Six years after the Creek Fire tore through the Sierra National Forest, forcing tens of thousands of residents to evacuate with barely a moment’s notice, one survivor says California still hasn’t learned the lessons that disaster should have taught.
Joe Denham, who serves on the boards of the Sierra Unified School District and the Sierra Resource Conservation District, watched the 2020 fire scorch 13 acres of his family’s ranch and destroy homes belonging to friends and neighbors throughout his Fresno County community. Now, as Gov. Gavin Newsom and state lawmakers debate a new package of wildfire recovery reforms, Denham is urging California to act before another catastrophic blaze exposes the same failures that plagued his community’s recovery.
Denham, who has worked as a firefighter with the U.S. Forest Service and Cal Fire and spent much of his career around the Sierra as a river guide and land steward, says he supports the governor’s proposal because it would prioritize wildfire victims over what he describes as outside interests — hedge funds, trial attorneys and insurance companies that he believes have profited while families waited for help.
“Any serious reform must put victims ahead of out-of-state interests,” Denham argues, pointing to his own experience navigating the aftermath of the Creek Fire as evidence that the current system is broken.
The fallout from that disaster, he says, extended well beyond burned structures and displaced families. In the years since, Fresno County schools have watched enrollment shrink as families unable to secure or afford insurance simply gave up on rebuilding and moved elsewhere. Local businesses that once depended on those families have struggled to stay afloat as their customer base thinned out.
Many residents in the Sierra Nevada foothills saw their insurance policies canceled outright or their premiums climb beyond reach in the fire’s aftermath. A significant number were pushed onto the state’s FAIR Plan, the insurer of last resort, which Denham describes as costly relative to the limited protection it actually provides. He says he’s heard similar concerns from neighbors who doubt the plan could withstand payouts if another major wildfire hit the region.
Beyond the insurance struggles, Denham points to a rebuilding process bogged down by years of litigation, where attorney fees and outside investment groups chipped away at settlements before victims ever saw compensation. Families who had already lost everything, he says, were let down twice — first by the fire, then by the system meant to help them recover.
Denham believes the fix is straightforward, even if the path to get there hasn’t been: increased investment in wildfire prevention, reforms to stabilize the insurance market so coverage remains affordable and accessible, and a restructured recovery system that puts fire victims at the front of the line.
“Every fire season that passes without reform is another season where a community like mine could go through exactly what we did — and come out the other side with even less to rebuild with,” he said.
With wildfire season looming and the memory of the Creek Fire still fresh for many in the region, Denham is calling on state leaders to seize this opportunity for reform now, rather than waiting for the next disaster to force their hand.
His perspective stands in contrast to that of other fire survivors, including one from the Palisades Fire, who has criticized the same proposal as yet another financial break for utility companies rather than a genuine solution for victims.
Original source: CalMatters
