Disastrous wildfires spark broader policy concerns

Americans are watching the TV news with horror and sadness as tales unfold of the wildfires that are sweeping across Southern California. The latest reports point to 10 deaths, thousands of destroyed buildings and perhaps $135 billion in total damages. Then there’s the incomparable toll on residents who continue to endure this tragedy.

In a gentler era, Americans would be united in their expression of grief for the disaster victims, but these aren’t such times. Many politicians and pundits have started finger-pointing, often trading in half-truths and rumors. As the fires burn, we should all avoid ad hominem political attacks, but it’s never a bad time to mull policy issues that exacerbate our wildfire problems.

The climate-change mantra.

We do not dispute that the climate is changing — and such changes can lead to an increase in fires, floods and other natural disasters. But sensible policy makers don’t just yell “climate change” during every weather-related event. Disasters are nothing new in California, but have defined our state since its earliest settlements.

“Los Angeles weather is the weather of catastrophe, of apocalypse, and, just as the reliably long and bitter winters of New England determine the way life is lived there, so the violence and the unpredictability of the Santa Ana affect the entire quality of life,” wrote Joan Didion in a 1969 essay about the Santa Ana winds. That doesn’t mean we shrug our shoulders, but policy makers should focus on resilience rather than alarmism.

Getting serious about insurance.

California’s insurance crisis has been brewing for years, given that our state’s regulatory framework — i.e., the prior-approval rate system approved by voters in 1988’s Proposition 103 — has made it difficult for insurers to set rates that reflect their risk. After two other relatively recent wildfires cost insurers billions, many insurers have reduced their underwriting or pulled out of the state altogether.

That has left many property owners dependent on the state’s insurer of last resort, the FAIR Plan — a barebones system that is facing possible insolvency. The Legislature has known about this crisis for years. Officials finally approved some reforms, but they might be too little, too late. Add the costs of this fire into the mix and California’s crisis might spin out of control. Instead of focusing on their usual ideological nostrums, lawmakers need to craft a plan — and pronto.

Brushing up on brush clearance.

California’s leaders have long acknowledged need to speed up brush-clearance efforts, but follow up is spotty. Gov. Gavin Newsom and the U.S. Forest Service in 2020 announced a debris-removal plan for 1 million acres, but only a portion of that acreage has been cleared. Former California appeals court justice Dan Kolkey has argued that the state should re-allocate funds from boutique projects such as High Speed Rail toward wildfire mitigation.

He also noted the need for reforms to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) to expedite prescribed burns. The Legislature needs to tackle these matters immediately, as well as jump-starting efforts to build water-infrastructure projects that have been on the books for years. Additional water resources can also alleviate the drought conditions that stoke wildfires.

Our hearts go out to the victims of the fires, but our heads should follow suit by pursuing necessary brush-clearance, water and insurance measures.