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Kardashian and West donated $400,000 to relief agencies and $100,000 to a firefighter whose home had burned down. Several celebrities have made huge donations. How nice it would be if other celebrities started thinking "Those people aren't going to show me up" and then made even larger donations.
Kim Kardashian, Kanye West donate $500,000 to California wildfire relief efforts
https://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/celebri...X11h?ocid=AMZN
Aaron Rodgers was born in Chico, the city just west of Paradise, and played football with Butte Community College's Roadrunners and UC Berkeley's California Golden Bears before being drafted by the Packers in 2005. And I just became a huge fan of Aaron Rodgers.
Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers donates $1 million to California wildfire victims
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/green-b...ms-2018-11-21/
The Camp fire is now 85% contained after burning 153,000 acres (239 square miles). Eight hundred thirty volunteers will spend their Thanksgiving looking for remains of fire victims.
Camp fire death toll increases to 83, while 563 still missing
https://www.latimes.com/local/califo...htmlstory.html
As much as four inches of rain fell Wednesday night and Thursday in the mountains east of Paradise where the Camp fire continues to burn. The blaze is now 95% contained and 84 are confirmed dead. The Sacramento Bee headline has five words starting with "c." It sounds like something I would have written.
Camp fire in northern California comes close to containment
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/ca...1CUD?ocid=AMZN
Thanks to the efforts of more than 1,300 firefighters coupled with the recent rainfall, the Camp fire is almost out but 475 people are still unaccounted for. If they perished in the fire, their remains will likely never be found. The best we can hope for is that many of those 475 are now living elsewhere and are unaware they've been reported missing.
Catastrophic wildfire nearly out but grim search for human remains goes on
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/camp-fi...ay-2018-11-24/
Today, on the 16th day it has been raging, the Camp fire was finally contained after burning 153,336 acres (240 square miles). The official death toll is 86 but the actual number of victims is likely more than 500. Estimates of the fire's damage range as high as ten billion dollars. Yikes!
Deadly Camp fire is fully contained
https://www.kcra.com/article/death-t...-fire/24838602
Officials have found the remains of 88 victims of the Camp fire and confirmed that 2,700 people reported missing are still alive. Two hundred three people are still unaccounted for and searchers are now finding little more than bone fragments. DNA samples are being extracted from the bones in the hope they can be matched with DNA from living relatives or from any of the 88 victims. And here is today's winner of the "Nice Guy'" award:
San Diego County man to donate $1 million to Paradise High School students and staff after Camp fire levels town
https://ktla.com/2018/11/27/san-dieg...e-levels-town/
Several thousand residents of Paradise signed up to receive telephone calls from the CodeRed warning system in the event of an emergency. For many, the emergency came but the calls did not. More than a hundred people are still missing. I wonder how many wound up dying because they didn't get the evacuation order.
Camp fire evacuation warnings failed to reach more than a third of residents meant to receive calls
https://www.latimes.com/local/califo...130-story.html
At the Chico Mall, Santa Claus feels helpless and saddened. Children are asking him for toys, video games, cell phones.....and new homes to replace the ones that burned down. At least there is a tiny bit of good news today: The number of people missing and unaccounted for is down to 25.
'Santa, how do you know where I live if I don't have a house anymore?' After fire, a tough Christmas for kids in Paradise
https://www.latimes.com/local/califo...201-story.html
Only six people remain missing in the aftermath of the Camp fire. The death toll has been revised downward to 85. Here is a story about Madison, a loyal, faithful dog who miraculously survived the fire and then continued to guard the property where his owners' house once stood:
Couple returns to home lost in Camp fire to find their dog waiting for them
https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/...GbPN?ocid=AMZN
California has the sixth-highest electricy rates in the nation. (Hawai'i has the highest; Louisiana has the lowest.) If PG&E gets its way, they'll go even higher. A proposed rate hike would go to upgrading equipment, installing stronger power poles and lines and installing video cameras to monitor for problems in fire-prone areas. Yeah, that's fine -- but none of that will prevent fires caused by arson or lightning strikes.
