California on the Road to Recovery After Most Active Wildfire Season in State History
What we’re talking about
The state of California continues recovery efforts from a historic wildfire season which included some of the largest fires (in acreage burned) in state —second only to the COVID-19 pandemic for worst disasters of the year. By the end of December, over 9,000 fires burned nearly 4.4 million acres, or about 4% of the state’s approximate 100 million acres of land. The August Complex Fire has been classified as the first “gigafire”- burning over 1 million acres across seven counties. It was one of several large-scale fires and ranked as the Top 5 of the 6 largest fires in California’s recorded wildfire history.
Topics Covered:
- The August Complex Fire has been classified as the first “gigafire”- burning over 1 million acres across seven counties. It was one of several large-scale fires and ranked as the Top 5 of the 6 largest fires in California’s recorded wildfire history.
- Since August of last year, California has received 19 fire management assistance grants approved for 25 counties.
- The year’s season was forecasted early in 2020 to be severe after an extremely dry January and February, which set the stage for a catastrophic season when extreme heat and high winds fueled hundreds of fires across the state in August and September.
- Due to the nature of ongoing events that California has faced over the last several years, the state continues to evolve around the phases of emergency from Recovery to Preparedness to Mitigation back to Response and Recovery
- The wildfires may be over, but now California is looking ahead to the next threats. The large burn scars could produce dangerous mud slides if heavy rains come through the rainy season. The state has been working closely with cities and counties throughout our Watershed Task Force to map out the possible threats and areas of risk where mudflows could be likely.
Additional Information:
- To learn more on preparing for wildfires and how the state responds to these events, visit the Cal Fire website.
- California Governor’s Office of Emergency Service
- Blog – “California on the Road to Recovery After Most Active Wildfire Season in State History”
Transcript
(0:02 – 0:14)
2020 was a historic year for California wildfires. Over 9,000 fires burned just over 4.2 million acres. 33 died and over 10,000 structures damaged or destroyed.
(0:14 – 0:41)
In this episode of Disaster Recovery Roundtable, we’ll chat with Ryan Burrus, the Deputy Director with California’s Office of Emergency Services, for an update on the recovery of the wildfires of 2020. This is the Disaster Recovery Roundtable, a platform to explore, engage, and educate the emergency management community. Our topics are timely and relevant, intended to promote the exchange of ideas and best practices.
(0:43 – 0:58)
Now, here’s your host, Greg Paget. And thanks, Steve Henderson, and welcome to Disaster Recovery Roundtable. The 2020 wildfire season in California set records for acreage burned as a whole and produced five of the top six largest fires in California’s history.
(0:58 – 1:12)
No doubt it was a historic season in the state, and the recovery continues. Our guest in this episode is Ryan Burrus. In July 2019, Mr. Burrus was appointed Deputy Director of Recovery Operations for California’s Office of Emergency Services.
(1:13 – 1:24)
He was also previous director for the National Qualification System and the National Integration Center at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security with FEMA. Deputy Director Burrus, welcome to Disaster Recovery Roundtable. Thank you for having me this morning.
(1:24 – 1:41)
Of course, California is well into its recovery after a long and destructive wildfire season. How is the state progressing so far? It’s been, as you said, it’s been a long year last year. And to your point, it was a very historic year here in California.
(1:41 – 2:11)
We suffered multiple extensive wildfires throughout the year, and it’s wild that we had over 9,000 fires last year in California. And, you know, as many people are aware, we lost almost 4 million acres, which is roughly 4% of the state’s roughly 100 million acres of the land. And, you know, unfortunately, you know, fires and disasters have consequences, and we lost 33 lives last year over the course of the fires.
(2:11 – 2:45)
And almost 11,000 structures were damaged and destroyed in this, you know, May 2020, the largest wildfire season recorded in California’s history. And, you know, since August 20th or so last year, it’s pretty remarkable when you think that we received 19 fire management assistant grants approved for 25 counties and 29 counties were approved for California. Here in California, we have our own public assistance program, and 29 counties were also approved through that program.
(2:46 – 3:10)
One thing with fires, it’s, you know, the cleanup takes a little more time than other incidences, like floods and others. And we’re working closely with our partner in CalRecycle and removing debris in 17 of 24 counties that the fire has erupted. And that’s all the way from the, you know, southern state to the northern state.
