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CalMatters
All the ways people start California wildfires
By Lynn La,
2024-07-31
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Ballooning to more than three times the surface area of Lake Tahoe, Park Fire is now the fifth largest fire in California’s history. Last week, investigators arrested a 42-year-old Chico man suspected of starting the blaze by pushing a burning car into a ravine.
Whether they mean to or not, people are responsible for about 95% of the state’s wildfires. While arson accounts for about 10% of the fires, others can start in a myriad of ways. In 2022, the El Dorado Fire in San Bernardino and Riverside counties started after a smoke bomb went off at a gender-reveal party. The blaze killed one firefighter and cost $42 million to extinguish. And in 2018, a homeowner accidentally set off the Ranch Fire after hammering a metal stake into the ground.
Another cause of fires: Since 2015, power lines have caused some of the state’s most devastating wildfires, including 2018’s Camp Fire, which killed 85 people.
Speaking of the Park Fire: In addition to destroying homes and property, the 385,000-acre fire is also threatening Chinook salmon — one of California’s most iconic, and threatened, species.
As CalMatters water reporter Rachel Becker explains, the fire is burning in Tehama County, home to two of the three last remaining creeks where wild populations of the fish spawn.
If the fire spreads to higher altitudes, federal and state officials warn that it can kill off the rest of the region’s spring-run salmon. But the fire itself isn’t the primary threat. Later this year, rains can potentially wash toxic ash, sediment and fire retardant chemicals into the creeks, which can suffocate baby fish and eggs.
As one fisheries ecologist put it: “It’s like liquid cement coming down the river channel. It just scours the river down to the bedrock, and everything in it is crushed and ground up.”
As for other fires: Julie also reports that Gov. Gavin Newsom traveled Tuesday to Kern County, where the fast-moving Borel Fire has consumed 57,000 acres and continues to exhibit “extreme fire behavior.”
Flanked by local and state fire officials, Newsom commended firefighters for increasing containment to 17%. But he offered a sobering fire outlook, which he characterized as “multiples of challenges.”
With wildfires sprouting up all over the state, Newsom cited the stats: 4,600 fires to date, consuming 750,000 acres. The five-year annual average is 4,400 fires burning up 140,000 acres.
The governor also praised the fire mutual aid system that deploys local, state and federal crews to fires around the West according to the most urgent need. California, which has already sent crews to Texas and Oregon this summer, is now asking for help — a call answered in part by Texas, which sent 100 firefighters to help fight the Park Fire.
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Other Stories You Should Know
Housing for CA teachers
Teachers Michelle Ramos-La Grone and Elsa Cintora work with students at Westwood Elementary School in Stockton on Sept. 22, 2023. Photo by Loren Elliott for CalMatters
At a Tuesday press conference in Sacramento, the state’s superintendent of public instruction said he wants to develop 2.3 million housing units over roughly the next eight years, using land already owned by school districts, county offices of education and other local educational agencies.
Thurmond , in a statement: “California’s housing crisis is undeniable, but it is not unsolvable. … The data shows that California’s schools have the land to make this happen. As school leaders, we can get this done for our communities and restore the California Dream.”
Money for the housing projects could be secured through local bonds and state tax credits, he said.
According to a 2021 report by UCLA and UC Berkeley, California is home to about 300,000 public school teachers. Local education agencies own about 75,000 acres of developable land (“about the size of five Manhattans”).
Jefferson Union High School District, which includes five high schools and serves nearly 4,000 students, opened its first housing development in May 2022. The 122-unit project cost $75 million (paid in part by a local school bond approved by voters in 2018 ) and houses a quarter of the district’s non-management staff. Trustee Andrew Lie said the project has resulted in improved staff retention.
Lie , at the press conference: “We can’t give our best to our students if our educators are struggling with housing insecurity. … We now can continue to build on our curriculum because our staff are sticking around. We can actually do the work that we need to do to close the educational gaps that we see in our district.”
California’s two biggest public pension funds cleaned up on the stock market over the past year, with each accumulating tens of billions of dollars in gains and hitting their investment targets for the first time since 2021.
The California Public Employees’ Retirement System earlier this month reported a 9.3% investment return, beating its target of 6.8%. As of June 30, CalPERS held $502.9 billion in assets.
On Tuesday, the California State Teachers’ Retirement System reported an 8.4% investment return, surpassing its earnings target of 7%. CalSTRS now has about $341 billion in assets.
Hitting the earnings target is critically important to the pension funds and to taxpayers. When they miss, the funds can pass additional pension costs on to schools, cities and other government employers.
In the bigger picture, both funds are considered underfunded because they do not hold enough assets to pay out all of the liabilities they owe to public employees and retirees. CalPERS assets are worth 75% of what it owes to its members; CalSTRS’ assets are worth 76% of what it owes.
A rising stock market propelled returns for both funds. CalPERS’ public stock portfolio increased in value by 17.5% and CalSTRS gained 19% on stocks.
Officials at both funds celebrated surpassing their goals.
CalPERS Chief Executive Marcie Frost , in a statement: “Meeting or exceeding our long-term investing goals is crucial for providing the retirement benefits that our 2 million members and their families are counting on.”
CalSTRS noted that it has steadily increased its funded status since 2017, when its assets were worth 62.6% of what it owed. Its leaders say the fund is ahead of schedule in reaching its goal of funding by 2046.
CalSTRS Chief Investment Officer Scott Chan , in a statement: “While the 8.4% return over the past year is commendable, our true commitment lies in fostering consistent, long-term growth for our members’ pensions.”
Colleges failing on crime numbers
Students walks through the Meriam Library courtyard at Chico State University on February 12, 2020. Photo by Anne Wernikoff for CalMatters
A state audit released Tuesday found that some California college campuses are, once again, underreporting crime. Every three years, the state selects six college campuses and evaluates their compliance with the Clery Act, a federal law that requires schools to track crime in and around campus. The state has conducted seven such audits since 2003, and the findings are almost always the same.
This time, for example, state auditors found that UC Santa Cruz failed to disclose campus incidents in its 2022 annual crime report , such as reports of “stalking, sexual violence and sexual harassment, rape, and dating violence.” The audit found that the campus “lacked written procedures” to tally crime accurately.
Four of the other schools surveyed — Chico State, Imperial Valley College, Mount Saint Mary’s University in Los Angeles and Orange Coast College near Huntington Beach — also had varying degrees of “inaccurate” or “incomplete” statistics, according to the audit.
Out of every college surveyed since 2003, most failed to comply with at least one aspect of the Clery Act, according to past state audits. In many cases, colleges agreed with audit findings and promised to make changes. This year, Santa Cruz said it would create a new process for tallying crime statistics by January 2025.
The federal government has also intervened, most recently at UC Berkeley in 2020, where the college agreed to pay $2.35 million in a settlement with the U.S. Department of Education over violations in crime reporting.
Citing a history of poor compliance over the years, the audit recommended the Legislature impose new crime reporting requirements on schools.
California Voices
CalMatters columnist Dan Walters: The duel on Propositions 33 and 34 puts a new wrinkle in California’s long history of special interests going to the ballot box to make law .
Anti-camping rules make it harder for homeless people to get back on their feet, and will not solve California’s homelessness crisis, writes Reba Stevens , a formerly unhoused resident and member of the Bring California Home Coalition.
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Judge orders UCLA to ensure campus access for Jewish students // Los Angeles Times
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