After a blaze destroyed 80% of a town's homes in 2020, the community's remaining 145 residents are still recovering

Malden rebuilt its fire department, city hall and post office.
(Photo by Jesse Tinsley, Spokesman-Review)

Over Labor Day weekend 2020, an electrical fire burned through Malden, Washington, and its neighboring community, Pine City. "While no deaths were reported, the fire burned 80% of the town’s homes and multiple rail bridges," reports Monica Carrillo-Casas of The Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Wash. Malden residents are still rebuilding and healing from the fire's aftermath.

After the blaze, some Malden residents chose to leave. Chandelle Frick, treasurer for Malden, said the "town’s population has fallen from 200 to 145 people since the fire," Carrillo-Casas writes. Out of the 120 homes the fire destroyed, "at least 25 have been rebuilt, including nine of those by the Mennonite and Amish communities."

Malden resident Jessica Landry is "living in one of the houses the Amish and Mennonite communities built," Carrillo-Casas writes. "Ever since [the fire], the fear of another fire taking over the town lingers in the back of her mind."

Landry is sure some Malden residents may never get over the shock and destruction the blaze left in its wake. She told Carrillo-Casas, "There are a lot of people who still have PTSD when it comes to that. . . .We still get that heightened awareness and struggle."

Even with the emotional scars and population loss, Malden's remaining townspeople are working hard to rebuild. The town received a settlement from the electrical company involved and grant money. With those funds, Malden residents invested in "a new building that combines a fire station, post office and town hall," Carrillo-Casas reports.

The town still needs a new sewer system, and many residents still don't have permanent homes. A lack of funds has limited some recovery efforts. Carrillo-Casas adds, "An estimated 40% of the people who lost homes were uninsured."

Most community members realize they have to rely on each other. Frick told the Spokesman, "It takes a community coming together and seeking funding."

Wildland firefighters work in toxin-filled environment with nothing 'to prevent them from inhaling its poisons'

Wildland firefighters aren't allowed to wear masks.
(Photo by Chris Boyer, Unsplash)

Hiking with heavy equipment, digging trenches and wrestling water hoses are part of the job that wildfire firefighters signed up to do. But what they didn't sign up for is breathing in toxic fumes that could someday lead to multiple illnesses, diseases and possibly an early death.

While urban and metro firefighters won't consider entering a fire site without wearing a mask, thousands of federal firefighters "spend weeks working in toxic smoke and ash wearing only a cloth bandanna, or nothing at all," reports Hannah Dreier of The New York Times. Firefighters often work extreme hours during fire season, with some even working in fire toxins year-round. The result is many extremely ill men and women.

"Some have become permanently disabled after breathing in concentrated plumes of ash, fungus or poison oak," Dreier writes. "They are getting cancer in their 20s, developing heart disease in their 30s, waiting for lung transplants in their 40s."

Forest Service researchers have "warned for years about the effects of smoke," Dreier explains. "But year after year, the Forest Service sends crews into smoke with nothing to prevent them from inhaling its poisons."

The USFS hasn't just resisted providing its fire crews with face masks; it forbids their use. USFS has said facial respirators are "impractical" and could cause firefighters to develop heatstroke. Dreier writes, "But internal records, studies and interviews with current and former agency officials reveal another motivation: Embracing masks would mean admitting how dangerous wildfire smoke really is."

If the agency admitted how many physical threats are present during a blaze, it would "lead to a cascade of expensive changes," Dreier adds. "Recruitment for the grueling, low-paying jobs could become harder. Spending could increase on an extensive range of health issues. . . . "

The U.S. Labor Department has been working to establish rules that require federal firefighters to have masks, but has faced pushback from the Forest Service and the Trump administration.

Rural homes and outer buildings often contain fire hazards; reducing risks begins with an inventory and smart planning

Lithium-ion batteries pose unique fire
risks. (Kumpan Electric photo, Unsplash)

In the event of a fire, call 911. While that's good advice, considering how much longer it can take firefighters to arrive at a rural fire scene, it's even more important for rural residents to do as much fire prevention and containment planning as possible. Donna Kallner for The Daily Yonder writes, "Let’s take a hard look at our stuff, whether we should rethink where and how we store things."

Leftover ammunition and firearms from hunting or sports are commonly found in rural homes, garages and sheds, and their storage requires careful attention. "The Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers Institute recommends that ammunition be stored in its original packaging or other packaging designed for the purpose (such as metal or plastic ammo cans) and separate from heat sources, open flames, and firearms," Kallner explains. For general and fire safety, before storing a firearm, remove all ammunition, including chamber rounds. 

Everyday electronics, such as cell phones or laptops, run on lithium-ion batteries, which pose unique fire risks including extreme heat, lethal gases and the ability to "reignite hours to days after appearing to be extinguished," Kallner adds. "Your rural volunteer fire department would definitely want a heads-up if they might be walking into a structure fire involving lithium-ion batteries."

