CALIFORNIA FOCUS
FOR RELEASE: TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2025, OR THEREAFTER
BY THOMAS D.
ELIAS
“DECISION TIMES
BEGIN SOON FOR NEWLY HOMELESS FIRE VICTIMS”
As the flames of
California history’s most damaging winter began to cool, decision times were
about to arrive for tens of thousands of the state’s newest homeless.
Some evacuees had
homes to return to; some did not. This was almost like a random lottery. But
those whose homes fell to the mid-January firestorms suddenly face decisions
they never wanted to think about.
The questions are
no different from those that confronted victims of many fires over the last few
years, but are made different and maybe more difficult because of scale. Never
before have more than 10,000-plus fire victim households faced these issues simultaneously.
Do they rebuild,
or do they sell the land long occupied by their ravaged homes? Do they settle
for what insurance companies are willing to pass out, or hire a lawyer? With
insurance companies bringing claims adjusters from around the nation, many of
them unfamiliar with California conditions, do they hire a public adjuster to
fight lowball damage evaluations?
Amid a housing
shortage, do they seek a temporary rental or try to buy something in what is
fast becoming a seller’s market? Do they want to keep living in what proved to
be a hazardous environment, no matter how benign it seemed for previous
decades?
The paths many
will choose were eased only a little by an executive order issued by Gov. Gavin
Newsom while flames were still spreading. He took the California Environmental
Quality Act off the table, so environmental impact reports will no longer be a
necessity for anyone rebuilding anything even similar to a previous abode or
commercial building. CEQA never applied to individual homes, so this will aid
only developers doing multiple rebuilds. For those who lost homes at or near
the beach, Newsom's order means the state Coastal Commission won’t have a voice
in how or what they can build.
But what about
folks in their 70s and 80s? One 85-year-old Pacific Palisades resident whose
longtime home burned down said he would rebuild. Noting he would be about 90
when that project ends, he said, “So I’ll be 90? So what?”
Others in that
age cohort will no doubt opt to take insurance settlements and sell their land
for others to rebuild upon, while moving to condominiums in untouched areas or
to independent and assisted living facilities.
Younger
homeowners will for the most part rebuild, as has happened with most residents
of other fire-ravaged areas from Santa Rosa and Napa to San Diego and Malibu.
Whether in
Northern California or Southern California, in a forest or along the ocean,
reporters visiting the blackened scenes of fires a week or two after blazes end
often are told by determined residents, “This is the price of living in
paradise. We knew the risk and we’re coming back.”
To obtain fire
insurance when they do that, they will have to use fire-resistant materials not
commonly employed in earlier eras when most of the destroyed homes were built.
Stone and Spanish tile roofs will be more common. So will fireproof siding.
Finer screens will be deployed over vents where flying embers sometimes enter
homes and ignite attics. Landscaping will employ more fire-resistant vegetation
and fewer trees that can fall or spread flames. Nothing on the exterior will be
placed even near to most walls.
Homes and
buildings thus will more resemble small forts than ever before in California.
There will be more brickwork, too, even if that can be an earthquake hazard.
The entire
process, replete with permitting delays and contractor cost overruns in the
coming boom construction market, will take more than five years, during which
whole sections of cities will be grossly underpopulated.
There will be
scams and gouging galore, even though some hotels and merchants now are
offering deep discounts to fire evacuees. Some lawyers will demand unethically
large percentages of insurance settlements. Imposter contractors will collect
deposits, only to disappear.
So one watchword
for the rebuilding will be “caveat emptor” – let the buyer beware.
But California
will also see displays of fortitude, courage, generosity and family closeness.
In short, the wide panoply of human behavior and emotions will operate closer
to the surface than usual, with survivors needing to be as watchful now as they
were while evacuating.
-30-
Email
Thomas Elias at tdelias@aol.com. His book, "The Burzynski
Breakthrough," is now available in a soft cover fourth edition. For more
Elias columns, visit www.californiafocus.net.
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