Fire seasons in 2017 and 2018 caused the residents of California to take a long, hard look at themselves, their electricity providers, the way their forests are managed, what their evacuation plans look like, and whether their homes are protected.
Communities on the Central Coast face fire yearly, from Lake Nacimiento to the forested hills outside of Santa Barbara. It's just a fact of life. But the questions are: How prepared are we to face the next big one? And what are we doing to protect ourselves?
New laws for a new normal: The hundreds of lives, thousands of homes, and billions of dollars lost in recent catastrophic wildfires like the Thomas Fire in Santa Barbara County and the Camp Fire in the town of Paradise forced state and local leaders to confront tough questions.
In the past year, state legislators adopted a slew of laws aimed at addressing these questions and avoiding the devastation seen the past two years.