Plan where flammable and combustible fluids will be stored. "What distinguishes flammable from combustible liquids is the temperature at which they give off enough vapor to ignite in the presence of an ignition source," Kallner explains. "An area that gets so hot you wouldn’t leave an infant or pet there is not suitable for flammable or combustible liquids. . . . Flammable and combustible liquids should be stored at least 10 feet away from any potential ignition source. . .that includes electrical outlets."

Preventing fires is the first goal, and having an early warning system in place in case of fire is the second goal. "We can plug only one charging device into an outlet at a time. We can shop for one of those flammable storage cabinets for the fuels for the lawnmower, string trimmer, and chainsaw," Kallner adds. "We can ensure that smoke and carbon monoxide detectors are properly installed in all recommended areas, tested monthly, and replaced at least every 10 years. We can update our home fire escape plan and practice until shutting doors behind us is automatic."

Read all of Kallner's fire tips here.

Fire departments can't get trucks or truck repair parts because the industry has consolidated to make big profits

Fire departments can wait years for a new fire truck.
(Adobe Stock photo)

Firefighters and fire trucks are the backbone of fire protection in most communities, but over time, keeping fire trucks repaired or buying replacements has become increasingly difficult. "Fire engine manufacturing is now largely controlled by three companies," report Mike Baker, Maureen Farrell and Serge F. Kovaleski of The Wall Street Journal. "Some departments have waited years for replacement vehicles while hunting the internet for parts to keep their older rigs going."

Wall Street executives sought to eliminate competition among fire truck makers "in a plan to boost profits from fire engine sales," the Journal reports. "One company, backed by a private equity firm, cut its own manufacturing lines as part of a streamlining strategy and then saw a backlog of fire engine orders soar into billions of dollars."

Edward Kelly, general president of the International Association of Fire Fighters, said the pandemic caused production delays, but it isn't the main problem. He told the Journal: "In hindsight, it was masking what ends up being a main driver of higher cost and lag time in production: the monopolizing of fire truck and ambulance manufacturing in the United States. . . . Absent competition, monopoly capitalism is a shakedown.”

With no new competitors in sight, U.S. fire departments have no choice but to order from the three big companies that still make trucks. One of those companies, Rev Group "has created a more standardized vehicle that can be made in less than a year," the Journal reports. "If more fire departments choose this standardized model, said Mike Virnig, a Rev Group executive, it is likely that overall wait times will drop."

Quick hits: Skate this ice path for miles; chiming in on U.S. politics; discover full moon names; the Salton Sea's lure

Ice path on the Warroad River, Minnesota. (Jerry Holt, The Minnesota Star Tribune)

To make winter less depressing, try skating. "A river runs through Hockeytown USA, and you can skate on it for miles," reports Walker Orenstein of The Minnesota Star Tribune. "It's not a wilderness trail, but rather a wonderfully accessible ice path that attracts skilled hockey players and new skaters alike. It’s easy to forget you’re on a river at all."

For Americans tired of standing on the sidelines and watching turbulent news unfold, there are ways to make your voice heard. "No matter what side of the political spectrum you fall on — contact your federal or local representatives and let them know how you feel, via social media, texts, emails, or phone calls," writes Barbara Krasnoff of The Verge. "There are several online sites and mobile apps that can help, by letting us who to contact, helping us know what the issues are." Some apps offer scripts to make reaching out less intimidating.

Each month’s full moon marks the changing seasons.
(Photo by Kym MacKinnon, Unsplash)

Snow, sleet, ice and more snow -- winter's chill hangs on into February. The month is typically the Northern Hemisphere's coldest month, and its full moon's name -- the "Snow Moon" reflects its wintry days, reports Jane Alexander for Mental Floss. When March hits, the "Worm Moon" will glow above as a sign that spring is coming. Each month has a full moon with a unique name. "Any of the names we use today come from Native American traditions, though some originated in Europe as well. The monikers correspond with the seasons."

Just as rural problems might be best solved by rural communities, challenges across the country might be best met by average citizens. An Oregon county is giving its residents a trial run at solving homelessness. If successful, their "citizen assembly" model could become a new tool for other places, reports Nick Romeo for The New Yorker. "These gatherings do what most democracies only pretend to: trust normal people to make decisions on difficult policy questions. Many citizens’ assemblies follow a basic template. . . "

Adobe Stock photo

Fire has helped humans reforge the earth for almost a million years, and recent tragic burns serve as a reminder of how fire changes human lives. "In recent years, fires have blasted through cities in Colorado, the southern Appalachians and the island of Maui," writes fire historian Stephen Pyne for The Conversation. "The narrative is the unbroken saga of humanity and fire, a companionship that extends through all our existence as a species. . . . We are creating the fire equivalent of an ice age."

