Wildfires
Blog
Read the latest on the Southern California wildfire response
Rebuilding Los Angeles puts urbanism at a crossroads
Here’s a scenario, for example, that Californians might wish to avoid: The city of Altadena, previously a relatively low-density suburb with detached single family homes, is rebuilt with two-story townhomes along the narrow neighborhood streets, and three-story “luxury apartments” along the four-lane boulevards. There is inadequate street parking at this ...
California
Steven Greenhut – How California’s Insurance Crisis Could Be Double Whammy for Wildfire Victims
This week, Free Cities Center director Steven Greenhut joins us to discuss how California’s ongoing insurance crisis could be a double whammy for Southern California wildfire victims looking to rebuild. He gives the history of the state’s festering insurance crisis, analyzes Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara’s reform plan announced just before ...
California
As Los Angeles Burns, California Prevention Failures Made Clear
Not nearly enough is being done by California’s ruling class to mitigate wildfires, as the tragic devastation in Los Angeles has shown. Certainly, dry conditions and vicious winds fueled multiple wildfires that, at last count, had burned roughly 40,000 acres, destroyed more than 12,000 structures and claimed at least 25 ...
Blog
Read the latest on California's post-wildfire response
Newsom Right to Waive CEQA for Wildfire Rebuilding, But Lawmakers Should Also Act
The broken clock that has been state government’s response to the Southern California wildfires was right once on Sunday when Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order waving numerous environmental requirements that threatened to add unnecessary delay and expense to the rebuilding process. Under the Newsom executive order, California Environmental ...
Blog
Time to pursue emergency reforms to battle wildfires
Time to pursue emergency reforms to battle wildfires by Daniel M. Kolkey | January 15, 2025 Editor’s note: This article is adapted from the Pacific Research Institute’s 2021 book, “Saving California.” We’re reprinting this in the wake of the devastating Southern California wildfires, as its policy prescriptions provide a blueprint ...
California
Southern California wildfires show just how destructive the ‘California Way’ can be
You’ll forgive Southern Californians for throwing up their hands in frustration as destructive wildfires rage across the region. Watching their homes burn and loved ones evacuated, California’s ruling class hasn’t exactly channeled their inner-Rudy Giuliani on 9/11. Read the entire op-ed here.
Blog
An insurance emergency after officials let crisis fester
An insurance emergency after officials let crisis fester Horrific wildfires in Los Angeles have focused attention on California’s ongoing insurance troubles, but because of the state’s inaction its insurance industry is facing an “existential crisis,” as a recent New York Post headline put it. The Wall Street Journal quotes a ...
California
Tim Anaya Explains Many California Policy Problems
Anaya previews his latest book, The California Left Coast Survivor’s Guide, co-written with PRI’s Kerry Jackson. Listen to the entire interview here:
Agriculture
Wildfires need more than money thrown at them to put the flames out
It has been an extraordinary year for California fires. The Park Fire currently raging as of this writing in Butte and Tehama Counties has destroyed nearly 300 homes and businesses and remains just 18 percent contained. More than 200,000 acres of have burned so far, well above the five-year average ...
Blog
Read about Canada's recent wildfires
Bad Policy Could Make Canada’s Recent Fires Regular Occurrence in California
When California is on fire, the rest of the country looks on with the same morbid curiosity it has when yet any of the many Old Testament plagues that shake, rattle, parch, blister and sometimes flood the Golden State. But tables do sometimes turn. Canada’s recent wildfires meant that for ...
Read the latest on the Southern California wildfire response
Rebuilding Los Angeles puts urbanism at a crossroads
Here’s a scenario, for example, that Californians might wish to avoid: The city of Altadena, previously a relatively low-density suburb with detached single family homes, is rebuilt with two-story townhomes along the narrow neighborhood streets, and three-story “luxury apartments” along the four-lane boulevards. There is inadequate street parking at this ...
Steven Greenhut – How California’s Insurance Crisis Could Be Double Whammy for Wildfire Victims
This week, Free Cities Center director Steven Greenhut joins us to discuss how California’s ongoing insurance crisis could be a double whammy for Southern California wildfire victims looking to rebuild. He gives the history of the state’s festering insurance crisis, analyzes Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara’s reform plan announced just before ...
As Los Angeles Burns, California Prevention Failures Made Clear
Not nearly enough is being done by California’s ruling class to mitigate wildfires, as the tragic devastation in Los Angeles has shown. Certainly, dry conditions and vicious winds fueled multiple wildfires that, at last count, had burned roughly 40,000 acres, destroyed more than 12,000 structures and claimed at least 25 ...
Read the latest on California's post-wildfire response
Newsom Right to Waive CEQA for Wildfire Rebuilding, But Lawmakers Should Also Act
The broken clock that has been state government’s response to the Southern California wildfires was right once on Sunday when Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order waving numerous environmental requirements that threatened to add unnecessary delay and expense to the rebuilding process. Under the Newsom executive order, California Environmental ...
Time to pursue emergency reforms to battle wildfires
Time to pursue emergency reforms to battle wildfires by Daniel M. Kolkey | January 15, 2025 Editor’s note: This article is adapted from the Pacific Research Institute’s 2021 book, “Saving California.” We’re reprinting this in the wake of the devastating Southern California wildfires, as its policy prescriptions provide a blueprint ...
Southern California wildfires show just how destructive the ‘California Way’ can be
You’ll forgive Southern Californians for throwing up their hands in frustration as destructive wildfires rage across the region. Watching their homes burn and loved ones evacuated, California’s ruling class hasn’t exactly channeled their inner-Rudy Giuliani on 9/11. Read the entire op-ed here.
An insurance emergency after officials let crisis fester
An insurance emergency after officials let crisis fester Horrific wildfires in Los Angeles have focused attention on California’s ongoing insurance troubles, but because of the state’s inaction its insurance industry is facing an “existential crisis,” as a recent New York Post headline put it. The Wall Street Journal quotes a ...
Tim Anaya Explains Many California Policy Problems
Anaya previews his latest book, The California Left Coast Survivor’s Guide, co-written with PRI’s Kerry Jackson. Listen to the entire interview here:
Wildfires need more than money thrown at them to put the flames out
It has been an extraordinary year for California fires. The Park Fire currently raging as of this writing in Butte and Tehama Counties has destroyed nearly 300 homes and businesses and remains just 18 percent contained. More than 200,000 acres of have burned so far, well above the five-year average ...
Read about Canada's recent wildfires
Bad Policy Could Make Canada’s Recent Fires Regular Occurrence in California
When California is on fire, the rest of the country looks on with the same morbid curiosity it has when yet any of the many Old Testament plagues that shake, rattle, parch, blister and sometimes flood the Golden State. But tables do sometimes turn. Canada’s recent wildfires meant that for ...
