PG&E, a company that’s taken a ton of flak from North Bay residents and lawmakers in this age of high wildfire, has found a new way to piss off residents in the lower Russian River area — this time, with overly sensitive fire prevention tech that’s been tripping up and triggering long power outages. It reportedly happened a bunch during the 2023 fire season, too, but PG&E officials promised last fall that they had “retooled the wildfire prevention system’s sensitivity for the 2024 season, which should lead to fewer unnecessary outages,” according to the Press Democrat. More from the PD: “A PG&E program intended to prevent fire as a result of downed power lines is causing headaches in Guerneville and lower Russian River communities. Known as Enhanced Powerline Safety Settings (EPSS), the program automatically shuts off power lines within one-tenth of a second in case of a hazard, such as a felled tree or an animal hitting a power line. The system relies on a fault detection algorithm that shuts down the power line like a breaker trips in a home, said Dave Canny, vice president of PG&E’s North Coast Division. ‘It protects the rest of the system and mitigates ignition, arcing or sparking,’ he said. But Guerneville residents are growing weary of the program. Large portions of the Russian River town were without power Friday, May 31, and Saturday, June 1, because the EPSS system had been triggered. Those power shutdowns began around 10 a.m. and lasted until 12:48 p.m. Megan McFarland, PG&E marketing and communication specialist, said the company noticed the settings on the line servicing Guerneville were too sensitive and have since adjusted the levels. ‘PG&E should send out a mailer every May that they are turning up the sensitivity on the EPSS lines and tell people what they should expect,’ said Joshua Leone, a reporter for Watch Duty, a nonprofit organization that alerts and informs residents electronically during wildfires. The wildfire prevention system was piloted in July 2021 on the heels of the Dixie Fire and officially rolled out in 2022. The system turns on every May and typically remains on through November. … EPSS outages can last minutes to hours, depending on how long it takes for PG&E repairmen to find the cause of the outage. The lines can’t be re-energized until a PG&E team patrols every mile of line, by foot, car or helicopter, to clear hazards. Canny said at least one outage prevented a fire in 2023, but admitted that 60% of the outages were tripped by undetermined causes. That rate of ‘nuisance tripping’ was unusually high, he said.” (Source: Press Democrat)

One aspect of life in the wine country decidedly not thriving after a decade of gnarly wildfires is home insurance. After paying out billions for homes lost in California fires, all the major insurers have pulled back, either refusing to ensure homes in high-risk areas or charging an arm and a leg. (And really, we’re one big high-risk area at this point. Check out this crazy map of all the burn scars that have accumulated since 2015 — it’s like a goddamn patchwork quilt.) The only real guaranteed backup option for all of us to ensure our homes is the state government’s “FAIR plan,” which is generally even more expensive for even shoddier coverage. Another crazy map created by the San Francisco Chronicle shows Sonoma and Napa county residents are now paying anywhere from $1,500 to $4,500-plus per year for home insurance. State Farm, the biggest player on the private market, “hasn’t offered new home policies since May 2023,” the paper reports. More from the Chron: “The company said wildfire risk, construction costs and pricey premiums for reinsurance (insurance for insurers, which cannot be factored into rates in California) motivated the decision. The company has continued to renew most, but not all, of its existing policies, though prices are rising. In March, State Farm rates rose an average of 20% across the state. Shortly after the rate increase took effect, State Farm announced it would not renew 72,000 policies — 30,000 homeowner and other personal property policies and 42,000 commercial property policies.” Many of the homes getting dropped are in Sonoma County; in particular, homes along the Tubbs Fire scar. Other private insurers like Allstate and Farmers have also reportedly decided to either pull back coverage or leave the state altogether. California politicians are calling this an obvious “crisis” that needs immediate attention. The latest fix-it proposal from Gov. Gavin Newsom is to let insurance companies actually raise their rates quicker, with less review from state officials — seeing as “experts say the slow approval times are a key reason why many insurers have limited their business in the state, such as not writing new policies or dropping thousands of customers at a time,” according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Basically, “the pullbacks have pushed policymakers toward a hard choice: Let more of their constituents lose coverage, or create reforms that will allow insurance