This op-ed in the Los Angeles Times, published in the wake of the Dixie Fire's destruction of Greenville, California (read more here), suggests that rural communities are not getting enough state and federal support. I was musing on that argument--and tossing the idea out to my Twitter community--when the Caldor Fire broke out in El Dorado County over the weekend. Now, tonight, I see the media here in the Sacramento region suggesting that the lack of resources to devote to the Caldor Fire has contributed to its spread and the attendant destruction. Thankfully, Governor Newsom has declared a disaster in El Dorado County, which will bring in federal resources.
I'd just really like some reputable journalists to investigate this situation--to explore the extent to which the state and nation simply don't have enough resources to fight all the fires--rural and urban, east and west--that that we are going to encounter given current climate conditions. What should we do about this going forward, given that this is apparently the new normal.
Air tankers have been flying over my house en route to El Dorado County most of the day. I live in eastern Sacramento County, bordering El Dorado County, and I'm guessing the tankers are coming from Travis Air Force Base between here and the Bay Area.
Post Script: In Cal Fire's update on the Caldor Fire at 5 pm on August 18, they acknowledged the competition for resources among the many fires still being fought in California. Meanwhile, another fire, the Cache Fire, today destroyed a mobile home park in Lower Lake, in Lake County, California. Still more competition for resources.
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