but they will eventually lose. Home owners who purchase in fire prone areas must clear dried brush from around their properties and install equiptment that will spray retardent on their rooftops and draw water from their swimming pools to knock down hotspots until the fire dept arrives….. That is the reality of living in a wildfire prone area…
Oh I forgot to add I am a So cal resident, who lived in the Central Ca region for five yrs and have lived in So Cal for 52 years for a total 57 yrs in Ca. I’m not going anywhere else to live, I chalk up higher taxes to entertainment. You see things here that you don’t see anywhere else. I spend about a total of 6 mos a yr on the road in my RV. I grew up in La., under hurricane watches. So my question is where are you going to go? Hurricanes, Tornadoes, Sink holes, sand storms, ice storms, snow storms and earthquakes. Anywhere you go you have something to contend with, so decide which one you can handle and handle it…
No Rory, for the most part, ice or snowstorms do not have the devasting impact that California residents face. I live in the Buffalo, NY area, an area that gets slammed nationally often for our weather. Well, you know what, we don’t worry about our house being destroyed to a total loss by snowstorms. Twelve inches of snow is a burb on the calendar for us barley upsetting our daily lives. Oh, we don’t get 70 onshore winds that pack a destructive force as well. Let’s not forget mud season with whole houses sliding down in hills of California into a pile of heartache, despair, and rubble.
You can keep California and it’s the wrath of nature. And please don’t blame climate change, global warming, the coming of the new ice age or any other made-up fable for the reasons the beautiful but taxed to the hilt and politically bent on its own axis California may one day slide into the Paciific.+
Oh yeah, if you or any other natives of California do choose to leave, please, please don’t move to another state to preach your taxation, public employee compensation, and corrupt and twisted politics to the poor people of the state you choose as your next safe domicile and start the process all over again there.
My goodness you can read all that into a statement that says simply make your choice and live with it. There are more non California residents complaining about power outages and fires than most of the residents who live here. In my 57 yrs in Calif. I have not been threatened by a wildfire, I have been inconvenienced, I have had to smell the smoke and clean up falling ashes. This is not to say I’m not next, and please nix the political commentary, you don’t know me or how I think…
Having Lived in Orange, and San Diego Counties, with the consistent, Natural Disasters, there was an Immediate and Dire need, to have a Plan. In the 32 years I lived there, I continually had an RV, as part of that plan! It was a No Brainer, to me, as in those 3 decades, I personally experienced everything Mother Nature could throw at you! From Earth Moving Earthquakes, to Twisters, to Floods, and Topping it all off, were the Mandatory Evacs, for Fire Storms, and 100+ MPH winds! It has always been inhospitipal place, with No Warning whatsoever! I was forced to live there, as a Marine, and then decided to stay. But never would have, without that crucial Back-Up Plan! When the Political Climate became unbearable, even the RV, couldn’t help, so I put it in my Rear-View Mirror, almost a dozen years ago! I still would not be without an RV, and it is now just a Pure Joy, to Cruise the Highways with what I refer to as an Old friend! I have owned 7 of them, of all types, since 1978, and will till they plant me, count on that!
You are very correct, Chuck. We escaped the Camp Fire in Paradise in our truck/camper that was still ready in the bottom yard because we had just arrived home from a recent trip. Thank goodness it was there as we barely made it out with only 10 minutes of warning from our neighbors who saw the fire in the canyon below their house. We left with flames coming up the road behind us. Our house was completely destroyed along with everything else around it, including our 5th wheel. We now are New Mexico residents and would never return to California to live, even though both our children and their families still reside there. We are continually amazed at the unbelievable torments that Californians have to endure. Thank you for your support of RVers everywhere.
Having lost everything to the camp fire we are very happy that we had our “escape pod” in which to run for our lives! We have left the state and never looked back! It is impossible to live a normal life in California any longer.
I grew up and worked my early adult life in Southern California. My family evacuated a few times due to high winds or earthquakes. The 30 billion dollars PG&E suffered would have gone a long way to bury utility lines. Buried lines are safe from winds, fires and make the landscape so much more beautiful.
We are on the Gulf coast so fire is not a problem but hurricanes are. We are fulltimers with a lease site in an RV park that we use as a “home base” when not travelling. If we are here during hurricane season our 5th wheel and truck is always in travelling trim and we can be hooked up and gone in an hour or so. The only trick is getting out ahead of the mandatory evacuations so we don’t get bogged down in the traffic. That has happened twice in the last six years and worked out OK each time. I really feel for the people in CA though. To me fire is much much scarier than a hurricane where we at least have enough warning to get out of the way.
You can thank the lawyers and politicians for this issue of turning the power off. The power companies are being forced to “lawyer proof” their companies’ involvement with fires.