The Washington Post, September 14, I’m from a long line of California ranchers. Now we flee fires all the time.
California has five seasons: fall, winter, spring, summer and fire. For the six generations that my family has been commercial cattle ranching in this state, this has been our normal. The threat of fire is part of our landscape. Only recently has the season been this long, this deadly, this life-altering. I say this as a survivor of three major fires over four years: the Cherokee in 2017, the Camp in 2018, and now the Bear, which is part of the North Complex West Zone fires. The last two were called “unprecedented” at the time. These fires have not only altered the landscape of our community, they have stolen our sense of safety in our own homes.