Aerial view of Salton Sea coastline. The sea is both 'fascinating and fetid.' (Adobe Stock photo)

As a curiosity and a place for communal contemplation, the Salton Sea in southern California was "created by the collision of geology and bad luck," writes Dennis Hinkamp for Writers on the Range. "Its salt-encrusted shores circle about 340 square miles of sea. A silo-full of conspiracy theories features the Salton Sea. . . It will likely remain a hiding place for the weird until some real monster beneath the sea emerges, which could be a rush to start mining lithium made by the sea. . . . It’s my refuge, my winter solace away from anxious headlines, and just strange enough to be hospitable."

Depite U.S. fireseason extremes, wildland firefighters eye deep paycuts as they wait for Congress to act

Wildland firefighters often deal with tremendous heat,
extreme weather and treacherous terrain. (Adobe Stock photo)

Federal firefighters work in heat, wind, fire, smoke and unpredictable weather. Despite their dedication to public safety, most wildland firefighters face deep pay cuts unless Congress intervenes, writes Robin Verble for The Conversation. "Continued uncertainty regarding federal pay and benefits, coupled with mental health risks and seasonal financial strain, make this a precarious time for wildland firefighters."

Roughly four years ago, Congress approved a "temporary retention bonus of $20,000 a year or 50% of the firefighter’s base pay, whichever amount was smaller," Verble explains. "However, wildland firefighters are still waiting for that raise to be codified." If Congress allows the pay raise to expire, "many firefighters will lose large percentages of their income. . . .These aren’t high-paying jobs. The starting pay is as low as $15 per hour."

The pay policies embedded in the "federal wildland fire system also incentivize overworking," Verble writes. "With starting pay so low, many wildland firefighters end up working an average of over 600 hours of overtime annually to pay their bills. . . . Many federal firefighters are temporary seasonal employees, so they need to reapply for positions every year."

When asked about federal firefighters' low pay, Tania Daffron, assistant fire chief for Bloomington, Ind., told The Rural Blog, "Fighting for decent wages is ridiculous, regardless of jurisdiction. Federal departments should be leading the way. No wonder personnel transfer or leave this 'ultra-hazardous' profession."

The U.S. Forest Service is grappling with constant employee turnover. "Over the past three years, 45% of the USFS wildland firefighting workforce has quit," Verble adds. "Retaining experienced firefighters amid longer and worsening fire seasons will require policymakers to improve health care, pay and the organizational structure itself, including how firefighters are hired and retained. Yet, the federal government continues to delay taking action."

To bolster rural emergency response, fire departments are deploying drones as a helpful 'eye in the sky'

Kale Geiswite of New Berlin Fire Company flies a
drone. (Photo by Matt Jones, The Standard-Journal)

While some drones have been known to start fires -- intentionally and unintentionally -- they also are being used by rural volunteer fire departments, such as in Pennslyvania, to help emergency responders have "an eye in the sky," reports Matt Jones of The Standard-Journal, which covers central Pennsylvania. Paul Vavra, a chief pilot of the drone program at the Duboistown Fire Department, told Jones: "We started our program about six years ago here at Duboistown. . . At that point, we were the only ones in Lycoming, Tioga and Sullivan County doing drone work for fire, rescue, EMS and law enforcement, other than the state police."

Since then, more counties have purchased or received donated drones to bolster emergency responder support. "In 2022, Kale Geiswite of the New Berlin Fire Company in Union County put in a request to the National Public Safety Drone Donation Program. He said the department was looking for a drone with thermal capabilities that could be used to respond to residential structure fires, wildfires and search and rescues throughout the tri-county area of Union, Snyder and Northumberland counties," Jones reports. Geiswite told Jones: "We made a video about how we were trying to start a drone program and what we were looking to do with it. Within four months, Duboistown reached out. .  .They donated our first drone."

The National Fire Protection Association, under code 2400, "provides standards for small unmanned aircraft systems that establishes 'minimum requirements for the safe operation, deployment, and implementation of sUAS including organization program criteria and considerations, professional qualifications for safety personnel, and elements of a maintenance program, per the organization's website," Jones writes. However, local departments have to develop their own protocols for volunteer training and drone dispatch requirements.

Victims of 2016 wildfire that spread from Smokies park will get to pursue their claims against National Park Service

The town of Gatlinburg, Tennessee, was surrounded and invaded by wildfires that spread from the adjoining Great Smoky Mountains National Park in November 2016; 14 people died. (File photo by Pail Efird, Knoxville News Sentinel)

As the nation comes to grips with increased threat of wildfires, a federal court has reopened the door to damage claims from victims of a fire that burned part of a town next to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park almost seven years ago and may have been a harbinger of change.

