NFPA Journal - January/February 2018 - 6

Editor's Note by Scott Sutherland

Executive Editor, NFPA Journal

EXECUTIVE EDITOR

Scott Sutherland
ssutherland@nfpa.org

Notes from Ojai
n early December, the
Thomas Fire chewed through
large sections of Ventura
County, on the Southern
California coast, and headed
toward the hill town of Ojai, where my sister
and her husband live. I texted her to ask
if they had been ordered to evacuate, and
she sent back an alarming update. "Flames
just came over the ridge so I'm leaving," she
wrote. She'd have to do it solo because her
husband was down in Ventura assisting with
the emergency situation created by the fire,
which was big and quickly getting bigger,
displacing thousands of people.
Over the next week, she sent photos and
updates as the fire moved into and around
Ojai and surrounding communities. "Tough
night for the hillside and ridge on our
north," she wrote on December 7, adding
later in the day that "the most disconcerting thing was how fast it traveled and
grew." Four days later she reported that
"they closed the evac center here in Ojai
and things are beginning to come to life,"
even as the fire was "going strong towards
Santa Barbara...we could be on this for
weeks to come."

She was right. Two weeks later, driven
by relentless winds, the Thomas Fire had
become the second-largest in California history, having burned more than 420 square
miles since it began on December 4, and
was bearing down on Santa Barbara. It had
also destroyed more than 1,300 structures,
leveling entire neighborhoods in scenes that
have become grimly commonplace during
this historically destructive fire season.
The dim view is that the carnage that has
afflicted California this fall is just a preview
of the country's wildfire future, as more
development occurs in fire-prone areas from
coast to coast. The more optimistic option
is that planners, builders, fire officials, citizens, and their elected representatives can
actually learn from what's taken place in
Santa Rosa, Ventura County, and elsewhere
to better adapt communities for existence
on landscapes regularly visited by wildfire.
Both views and more are acknowledged
in our cover story, "Build. Burn. Repeat?,"
which offers a fascinating look at the issue's
challenges and complexities. The dim view
needn't prevail, but it's also apparent that
optimism should probably best be limited to
the cautious variety.

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