(3:10 – 3:25)
So, you know, just the mass operation that this has us doing is just on the recovery side is pretty remarkable. And we have a couple of phases. The first phase is the health and hazardous waste, and, you know, that’s been complete for the state.
(3:25 – 3:37)
We’re in phase two right now, removing the ash and debris. And we in California are also removing the burnt slabs and cores. And, you know, it’s a full-time operation.
(3:38 – 3:52)
And, you know, just a quick update of, you know, just where we are with, you know, some of the fires. You know, in August, we had the wildfires, which was 20 counties. Fifteen were approved for individual assistance with FEMA and also public assistance.
(3:52 – 4:13)
I mean, let’s just think about that. You know, 15 counties were approved for both, five were PA only, public assistance only. And then a month later, not even a month later, we had the September fires included 12 counties, and of those 12, actually 10 had IA and PA and two PA only.
(4:13 – 4:35)
So it’s just a remarkable amount of work that we’re doing. And, you know, one thing we’re doing here in California, we’re really emphasizing it on these events, is the interagency recovery coordination team. So we’re working with, you know, other state and local and federal programs to work with the recovery support functions and help those that are affected in any way that we can through grants.
(4:36 – 5:15)
It’s truly a multi-agency response, you know, to not only remove debris, but we have two housing missions now awarded here in the state. So working through that is going to take a multi-agency approach, even though housing mission is a quote-unquote FEMA program, it takes a lot of our being the state and local support and making sure these sites are available for housing units. So it’s a long way of saying we are pretty busy here in California with the recovery side, and, you know, these fires, you know, burned a lot of land and they had a lot of destruction, and we’re going to be here for a while cleaning this up.
(5:16 – 5:30)
And it’s not like this is new from California. Unfortunately, you know, you have the 2018, you know, pretty historic wildfire season in itself there. In fact, you know, our organization, Tidal Basin, is supporting the CDBG work there with those fires.
(5:30 – 6:01)
You know, this seems to be in the last five years a reoccurrence that we’re seeing in California. What is California doing or how will it be changing its efforts to mitigate for these likely more future wildfire seasons that are at this level? It’s a great question. And, you know, we talk about wildfires since really, you know, 2015 and up to now, it’s just been every year it’s, you know, we, you know, of course it’s not going to be the same as last year.
(6:01 – 6:26)
And every year we just keep getting bigger. And, you know, if you’re topping that, everything else we’re dealing with in the state, which is COVID response and civil unrest, it’s, you know, there’s a lot we’re doing now, you know, under the direction of the governor, as I mentioned before, we’re really putting a lot of focus on the recovery framework. And, you know, and you know the circle of emergency management.
(6:26 – 6:51)
What I mean by that is, you know, there’s a preparedness phase to plan around a disaster recovery with the understanding that emergency management exists on a continuum. So one thing we’re working here is, you know, there’s preparedness to response, response to recovery, and recovery back into response. Well, due to the nature of the instances we’ve been having in the state, that’s been happening all at the same time, literally real time.
(6:51 – 7:12)
And it really started several years ago with the drought that faced California for four years, and now the wildfire. So we’re really focusing through the governor’s direction on that, on those recovery frameworks. You know, just some things we did, and we’re doing, you know, the historic campfire in 2018 that impacted Butte.
(7:13 – 7:32)
And unfortunately Butte County was impacted again in these recent fires. We continue to work with our recovery support functions to address recovery, according to the town’s priorities, which is big. We have a very strong coordination with our FEMA and federal counterparts.
(7:33 – 8:01)
And, you know, OES has been very successful in supporting local jurisdictions with resources and technical assistance grants and loans. One component of all of this is, as you know, and I’m sure we’ll maybe discuss a little further, is just, you know, the mitigation side of things and what can be done. But one thing we’ve been doing with the assessment teams, our hazard mitigation assessment teams, is providing assistance to, you know, our communities across the state.
(8:02 – 8:28)
And not only planning, but also mitigating against some of these wildfire impacts. You know, and working with the locals and having their hazard mitigation plans complete and addressing applications such as home hardening, defensible space, and really address the wildfire mitigation effort here. You know, and we do participate.
