- [Narrator] Wild fires are ravaging
the Western US this year,
and in California, inspectors like these
are going door to door,
making sure homeowners have a perimeter
of defensible space between the house and the forest.
- What kind of dog do you have?
- A pit bull. - Okay.
- I cleared a lot of this out
but I still have the back section to do.
- When we do our inspection, we'll start at the roof
and work down and then out from the house.
Any branches that are overhanging the house,
we want those cleared back 10 feet.
- Okay.
- You as a homeowner might think I'm doing the right thing,
and I've cleared a little of this
or I've cleared some plants away from my house,
but the defensible space inspectors
have been trained to notice maybe something
a homeowner hasn't.
- [Narrator] This is a new approach for California,
which is desperate to find ways
to reduce the impact of wild fires
after a record fire year in 2020.
But as fires once again rage in parts of the state
and the Western US, why are many experts questioning
whether California is prepared
for another explosive fire season?
In 2020, wild fires burned
a record-breaking 10 million acres
in the Western US.
Nearly half of that was in California.
Last year saw five of the six largest fires
in modern state history
with more than 10,000 structures destroyed
and 33 deaths, according to CAL FIRE.
This year, conditions, fueled by climate change,
are even worst according to climate scientists.
Much of the region is facing extreme drought conditions
and heatwaves have set record temperatures.
(truck zooming)
Experts say fighting fires is not enough.
Michael Wara directs the Climate
and Energy Policy Program at Stanford.
He says a new strategy for preventive work
and land management is needed to reduce wildfire risk.
- What we're seeing is a sea change, in California at least,
in the way that this problem is thought about.
- [Narrator] That's why California's fire agency,
CAL FIRE, has this team
of defensible space inspectors going door to door
in regions like Butte County
where the campfire destroyed the town of Paradise in 2018.
Small home improvements can be the difference
between a house burning or not.
- Your chimney over here,
you want 10 feet away from that.
- Yeah, makes sense.
- Just make sure that's kept clear.
- [Narrator] CAL FIRE says they've done
around 3,200 inspections in the county so far
and plan to get to 6,000 by the end of the year.
But for many, it may be too little, too late.
In California, more than 11 million people live
in areas that border wild lands,
according to the US Forest Service.
Focusing on preventive work is challenging
when firefighters have their hands full
fighting active blazes across the state.
Fire agencies like CAL FIRE are already stretched
and grappling with firefighter burnout
from a now year-long season.
John Gaddie is a fire captain in Butte County.
- We're asking our men and women of CAL FIRE,
not only of CAL FIRE, but our federal
and local government counterparts
to work longer, harder summers,
and it's taking their toll on them,
not only mentally but physically.
- [Narrator] The federal government controls the majority
of California's forests
but is struggling to recruit and retain firefighters,
according to the US Forest Service.
Grassroots Wildland Firefighters,
an advocacy organization,
estimates 20% of permanent firefighting positions
at the Forest Service are unfilled.
CAL FIRE says they added almost 1,400
new seasonal firefighter positions this year.
However, the state says they relied heavily
on inmate fire crews,
which have been dramatically reduced
because of recent prison reform
and the early release of many prisoners during the pandemic.
- We're down 50 plus or minus percent
in our fire crews statewide,
which at the end of the day on some of these larger fires,
the men and women, the fire crews
and the fire engines are the ones
that actually get the line put in
and contain and control these fires.
So if we have one large fire,
pretty much our crews or the fire crews
of CAL FIRE are utilized.
- [Narrator] More resources may be on the way.
President Biden recently pledged
to hire more federal firefighters
and increase the pay to at least $15 an hour.
But some experts think the government
should be spending as much
on wildfire risk reduction as firefighting.
In his California budget proposal,
Governor Newsom called for $2 billion
to reduce wildfire threats,
much of it earmarked for work like this.
(chainsaw buzzing)
Cutting new fire breaks
and thinning overgrown forests,
as well as removing dead and dying trees
that become tinder for massive blazes.
(wood crunching)
Fuel reduction crews like this one,
working outside of Oroville, California
are on the job year round.
And the urgency is clear.
As the crew worked,
a fast-moving wild fire started just miles away.
(chainsaw buzzing)
Wara is encouraged by the progress in this state
but he says the National Forest Service
is not doing enough.
- We should be spending as much
to reduce the risk of wild fire
as we are to fight it when it occurs.
And the federal government
is not moving in the right direction.
- [Narrator] The Forest Service reduced
their hazardous fuel reduction budget
by more than $200 million in 2021,
and while the proposed 2022 budget
represents a steep increase,
it is still below pre-pandemic levels.
- Budgets are policy as far as I'm concerned.
And they tell you what's important
and what's not important.
And the Forest Service proposed
a hazardous fuel reduction budget
for the entire United States.
It's smaller than California's budget.
- [Narrator] The National Forest Service didn't respond
to our request for comment,
but in a recent Senate hearing,
a Forest Service official said the agency
hasn't had the resources
to carry out necessary prescribed fire work,
and that they needed
to boost their fuel management projects.
- We have to scale up our work by at least two
to four times what we're doing right now.
(birds tweeting)
- [Narrator] As summer progresses,
experts say little can be done
to mitigate the immediate danger,
but fire crews are still hoping
for a less exhausting and destructive season.
- Are we ready to respond right now?
Absolutely.
I just don't wanna see that onslaught
and unfortunately, I think the environment,
being hotter and drier
and lack of precipitation,
and some of the fires we've already seen,
it doesn't look good.
(dramatic music)