Why Did The Catastrophic Camp Fire Start Where It Did?

Death-toll 42 and rising: California's deadliest wildfire still has many more people said to be unaccounted for: Thousands buildings at risk

Photo NBC News

12 November, 2018

Thirteen more bodies have been recovered in California, bringing the death toll in the US state's deadliest wildfire to 42, officials say.

The remains were found in and around the largely incinerated town of Paradise, in the north of the state.

At least 228 people are missing as the Camp Fire continues to rage.

Nearly 7,200 structures have been destroyed, and another 15,500 are at risk.

The fire has now surpassed the 1933 Griffith Park disaster that killed 31.

Speaking at a news conference on Monday evening, Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea confirmed the number of dead and the official number of missing.
Many more people are said to be unaccounted for.

In the south of the state, other wildfires are menacing lives and property.
The Woolsey Fire has so far killed two people as it damaged beach resorts, including Malibu.

More than 300,000 locals have been forced to flee their homes across California.
President Trump has declared a "major disaster" in the state, making federal aid available to affected residents.

Paradise and its surrounding areas bore the brunt of the Camp Fire - the largest blaze - which started in the nearby forest on Thursday.

Some bodies were found in gutted cars that were overrun by the fast-moving fire, as residents scrambled to evacuate overnight.

Sorrell Bobrink, a Paradise resident who managed to drive away with her child, told BBC World Service radio she was first woken up and alerted by a phone call from a friend.

She described the scene as "exactly like any apocalyptic movie I have ever seen" and said she did not know if she was driving towards death or out of harm's way as the sky blackened.

"I had to drive through the fire - it was awful.

It was probably the most awful experience I will have in my life," she told the Newsday programme. "It was traumatizing, we will be traumatized for a long time.

My whole community was traumatized - I can't watch the videos anymore because I actually went through it."

Many of the victims are believed to be elderly residents or people with mobility issues who would find evacuating more difficult.

Forensic experts are stepping up their search in the ruins of Paradise, but officials warn that finding the bodies could take weeks.

Cadaver dogs are being brought in by local police to try and locate the dead, and two mobile army morgues will be used to help identify them.

The fire has burned more than 111,000 acres (45,000 hectares) and is nearly 25% contained, fire officials said.

The separate Woosley Blaze started on Thursday near Thousand Oaks, about 40 miles (64km) north-west of central Los Angeles.

It has consumed at least 85,500 acres and destroyed at least 177 buildings, officials said. It is only 10% contained.

The smaller Hill Fire, nearby, has scorched 4,530 acres and is 75% contained.

'Want to live in a war zone?' California homeowners face ruin after wildfires

USA Today,

13 November, 2018

PARADISE, Calif. – Thousands of wildfire-weary Californians face financially and emotionally difficult years ahead as they begin rebuilding their homes and communities destroyed by the rampaging flames.

In Northern California where the Camp Fire still burns, 6,543 homes have been destroyed, along with hundreds of businesses. Near Malibu, the Woolsey Fire has destroyed about 370 structures.

Most evacuees have no idea how their homes fared because evacuation orders keep the public from the dangerous conditions caused by the Camp and Woolsey fires. Though a few people know – including actor Gerard Butler and singer Robin Thicke – most evacuees are stuck waiting for information, begging reporters for updates and trying to finagle their way past road closures.

Matt McNeill, 53, knows his house is gone. It burned down in Paradise as he desperately fled in his car, scooping up neighbors on the way. He has homeowner’s insurance but isn't sure he'll rebuild.

A general contractor, McNeill has been building homes in Paradise since 1990. He faces the thought of returning to a community vastly different from the one he fled.

The commercial district lies in ruins, dozens of business and municipal facilities destroyed by the fire. Thousands of burned trees will have to be cut down for safety, changing how Paradise looks for years to come.

"Would you want to live in a war zone for a decade or more?" McNeill said by text. "But then, our kids grew up there – great, great memories, beautiful people. Not really sure where life is headed now. Have to really think about that one."

Authorities have not begun notifying McNeill's neighbors about how their homes fared, in part because firefighters are trying to control the Paradise and Woolsey fires. Sending in ground-based survey teams remains too dangerous.

From thousands of feet in the sky, specialists working for the nation's insurance companies take photos that building inspectors, assessors and firefighters can use to help inform the public.

“Underneath that smoke are people’s lives that have come unraveled," said Jim Schweitzer, senior vice president and chief operating officer of the National Insurance Crime Bureau.

The bureau works with insurance companies across the country to fight insurance-related fraud and crime, including vehicle thefts, but also to combat disaster-related fraud. In some cases, unscrupulous contractors perform shoddy work or conspire to get insurance companies to pay for extra work not caused by a disaster, which can bring felony charges and void a homeowner's coverage.

The stakes are high in the fires, which threaten nearly 50,000 homes valued at about $18 billion, according to property data company CoreLogic. The value of the destroyed homes has not been compiled because authorities don’t have a complete assessment of the damage.