Under a federal appeals court ruling Thursday, victims will still be able to sue the National Park Service for alleged mismanagement that led to the fire. The court "unanimously overruled a district judge who dismissed the suit over what amounted to a paperwork error," reports Tyler Whetstone of the Knoxville News Sentinel.

"U.S. District Judge Ronnie Greer ruled last year the families failed in court documents to include core assertions that are required to proceed with the lawsuit. . . . Officials have not been interviewed under oath. No one has had to answer for what went wrong that deadly Thanksgiving weekend," when 14 people died. The News Sentinel has reported that park officials were aware of the dangers the fire posed but failed to notify city or county officials until midday Nov. 28, 2016. By then fire was speeding toward Gatlinburg," a town of 4,000 that adjoins the park's main entrance.

The park's fire manager "saw weather reports calling for high winds ahead of predicted rainfall and knew trouble could be on its way" four days into the fire, Whetstone notes. "The fire was still small at the time. He texted a park firefighter saying things would be 'interesting with 60 mph gusts predicted ... not sure any of us can do much at this point.' A third-party report paid for by Gatlinburg and Sevier County after the fire said a lack of information led to the disaster."

Maui fires point up special needs of rural areas; governor says catastrophe will change the way the world looks at fire

UPDATE, Aug. 15: The Los Angeles Times has a visual representation of the fire's spread.

Several fires struck Maui, but the worst was in Lahaina, on its
northwest coast. (San Francisco Chronicle image; click to enlarge)

The wildfires on Maui, America's deadliest in the last 150 years, will change the way the world looks at fire, and point up the special needs of rural areas, officials in Hawaii said over the weekend.

"This is rural America. Rural America is getting hit by these types of climate-change chaoses; every single day, it's a disaster," U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda, D-Hawai'i, said on CBS's "Face the Nation" Sunday. Asked about the Federal Emergency Management Agency's need for more billions of dollars, she said, "Rural America, which is what Hawaii is, faces a crisis of also being able to get those first responders and support as fast as they need to, to be able to respond in those situations, so we have to make sure FEMA has the tools and the resources to execute support back home at Hawai'i, but quite frankly, this is goiong to be happening across the country and they need the money to be able to respond wherever disaster strikes."

Gov. Josh Green told reporters, "This is the first time we've ever experienced a wildfire in the context of these dry conditions, global warming and and with a hurricane that's just passing us. There's no question this catastrophe is gonna change the way everyone look at fire across the globe."

Local officials said Tuesday, Aug. 8, that a fire in and around Lahaina, pop. 12,000, was “100% contained,” but it flared up that afternoon, the Los Angeles Times reports: "The threat of wildfires had been well known for days, with the National Weather Service warning Aug. 4 of 'high fire danger,' given the dry weather and 'strong and gusty trade winds'."

The Washington Post has a "tick-tock" of the fire through survivors' experienes, with this description of how teh fire resurged: "Overhead, dry air — the result of a high-pressure system — was jetting over and down the slopes of the volcano, sending ferocious winds into his town, spraying gravel and ripping shingles off the rooftops. It was a worst-case scenario that some emergency planners had long warned about."

"Hawaii has a network of outdoor sirens, but neither the state nor the county activated them Tuesday, said a spokesman for the state’s Emergency Management Agency," the Times reports. "Officials instead issued alerts through three methods — cellular phones, a local notification system, and alerts on radio and television — but power and telecommunications outages appeared to have limited their reach."

Tokuda said, "We had no cell coverage or electricity in some of these areas . . . with how fast this burn was ... you would not know what the crisis was" if you heard a siren, and islanders' first instinct is that it is a tsunami: "You would run towards land, which in this case would be towards fire."  The Post notes, "Two residents filed a lawsuit seeking class action Saturday against the state’s electric utility, which faces scrutiny for not shutting down power when dangerous winds were predicted. . . . Hawaii’s attorney general announced Friday that her office would examine the policies and key decisions that influenced the response to the deadly inferno." UPDATE, Aug. 16: The Washington Post reports, "Power lines likely caused Maui’s first reported fire, video and data show."

The Maui News says in an editorial, "Make no mistake, Lahaina will rise from the ashes on the shoulders of its people. Those proud Lunas will not be alone, for this island, state and country are ready to help. Stay strong, Lahaina. We are with you." Former Maui Times editor Anthony Pignataro has a tribute to Lahaina.

'Upwards of 18,000' cattle die in dairy-farm explosion and fire in Texas Panhandle; investigators still looking for cause

The fire was the worst for cattle in Texas history.
(Photo from Castro County sheriff)

Last week's explosion and fire at a Texas Panhandle dairy resulted in "The deadliest fire involving cows in nearly a decade," report Jayme Lozano-Carver and Erin Douglas of The Texas Tribune. "The fire started Monday night at South Fork Dairy Farm in Dimmitt, about 66 miles south of Amarillo. . . . One person was trapped inside the dairy farm but was rescued by first responders."

