I write as someone who knows firsthand what it means to lose normalcy to fire. More than a year after I fled my home during the Palisades Fire, I still haven’t been able to move back in. My house didn’t burn, but it became unlivable after fire retardant containing toxic heavy metals rained down on our neighborhood. That experience left me deeply committed to reducing wildfire risk — but it also taught me that rushing these efforts without proper safeguards can create new dangers just as serious as the fires themselves.

That’s why I’m concerned about Senate Bill 1370, introduced by state Sens. Henry Stern and Josh Becker. The bill would exempt many wildfire prevention projects from a wide range of state environmental laws, including regulations covering water and air quality, endangered species protections and the California Environmental Quality Act. Projects involving herbicide spraying, removal of trees or native vegetation, and land clearing on parcels up to 3,000 acres would no longer need to comply with these existing rules.

In effect, SB 1370 would make permanent what Gov. Gavin Newsom authorized temporarily through an emergency proclamation this past June, which fast-tracked hundreds of wildfire prevention projects by suspending many of the same environmental requirements.

A look at the state’s public dashboard tracking these fast-tracked projects raises real red flags. Many projects run by Southern California Edison, the utility serving much of the region, rely heavily on herbicide application to clear vegetation. Chemicals like Roundup and its active ingredient, glyphosate, are commonly used but have been linked in multiple studies to cancer, respiratory illness and neurological damage. These are not fringe concerns — they’re documented risks that current state law is specifically designed to guard against, including rules that restrict spraying near drinking water sources and sensitive tree stands.

If SB 1370 becomes law, those safeguards would no longer apply to a broad swath of projects. Consider the Blodgett Forest Fuel Reduction Project in El Dorado Forest, which calls for herbicide treatment across up to 471 acres to reduce shrub cover. This forest is home to more than 400 plant species and 150 animal species, and it sits near waterways that feed into a county where roughly 42% of residents rely on private wells — wells drawing from shallow groundwater that could easily be compromised by nearby chemical spraying.

What troubles me most is how little oversight actually accompanies these expedited projects. There’s no requirement that they prove cost-effectiveness or measurable wildfire risk reduction — even though that reduction was the entire justification for loosening the rules in the first place. The state’s tracking dashboard offers scant detail on what protective measures, if any, were applied to each project, leaving communities with almost no way to voice concerns or hold anyone accountable. Compounding the problem, the state’s own Statewide Fuels Reduction Environmental Protection Plan — meant to guide these projects — is vague and, in many cases, purely voluntary.

This comes at a moment when federal protections are also eroding. The U.S. Forest Service and timber industry are preparing to spray unprecedented amounts of glyphosate across California’s forests, while the Trump administration has finalized changes gutting the national Endangered Species Act, clearing the way for expanded mining and logging nationwide.

Given that backdrop, California should be reinforcing its own environmental protections, not dismantling them. Instead, SB 1370 would strip away safeguards for projects that could damage fragile ecosystems and expose nearby residents to cancer-linked chemicals — all without any guarantee that these efforts will actually make our communities safer from fire.

There are better paths forward. The state should be putting resources into hardening homes against fire and encouraging smarter development that avoids high-risk areas. SB 1370, as written, doesn’t get us closer to a truly wildfire-resilient California — it just trades one danger for another.

Original source: CalMatters

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Flood watches were in effect through 4 p.m. Monday for burn areas from recent fires that broke out around the Pacific Palisades neighborhood in Los Angeles, Altadena and Castaic Lake, said Joe Sirard, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Oxnard.

“All these fresh burns are very susceptible to rapid runoff,” Sirard said, warning of even small amounts of rain in a few minutes’ time. “What that means is we have a fairly high danger of mud and debris flows once we get above those thresholds.”

A portion of the Pacific Coast Highway in Los Angeles County was closed as of Sunday afternoon due to mudflows in Topanga Canyon, the California Department of Transportation said. A flood advisory was issued for parts of Ventura County through Sunday evening, and forecasters expected snow to fall in the mountains.

One benefit that could come from the rain: It may help firefighters who are reining in multiple wildfires after weeks of windy and dry weather.