(8:29 – 8:36)
We have a forest management task force here in the state of California. We have a lot of task forces. And one of those is the California forest management task force.
(8:36 – 8:52)
And their mission is to restore the health and reduce wildfire threats to California forest. So we’re actively working throughout the state to do that. And, you know, our local mitigation plan that works under recovery here works closely with CAL FIRE.
(8:52 – 9:15)
One of the best fire agencies out there. And they have a lot of land use planners to ensure these sections of the local hazard mitigation plan and community plans address these defensible space measures. And we’re trying to integrate and maximize resources for local jurisdictions to assist them, you know, during this planning phase.
(9:15 – 9:23)
And we update it every five years. We’ve gone through it right now. And so, you know, we’re trying everything we can.
(9:24 – 9:33)
And just this March, upcoming March, we’re going to start rolling out the first ever year in the state. We’re going to have a mitigation summit every quarter. We’re going to start it in March.
(9:33 – 9:51)
We’re going to focus those efforts on the previous year’s instances. But more importantly, you know, let’s not talk and mitigate what happened yesterday. Let’s talk about, you know, the changing climate and the impacts of tomorrow and how best we can mitigate the state, regardless if it’s a fire, earthquake.
(9:52 – 10:03)
And, you know, California, we pretty much face every disaster that, that is known. So it’s a lot going on and we have a lot of effort through those recovery support functions. Stay with us.
(10:03 – 10:32)
When we come back, we’re going to hear how California is planning for other impacts from the wildfires, including the threat of flooding and mudslides. You’re listening to Disaster Recovery Roundtable available on your favorite podcast provider and on our website at tidalbasinggroup.com. Here’s a preview of the next episode of Disaster Recovery Roundtable. We’ll be joined by Justin Knighton with California’s Listos campaign created to support reaching and preparing some of the most vulnerable populations in the state.
(10:32 – 11:30)
Governor Gavin Newsom, then-elect Governor Gavin Newsom, coming into office at a time when Camp Fire really just devastated the community of Paradise. And, you know, he saw firsthand the devastation of that catastrophic event, specifically on some of the most vulnerable members of the community, specifically older adults and people with disabilities, low income, et cetera. And so that really informed, I think, his approach and motivations as he assumed office and wanting to not only make an investment into what our diverse and vulnerable populations need, but to really reimagine what does it mean to be prepared, to be resilient at a time when we know that ongoing challenges are only going to further exacerbate issues and create dynamics in which our most vulnerable among us continue to be disproportionately impacted.
(11:30 – 12:04)
For this and other episodes of Disaster Recovery Roundtable, visit tidalbasingroup.com forward slash education. As states, communities, and healthcare providers begin the COVID-19 vaccine distribution process, Tidal Basin Group is available to provide key services supporting and managing these activities. Our call center assistance and case management services help manage the comprehensive mission of patient registration, scheduling appointments, assisting citizens with questions they have, providing updates to the public and encouraging participation in the vaccine program.
(12:04 – 12:40)
We also provide boots on the ground supportive logistics, equipment, training, and healthcare workers for assistance in EOCs, vaccine sites and door-to-door patient follow-ups. Our technology assistance capabilities support patient registrations, scheduling of vaccines, capturing insurance and billing information, monitoring and tracking of population data related to vaccine distribution, and verifying truth for data to support analyzing program success. And our grant and program management support can help states maximize available funding opportunities from FEMA, DHS, the CARES Act, and other grant programs.
(12:40 – 13:01)
If you need assistance from the Tidal Basin team in providing expert advisory and management support for COVID-19 recovery and vaccine distribution programs, you can learn more or contact us at tidalbasingroup.com. And now, back to your host, Greg Paget. And welcome back. Our guest in this episode is Ryan Burris with California’s Office of Emergency Services.
(13:02 – 13:21)
And so we hear how the state is on its way to recovery after the devastating 2020 wildfire season and how they are preparing for future disasters. Ryan, with the rainy season well underway in California, I understand now the threat is the result of some of the largest wildfires from last year, mudslides within your state. How are you preparing for those impacts? Yes.
