| Over the last eight years, wildfires have burned down more houses than at any time in California history. |
| Decades of homebuilding in forests and foothills have left millions of residents exposed as climate change fuels longer, hotter and drier fire seasons. |
| Nearly 22,500 homes were lost in the five most destructive blazes, which occurred from 2017 to 2020. Just 8,400 had been rebuilt as of April, per an analysis by The Times. |
| To better understand what Los Angeles might expect after January's fires, The Times has examined those five destructive wildfires to document how communities have responded in the wake of disaster. |
| In more than 50 interviews with my colleagues, wildfire-affected homeowners and renters, builders, academics, aid workers and government officials described how rebuilding had failed. |
| In many cases, they found that insurance came up short, construction costs soared, red tape stifled, and life intervened. |
| Now, with 13,000 homes lost this year in Los Angeles County, wildfires from the past offer a view into the future. |
Construction differences |
| Although The Times' analysis found that wealthier, flat, suburban areas have tended to rebuild faster than poorer, hilly, rural areas, affluence and urbanity haven't always played decisive roles. |
| In the middle-class neighborhood of Coffey Park in Santa Rosa, 93% of property owners have rebuilt after the Tubbs fire. That rate is almost 20 percentage points higher than in the wealthier nearby community of Fountaingrove. |
| Many residents in Fountaingrove struggled with the logistics of building custom homes on large, irregularly shaped lots amid sloping terrain. |
| Coffey Park, on the other hand, is flat and divided into compact, similarly sized parcels, which provided an incentive for homebuilders to develop a handful of models that could fit on most properties. |
| The middle-class enclave also had an advantage over Fountaingrove when it came to insurance. Before the fire, insurance was more affordable in Coffey Park because the neighborhood was considered at lower risk of burning. |
| In Fountaingrove, the significant expense of insuring high-value homes in a high-risk neighborhood meant that homeowners there had lesser coverage. |
Demographic changes |
| Nearly a decade of megafire in California has brought profound changes to recovering communities. Paradise, which was decimated in the 2018 Camp fire, has become smaller, younger and wealthier. |
| Renters and people on fixed incomes have been pushed to more urban areas while young families are moving in, shifting the town's demographics away from retirees who once lived there. A newcomer can build a larger home on a larger parcel for less than buying a house in Chico, a city of 100,000 people 15 miles away. |
| Still, building data show only 30% of destroyed homes have been replaced. Given the time that has already passed, it's unlikely that some places ever will have the same number of homes as before. In Paradise, it's essentially guaranteed. |
| My colleagues found that many returning homeowners purchased their neighbors' burned-out lots to build a larger house or simply expand the size of their property. |
Disappearing towns |
| In stark contrast to the rebuilding efforts in more suburban communities, only 5% of homes destroyed in Berry Creek's 2020 North Complex fire have been rebuilt — the lowest rebuilding rate among California towns affected by a major wildfire in the last eight years. |
| Bitterness permeates the community as residents compare their low recovery rate to that of the nearby Butte County town of Paradise, my colleagues found. |
| While Berry Creek feels like a ghost town, Paradise feels like one big construction site, with banners and signs advertising the reopening of restaurants and stores. All this has been fueled by hundreds of millions of dollars that have come to the town and its residents from a combination of federal and state aid, private charitable foundations and PG&E, which paid more than $13 billion to settle lawsuits for its power lines sparking the Camp fire and other giant blazes in the state. |
| County officials and residents say the disparity arises in part because the North Complex fire was sparked by lightning strikes, not by the negligence of a utility company. |
| The plight of Berry Creek and other communities ravaged by the North Complex fire offers a window into the struggles among residents recovering from a wildfire, and how climate migration is pushing rural California towns toward extinction. |
Today's top stories |
 |
| California Gov. Gavin Newsom has ratcheted up his rhetoric about President Trump in recent days. (Associated Press) |
A judge blocks Trump from deploying California National Guard — or any Guard troops — in Oregon |
- Hours after Gov. Gavin Newsom vowed to seek a court order to stop President Trump from deploying 300 of the state's National Guard troops in Oregon, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order on Sunday night.
- The federal judge who issued the restraining order Sunday evening had, just a day before, temporarily blocked the Trump administration's efforts to federalize Oregon's National Guard.
|
Chevron's El Segundo refinery has a history of safety and environmental violations |
- The explosion and hours-long fire at Chevron's refinery Thursday night in El Segundo was preceded by a long history of environmental violations.
- Over the last five years, the refinery received notices that it was in violation of environmental safety rules 46 times — with 13 in the last year.
|
California has a severe nursing shortage. Inside the battle to get more students in schools |
- Despite tens of thousands of students vying to get into nursing programs, schools can't accommodate the demand for two major reasons: They can't find enough faculty to teach classes, and there is a dearth of required hands-on training opportunities in hospitals and healthcare facilities.
- The mismatch has hit California particularly hard, triggering a state audit, legislative proposals and funding initiatives.
|
Tariffs and birthright citizenship will test whether Trump's power has limits |
| |
| |
What else is going on |
| |
Commentary and opinions |
| |
| |
This morning's must read |
| | | David Bren — the estranged son of Irvine Co. founder Donald Bren — spent years pitching wealthy investors on his idea for a high-end car club in Beverly Hills. Now, lawsuits allege the younger Bren misused millions in investments to fund his lavish lifestyle. | | | |
Other must reads |
| |
| Keep up with California | Your support helps us deliver the news that matters most. Subscribe to the Los Angeles Times. | | | | | |
For your downtime |
 |
| (Gabriel Alcala / For The Times) |
Going out |
| |
Staying in |
| |
A question for you: What do other drivers do on the road that frustrates you? |
| We're looking for your takes on L.A. driving etiquette. Email us at essentialcalifornia@latimes.com, and your response might appear in the newsletter this week. |
And finally ... your photo of the day |
 |
| (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) |
| Today's great photo is from Times photographer Genaro Molina at downtown L.A.'s 6th Street Bridge during a rally Saturday calling for an end to ICE raids and restoration of healthcare access. |
Have a great day, from the Essential California team |
| Jim Rainey, staff reporter
Hugo Martín, assistant editor, Fast Break desk
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Andrew Campa, Sunday writer
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters |
| How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com. Check our top stories, topics and the latest articles on latimes.com. |
