Drought brings with it water shortages that are being felt severely in parts in several states including California, Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona. Access to water, and water sources drying up is exasperating the impact of the drought. Over two million people in the Bay Area of California were recently ordered to reduce water usages. If a prolonged drought occurs, it will only increase the need for water conservation and restrictions. Farmers in the area are being severely impacted. Growers are paying four times normal rates for water if they can access it. Many can't afford such a steep price and are letting their fields go fallow. Last year growers received only 20 percent of the water they were contracted to receive. This year many will receive none. Lack of access to water also severely affects fighting wildfires that break out in the region, thus increasing the likelihood of loss of property and lives.

All this leads to a tremendous increased risk of wildfires in states that have already seen record wildfires in the past several years. Already California has seen the Palisades wildfire this past month. California Governor Newsom approved a wildfire spending package in excess of $536 million in April and proposed an additional over $700 million in the budget for the next fiscal year. The plan aims to increase vegetation management on private and public lands and bring more community-focused efforts for prevention and resilience. But this is the first year that the state had access to funds to help to mitigate the risks prior to the start of fire season, and the state is working to get the funds out the door to deliver broader resilience efforts and help homeowners get their properties prepared. But there is a lot of catching up to do, state fire officials admit.

Since California has experienced many wildfires, they are leading the pack with wildfire legislation and regulations. In 2020 the California Insurance Department placed a one-year moratorium on nonrenewals in areas affected by wildfires, urged companies to provide up to 100 percent of personal property limits without a detailed inventory of items to those who suffered a total loss of their home, and worked to streamline the claims process for wildfire survivors under the Voluntary Expedited Claims Handling Procedures.

In addition Commissioner Lara has taken the following actions as regulator of the nation's largest insurance market:

1. Developing home-hardening standards that are consistent, based in fire science, and apply to all insurance companies;
2. Giving transparency to consumers about their wildfire risk score and what they can do to reduce it;
3. Creating insurance incentives recognizing home hardening, mitigation of properties, and community mitigation actions; and, requiring that insurance companies seek adequate and justifiable rates to protect the solvency of the market.

Recently Commissioner Lara has proposed halting the use of state funding for infrastructure in certain areas that are prone to fire, the expansion of more stringent building codes, and leaving vacant lots undeveloped. He has proposed cutting off new construction in certain fire-prone regions to the state high-risk pool. Many of these proposals require the action of the state legislature. The building industry in the state is already pushing back on the proposals stating that if a building is built to code then it is strong enough to withstand the fires, and limiting development is unnecessary. Their suggestion is that insurers just raise their rates in high-risk areas. However, insurers who suffered record losses the past couple of years are pulling out of many fire-prone areas of the state, not only limiting access to affordable insurance to those who stay, but also threatening to leave homeowners unable to buy and sell their homes, as access to affordable insurance is a condition with many mortgage lenders. This along with responding to climate change leaves the state in uncharted waters.

The state is still struggling with decades of poor forest management, and building deeper into fire-prone areas. Learning to live with wildfires and taking steps to prepare for and mitigate the risks is one way California is trying to address the lack of insurance in previously burned areas. State officials are working in conjunction with local officials to find the best ways to address the issues facing insurance access and rates, address mitigation issues, such as prescribed burns and forest thinning, and pre-disaster hardening at the community level. State agencies are even employing goats to come in to roam and eat the highly flammable vegetation. This is part of the state's 2012 "Fuel Load Management Plan" aimed at reducing large patches of overgrowth in the state which is a major source of fuel for wildfires.

Experts advise that steps that can be taken to mitigate the effects of wildfires include the use of new building materials, architectural details, better landscaping choices and even road designs. Information regarding mitigation steps such as defensible space from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection is available here.

Forests and grasslands have been turned into tinderboxes just awaiting a spark from a careless campfire or lightning strike. The US Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management have turned to prescribed burns to try and stem the threat by thinning the forests, but they are way behind what is needed, with only about 1.8 million of the three million acres they typically treat each year thinned by hand, machines and prescribed burns. Officials in Oregon's Klamath Valley say it's the worst combination of conditions seen in at least 115 years. Utilities are geared up and removing vegetation around power lines, and are ready to impose blackouts should fire threaten power lines. Firefighters in the region are on standby.

Climate change is affecting the severity and frequency of drought and wildfires. For example in the far northern boreal forests, "zombie fires" are occurring. A zombie fire is where a fire will smolder all winter deep down in the rich carbon-rich soils and boreal peat. This dirt and peat burn slowly underground, reemerging in the spring near the previous burn sites. These fires then burn fresh fuel before the start of the traditional fire season. Greenhouse gases rising from the soils during hotter summers in these boreal forests will lead to more frequent occurrences of these previously rare fires.

Those in wildfire-prone areas & states, are advised to take mitigation steps on their property and put in place preparedness measures and plans should a wildfire occur and evacuations become necessary. This includes creating community wildfire protection plans, using carefully chosen building materials, following building codes, trimming and clearing vegetation around structures, taking inventory of house items and storing them on the cloud, and rounding up important documents including insurance policies, and studying evacuation routes and plans.

On Wednesday President Biden met with governors of western states, cabinet officials and private sector partners to discuss actions currently being taken to address the growing wildfire issue including prevention, preparedness, mitigation and response efforts. The President outlined the following actions:

• Increase firefighter pay to $15 an hour;
• Permanent firefighters to receive a 10 percent retention incentive;
• Temporary workers who agree to continue the season to receive $1000;
• Extend hiring of temporary firefighters through this fire season;
• Office of Personnel Management approved extension of Forest Service's direct hire authority for wild land firefighters;
• Continue transition to a more permanent firefighting workforce as fires are no longer seasonal and have become year round concerns;
• Activate 15,000 surge firefighters as needed and another 13,000 employees can be activated to support wildfire response, 11,000 administrative personnel can be called up as well;
• Provide funding to train and equip military personnel to provide wildfire support; 11 states have asked for and received funding and training is underway;
• Increase capacity of air tankers and helicopters to be available during peak fire activity;
• Assistance to communities through critical Fire Management Assistance Grants (FMAG) issued through FEMA – 9 grants have been approved so far;
• Provide funds development of satellite and other technologies to detect fires early, provide location identification, and provide other assistance;
• Research early detection wildfire sensors, enhance wildfire responses, enhance operational capacity to protect critical infrastructure;
• Prepare to address potential power shutoffs by authorizing utilities to run at maximum capacity to meet emergency needs;
• Research smoke exposure, air and water quality concerns;
• Provide guidance for communities on staying safe via FEMA and other resources;
• Provide community mitigation assistance through the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program which provides funds for pre-disaster mitigation, and other FEMA programs;
• Investment of funds from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework in forest management and upgrades to critical infrastructure;
• Budget $30 billion on 2022 for wildfire management;
• Increase of 62 percent in hazardous fuels funding

These measures are a start in dealing with what has become a year-round wildfire cycle causing billions of dollars in damage. As the west continues to suffer droughts and extreme weather patterns, the wildfires will only continue and ways to prevent, mitigate and manage these fires are critical to handling this issue.

The increasing risk of wildfires and the need to restrict coverage is similar to the flooding problems seen in the coastal areas. Builders wanted to keep building because the areas were popular and profitable, regardless of the inherent danger of building in those locales. This has lead to areas that suffer repetitive flooding and expensive rebuilding or relocation of residents. The same will happen in wildfire areas if we don't make changes now. Insurance availability is important as is protecting structures; however only so much can be done when the threat of wildfire continues to grow. These factors must be taken into account before construction is allowed in areas that will put people and property in danger.