The insurance bureau partnered with imaging company Vexcel Imaging to create the Geospatial Intelligence Center, a not-for-profit initiative of the bureau funded by a consortium of insurers. Technicians take high-resolution aerial imagery of disaster areas with $1.5 million Vexcel cameras shooting out the bottom of airplanes.

A little more than a year old, the GIC's Colorado-based teams have deployed to numerous natural disasters across the country, most recently to the East Coast to image the damage left by Hurricanes Michael and Florence. They fly over the Paradise and Woolsey fires.

The GIC mission includes mapping virtually every home and building in the country, providing insurers with "before" photos to compare with post-disaster imagery.

The searchable database of photos is initially available only to first responders, recovery agencies and member insurers but will be made public shortly.

“Like it or not, it’s a confirmation. That alone can go a long way to beginning the recovery process,” Schweitzer said. “The uncertainty is gone, and you can move forward.”

In addition to helping insurers fight fraud, the photos allow them to reach out directly to their policyholders to help them with temporary housing and living expenses even before victims have a chance to check on their homes in person, Schweitzer said.

For many people who lost their homes, the journey to recovery is just beginning. McNeill said he has been overwhelmed by the generosity of strangers, who gave his family clothes and even a bike for his grandson. His family is adjusting to the loss, he said: "You think, 'I don't have that anymore.' (But it's) the little things that get you through. Gonna smile our way through it."

For others, the routine of work provides some level of normality, even amid the devastation. Butte County sheriff's Deputy Brian Evans, 42, is still on the job even though his house burned down before he could grab anything from it. Wearing his uniform, which is pretty much the only clothing he owns, Evans spent the weekend helping search for missing neighbors and friends.

Rebuilding Paradise won't be easy, he said as smoke rose from the ruins. His son's school burned down, their neighbors all lost their houses, and dozens of the people he served died in the fire.

Disasters such as the Paradise and Woolsey fires inevitably change the face of a community for decades. Some evacuees will never return. Some homeowners will choose to rebuild elsewhere. Small businesses may go under, and employment may be hard to come by for the thousands of people whose cars were destroyed. Evans said he's committed to seeing it through. This is his home, after all.

"It will take a while," he said. "But it will get better. It always does."

California wildfire rips through nuclear waste site, fueling airborne toxin risk concerns

RT,

13 November, 2018

The Woolsey fire that engulfed over 90,000 acres in California last weekend may have spread toxic and radioactive substances from a Superfund site, according to activists who believe authorities might be downplaying the risks.

The fire passed through the Santa Susana Field Lab (SSFL), a federal Superfund site in the Simi Hills that was the site of the worst nuclear meltdown in US history in 1959. While the California Department of Toxic Substances Control said there was no reason to be concerned of "any risks other than those normally present in a wildfire situation," locals aren't so sure, pointing out that the agency has dragged its feet in cleaning up toxic sites and accusing it of a possible cover-up.

Physicians for Social Responsibility Los Angeles president Robert Dodge castigated the DTSC, pointing out that the site – now owned by Boeing – remains radioactive and polluted despite the agency's promise to clean it up eight years ago. "These toxic materials are in SSFL's soil and vegetation, and when it burns and becomes airborne in smoke and ash, there is real possibility of heightened exposure for area residents."

The DTSC reassured residents that the SSFL facilities were not affected by the fire and claimed measurements of radiation and hazardous compounds from both the site and the surrounding communities were within normal levels, posing no danger other than that normally present in the aftermath of a wildfire. Thousands of people live within two miles of the site, which was originally developed to test rocket engines and conduct nuclear research in the 1940s.

NASA, which owns a small piece of the site, echoed the DTSC's message in a press release, stating that the fire presented no risks beyond those normally associated with wildfires although its property experienced "significant fire damage" across all three "historic districts."

Residents' concerns about authorities possibly downplaying the risks are fueled by the DTSC's track record of broken promises, combined with the very real history of nuclear meltdown onsite. The California state legislature commissioned an Independent Review Panel to investigate the DTSC and found in 2016 that the agency had placed communities "at risk" by "failing to perform its basic function of protecting the public and environment from industrial hazardous waste and contamination." The DTSC was held responsible for the Exide scandal in Vernon, in which a battery recycling plant leaked toxins into surrounding communities for decades, and was criticized for its backlog of hazardous waste permits.

Local parents have blamed contamination at the SSFL site for their children's cancers, and the Centers for Disease Control designated lab workers from the 1950s who developed cancer as part of a "special exposure cohort" eligible for compensation for their years of laboring in a radioactive environment. While the SSFL was the site of multiple nuclear accidents, the worst took place in 1959 when a reactor vented nuclear material to avoid an explosion, ultimately releasing 459 times more radiation than the infamous Three Mile Island meltdown 20 years later.

Seemorerocks

Wednesday, 14 November 2018