Sacramento County Resilience Digest

California has long had the strongest defensible space rules in the country. Now, it's drafting rules that would make it the first state to limit the vegetation directly next to buildings.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has identified nearly 500 “zones” that are ill-prepared to tolerate flooding, earthquakes, heat waves, wildfires, landslides and other natural hazards. California topped all states with 51 total zones, followed by 35 in Texas and 32 in Florida.

On Oct. 1, the Sacramento County Office of Emergency Services will delete some data from their emergency notification system, which they use to send important alerts. The agency is transitioning to a new service, Sacramento Alert, and residents should either sign up for the service or update their information by visiting the citizen opt-in portal.

A new study that found human-caused climate warming has increased the frequency of fast-spreading California wildfires has come into question from the unlikeliest of critics—its own lead author.

The homeownership gap for Black people could worsen without affordable and attainable homeowners insurance.

After California lost over 4 million acres to fire in 2020, the state funded Task Force Rattlesnake, with National Guardsmen to assist Cal Fire.

It’s a hot August morning at a vineyard in Davis. Researchers with UC Davis are testing to see if a polymer-based solution used on grapes as a barrier against fungus could help protect the fruit from wildfire smoke.

CapRadio’s Mike Hagerty spoke with Brian Ferguson, deputy director with the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, to learn more about the state’s response.

Summer heatwaves can strain California’s electricity supply, prompting energy emergency notifications to appear across highway signs and social media.

Caldor Fire survivors are taking on the federal government, claiming the U.S. Forest Service failed to protect Grizzly Flats when the Caldor Fire ignited in August of 2021 and destroyed more than 400 of the 600 homes in the mountain community.

As sea levels rise, many countries are considering a controversial strategy: relocation of communities. A Stanford analysis of planned relocations around the world reveals a blueprint for positive outcomes from an approach often considered a last resort.

Luis Yauri Oyola hopes one day to buy a tractor to start a business in Peru; he estimates that he is six years away from that goal, for which he will have spent more than a decade of his life living thousands of miles away from his family. He is on call 24/7 and doesn’t leave the job site except for necessities.

As Galt-Arno Cemetery District gathers funding to repair the major damage left by storms earlier this year, the director is asking local families for patience when they encounter dry grass and reduced hours.

More than four in ten Californians reported being personally affected by an extreme weather event in the last two years, a poll by the Public Policy Institute of California found.

Goats eat a wide variety of vegetation and graze in steep, rocky terrain, which is why they’re an eco-friendly alternative to chemical herbicides or weed-whacking machines. But new state labor regulations are making it more expensive to provide goat-grazing services.

Sacramento County and Galt Joint Union High School District took some time on May 10 to recognize some hardworking young people within the district who are making the transition from school to employment while overcoming disabilities.

The Sacramento Bee gets some answers from seismologist Dr. Julian Lozos, an earthquake physicist and associate professor at California State University Northridge.

Winter storm damage is a chance to make the changes to your house you’ve always wanted, but having help to navigate the insurance process can make a big difference.

California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara announced that by the end of the year all insurance companies will be mandated to offer a discount to insured members who create defensible defensible space and adhere to guidelines outlined by Firewise USA.

Sounding alarms about artificial intelligence has become a popular pastime, taken up by high-profile figures. Now, pioneering researcher Geoffrey Hinton has quit his role at Google so he could more freely speak about the dangers of the technology he helped create.

Asphalt pavement formulated with recycled plastic has successfully survived heavy truck traffic and the atmospheric rivers of the winter of 2022-23 after a section of California State Route 99 flooded in January.

The California Black Chamber of Commerce is joining hands with state government to help narrow the Golden State’s Digital Divide for nearly two million houses without access to broadband. The CBCC will help push the state’s Middle-Mile Broadband Initiative.

For most Californians, the sight of aircraft spewing neon pink liquid over flaming trees and brush has become a hallmark of aggressive wildfire suppression campaigns. But some forest advocates say the substance does more harm than good. A federal lawsuit could reshape how the U.S. Forest Service battles wildfires throughout the western United States.

The Sacramento region continues to be battered by a historic string of storms, bringing destruction and power outages. More than 599,000 customers have experienced power outages and the Sacramento Municipal Utilities District has restored power to 98 percent.

The Folsom restaurant, led by Eric Lee and exec chef Victor Octavio, held a series of fundraising dinners to raise money for the Shriners children’s hospital in Sacramento.

Cell phones buzzed 10 seconds ahead of shaking in Northern California.

Broadband access in the Sacramento region has increased rapidly during the last few years, making the area a leader in internet connectivity. About 93.5% of local households used broadband in 2021, up from 82.3% in 2015.

On Election Day, a tornado with wind gusts of up to 70 mph touched down in a rural area of Sacramento County near Galt. The Bee looks at how common tornadoes are in California, what causes them and how dangerous they can be.

Scientists at the University of Nevada, Reno, are using a variety of new technologies with massive amounts of data and computational power to model and map fire-vulnerable forest vegetation across millions of acres in California.

Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara, trying to ease an insurance crisis that’s hurt rural California, has announced that all carriers active in fire-prone communities must incorporate his “Safer from Wildfires” program into their premiums.

According to the first in a series of reports to come from a consulting firm hired by California officials, PG&E’s efforts to improve wildfire safety are hindered by aging equipment, damaged power poles and hazardous trees that went undetected by the utility’s crews.

In the wake of losing Paradise, Greenville and Grizzly Flats in recent years, the Mosquito Fire nearly wiped another California town off the map—but firefighters and luck saved the Placer County town of Foresthill.