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California’s Wildfire Problem Goes Beyond PG&E

Slate News

Slate Podcasts

Politics, News, News Commentary

4.56K Ratings

🗓️ 4 November 2019

⏱️ 15 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In California, thousands of people have evacuated their homes in yet another season of dangerous wildfires. Thousands of other residents have had their power shut off in an effort to help prevent incidents along power lines that could trigger yet more wildfires across the state. How has Gov. Gavin Newsom’s tone changed when it comes to talking about PG&E, the utility company responsible for many past fires and current power outages. Plus, how does California’s affordability problem factor into the state’s wildfire problem?

Guest: Taryn Luna, reporter at the Los Angeles Times

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Transcript

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0:00.0

When Taryn Luna thinks about the time she spent in the Napa Valley last month, she can still hear the wind.

0:10.9

It's very loud winds are whipping through the town, right?

0:14.4

There's moments where it dies down, and then it comes back.

0:21.3

Last week, if you watched videos of the California wildfire spreading,

0:26.1

you could hear these gusts, up to 96 miles an hour.

0:34.0

Holy crap, this is moving fast.

0:39.3

And that whole time, you're just thinking, you know, what is this doing to the fire?

0:45.6

Where is this pushing the fire?

0:47.4

Are people being evacuated?

0:49.0

Do people understand that they have to leave?

0:51.1

Are they taking evacuation orders seriously?

0:56.9

Terran reports for the LA Times, went to Sonoma to cover the Kincaid fire. She watched as 50,000

1:03.6

residents were told to evacuate their homes. Many of the people who weren't being evacuated

1:08.8

were having their power shut off to avoid sparking more fires.

1:13.5

You were in Sonoma with the governor, and I'm wondering what his interactions were like with people on the ground trying to figure out what they do.

1:23.0

When I was with him, the day I was with him, he went to a mobile home park that had been warned

1:28.9

four hours prior to an outage that they were going to lose power. Through the state, you're

1:34.5

supposed to be getting 24 to 48 hours noticed at least. So these people were warned, you know,

1:39.4

four hours before, you know, these are elderly people. So one of the guys he spoke with was 93 years old.

1:46.2

When you think about Sonoma County, maybe you picture of vineyard, wine country. But in Las Casitas

1:51.9

Mobile Home Park, many residents are on fixed incomes. And when the power goes out, they can't

1:58.1

afford to empty out their fridges. One 87-year-old woman told Terran,

...

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