Los Angeles County crews spent much of the past week removing vegetation, shoring up slopes and reinforcing roads in devastated areas of the Palisades and Eaton fires, which reduced entire neighborhoods to rubble and ash after breaking out during powerful winds on Jan. 7.

The Palisades Fire, the largest of the blazes that destroyed thousands of homes and killed at least 11 people, reached 90% containment Sunday. The Eaton Fire, which broke out near Altadena and has killed at least 16 people, was 98% contained.

The Hughes Fire, which ignited last week north of Los Angeles and caused evacuation orders or warnings for more than 50,000 people, was 95% contained as of Sunday evening.

In San Diego County, firefighters made progress to contain the smaller Border 2 Fire as it burned through a remote area of the Otay Mountain Wilderness near the U.S.-Mexico border.

Most of the region was forecast to get about an inch (about 2.5 centimeters) of precipitation over several days, but the National Weather Service warned of a risk of localized cloudbursts causing mud and debris to flow down hills.

“So the problem would be if one of those showers happens to park itself over a burn area,” weather service meteorologist Carol Smith said on social media. “That could be enough to create debris flows.”

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass issued an executive order last week to expedite cleanup efforts and mitigate the environmental impacts of fire-related pollutants. LA County supervisors also approved an emergency motion to install flood-control infrastructure and expedite and remove sediment in fire-impacted areas.

Fire crews filled sandbags for communities, while county workers installed barriers and cleared drainage pipes and basins.

Officials cautioned that ash in recent burn zones was a toxic mix of incinerated cars, electronics, batteries, building materials, paints, furniture and other household items. It contains pesticides, asbestos, plastics and lead. Residents were urged to wear protective gear while cleaning up.

Concerns about post-fire debris flows have been especially high since 2018, when the town of Montecito, up the coast from Los Angeles, was ravaged by mudslides after a downpour hit mountain slopes burned bare by a huge blaze. Hundreds of homes were damaged and 23 people died.

The rain was expected to snap a near-record streak of dry weather for Southern California. Much of the region has received less than 5% of the average rainfall for this point in the water year, which began Oct. 1, the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday.

Most of Southern California is currently in “extreme drought” or “severe drought,” according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

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Firefighters Thursday were continuing to fight the Palisades fire, which has burned more than 17,200 acres, and the Eaton fire, that has burned through Pasadena and Altadena areas, charring at least 10,600 acres.

But Los Angeles caught a break Wednesday, with firefighters able to limit the Sunset fire, which broke out near Runyon Canyon above Hollywood on Wednesday, and keep a house fire in Studio City from spreading.

Unlike during the catastrophic conditions on Tuesday night, when wind gusts of up to 100 mph were recorded, on Wednesday night, aircraft were able to make water drops on the Sunset fire, which broke out shortly before 6 p.m. Wednesday. Officials initially ordered a mandatory evacuation of a swath of Hollywood north of Hollywood Boulevard but are expected to lift all evacuation orders Thursday morning. The Sunset fire has burned 60 acres, according to CalFire.

Officials urged people to still be vigilant.

Wind speeds weakened across the Los Angeles region Thursday morning, with isolated gusts reaching 35 mph in the Malibu area and 58 mph in the San Gabriel Mountains, said Mike Wofford, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard.

But, the reprieve is expected to be brief. Winds are anticipated to strengthen Thursday night.

“We’ll get a little bump up in winds as we get another little push of offshore flow,” Wofford said. “Nothing like we saw [Wednesday] with the gusts of 80 to 100 mph winds, but certainly enough to present some issues for the fires. … It’s kind of like a day on, day off sort of thing. At least until the middle of next week we’re going to be in that pattern.”

Late Wednesday, the National Weather Service downgraded the fire weather outlook for the region from “extremely critical” to “critical.” Wofford said Los Angeles residents should be prepared for a succession of sustained high wind events that could intensify fire risk. Humidity levels remain low and no rain is in the forecast in the coming days.

None of the four fires burning in Los Angeles County have any containment and the cause of each is being investigated.

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