Installed sensors at Teakettle this weekend. I broke down 5 times. The District Ranger requested that I tell ‘the truth’ about the fire and the forest. Here you go…

Things California can learn from Florida. www.tampabay.com/news/environ...

After some additional conversation, I’d say that this is maybe some of the most clear signs of what investors and utility managers call a “capital strike” at a utility suffering from financial distress due to wildfire litigation costs.

This is a very interesting complaint. Datacenter vs electric utility. Issues are tax “gross up”and failure to deliver timely interconnection. I wonder how much of the issues here are really driven by the Santiam Canyon and Beachie Creek fire liability? edocs.puc.state.or.us/efdocs/HAA/u...

Fig 5 from our Year in Fire report. Here we show increases in home insurance costs by risk quintile in California. The hard truth is that if we burn down more houses, insurance is going to cost more. A lot more. Those costs are disproportionately borne by residents in high fire risk areas.

Fig 2 from our Year in Fire report. Here we show smoke days by county in California on average over the past decade and for 2024. There is no future without wildfire smoke. The future CAN be one where we accept the reality of smoke EMISSIONS but actively manage the harms from smoke EXPOSURE.

Fig 3 from our Year in Fire report. Here we show structure loss over the past decade. We are lost more than 2000 homes per year in 5 of the last 10 years. That's too many houses burning down. We MUST do better if we want to have affordable electricity, affordable insurance, and affordable housing.

This is a fantastic article on the reliability compromises that are being created by wildfire safety interventions in rural California. A must read. www.hcn.org/issues/57-11...

I was talking to a utility researcher the other day who asked me what was on fire out the plane window on the way from Portland where she lives to LA for the SCPPA meeting we were at. Answer: that is all GOOD FIRE!

Fig 1 from our Year in Fire report. This figure is our attempt to measure and separate “good” low to moderate severity fire from “bad” high severity fire in California. We need more of the green in CA - as much as 4 million acres a year - but less of the blue. That’s the landscape fire challenge.

Great job at Stanford working for a phenomenal person. careersearch.stanford.edu/jobs/managin...

Giving my talk at Red Sky Summit. Always so intimidating to speak to this mix of fire chiefs, policy makers, entrepreneurs, and landscape managers. But also such an honor. Grateful to the conference organizers for the opportunity.

My team has been working on a report that provides policymakers with clear situational awareness on the wildfire situation in California. I'm so proud of the work product we have produced.

Strong article on many aspects of the insurance crisis in California. Particularly appreciate the attention to the exceptions to the 85% market share rule. California Promised Insurance Relief, But Delivered Loopholes www.nytimes.com/2025/11/01/u...

Strong article on many aspects of the insurance crisis in California. Particularly appreciate the attention to the exceptions to the 85% market share rule. California Promised Insurance Relief, But Delivered Loopholes www.nytimes.com/2025/11/01/u...

It’s hard not to feel a little sad when your kids are going to parties on Halloween instead of dressing up to walk around the neighborhood with you. Parents with young kids out there, appreciate the days and moments like this one. They will pass faster that you can believe is possible.

We are doing a webinar on residual markets coming up on November 18th. What does the experience in Southeastern states teach that wildfire prone states can learn? Our Legal Fellow Sam Hudgens will be presenting new work that he has led followed by a panel discussion of experts.

Love this figure from a recent LBL report by Ryan Wiser and colleagues. Report is here: eta-publications.lbl.gov/sites/defaul...

I miss Santa Cruz.

Love this! Train the workforce and the beneficial fire will follow.

This is fantastic. @calfire.bsky.social what about this given @governor.ca.gov EO on prescribed fire from yesterday?

Interested in using prescribed fire on your property? NM Forestry offers free, hands-on training to certify private landowners to conduct pile and broadcast burns. Visit emnrd.nm.gov/sfd/prescribed… or contact Brian Filip, prescribed burn coordinator, at [email protected].

Obvious wavenumber-5 mesovortex pattern within #Melissa’s eyewall earlier today — when the simulation matches reality. Just two decades ago, the very existence of mesovortices was still a matter of debate.

The view from Blithedale Ridge this morning.

Recommended. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...

