More homes in Fresno County subject to wildfire risk

FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- In Fresno County, the number of homes that are in high wildfire-prone areas has doubled from 15,000 in 1990 to around 30,000 in 2020, according to data from the First Street Foundation.

This now puts nearly a third of properties at major risk for wildfires in Fresno County over the next 30 years, and those already impacted by wildfires are still feeling the aftermath today.

"They said just let it burn," said Rodney McGuire, who lost his home in the Oak Fire.

It never gets easier for Rodney McGuire - the retired veteran lost his home in the Oak Fire 15 months ago, and he's still trying to pick up the pieces.

Now living in this donation trailer, with his dog Dobie.

"Trying to rebuild, and deal with erosion and stuff from after the fire," said McGuire.

McGuire has lived in Mariposa County for over 20 years, and now he overlooks the property where the home he built, once stood.

"My deer survived, it took the home, but burned right around it, a few antiques," said McGuire.

McGuire's home was one of a growing number built in wildland-urban interface areas, where human development meets or intermingles with wildland, increasing the fire risk.

This interactive map shows data compiled by the University of Wisconsin Madison between 1990 and 2020.

In Mariposa County, more than 2,000 homes were built in wildland-urban interface areas during that time, for a 35% increase.

In Fresno County, nearly 15,000 more homes have been added to those zones, for a 100% change.

UC Merced Fire science professor, Crystal Kolden says everywhere is becoming fire-prone.

"One of the questions that people often ask is, well, where can I live Where there's no concern about fire?" said Kolden. "The reality is that well, you can live on an island that's a really small island with no vegetation right, or you can live in the middle of an urban jungle. Every place else, if there is vegetation it can burn, and it just takes the right conditions."

Kolden says in mid to higher-elevation areas, fire suppression is improving, but the climate is also creating different conditions for fires to explode.

"So in areas in the forest that used to be a little bit cooler midsummer, now those are hot and dry by midsummer even at lower elevations, places in and around some of these cities where we didn't use to see a lot of fire, now every little ignition turns into a fast-moving fire," said Kolden.

The increase in fires across the state has made it much more difficult and expensive for many homeowners to get insurance.

"Really what we're seeing is a huge shift of the risk away from the private market to the state-funded pool with the California fair plan, as more and more carriers try to adapt their underwriting to do a better job of matching risk to price, and then either: exiting the market entirely, or, failing to do that, just tightening up their underwriting guidelines," said Nick Meigs, Owner, of Nick Meigs Goosehead Insurance.

Nick Meigs says enrollment in the fair plan has increased more than 20 percent since the start of this year, with the state getting upwards of a thousand applications a day.

The insurance challenge is one many Mariposa County residents continue to face.

"All the agencies have either dropped us or given us a new agent, and each time we have to start over from the start. So, that's a nightmare," said McGuire.

While more homes fall into high-fire risk zones, you can clear brush and use defensible space to help protect your property.

"Prepare, prepare, prepare, because other people don't, and if they don't defend, you'll end up like me," said McGuire.

He now hopes the infamous "McGuire's hump," his new home, will be here by winter.

"You may knock me down, but I'm not on the ground. I'll get back up," said McGuire.

If you'd like to find out the level of risk for your property, you can use this interactive tool.

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