Monterey County Local News: Resilience


All Local Resilience News articles contributed by our local media allies and other local newsrooms.

Image caption: A Pyrocumulus cloud generated by the Dixie Fire in July, 2021.
What is Fire 'Containment?' That and Other Terms, Explained

What does it mean when firefighters call a fire "contained?" Here's a brief guide to commonly used fire prevention terminology.

Image caption: A smoky blanket of particulate matter hovers over San Francisco’s skyline.
Getting Acquainted With AQI

Learn what's getting into Californians’ lungs and why it matters.

Image caption: Many of Robert Kerbeck’s neighbors in Malibu Park lost their homes in the 2018 Woolsey Fire, which left behind lots where only chimneys still stood.
Give Your Home a Fighting Chance in a Wildfire

California wildfires are becoming larger, more frequent and more ferocious. ‘Malibu Burning’ author Robert Kerbeck shares simple steps you can take to protect your home.

Image caption: Flooding on the Salinas River in 2023 brought economic hardship to farmers and snarled traffic.
Disaster Prep: Alerts, Maps and Apps

Whether you’re on the Monterey Peninsula, in the Salinas Valley or Big Sur, keep these information resources handy on your smartphone.

Image caption: The Pajaro River levee broke during the 2023 atmospheric river storms, flooding the town of Pajaro.
Is California Ready for More Extreme Weather Driven by Climate Change?

This year, a series of extreme events in California and around the country have wreaked havoc, driven by climate change. How prepared are we for things to get worse?

Image caption: Kerry Wood, CEO of the Sacramento Region Community Foundation, says the organization researches areas of need to help donors direct their contributions.
What Is a Community Foundation?

By channeling funds to a number of nonprofits working on various issues in a given region, community foundations help solve big problems throughout California.

Image caption: Just because record rains have been falling, the state’s water crisis remains.
What Is Drought? Probably Not What You Think

2023’s torrential rainstorms have eased California's drought conditions. But there’s a lot more to drought than the amount of rain, and this drought isn't over yet.

Image caption: With CERT training, volunteers can learn firefighting skills.
Emergency Teamwork

Fires, floods, earthquakes—California’s got it all. And CERT volunteers are ready to step in.

Image caption: Thousands of homeowners have been kicked off their fire insurance policies.
California Fire Insurance Crisis: How the State Helps Homeowners

As California insurance companies have revoked the fire policies of thousands of homeowners, the state has taken steps to get them covered again.

Image caption: Though it’s the most famous, the San Andreas Fault is just one of more than 500 active faults in California.
Battening Down for the Big One

Making it through the earthquake is the easy part. The hard part is surviving in the chaos that follows.

Image caption: Supercell storms are just one of many weather phenomena in the era of climate change.
The New Vocabulary of the Climate Change Era

The climate change era has created a whole new set of terms for a wide variety of storms and other weather phenomena. Here are some of the most important.

Image caption:
How Not to Feel the Burn

California residents can turn to these public and private entities to help prepare for wildfires and protect their property.

California Local Pin Marker From Monterey Herald...

01/16/2025
Read on to learn more about the fire which broke out on January 16 at a battery storage plant located on the grounds of the Moss Landing power station.

King City Rustler logo From King City Rustler...

01/15/2025
Image for display with article titled SPCA Monterey County Rescues Pets From Los Angeles Shelters Amid Ongoing Wildfires

A team from SPCA Monterey County traveled to the Los Angeles area Saturday to take in cats and dogs from animal shelters to help provide room for more fire evacuees.

California Local Pin Marker From CalMatters...

01/15/2025
Three days after immensely destructive and deadly wildfires broke out in and around Los Angeles, Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed a $322.3 billion state budget with a positive revenue forecast “based on an assumption of continued but slowing economic growth.”

California Local Pin Marker From Monterey Herald...

01/15/2025
Read on to learn more about the 327-acre Pico Blanco property on the Little Sur River and the agreement by which the Esselen Tribe of Monterey County is to conserve and steward it moving forward.

California Local Pin Marker From The Sacramento Bee...

01/14/2025
Read on to learn about the measures taken to harden and protect the lone remaining house of the neighborhoodfrom the Pacific Palisades fire in Southern California.

California Local Pin Marker From CalMatters...