"The Castro County Sheriff's office reports upwards of 18,000 head of dairy cattle perished in the blaze," reports Lisa Foust Prater of Successful Farming. "That was about 90% of the farm's total herd. . . . Sheriff Sal Rivera said witnesses reported an explosion that spread into a massive fire throughout the building where the cattle are held."

Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller told the Tribune, "This was the deadliest barn fire for cattle in Texas history, and the investigation and cleanup may take some time. . . .The impact of this fire may influence the immediate area and the industry itself. Once we know the cause and the facts surrounding this tragedy, we will make sure the public is fully informed — so tragedies like this can be avoided."

A honey wagon/vacuum truck (Wikipedia photo)

Rivera told Prater, "Investigators are trying to determine if it's machinery called a honey wagon that sucks out the manure and water. . . . It may have ignited possibly methane gas." Often the cause of coal mine explosions, methane explosions occur when a buildup of methane gas contacts a heat source and there is not enough air to dilute the gas level below its explosion point. . . . 65% of cow manure is methane.

Carver and Douglas report, "In 2019, Texas authorized the facility to more than double the number of cattle allowed on-site from 11,500 to up to 32,000, according to a permit with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. . . .The state also authorized the facility to increase its manure production by more than 50% in that expanded permit. . . . The 18,000 cows killed represent just a fraction of the 625,000 dairy cows in Texas. Large amounts of cattle have died in Texas before. During Winter Storm Goliath in 2015, 35,000 cattle froze to death. . . . The state fire marshal’s office is conducting the investigation."

Another fish fry? Why local emergency medical services have so many fundraisers; here's what you can do to help

Rural ambulance in Sweetwater, Wyoming
(Photo by Kim Raff, The New York Times)

Another fish fry, ticket raffle or silent auction? Many of us would like to take a hard pass, possibly for life. But those fundraising efforts are the life of some emergency medical services across rural America. "If you don't do the fundraising, how do you pay for equipment needed to keep those people safe on a job for which they receive no pay?" Donna Kallner reports for The Daily Yonder. "It all adds up. It also takes a toll. When unpaid volunteers spend so much time fundraising, they have less time available for training, equipment checks, and other tasks – including paperwork, without which you don't get funding."

Kallner provides a personal example: "My rural volunteer fire department just purchased a new self-contained breathing apparatus. Those air packs include a frame that holds a pressurized cylinder containing breathable air, a mouthpiece and a regulator. . . . It wasn't cheap. Each new 45-minute pack with a cylinder was $7,500, and spare bottles were $900 each. . . . It took two years of fundraising to raise the $50,000 needed to put that new equipment into service."

What some residents may not know is that fire services impact family budgets. Kallner explains, "What those households pay for homeowners insurance is directly related to the readiness and reliability of the fire department that serves them. That's true in other rural areas, as well. . . . . Homeowners' insurance rates factor in ISO ratings. Those are determined by the Insurance Services Office, which assigns fire departments a score between 1 and 10. A score of 1 is the safest bet that an insurance company won't have to pay out on fire claims. Any area over five driving miles from the nearest fire station is automatically rated a 10."

"Like the rural households they serve, rural volunteer firefighters often pay a premium for homeowners insurance based on where they live. But they show up to flip flapjacks to pay for National Fire Protection Association-compliant PPE and other equipment," Kallner points out. "In my area, the portion of annual revenues municipalities allocate to fire departments might cover what it costs to outfit one new firefighter in PPE and provide an air pack and a radio. The rest of the budget? Fundraising."

"Volunteer fire departments need all kinds of help, and it doesn’t all involve training to put on an air pack and enter burning structures. Sometimes it’s helping sell food and beverages or raffle tickets at community events," Kallner adds. "Next time your volunteer fire department hosts an open house, get pictures of the kids or grandkids with the shiny fire trucks, for sure. But also ask, how old is that truck? If you had to replace it, what would that cost? And what would it take to raise that money? Sticker shock about PPE and other equipment pales in comparison to fire apparatus. . . . We also need people brave enough to look at price tags and grant applications squarely, swallow their sticker shock, and say, 'How can I help?'"

