As recently as 2003 you could count on California having a distinct fire season. “Fire season” would officially begin on June 1, but it was when the Santa Ana winds picked up in October, combined with hot temperatures and dry conditions, that the firestorms usually erupted.<\/p>\n
In recent years, however, global warming has completely changed the rules of the game. Now major fires can begin at virtually any time of the year. Higher temperatures and less rainfall have produced dramatically drier conditions, leaving more fuel for fires. As I explained back in October 2007, the fire, water, and climate crisis<\/a> were all facets of the same overall crisis.<\/p>\n And so as we enter the waning days of August, that crisis is coming together as fires erupt across the state:<\/p>\n \u2022 “Several homes” damaged on the Palos Verdes Peninsula<\/a><\/p>\n \u2022 Evacuations underway in La Ca\u00f1ada Flintridge<\/a> for 500 households<\/p>\n \u2022 Fire near Hemet in Riverside County<\/a>, no homes threatened yet<\/p>\n \u2022 Two fires here in Monterey County, including one east of Soledad that has caused 400 homes to be evacuated<\/a> and another, larger fire further down the Salinas Valley near Lake San Antonio<\/a><\/p>\n And I am sure there are many others that I haven’t mentioned.<\/p>\n The fire\/water\/climate crisis dovetails with the state’s other crisis – the budget mess. Firefighting costs in California have tripled over the last 10 years, and as John Laird pointed out<\/a>, Republican anti-tax zealotry has blocked a solution to the matter of how to pay those costs:<\/p>\n The Governor made a similar proposal for the current budget year. The non-partisan Legislative Analyst suggested an alternative fee on property owners in “state responsibility areas”, places where wild land fires generally occur. The theory is that those adjacent property owners who are protected, not all California taxpayers, should pay for the cost of fighting fires. The Legislative Analyst has a point. Yet this proposal was adopted once about five years ago, and abandoned after the administration never moved forward in its implementation.<\/p>\n Legislative Republicans, committed to oppose any new fees or taxes, strongly opposed the Governor’s proposal, and were primarily responsible for the fact that it was not enacted. But they were also not enthusiastic about the earlier proposal that placed the firefighting costs on those who receive the services – generally in more rural, Republican areas – with similar opposition because it was fee-based.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n In other words, California Republicans are doing their best to channel the Bloodhound Gang – “we don’t need no taxes, let the motherfucker burn.”<\/p>\n Not exactly comforting thoughts as the fall, three years of drought-stricken hillsides, and the Santa Ana winds, are all still ahead of us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As recently as 2003 you could count on California having a distinct fire season. “Fire season” would officially begin on June 1, but it was when the Santa Ana winds picked up in October, combined with hot temperatures and dry conditions, that the firestorms usually erupted.<\/p>\n In recent years, however, global warming has completely changed the rules of the game. Now major fires can begin at virtually any time of the year. Higher temperatures and less rainfall have produced dramatically drier conditions, leaving more fuel for fires. As I explained back in October 2007, the fire, water, and climate crisis<\/a> were all facets of the same overall crisis.<\/p>\n And so as we enter the waning days of August, that crisis is coming together as fires erupt across the state:<\/p>\n \u2022 “Several homes” damaged on the Palos Verdes Peninsula<\/a><\/p>\n \u2022 Evacuations underway in La Ca\u00f1ada Flintridge<\/a> for 500 households<\/p>\n \u2022 Fire near Hemet in Riverside County<\/a>, no homes threatened yet<\/p>\n \u2022 Two fires here in Monterey County, including one east of Soledad that has caused 400 homes to be evacuated<\/a> and another, larger fire further down the Salinas Valley near Lake San Antonio<\/a><\/p>\n And I am sure there are many others that I haven’t mentioned.<\/p>\n