“Extensive infrastructural damage, long-duration power & communication outages, & isolation of communities are expected.” 😔 Strong warnings from NHC for Jamaica. Up to 40 rain could cause numerous life-threatening & catastrophic flash floods & landslides on the island.

Woah. Jamaica. Poor Jamaica.

Woah. E-bikes not going so well in Mill Valley; www.cityofmillvalley.gov/CivicAlerts....

I can still close my eyes and see C wuelerstorfi under the microscope. Understanding fundamental earth system boundary conditions is crucial to bounding possible futures.

In Science, a new reconstruction of global sea levels spanning the past 4.5 million years reveals that oceans once stood up to 20 meters higher than today and links the waxing and waning of ancient ice sheets to shifts in Earth’s temperature and carbon dioxide cycles. https://scim.ag/42STXUm

A “fire expert’s” lament. Coverage of the veto of SB326 by KQEDs @dventon.bsky.social featuring Senator Josh Becker, the bills author, and me. omny.fm/shows/kqed-s...

Now at Climate Central, the work that NOAA used to do measuring impacts of natural disaster. What we don’t measure, we cannot improve. So glad that someone has picked up the baton that the administration decided was not worth carrying anymore. www.climatecentral.org/climate-matt...

“Seemed to contradict” Still, avoiding legal and logistical headaches by sending the men home seemed to contradict the administration’s stance that suspected drug smugglers pose such a severe danger that Mr. Trump can have the military summarily kill them.

There are real opportunity costs for wildfire safety and resilience from the shutdown.

Not only is the shutdown affecting the prescribed fire shoulder season & making it impossible to treat acres, but the longer it goes the more it cuts into the training season & the prep for 2026. Because so much training is set up by the feds, it affects local, state, & private resources as well. 1/

One image comes to mind: www.nytimes.com/2025/10/18/u...?

Listening to Alice Reynolds of the CPUC talk and she just showed this cartoon which is a keeper:

One of my legal fellows pointed to this video as our team was discussing Zone 0 rules for fire safety. I sincerely hope we get to the place with structure and community prep for wildfire where we look back at today’s discussions and they strike us like this video from 40y ago. youtu.be/2xcQIoh3FQQ

Was lucky enough to have to drive south on Highway 49 from 80 to Old Priest Grade this beautiful fall afternoon. California is a grand place. I love my home. So beautiful it almost makes you cry.

What can burn will burn. Arsonists matter. Put them in jail. But fuels are the only thing we can control that drive the outcome. Fix the gardens. Fix the houses. Manage fuels within ember cast of the interface. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/o...

Highway 120 through the Yosemite High Country closed with the storm the last few days. I love thinking about places like this under the snow with nobody around - one of the best things to do in winter. Good summer times at Pothole Dome. A strong swimming recommend for those who haven’t been.

Just gave a talk at an American Public Power Association event about wildfire. Audience member from Eastern WA asked me how I felt about the fact that his home insurance bills were increasing because of the LA wildfires. My response was to ask him why he wasn’t looking for a different carrier.

Update: On Saturday Governor Newsom issued a notification that he was vetoing SB 326 by Senator Josh Becker (D Menlo Park). In his veto message he said the required planning would cost too much money.

New from me: under-the-radar bill could be mst important piece of the wildfire bill package. Will @governor.ca.gov Newsom sign it? We'll know in days: www.kqed.org/science/1998... With thanks to those who spoke w/ me State Sen. @joshbecker.bsky.social, www.megafire.org & @michaelwara.bsky.social.

It looks as if Governor Newsom opted not to sign SB326: www.gov.ca.gov/2025/10/10/g...

One interesting thing for me about working in the wildfire space is how it is a blend of issue areas where there is true accountability for outcomes and those where there is not accountability and so symbolic and performative policy is allowed. Most issue areas I’ve worked on are one or the other.

Inspired by this: please find my official apology regarding the cause of the 2025 LA wildfires. I will try to do better in the future #learning

Late for kid pick up. Why? Because the highway onramp is closed due to subsidence plus SLR plus full moon, high tide,.Across the street from the on-ramp is a site where a five story affordable housing project has been approved to be built at grade. We totally have this climate adaptation thing down!

Officials Make an Arrest in Palisades Fire www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/u...