(13:21 – 13:35)
I mean, you know, 17, you know, people seem to sometimes forget that was a big season. And then in early 18, we had some rainstorms down south and we had a mudslide. And, you know, it killed several people and some people were not found.
(13:35 – 14:14)
And the destruction of sliding of the earth is going to be real impactful. We have several areas within the state that, you know, due to the nature of the burn score, we work closely with the counties in mitigating that, whether it’s putting K-rails up or waddles to prevent some runoff, not only just to protect lives and property, but also resources, the lifelines. You know, when you have this much debris and rain comes and it’s a quick downpour or just a constant rain, you know, that can go into the water supply system.
(14:14 – 14:27)
And we have several lakes here that if that happens to a whole county would lose their entire drinking water. So we’ve been working closely with those cities and counties. And we started that very early on.
(14:27 – 14:38)
We had a watershed task force set up. It pretty much started, I mean, we were starting to map it after the fire started in August. Obviously it was burning for quite a while.
(14:38 – 15:07)
So we really got our efforts in in October. And that was one of the first things our teams did was meet with the locals, address the needs, work with CAL FIRE, what did those maps look like, where were our highest risk, as I said, not just for protecting lives and property, but also lifelines. And in some cases, you know, just the way mudflow may happen or flood, you know, just making sure that the message is out.
(15:07 – 15:23)
If you hear a local siren, please listen to your local authorities. This is something in many places. We lost a lot of property and land in areas that haven’t burned in a very long time.
(15:23 – 15:41)
So just getting that message, trying to get them to understand, you know, it doesn’t take much. They’re saying, we’re saying, you know, once, you know, if you have a half inch of rain or more, the earth can start sliding in some of these areas. And it’s going to have an impact.
(15:41 – 16:13)
These mitigation efforts we have done with the K-Rails and waddles and just letting the public know, you know, if you hear something from your local officials, please take their advice because I don’t know if you’ve ever been around a mudslide or saw it, you know, there is no really time to get out of it. Once you hear it and feel it, it’s already on you. Yeah, those mud slides you had a couple of years ago, just the video from those was really just astounding to see how much damage those can do and how fast they move.
(16:13 – 16:56)
It’s really dangerous for anybody that would be in the way of that. You mentioned earlier, you referenced COVID-19. How is your agency supporting the COVID response in California? Yeah, so here at OES, we’ve really been, you know, we have a unified command structure and the director of OES and other secretaries within the state.
We meet daily. We’ve been meeting daily. It’s been tough, you know, for all of us, all of us being, you know, all of us impacted by COVID, which is, you know, in the entire U.S. and, you know, working with, we’ve been, you know, the state here, we’ve been very fortunate to get some contracts early on to get PPE gear here readily available to protect the citizens of California.
(16:56 – 17:18)
We’ve worked closely on getting rapid testing here, and we have several centers throughout the state. So if you do have symptoms or you just want to get checked, we made that available right now, you know, the big topic. And we all knew this was coming, you know, after the holidays or during the holidays, people, people have fatigue.
(17:19 – 18:22)
You know, as much as, you know, we, as emergency managers, they, you know, say, stay home, wear your mask. You know, this is not the time to go see your family, particularly high risk family members, you know, since March, you know, we’ve been in many, you know, places and in California on, you know, a lockdown, whether you can’t go to a restaurant, you have to be home. And, you know, so we had that fatigue and, you know, the holidays came, we knew it was going to come and, you know, we see a spike right now, and it looks like it’s flattened off, thankfully.
And, you know, our focus now is just to make sure the message stays out, work with our California health team and CDPH and ensuring that we get the vaccines here into the state and into, more importantly, into people’s arms, you know, and just, you know, keep with the message. I mean, you know, this, this pandemic here in California really hurt us economically. We were, you know, you know, doing extremely well financially.
(18:22 – 18:50)
This pandemic came and it really put, you know, our state in a turn. We have a lot of unemployment, one in four Californians, you know, lost their job or unemployment. And we have, you know, like, like everywhere in the U.S., you know, stores are closing and it’s, it’s a tough time, but I’m confident the measures we have in place, you know, the governor just announced a big budget here that has a lot of money and effort to the, to the citizens here and small businesses here.
