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San Francisco, California – Travis Mitchell has lived in Greenville, California since he was five years old.
A week ago, the 34-year-old man returned home and found that it was still standing. Although it smelled of smoke, the food in the refrigerator had rotted and one of his goats was eaten by a wolf.
A month ago, Mitchell just evacuated Flame engulfed former small mining communities He spent most of his life calling home.
“This town has almost disappeared,” Mitchell said of Greenville, where there were about 1,000 residents before the Dixie fire burned it to ashes. “On my way, all my neighbors are gone.”
He said he was “fortunate” that the wind had changed and his home survived. Some buildings, including two shops and some high schools, survived the disaster, but officials said that about three-quarters of the buildings in Greenville were burned down.
The Dixie fire has now contained 75%, destroyed 1,300 buildings and scorched more than 400,000 hectares (1 million acres) of land in northern California, making it the second largest wildfire in the history of the state.
“It looks like a necropolis,” Mitchell said. “Except for chimneys and metal, there is nothing to see.”
Houses and cars destroyed by the Dixie fire in downtown Greenville on August 5 [File: Noah Berger/AP Photo]Extended wildfire season
Decades of mismanagement have made the forests on the west coast of the United States denser. Climate change is increasing the possibility of a drought that will cause fuel depletion, and the region is currently experiencing a 20-year “extraordinary drought.”
In short, these conditions make California more likely to have a catastrophic “extraordinary fire.”
Fifteen active wildfires have forced the evacuation of more than 4,000 people across the state, and so far this year, the state has burned more than 900,000 hectares (2.25 million acres)-which was almost unthinkable decades ago. But the fire season is far from over. Experts say that the fire season may be extended to December this year than in previous years.
US President Joe Biden arrived in California this week in a wildfire, promising to take a series of measures to solve the problem and link the record fire to climate change. Biden said at a press conference in Sacramento on Monday: “We cannot ignore the reality that climate change has exacerbated these wildfires.”
Biden said he investigated the damage caused by the Caldo Mountains fire in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. To date, the fire has burned more than 80,000 hectares (200,000 acres) and 1,000 buildings. As of Tuesday, 68% of the buildings were under control.
“Houses, precious memories are destroyed, air quality is declining, and the local economy is stagnant. Nearly 200 people in the area are forced to live in shelters,” he said of the damage caused by wildfires.
President Joe Biden talked about the recent wildfire at Sacramento Mather Airport on Monday [Evan Vucci/AP Photo]“Ash and Twisted Metal”
Back in Greenville, where the mandatory evacuation order was cancelled on September 3, the returning residents are taking stock of what they have lost. “It’s ashes and twisted metal,” Ken Donnell, owner of Donnell’s Music Land on Main Street, said of the community.
Donnell inherited his grandfather’s tools to manufacture and repair stringed instruments. He lost his business and home in the fire. With good insurance, he lived softer than other residents and found an apartment nearby, but he said that many people are underinsured or uninsured and live in tents.
The question of whether to rebuild is unresolved. “We had almost no nails before,” Donnell told Al Jazeera in a telephone interview. “At 68, am I capable of doing this?”
As far as Mitchell is concerned, he said he is debating whether to move out of Greenville altogether. But he still has three years to pay back his house, which is one of the reasons for staying.
A two-hour drive from Greenville to the town of Paradise destroyed by the 2018 campfire. Mitchell said that Paradise is bigger and richer than Greenville, but after three years, Paradise has not recovered.
“They said they want to rebuild,” he said of Greenville. “They will build a gas station, and some homeowners will rebuild it, but I don’t know. It’s just that there is not much money here.”
‘Code Red’
On Monday, Biden said he would work closely with California Governor Gavin Newsom to ensure that the state has “all the resources” it needs. He has approved the Caldor and Dixie fire disaster declarations, allowing federal funds to flow to California.
Biden also stated that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has approved 33 fire assistance grants to help western states pay for firefighting, adding that he is working to address firefighting water caused by supply chain issues during the coronavirus pandemic. Bring shortages.
Biden said: “These fires are flashing red codes for our country. They are becoming more frequent and fierce. We know what we need to do.” Life is in danger.”
In June, Biden increased the salary of federal firefighters from $13 to $15 per hour. Biden said that in addition, Canada and Australia have sent firefighters and aircraft to help, and 250 US troops are on the ground together with firefighters to extinguish the Dixie fire.
The US President’s plan includes the use of technology to detect fires more quickly in the future, and the infrastructure bill he has not yet passed includes funding for wildfire preparations. Biden’s budget also increases funding for hazardous fuel disposal-mechanical cleaning and prescribed burning of overgrown forests.
Prescription burn
Lenya Quinn-Davidson, a fire consultant at the University of California Cooperative Promotion Department and director of the Northern California Regulation Fire Board, is optimistic that people can restore the balance between wildfires and nature.
Quinn-Davidson trains people to use prescribed burn methods, also known as “good fires”, to prevent destructive wildfires. Historically, aboriginal people deliberately set small fires to clear dense forests, but the United States made this practice illegal. Recently, Native American tribes and Quinn-Davidson are bringing this concept back – but she says this practice needs to be promoted on a large scale.
“In the Sierra Nevada, we only do less than 20% of the things every year,” she said. “What we have done is just a drop in the bucket. We need to think more deeply about how to restore these landscapes and build resilience.”
What’s exciting is that the legislature approved US$20 million for the state-backed prescribed fire claims fund! Between this and SB332, we may see some much-needed changes around CA-regulated fires! @Conserve_CA @SenBillDodd @calcattlemen @CAgovernor
— Lenya Quinn-Davidson (@lenyaqd) September 10, 2021
She explained that a considerable challenge is insurance, because even people with extensive training cannot obtain insurance for prescribed burns. When the fire goes out of control and they call emergency services, they will be charged tens of thousands of dollars.
But this insurance system is about to change. This month, the state legislature approved $20 million to cover emergency response costs for prescribed burns, and Newsom is expected to sign Senate Bill 332 into law, which recognizes the role of tribes in managing forests and changes the standard of responsibility , So that the specified burner does not take such a big risk.
When asked about the federal government’s approach to wildfires, Quinn-Davidson said that the government must recognize that forest management and climate change both play a role. “For someone like Biden, he absolutely needs to work on the climate, because this is the scale he can influence.”
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