California Must Move Faster on Wildfire Risk, Experts Warn | KQED

"“We must advance reforms that protect access to insurance, lower costs, support wildfire resilience, and provide fair outcomes for those impacted - while ensuring our utilities are both accountable for safety and financially stable enough to attract low-cost capital on behalf of ratepayers.”"

"“The buildup of wildfire risk is a state and a local issue. It's arising from climate change, it also arises from decades of decisions that we've made on land use, building, fire suppression, and decades of regulatory decisions,” Watkins said."

"“We cannot address this problem through ignition reduction, fuel reduction, or fire suppression, and we definitely can't get it just through early detection. This all has to include home hardening and defensible space within communities at a much, much greater scale than has been done,” Watkins said."

Fire risk experts warned California lawmakers that the state must change course to survive and recover from wildfires and other natural catastrophes. Rising fire danger is linked to climate change and decades of decisions affecting land use, building practices, fire suppression, and regulation. Lawmakers said they would study a state report and develop a plan to strengthen recovery efforts and protect residents from higher energy and insurance costs. The proposed reforms include advancing access to insurance, lowering costs, supporting wildfire resilience, and ensuring utilities remain accountable for safety and financially stable. Experts emphasized reducing vulnerability to wildfire by making communities less ready to burn, focusing on home hardening and defensible space at much greater scale than current efforts.

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