By Cole Gee | Staff Writer
All eyes have been on California this past month as a series of deadly wildfires have swept through the Golden State. Entire communities have been wiped off the face of the country in a matter of hours, and many now wonder where to rebuild.
Las Vegas senior Lindsay Wheeler grew up in California, 42 minutes away from the Palisades Fires. Wheeler is like many other Californian Baylor students who could only watch the damage the wildfires have done to their home state.
“A bunch of my friends had to evacuate,” Wheeler said. “One of my friends who was affected by the Eaton Fires lost her house, and she’s studying abroad in France. So she had gotten the call maybe, like a day or two beforehand, and she’s like, ‘I don’t know if my parents got my stuff out,’ and she’s going to come home in May to nothing.”
Wheeler’s friend joins many Californians who have lost their homes, businesses and livelihoods to the costliest fire in America’s history — the estimate is around $250 to 275 billion. However, one can’t put a price on things like memories or important family history, and many have lost things to the wildfires that are simply irreplaceable.
Orange County senior Cheyenne Cleye said the biggest loss they suffered isn’t just a home, but the loss of a special place in their memories.
“Someone in my family has lost their house,” Cleye said. “It was basically a vacation home, but it’s still very devastating. That’s where we held my grandmother’s last birthday … Although it wasn’t like his childhood home, it’s still holding a lot of memories.”
With the disaster still raging on, it’s still difficult for the family to get a handle on what was truly lost in fires over the last few weeks.
“We’re kind of realizing that we could never really get that house again due to the amount of money that it would take to rebuild, due to insurance and all of that. So at this point we’re waiting until the fires are over to really assess,” Cleye said.
The question many Californians now have is how the state will rebuild and adapt for the next wildfire season. As of late, the wildfires have not been obeying the typical laws of nature. The wildfire season, which typically runs from May to October, has become more of a suggestion than a hard-set date.
Environmental and climate scientists have now begun to suggest that drastic changes are needed for how California approaches the wildfire season in order to avoid another disaster.
Cymene Howe is a Rice University professor and climate anthropologist. Her work closely involves innovative approaches to environmental resistance and the social impact of environmental disasters. She said it’s not enough to plan for the current climate conditions, but to prepare for future disasters as well.
“In California, you’re already starting to see those discussions about, ‘How can we fortify these houses, buildings, churches, stores and all of the buildings against the fire that will certainly come,'” Howe said.
Due to the severity of the fires and how frequent they’re becoming, many Californians are wondering if they should stay to rebuild. Some homeowners whose insurance wasn’t canceled months before the wildfires are expected to receive some financial assistance to rebuild.
“I think one of the interesting things that people need to work through are what are the economic models that can provide for a more resilient future in times of environmental distress,” Howe said. “The current models that we have are starting to crack, and they’re starting to crack because the insurance, the world of insurance, is very anxious and they’re not willing to take these financial risks.”
For those interested in providing assistance to those affected from the wildfires, donate and support the California Fire Foundation’s Wildlife & Disaster Relief Fund here.