(18:50 – 19:22)
And, you know, we, we, we, you know, we’ll get through this. This is something that I never knew I would have to be part of and, and lead leads, lead certain things like, you know, feeding senior programs and recreating our, our former NBA basketball stadium into a makeshift hospital. But, you know, this is what emergency managers do.
This is, this is, you know, we are very, all emergency managers. That’s one skill set they have, right. Is what is the, what is the task at hand? Let’s go conquer that task.
(19:22 – 19:56)
So OES has been definitely involved and so, so has the entire state and, you know, having that unified command and having leadership top down just, you know, with, with one clear, you know, vision, which is, you know, Hey, let’s, let’s do everything we can to protect the lives of, of our Californians and, and also our economy. And, you know, it’s been really rewarding, you know, being part of this and just seeing what just a great team and great leadership can accomplish. And California is known for its mixed cultures there.
(19:56 – 20:15)
And I understand, you know, that you, you’re doing a lot to make sure that the underserved elements of the community are not forgotten with these disasters that are happening. There’s a new program called Listos California that your agency is very much involved with. In fact, we’re going to have one of the organizers from that program on in a future episode.
(20:15 – 20:29)
Tell us how you guys are supporting that effort and why it’s so important to really make sure that all segments of California community are engaged and supported and with these types of events that are happening. Yeah. I’m not too involved in Listos.
(20:30 – 20:54)
I’m glad you’re going to have that podcast. It’s key. I do have a Listos mask by the way, but you know, you know, we have a very diverse community here and we have programs just, you know, early on and, and, and even recently, we’ve been trying to target just the messaging, right? Like these high risk populations and communities that are very vulnerable.
(20:54 – 21:18)
And, you know, your, your normal ways of communication may not get to that population. So we’ve been focusing on, you know, doing, you know, more flyers to certain communities and making sure that we have almost everything that we, that we do you know, and we, and we do it. And the, the language not just English and the outreach on that.
(21:18 – 21:39)
And then, you know, we started the great plates program here. And one of our focuses was, you know, like, let’s, let’s ensure that, that that vulnerable population is served. Let’s, let’s ensure that, you know, we have a good percentage of minority businesses running our great plates program and, and, you know, feeding our seniors.
(21:39 – 22:18)
And many of these seniors are, you know, extremely vulnerable. That’s why they were part of the program. And, and we have a big focus, even in mitigation, you know, FEMA run out the new brick program, and we really want to focus on those, those populations that are vulnerable, which, you know, if you don’t take a focus and focus on that, you can, you know, that population gets, you know, potentially left out and we do everything here to ensure that, that, that we have that full scope and try to not only represent by the staff that we hire, but the policies that we do, that we truly represent the people who make up.
(22:19 – 22:35)
Deputy director Ryan Burris. Thank you so much from California office of emergency services for sharing how the state has been responding to so many disasters in the last year. And of course, now into 2021, you’re still in the response mode and recovery mode for, for the wildfires and for COVID-19.
(22:35 – 22:43)
We wish you luck as you guys continue to move forward and to deal with what might unfortunately be next. Thank you for having me. And I hope you have a great year this year.
(22:44 – 22:57)
Thank you very much. Ryan Burris with California’s office of emergency services. Now, if you would like to learn more about mitigating for wildfires in California, you can check out the California department of forestry’s and fire protection website, also known as Cal fire on the site.
(22:57 – 23:20)
You can find summaries of the past season’s largest fires plus resources for mitigating for future wildfires and updates on existing operations within the state. And how is the state reaching and helping some of their most vulnerable populations prepare for the next fire or other disaster. In our next episode, we’ll introduce you to California’s list of campaigns specifically aimed to help those who speak little or no English.
(23:20 – 23:31)
People know that they need to be prepared to check the box. People have the preparedness message. They got it, but they also don’t get prepared because they find that it’s time consuming, expensive and scary.
(23:32 – 23:52)
You’ve been listening to disaster recovery round table, a platform to explore, engage, and educate. For more information on this episode, visit our podcast page at title basin group.com. You can download previous podcasts, learn more about the programs we discussed and suggest a topic for a future episode. You can also find us on your favorite podcast provider.
(23:53 – 23:56)
This has been a title basin production. Thanks for listening.