companies to raise rates faster.” Other state politicians are asking why, if fire departments and residents across California are getting so much better at mitigating fire risk and preventing large, destructive wildfires — and the government is pumping billions of dollars into these efforts — insurance companies aren’t changing their risk assessments, according to recent reports from Bloomberg and CalMatters report. “Carriers are being ultra picky,” one expert says. “They’re looking for any way to not take the risks.” So now there are a couple of bills making their way through the legislature that will try and sway insurance companies on this point. We’ll see if state officials can make any headway there. To take us out, here are some bittersweet market predictions from North Bay Biz magazine: “It will take years for insurance premiums to slow their growth and for the chaos to subside, and that assumes we have stable fire seasons, no major earthquakes or storm seasons. Climate change will not help the long-term outlook either. Financial markets are already looking at rising interest rates over time as risks due to climate change come to fruition in real estate markets and beyond. For many homeowners in the North Bay, the next three to four years is likely a time when the costs of home insurance may lead some homes to come on the market prematurely due to rising insurance costs. Economics suggest (as a point of positivity) there may also be entrepreneurship in a market that has learned lessons from the past and is preparing for a riskier future.” (Source: Napa Valley Register & North Bay Business Journal & Bakersfield Now & SF Chronicle & SF Chronicle & SF Chronicle & SF Chronicle & North Bay Biz & CalMatters & Bloomberg & Mad River Union)

The Mark West-Larkfield-Wikiup area between Windsor and Santa Rosa, located in a big local burn scar, seems to be having a bit of a renaissance this year. It was ravaged by the Tubbs Fire in 2017, then grazed again by the Kincade Fire two summers later. James Gore, the Sonoma County supervisor for that zone, says he told residents back then that “we were not just going to rebuild, but rebuild better.” Many of those efforts are now coming to fruition — including new roads, a new community park and a large nature preserve geared toward “habitat preservation, fire risk management and low-impact recreation.” Here are some details on the new roads and park, from the county: “On May 11, Supervisor Gore and Mark West residents celebrated the completion of a County project to improve Mark West Springs Road between Old Redwood Highway and Ursuline Road. The Department of Public Infrastructure repaved and striped the road while installing new bike lanes, sidewalks, curbs and storm drain culverts. The sidewalks feature ‘sparkle grain’ in the design of a flowing river that shimmers in the sunlight, just as Mark West Springs Road flows through the community connecting people. At the intersections are three landmark plinths bearing key words — renewal, unity and resilience — that embody the way neighbors came together to support each other after the fires. Following a ceremony to officially open the new sidewalks, residents walked down the street and celebrated the recent acquisition of a one-acre vacant lot that will become a community park. The property, located off Old Redwood Highway, was the site of a preschool that burned to the ground during the 2017 wildfires.” They held a big party that afternoon at the park site. Plans include a gazebo, play structure, “cutting-edge” water fountain and drought-tolerant butterfly garden, according to the Press Democrat — representing a community “rebirth” in the years since the fire. Community members raised the millions they needed to buy the 1-acre property and build it out through a nonprofit they started called the Mark West Area Community Fund. They’ve also had help from the county’s Ag + Open Space department and the Sonoma Land Trust org, which usually manages larger wildlands. Land Trust leaders tell the PD they’re stoked on the opportunity to move away from the “siloed approach that you have wild spaces over here and agriculture here and cities here,” instead exploring more “interconnected” urban green space. The Mark West comeback does involve some full-on wildlands as well, though. Just outside town, near the Safari West animal park, the county’s parks department is getting ready to open the 1,200-acre Mark West Creek Regional Park and Open Space Preserve to the public later this year. “Gentle canyons of oak woodlands and evergreen forests bisect the preserve, with open meadows providing views of the Mayacamas and Mount St. Helena to the north,” the Healdsburg Tribune reports. “The creeks are salmon habitat, the woods a songbird’s home; wildlife from vole to cougar can be found.” The county’s Ag + Open Space arm also just purchased another 30-acre plot of nature next door from the Jackson wine family, which they’re calling the Mark West Wikiup Preserve. “Home to half-a-mile of Mark West Creek, oaks, riparian