01/14/2025
Key moisture measurements are only 2% to 5% of average, leaving dusty soils. And the recent swing from wet to dry is among the most extreme on record. This combination of climatic conditions crossed into a danger zone, priming much of Southern California for wind-whipped fires.

California Local Pin Marker From CalMatters...

01/14/2025
Jennielynn Holmes stood in the middle of a make-shift evacuation center when the scope of the crisis hit her.

Monterey County Weekly logo From Monterey County Weekly...

01/13/2025
Image for display with article titled Monterey County Firefighters Support Los Angeles Firefight, Plus Ways You Can Help.

As massive wildfires devastate entire neighborhoods in and around Los Angeles, local agencies from Monterey County have joined in the firefight.

California Local Pin Marker From Watch Duty Palisades Fire Information...

01/11/2025
Official updated information from WatchDuty about the Palisades Fire in Southern California.

California Local Pin Marker From Watch Duty Eaton Fire Information...

01/11/2025
Official updated information from WatchDuty about the Eaton Fire in Southern California.

California Local Pin Marker From CalMatters...

01/09/2025
After days of sniping back and forth with President-elect Donald Trump over California’s handling of the fires ravaging Los Angeles, Gov. Gavin Newsom today invited the incoming Republican president to visit the state and survey the damage.

California Local Pin Marker From CalMatters...

01/09/2025
The state’s plan to fix the insurance crisis had barely rolled out when the Los Angeles fires began. Can the market recover and stabilize?

Monterey County Weekly logo From Monterey County Weekly...

01/08/2025
Image for display with article titled Monterey One Water Is Upgrading Its Infrastructure So It Can Sell Renewable Natural Gas.

As the Monterey Peninsula becomes increasingly dependent on recycled water, the cost of water is going to rise, and already has. Although recycling water is cheaper than desalinating it, it’s still energy intensive. Add to that, energy from the grid can be unreliable – Monterey One Water, which treats wastewater and recycles some of it for potable use, lost power in 2022 for a total of 65.2 hours at its treatment plant in Marina, as the PG&E substation supplying energy to the plant experienced interruptions.

California Local Pin Marker From CalMatters...

01/08/2025
The federal government typically covers 75% of rebuilding costs after a major disaster. President-elect Trump has threatened to withhold firefighting money from California.

California Local Pin Marker From CalMatters...

01/08/2025
President-elect Donald Trump faulted California water policies for the devastating wildfires that are burning in Los Angeles County. The fires started because of fierce winds and extremely dry conditions.

California Local Pin Marker From CalMatters...

01/08/2025
As climate change warms the planet, wildfires have become so unpredictable and extreme that new words were invented: firenado, gigafire, fire siege — even fire pandemic. California has 78 more annual “fire days” — when conditions are ripe for fires to spark — than 50 years ago. When is California’s wildfire season? It is now almost year-round.

California Local Pin Marker From Monterey Herald...

12/31/2024
Read about the rescue of a stranded hiker in which teams were stalled by river waters and weather in the Ventana Wilderness before they were able to complete their mission.

Monterey County Weekly logo From Monterey County Weekly...

12/23/2024
Image for display with article titled PG&E Is Installing a Larger Substation Transformer Expected to Improve Capacity on the Monterey Peninsula.

Monterey Peninsula residents, frustrated over the most recent big power outage during the storm that walloped the region on Dec. 14, may have noticed their power flickering off and on in recent days. The reason is likely because PG&E is undertaking a major power upgrade at the Del Monte substation in Monterey, bordering Seaside.

Monterey County Weekly logo From Monterey County Weekly...

12/18/2024
Image for display with article titled Measuring Progress on the County’s Post-Flood Recovery Plan in Pajaro.

Sara Rubin here, thinking about the relativity of time. For example: Is recovery in Pajaro moving fast, or slow? The answers vary widely depending on your perspective.

Monterey County Weekly logo From Monterey County Weekly...

12/18/2024
Image for display with article titled A Year After the County Approved $10 Million for Pajaro Aid, Just $2.6 Million Has Been Spent.

Nearly two years after floods in the North County town of Pajaro displaced most of its residents, the community’s recovery process is still ongoing. That includes the distribution of the funds meant to bolster recovery.