California Is Bracing For Fire Season. But A Big Problem Remains

IT’S A HOT DAY IN UKIAH IN MID-JUNE, WITH Tempratures in the mid-’90s, and fire crews are chainsawing and bulldozing their way through thick trees and brush, racing to reduce the dangerous combustibles.

- Katy Steinmetz

Crews in this rural area north of San Francisco have done this kind of fuel reduction in past years, yet not at this pace nor with this much support. The work they’re doing— clearing and thinning 100-ft.-wide swaths of land to help hold back flames—is one of 35 projects fast-tracked by California Governor Gavin Newsom, who has made wildfires a high-profile focus since taking office in January. Locals are on board too: this project cuts through hundreds of parcels of privately owned land. Getting access to residents’ property used to take convincing, says Ukiah battalion chief Michael Maynard. “Now it’s like carte blanche,” he says. “Do whatever you want.”

This rare confluence of will comes in the wake of the most destructive fires in California’s history. More than 145 people died during 2017 and 2018 as flames devoured tens of thousands of homes and businesses. In many parts of the state, it seems like everyone knows someone who lost everything. And all this tragedy has spawned a flurry of efforts to better prevent and suppress fires. As a result, experts say, California is more prepared for the dangers that summer’s hotter, drier weather will bring. “I’ve never seen the state focus on fire in the way that it has lately,” says Scott Stephens, a professor of fire science at the University of California, Berkeley, who has been in the field for 28 years.