Higher fire risk also raises risk of lawsuits against electric utilities, which seem to be more aggressively cutting trees

UPDATE: "Pacific Gas & Electric Co. will avoid criminal charges for two wildfires started by its equipment under settlements announced Monday by district attorneys in six Northern California counties," reports Alex Wigglesworth of the Los Angeles Times. "Prosecutors said the agreements were a better outcome for fire victims and communities, because limitations in criminal law make it difficult to hold corporations accountable. . . . PG&E has also agreed to hire 160 to 200 employees in the six counties to bolster safety work, and enter into a five-year monitorship of its system inspection and vegetation management work in those counties." The settlements involved the Dixie and Kincade fires. "The utility still faces charges in the 2020 Zogg fire, which killed four people and destroyed more than 200 buildings," the Times reports.

Tim Goforth, left, and Kathy Kreiter lost their Oregon home
to a wildfire in 2020, and he lost vision in one eye. They are
among plaintiffs in a lawsuit. (WSJ photo by Mason Trinca)

The increasing risk of wildfire in the West has put electric utilities at more risk of lawsuits and settlements to avoid criminal prosecution, as malfunctions of utility equipment have caused some of the most devastating blazes, The Wall Street Journal reports.

"Pacific Power, an Oregon utility . . . faces more than $1 billion in potential liability costs from lawsuits related to a spate of fires that swept the state in 2020," Katherine Blunt writes. "Those incidents killed at least nine people, destroyed thousands of homes and burned more than a million acres of land and timber."

In Washington state, where state law doesn't make utilities do much to prevent wildfires, one utility was targeted Friday by a lawsuit "alleging inverse condemnation . . . in connection with a 2020 blaze," Blunt reports. "Attorneys say those cases could lead to similar claims against other utilities throughout the West, where wildfire risk has grown substantially within the past decade."

It's possible that the increased risk in the West is making electric utilities in other regions. Pittsburgh Power & Light and its Kentucky Utilities subsidiary have been taken to task for more aggressive cutting of trees under power lines in the last two years, report the Lexington Herald-Leader and a letter writer to The Morning Call of Allentown, Pa. 

PG&E found responsible for massive Dixie Fire

California investigators say Pacific Gas and Electric power lines caused last summer's Dixie Fire, the second-largest in state history. "Officials with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire, said in a statement late Tuesday that the fire started after a tree came into contact with the company’s electrical distribution lines in the forested Feather River Canyon. Cal Fire officials said they forwarded their investigative report to the district attorney’s office in Butte County, where the fire started," Katherine Blunt and Jim Carlton report for The Wall Street Journal. "The Dixie Fire, which ignited on July 13, grew to consume nearly a million acres across five counties and blackened swaths of scenic forest including much of Lassen Volcanic National Park. It destroyed more than 1,300 structures, including the small town of Greenville, and left one person dead."

PG&E equipment has been implicated in more than 20 California wildfires, and was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the 2018 Camp Fire. The utility giant already acknowledged it was probably responsible for the fire, and in November said liability costs could reach at least $1.15 billion, Blunt and Carlton report.

In a statement Tuesday, PG&E promised to continue its efforts to make its equipment safer. "Shortly after the Dixie Fire started, PG&E Chief Executive Patti Poppe announced a plan to bury 10,000 miles of distribution lines, reversing an earlier stance by the company that doing so would be prohibitively expensive," Blunt and Carlton report. "PG&E has since solicited information from engineering and construction firms and formed an undergrounding council to help formulate the plan."

Disasters hurt much more than buildings: Camp Fire survivors battle PTSD and other mental-health disorders

Post-traumatic stress disorder is most commonly associated with war veterans, but it's increasingly a problem for survivors of weather disasters. The 2018 Camp Fire, for example, was the deadliest in California history, killing at least 42 people and destroying more than 7,000 homes. 

"A study conducted by scientists at the University of California San Diego that was published in February in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health found that an overwhelming number of Camp Fire survivors were suffering from various mental health disorders, most prominently PTSD," Andrea Stanley reports for The Washington Post. 

Senior study author Jyoti Mishra, a UC San Diego psychiatry professor, told Stanley they had found "striking and significant" numbers of Camp Fire survivors with PTSD, and that the phenomenon "really shows how climate change is a mental health stressor."

"To say that everyone in the area affected by the Camp Fire suffers from PTSD would be incorrect. But of the dozens and dozens of people I spoke with for this story, nearly everyone reported experiencing PTSD or PTSD-like symptoms," Stanley writes. "There were other things, of course: increased alcohol and drug use, anxiety, depression, anger, survivor’s guilt, grief. A select few were completely fine, telling me how the fire gave them a chance to rebuild their lives in a better way. But mostly, I heard about PTSD."

Extreme weather roundup: Drought drives up feed prices, pinching cattle farmers; heat endangers farmworkers

Here's a roundup of extreme weather across the nation, from hurricanes to wildfires, droughts, and extreme heat:

Drought is crushing ranchers in North Dakota. Farmers can't grow enough feed, so they're selling off their cattle before the animals starve. Read more here.

