It was frightening, and all too familiar. The family had previously been forced to flee as a wildfire bore down on another mountain town they called home: Paradise.
Now, with their path blocked and a horizon swallowed by flames, Kristy had an eerie feeling they were going to lose all they’d fought to build.
“I kind of knew then, like, we’re never coming home again — again, again,” she said.
The Camp fire, the deadliest in California history, devastated Paradise in 2018, consuming thousands of homes, including the Daneaus’.
They relocated to the town of Cohasset, putting them in the direct path of another wildfire, one that has since become the state’s fifth largest on record. Within just six years, the family again found themselves in jeopardy.
The trio eventually made it to safety, trekking seven hours down an unpaved loggers’ road to Chico. But their home in Cohasset was no match for an inferno’s fury.
“We’re starting completely over, again,” said Michael Daneau, 41. Every property they’ve ever owned has “burned to the ground with no value and nothing to our name.”
Perhaps the next house they won’t build in a fire-prone area. But I doubt it.
That’s a lot easier said than done. There’s a reason property in that area is relatively more affordable than in other parts of the state.
They are going for a lifestyle. This isn’t about affordability.
It’s probably both.
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That’s some great arm-chair criticism right there.
“You just suffered the second tragedy of your life? Don’t worry, I’m pretty sure the next one will be your fault too.”
Show a little empathy.
You can be empathetic for their plight while recognizing that their decisions lead to a repeat of a disaster.
Yes, but you cannot pretend that is an easy decision, or even a feasible one for most folks.
Why would they move from Paradise to another town so close by? Is it because they’re idiots?
Doubt it. I’ll bet their livelihood is tied to that area, quite possibly generationally. How feasible do you think it is for members of the Paradise farming community to uproot and move to a new location?
Their entire lives are rooted in that community. Leaving it could be as disastrous as the fire. They’re recovery is likely tacked into that very community, all trying rebuild as best as possible.
That is quite likely a reality here & everyone in this thread wants to treat these poor folks like idiots.
But sure… blame their “decisions”. Blame the entire town for not getting out of the way of climate change.
I really hear you making a lot of excuses. People move across the world by the millions each day at much greater hardship. These people can find a home in some place safer without completely upending their lives–even the next town over might have been a better decision here.
I’m not making excuses, I have first experience with natural disasters wiping out homes & the struggle families face on where to rebuild.
The fact that you can not fathom that someone might have roots, generations worth, put down in a community is absurd. You’re being flat out obtuse.
If you seriously think people have the ability to just relocate after losing everything then I can no longer help you.
You have judged someone who has lost everything twice. The only excuse I’m hearing is your excuse for not caring.
Take care.
There it is. This is why you made it personal. You’re projecting your personal trauma onto others.
No partner, this conversation with me & you? This is not personal. You’re just an angry little speed bump, hatefully wishing ill on complete & total strangers, slowing up my scroll.
My context with this content is personal, but my conversation with you isn’t. You have proven not be worth any personal investment.
I do know people who have been impacted by natural disasters, but even if I didn’t, I would have the common fucking decency not wish your brand of judgement on anyone else.
You keep on hating everyone out there pal. Just keep on blaming others for shit they can’t change & spreading your rotgut foulness wherever you go!
Me? Im gonna go be a decent human.
It was a terrible mistake for me to have become involved with someone so unstable, and I very much regret it. It is hard to know when a good faith conversation will set someone off, and I walked into that here. You need to heal from your traumas. Those are not my fault, and are clouding your perception of the world.
We’re done. I regret encountering you, but will block you now so that I cannot happen again.
It’s not like fires in California are a new phenomenon. The first one wasn’t their fault, sure. The second has shown them the risk and frequency of fires in the area they live. If they rebuild there again then yes, the consequences of any more fire damage or loss of property are completely their fault.