habitat, and grassy open space in a residential neighborhood, conservation of this property will enable Sonoma Water to offer public access to the preserve,” the county says. Last thing to mention: Just a few miles south, at the Nagasawa Community Park in the Fountaingrove neighborhood of Santa Rosa — likewise wiped out by Tubbs scar — the county is “seeking proposals from qualified artists or artist teams to design, create and install artwork honoring the victims of the devastating 2017 wildfires and commemorating the community’s resilience.” This memorial is meant to “serve as a lasting tribute to those who lost their lives, a testament to the enduring spirit of our community, and a space for reflection and healing,” in the words of another county supervisor. Submit your proposals here through July 19 to join the renaissance. (Source: Press Democrat & Press Democrat & County of Sonoma via Facebook & Sonoma County Ag + Open Space & Sonoma County Parks & Sonoma Economic Development Board & Mark West Area Community Fund & Healdsburg Tribune)

Wildfire season in the wine country kicked off with a bang this week — and fortunately, with no major human or home collateral — in the eastern hills of the Napa Valley. The “Crystal Fire” reportedly broke out Wednesday at the end of Crystal Springs Road between St. Helena and Calistoga, near the Bell Canyon Reservoir, smack dab in the burn scar of the massive Glass Fire that ravaged the area in 2020. This one ate through 60 acres of vegetation, sent four firefighters to the hospital (they’re all OK now) and destroyed one “outbuilding” before 160-plus responders from across the region could bring it under control. “Though fueled by high heat, the Crystal Fire lacked the extreme winds of catastrophic wildfires in the past and was 50% contained within hours,” the Press Democrat reported. As of Friday morning, it was 95% contained. Footage posted by Cal Fire showed multiple homes, estates and wineries they saved from the fire. Firefighters shot one video from the veranda of a particularly lavish estate in the hills, showing the fire creeping right up to the doorstep. Mike Wink, the Cal Fire commander overseeing the Crystal Fire, said in an video update yesterday: “We have no primary residences that were damaged or destroyed on this incident. They all had their defensible space. First responders were able to get there. We do have one outbuilding that was not a habitable structure that was destroyed. The road is open to residences. Those folks are back in there. We’re working with everybody.” Interestingly, the extravagant “Vida Valiente” winery project that Napa County government officials just shot down earlier this spring was proposed along Crystal Springs Road, right near the burn area — and the reason officials nixed it was they “couldn’t support having a winery with visitors along a narrow, subpar road with blind spots in a wildfire-prone area,” according to the Napa Valley Register. Anyway, moving on: While the Crystal Fire was blazing yesterday, another, smaller fire broke out in a much more rural area about 30 miles southeast on Highway 128, next to the Lake Berryessa reservoir. It only grew to about three acres before firefighters say they nipped it in the bud. (I’ve reached out to the Napa Valley Grapegrowers association to see if there’s any concern about smoke taint affecting the wine grapes this week — but if anyone else out there has any insights, feel free to hit me up.) Like the Press Democrat noted, we were lucky that the winds weren’t too strong this week. However, it also seems clear that our myriad local fire agencies are way more prepared than they were a few summers ago. They’ve got more knowledge, more learnings, more funding, more equipment, more tech, more cross-communication with other agencies, more hands on deck. It’s heartening! That said, the resounding message right now from the head honchos at all these agencies is to be prepared for the next Big One (or Little One) at any moment. The No. 1 thing they want us all to do is clear out any flammable plants or other debris from around our homes — aka, create defensible space. Just yesterday, the Santa Rosa Fire Department officially declared the start of the 2024 wildfire season as next Monday, June 10. (Guess Napa got a head start!) “Significant rainfall this year has led to substantial growth of seasonal grasses and vegetation,” department leaders said. “Following the recent warm, dry weather and increased fire activity, the declaration is necessary to help ensure the community is better prepared for this wildfire season. Many residents have taken proactive measures this season, including the abatement of dry seasonal grasses and other vegetation management measures. Regrowth is likely, given the rainfall this year, so we advise residents to address any regrowth that will likely create a fire hazard later this season.” Let’s get on that. (Source: City of Santa Rosa & Cal Fire & Cal Fire via YouTube & Press Democrat & Press Democrat & Napa Valley Register & CBS News)