Hundreds of farmworkers across the U.S. have died from heat over the past few decades, but there are no federal rules protecting them. Read more here.

U.S. dairy farms grapple with high feed prices amid the drought. Read more here.

Hurricane Ida slammed into the Gulf Coast, causing widespread power outages and some rural hospitals to evacuate their critical patients to large hospitals—a difficult task when most large hospitals in the region are already overcrowded with Covid-19 patients. Read more here.

For households displaced by floods in New York state, the rural housing shortage poses problems. Read more here.

All residents on the California side of southern Lake Tahoe are ordered to evacuate as a huge wildfire approaches. Read more here.

Wildfire smoke has clouded summers for kids who are breathing in wildfire smoke, sometimes from hundreds or thousands of miles away. Read more here.

For residents of Paradise, Calif., the still-raging Dixie Fire serves as a constant reminder of the 2018 Camp Fire that destroyed their town. Townspeople are implementing an ambitious plan to identify the properties at the highest risk of burning and, if the owners are willing, buying the properties and turning them into fire-resistant green spaces. Read more here.

As temperatures rise, so do the health risks for California's farmworkers. Read more here.

California is the nation's top almond producer, but the drought is taking a toll on the industry. Read more here.

Wildfire smoke could threaten West Coast wines; grape growers are scrambling to protect their vineyards. Read more here.

The megadrought has prompted water cuts for farmers and residents; it's also setting the stage for bitter legal and political fights from conservationists who want to keep waterways wet to protect fish habitats. Read more here.

Conservation groups are suing the U.S. Forest Service over a plan to log some trees that burned down in an Oregon wildfire last year. The groups say an environmental study should be done first to make sure the logging doesn't cause flooding and doesn't hurt nearby rivers or endangered species. It's far from the first time conservationists have clashed with government officials over post-wildfire logging. Read more here.

Wildfire roundup: Three lessons for forest towns, one for feds; what it's like to wait, worry as fire threatens your town

The remains of a building and truck in Greenville, California. (Washington Post photo by Stuart Palley)

The above-average wildfire season is expected to continue through September or longer. A map shows your county's expected risk. Read more here.

The Dixie Fire, which recently destroyed the town of Greenville, is now the second-largest wildfire in California history. Read more here. The fire's destruction of Greenville provides three important lessons for towns in forested areas. Read more here.

Federal officials are abandoning their policy of allowing some wildfires to burn in hopes that they'll burn themselves out. That's after a fire last month grew to 70,000 acres and burned down at least 10 structures. Read more here.

California tourist town Mendocino is running out of water because of the drought. Read more here.

A resident of rural Northern California reflects on what it's like to worry and wait as wildfires threaten your home. Read more here.

A Washington Post photo essay takes readers inside efforts to fight the Dixie Fire. Read more here.

An interactive feature shows how prescribed fires can help mitigate wildfires. Read more here.

Feds not keeping up with wildfire prevention and firefighting; folks on the ground say policies need revamping

Washington Post map shows extent of Southwest drought. Click on it to enlarge.

"On the heels of one of the worst wildfire years on record, the federal government is struggling to recruit and retain staff as firefighters grapple with low wages, trauma and burnout from increasingly long and intense fire seasons," reports Sarah Kaplan of The Washington Post.

Firefighters are already battling 48 big blazes over more than half a million acres in 12 states, as "land management agencies are carrying out fire-mitigation measures at a fraction of the pace required, and the funds needed to make communities more resilient are one-seventh of what the government has supplied," Kaplan reports.

Fire experts told Kaplan that the federal government needs to transform its land-management and firefighting polices. “As our seasons are getting worse and worse … it feels like we’ve reached a tipping point,” said Kelly Martin, a wildfire veteran and president of the advocacy group Grassroots Wildland Firefighters. “We need a new approach.”

The federal government is the nation’s largest employer of wildland firefighters, Kaplan reports: "Most are temporary workers, their salaries as low as $13.45 per hour for a starting forestry technician. They spend summers traveling the country, working 16-hour days, 12 days at a time, often relying on overtime and hazard pay to make ends meet. For decades, they’ve relied on a months-long offseason to rest and recover. But now there is no offseason; one fire year simply bleeds into the next, as winter rain and snow is delayed and diminished by climate change."

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's conspiracy theory about big wildfires wasn't the first

Rural wildfires have been topics of wild conspiracy theories before Marjorie Taylor Greene, now a U.S. representative from northwest Georgia, "theorized that a space-based solar generator, used in a clean-energy experiment with the goal of replacing coal and oil, could have beamed the sun’s energy back to Earth and started the fire" that destroyed Paradise, Calif., the Los Angeles Times reports.