It’s not that easy. They don’t have much money, and that’s why they were living where they were. The city nearby where everyone works became too expensive after the Camp Fire (rent has almost doubled) and then COVID. It’s really hard. They would’ve had to start over completely somewhere else without nearby family, friends, or their jobs. It’s just not that simple. Towns burning down is a pretty recent recurrence.
You got a family? You got a big family? Aunts, Uncles, cousins? Do you blame them when a natural disaster destroys their home & they choose to rebuild near their loved ones?
You sure don’t seem very kind if you think it’s ok to blame people for being in the paths of natural disasters.
When you lose your entire life, you tend to want to get some of it back. Staying in the same area, where, you know… you may have friends, family, a church, a school, a community, is one way to lighten that blow.
You sure do like swinging your judgements around like you’ve got this shit figured out.
Tell us, oh wise grand housing wizard, where have you built your un-destroyable, natural disaster proof house? Please, by all means, educate us with your infallible logic!
Lol and you made it into a personal attack. Whatever is going on here is really on you and not the person you just went ad hominem on.
Ooh… this one is personal, as I’m a Mac user. My personal favorite Mac app for whatever the hell this article is talking about is not listed.
Should I blame the developers of the app, the purchasers?
I mean the developers shoulda made an app good enough to make this list, but the purchasers… oh lord… the purchasers…
They should’ve known better, right?
But what about the advertises? Maybe the advisers hold the sole responsibility for my misfortune.
Should I blame the advertisers?
Help me judgmental one, you’re my only hope.
You’re openly blaming people who have lost their homes twice. That’s a pure lack of humanity on your part.
This isn’t personal for me. I’m just calling you on having complete disregard for a person who’s lost everything twice.
You blamed them? Who the hell does that?
Grow up.
Your argument: people should be able to do whatever they want and the consequences are not on them. Any thought that their decision making lead them to this a SECOND time is apparently offensive.
You should probably do some introspection and try to figure out why the opinions of two random people can cause you to rage so hard. This entire discourse is of you projecting your own personal issues. So I will deflect: no, you should grow up.
People have homes, people build communities, people build families. Those things are not easy for some people to live without.
If you have an easy time walking away from those things, especially after you’ve lost everything, twice, then good for you. You truly have the ability only care for yourself & you’ll go far on your own
You can’t reduce human life down to a single decision & if you continue judging everyone so harshly for making a decision you wouldn’t, you’re going to run out of people to judge faster then you’d expect.
Take care of yourself friend. Your black & white outlook on the human decision making capacity is pretty wild. You should write up a paper on it.
Edit: and for the record, my argument was never that people get to do what they want. Of course they don’t.
My argument was & still is, this a far more complicated situation than you’re willing to acknowledge. Additionally, your willingness to shit on those involved from a distance & reduce them to “idiots” tells me every thing I need to know about who you are as a person.
I have never used the word “idiot”, you did. I don’t know if you’re fully in contact with reality at this point.
Yeah im sure they could just use their spare 2 million dollars they had sitting around after the Camp fire to buy a home in a safer area in northern California. Easy peasy.
You say this like it’s a joke but insurance is a thing.
It won’t be after repeat total losses, they’ll call it a dangerous area and exempt wildfire from coverage then offer a wildfire addendum for an exorbitant amount. At which point people will eventually sell and investors will move in to make everything low cost shitty multi family homes. It’ll be fun when they announce yet again that is PG&e not maintaining power lines.
If it gets people to move to more urban environments, that’s a win for everyone
I’m not a fan of urbanization so I can’t agree there, if we talk about medium density dispersed hub and spoke communities I’m with ya.
I like outside and while green walks and carless streets make it more bearable I’d still rather live on the edge with property to work.
Nah, the more urban the better. For the planet, I mean. Personally I like either middle of the woods or middle of the city, no in between. But urban consolidation is best for the health of the planet.
Density is key urbanism isn’t necessarily if public transit is fast and efficient and the industrial center high density.