California politicians have a new excuse for wildfires: “Climate change.”
One can bet that following every major wildfire in California in the year ahead, some politician will invoke this new universal explanation for destructive wildfires, including those whose destruction could have been prevented or mitigated.
In reality, it is the failure of federal, state, and local governments that are directly contributing to elevated wildfire risk in many California communities, threatening homes, lives, and property, and causing insurance companies to stop writing policies in the state.
In my community, government is a major contributor to wildfire risk. It increases the likelihood of catastrophic wildfires in three ways.
First is by allowing an unacceptable buildup of fuel to accumulate on our public lands. Politicians love to send out press releases taking credit for “protecting” land by having the government acquire it, only to dedicate inadequate resources to maintaining that land. The result is continuous buildup of fuel awaiting the right conditions to spread fire into surrounding communities. For example, in 2020, the Creek Fire in Fresno and Madera Counties burned nearly 380,000 acres, much of it fueled by overgrown forests on federal lands. Years of delayed thinning projects and inadequate funding for prescribed burns made the area a tinderbox.
Government is also contributing to wildfire risk through inadequate firebreaks across public land. A witches’ brew of regulations ostensibly intended to “protect” the environment combine with insufficient resources to build and maintain the robust firebreaks that can limit the damage many wildfires can pose. In the 2018 Camp Fire, which devastated the town of Paradise, the lack of properly maintained firebreaks allowed the fire to spread rapidly through the surrounding forest into the community, claiming 85 lives. While firebreaks cannot prevent wildfires, they are proven to slow the spread and give firefighters crucial time to protect populated areas.
California’s misguided energy policies are also putting communities like mine at risk. By incentivizing the building of wind and solar farms out in the desert—rather than near population centers—the state is, through regulation, forcing the construction of high-voltage transmission lines right through the state’s most fire-prone forests. These power lines are a known ignition source for wildfire during periods of drought combined with high winds. Pacific Gas & Electric’s equipment, for instance, was found to have sparked the deadly Dixie Fire in 2021, which burned nearly 1 million acres and destroyed over 1,300 structures. Instead of addressing this risk by moving energy production closer to where it is consumed or investing in underground transmission lines, the state’s policies continue to endanger rural and forested communities.
The ultimate costs of the wildfire risks exacerbated by flawed government policies are ultimately passed on to the taxpayer and homeowner in the form of higher insurance rates or being forced into the state’s terrible backup insurance program called the “FAIR” plan, which is nothing of the sort. For example, in San Diego County, residents of fire-prone areas have seen their insurance premiums skyrocket by as much as 300% in recent years. Many homeowners are left with no option but to rely on the FAIR Plan, which offers limited coverage at exorbitant rates. This inadequate safety net leaves families financially vulnerable while failing to address the underlying policy failures driving the crisis.
If California truly wants to reduce wildfire risk, politicians need to look beyond the convenient scapegoat of “climate change” and address the structural issues that make our communities more vulnerable. Only then can we begin to see meaningful progress in protecting lives and property from the growing threat of wildfires.
Ron Nehring served on the California Board of Forestry and Fire Protection in 2005-2006, appointed by Gov. Schwarzenegger. Today he is an elected Planning Group member in San Diego County, and former Chairman of the California Republican Party.