PG&E proposes nearly $2 billion in rate hikes to bolster wildfire precautions
https://ktla.com/2018/12/14/after-no...r-precautions/
Zoele Mickey Skinner was born on December 12. Her middle name honors Mickey Huber, the paramedic who saved the life of her mother, who had gone into premature labor while attempting to flee last month's deadly Camp fire in the town of Paradise. The premature labor was triggered by smoke inhalation. The baby was born full-term and is doing fine. Merry Christmas, Zoele!
Woman names baby after medic who saved her during wildfire
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...ldfire-n951231
Many thousands of Californians are now drinking bottled water because the recent wildfires contaminated local water supplies and nobody wants to ingest ash, mercury, benzene and cryptosporidia. It may be many months before lakes, reservoirs and municipal water systems are free of toxins and parasites.
After the fire: Blazes pose hidden threat to the West's drinking water
NBC News, Jan 5 2019 4:09 AM
Not all fire damage is visible to the eye. As more people build homes in fire-prone areas, and as climate change and other factors increase the frequency of fires, there is a growing risk to life and property throughout the West — and a lesser known risk to the region's already endangered water supply. At least 65% of the public water supply in the Western US comes from fire-prone areas. Blazes such as the 2017 Tubb Fire and 2018's massive Camp and Carr wildfires can expose the drinking water for millions of people to the risk of contamination by ash, sediment, toxic chemicals and parasites.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...-water-n954806
Here is another idiotic message from the Tweeter-In-Chief who can't spell, who doesn't understand capitalization, who hates California and who continues to mistakenly blame wildfires on "poor forest management":
Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
Billions of dollars are sent to the State of California for Forrest fires that, with proper Forrest Management, would never happen. Unless they get their act together, which is unlikely. I have ordered FEMA to send no more money. It is a disgraceful situation in lives & money!
7:25 AM - Jan 9, 2019
An editorial in today's Los Angeles Times assails the uninformed, authoritarian "bully" in the White House:
Trump's 'forrest' mismanagement threats are as disturbingly uninformed as they are authoritarian
In between his threats to keep the government shut for months or years if Congress refuses to fund his border wall, President Trump made time Wednesday morning to threaten to cut off disaster relief dollars to Californians whose homes were charred by wildfires last year. After complaining for the umpteenth time about the way the state manages its forests, Trump tweeted, "Unless they get their act together, which is unlikely, I have ordered FEMA to send no more money."
The threat is probably no more serious than it was the last time Trump uttered it. He has frequently shaken his fist at California — over its immigration policies in particular — and has rarely followed through. Still, Trump's response to the fires, like his response to congressional Democrats' refusal to waste billions of dollars on a bigger, longer border wall, reflects his disturbingly authoritarian view of the Presidency.
Stung by criticism from California's Democratic leaders, Trump is proclaiming his intention to ignore the federal law governing disaster assistance and simply turn off the spigot of federal dollars. Frustrated that lawmakers won't fund his pet project at the border, Trump threatens to declare a national emergency so he can ignore the will of Congress and spend the money anyway.
What’s especially galling about Wednesday's sniping was Trump's willful ignorance about the nature of California's wildfire problem. California is, in fact, getting its "act together," moving to spend $1 billion over five years to reduce fire risk and better prepare communities for the larger, more destructive fires driven, in part, by climate change. Governor Gavin Newsom on Tuesday called for even more money — an additional $100 million this year — to help accelerate the thinning of dry, dense forests and brush.
Some 60% of California's forests are on federal land, however, and as Newsom points out, the US Forest Service budget has been cut by more than $2 billion since 2016. Instead of properly funding fire prevention on federal lands, where some of the most destructive fires in the state’s history have raged, Trump has repeatedly railed against the "gross mismanagement" of forests in California — whatever that's supposed to mean. Trump is myopically focused on forests when some of California's largest fires have been in the brush and grasslands.