"California wildfires have been ripe for conspiracy for years, but Greene’s comments surface at a time when a sizable segment of the American population is treating false conjecture as fact," write reporters Hailey Branson-Potts, Joseph Serna and Alejandra Reyes-Velarde. Branson-Potts knows wildfires; she's from Perry, Okla., north of Oklahoma City.

The Camp fire that destroyed Paradise was sparked by equipment of Pacific Gas & Electric Co., "some of which was nearly 100 years old," the reporters note. "The company pleaded guilty to 84 counts of involuntary manslaughter last June."

That didn't stop theories like the one Greene espoused in a 2018 post that has since been deleted but was found by Media Matters for America. The House took her off committees by a party-line vote Thursday after "unprecedented punishment that Democrats said she’d earned by spreading hateful and violent conspiracy theories," The Associated Press reports. "Greene tried to dissociate herself from her 'words of the past' . . . but she didn’t explicitly apologize for supportive online remarks she’s made [such as] the possibility of Jewish-controlled space rays causing wildfires."

Conspiracy theories can be hatched when people seek explanations for events that seem so strange they defy traditional explanations. "When fires are extreme or wind-driven, their burn patterns can seem completely illogical to the uninitiated, and thus ripe for conspiracy as people try to make sense of what happened, said Jack Cohen, a wildfire expert and retired U.S. Forest Service firefighter," the Times reports. "Cohen said he first started hearing conspiracy theories about space-based directed-energy weapons after high-definition drone images showed the Camp fire’s pattern of destruction. People he said, are 'obscenely obsessed' with what causes wildfires and fill in the blanks when they can’t explain them."

Sometimes, theories can turn into action that is harmful or dangerous. "Last year, firefighting crews in Oregon encountered groups of people who were convinced that wildfires burning there were started by antifa," the Times reports. "The people were stopping residents from moving on local roads and, in at least one case, prohibited firefighters from going onto their property to help set up a defensive position for oncoming flames." Fact-checkers, including USA Today, debunked the claims.

Here is Greene's Facebook post about the California fire:

California's first million-acre fire got so big partly because of climate change, partly because rural fires weren't a priority

The August Complex fire perimeter Monday
(L.A. Times map by Swetha Kannan)

Dozens of smaller fires in northern California have merged in recent weeks to form the August Complex, the largest wildfire the state has ever seen. On Monday it became the first in state history to achieve 'gigafire' status, meaning it covers at least 1 million acres. Experts say the fire shows how climate change and factors such as mismanaged forests are worsening the state's fire danger, Hayley Smith and Rong-Gong Lin II report for the Los Angeles Times.

The fire, which covers a large portion of the Mendocino National Forest, is about the size of the developed part of the Bay Area. "The August Complex has contributed to the worst fire season California has ever recorded: 4 million acres in California have burned to date — far exceeding the previous record of more than 1.8 million set in 2018," Smith and Lin report. "One firefighter, Diane Jones, 63, lost her life trying to battle the blaze." Communities have been evacuated as firefighters try to control the fire. 

A record-dry February primed the land for a conflagration. "Increased global temperatures driven by carbon emissions also contributed to 2020’s extreme fire conditions," Smith and Lin report. "California saw its hottest August on record, only to break at least six more temperature records in September. Fourteen of the last 21 years have also seen below-average rainfall in the state."

The complex "makes up more than all of the fires that occurred between 1932 and 1999," Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday. "If that’s not proof-point testament to climate change, I don’t know what is."

Another reason the fire got so big? The state prioritized fighting fires in the Bay Area over rural areas because the pandemic left the state with fewer firefighters, says Scott Stephens, professor of fire science at the University of California, Berkeley. "It was just an overwhelming number of fires early. And then resources that were then stretched thin,” Stephens told the Times. "And this one, just based on a prioritization, was given a lower priority, and it continued to get bigger and bigger."

Quick hits: small churches arming themselves; firefighters must adapt to climate change

Here's a roundup of stories with rural resonance; if you do or see similar work that should be shared on The Rural Blog, email us at heather.chapman@uky.edu.

Houses of worship have been increasingly targeted by shooters in recent years. Some churches, too worried to go gun-free, are arming themselves. Read more here.

Wildfires are bigger and more destructive than ever because of climate change. That means firefighters and their communities need to adapt to meet the challenge, writes one firefighter. Read more here.

Texas leads the nation in the number of rural hospitals closing. But the funding cuts to hospitals in President Trump's proposed budget would threaten even more hospitals in Texas (and other states). Read more here.

Beloved Kentucky priest Father John Rausch, a passionate advocate for Appalachians, has died at 75. Read more here.

The American Farm Bureau Foundation hopes to help bridge the rural-urban divide by educating young consumers about agriculture and the role it plays in our lives. Read more here.

A new Veterans Affairs Department initiative aims to fill the shortage of rural medical practitioners. Read more here.