But such details apparently mean nothing to Trump. California leaders have dared to question his decisions and challenge his demands, therefore — in the World According to Trump — they do not deserve his government’s support. Never mind that thousands of Californians have lost their homes and businesses and are relying on federal assistance to rebuild their lives. Even if he doesn't carry out his threats, the fact that he would make them tells you a lot about the man who seeks to use the tremendous power of his office not to unite people, but to bully them into submission.
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/edit...110-story.html
Last November's Camp fire in northern California burned 153,336 acres, destroyed 18,804 homes and buildings and left 86 people dead. It resulted in $16.5 billion in losses, making it the most destructive wildfire in world history.
California's Camp fire was the world's costliest disaster in 2018, insurance report shows
https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/...111-story.html
Ron Howard progressed from Opie Taylor, Steve Bolander and Richie Cunningham to Academy Award-winning movie director (Cocoon, Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind, Cinderella Man, Frost/Nixon). His newest project is a documentary about the destruction in, and rebuilding of, the northern California city of Paradise, most of which was reduced to rubble and ashes by last November's Camp fire. By the way, state fire officials still have not determined the origin of the fire but they are investigating PG&E electrical equipment near the small town of Pulga. Stay tuned.
Ron Howard to make documentary about California town devastated by wildfires
https://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/new...res/ar-BBSHpeW
Well, we now know the cause of one of last year's wildfires in California. Cal Fire gave few details but KFI reported today the power lines that sparked the Tubbs fire were privately owned and provided electricity from a generator to a homeowner's hot tub and wine cellar.
Private power lines caused deadly wine country fire, state says
Los Angeles Times, Jan 24 2019 4:00 PM
The 2017 fire that killed 22 people and destroyed thousands of homes in Santa Rosa was caused by private power lines, not ones owned by utility giant Pacific Gas & Electric, a long-awaited state investigation released today concluded. The finding by Cal Fire marks a bit of good news for the struggling utility as it prepares to file for bankruptcy due to huge potential liabilities related to last year’s Camp fire, which destroyed more than 90% of the town of Paradise and killed at least 86 people.
PG&E’s electrical systems were found responsible for numerous destructive Northern California fires in recent years. In many cases, heavy winds downed power lines that sparked the blazes. Cal Fire released few details about the source of the Tubbs fire, saying only that it was caused by "a private electrical system adjacent to a residential structure." The fire agency also said it found no violations of state law related to the blaze.
https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/...124-story.html
California has more than 250,000 miles of power lines and thousands of small fires have been caused by downed power lines or by power lines igniting vegetation. It would cost billions of dollars to put all the power lines underground but we should consider doing so.
California utility equipment sparked more than 2,000 fires in three and a half years
https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-...128-story.html
Thousands of California homes were destroyed by last year's huge wildfires. Can things get any worse for the people who lost their homes? Yes. In the past four years, more than 2,000 small fires have been sparked by utility company equipment -- and ultimately the utility customers will wind up paying the companies' legal bills.
PG&E files for bankruptcy. Here's why that could mean higher electricity bills.
Los Angeles Times, Jan 29 2019 2:50 PM
Pacific Gas & Electric, California’s largest electric utility, filed for bankruptcy protection today in anticipation of huge legal claims, starting an unpredictable process that could take years to resolve and is likely to result in higher energy bills for the millions of Californians who depend on for power. PG&E said a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, which allows the company to continue operating while it comes up with a plan to pay its debts, was the only way to deal with billions of dollars in potential liabilities from a series of deadly wildfires, many of which were sparked by the company's power grid infrastructure.
Energy experts say PG&E's rates probably will increase when the utility emerges from Chapter 11 protection because bankruptcy inevitably makes it more expensive for a company to borrow money and creates large legal and other bankruptcy-related costs. The utility passes such expenses along to its customers.
https://www.latimes.com/business/la-...129-story.html