In November 2018, the Camp Fire, the most devastating wildfire in California's history, was rapidly spreading through the Sierra Nevada foothills, destroying everything in its path. In just a few hours, the town of 26,000 residents was reduced to rubble, with schools, businesses, and 11,000 homes burned to the ground. Despite initially thinking it was a false alarm, Singer evacuated his home as flames approached, narrowly escaping in time. Paradise was completely destroyed. Eighty-five individuals perished, and over 90% of the population was forced to leave. Two years later, approximately 4,000 inhabitants have come back to the devastated land to start anew and take their chances once more. Singer is one of those who returned, but now he is reconsidering his decision. For years in this area covered with chaparral, it has been a tradition: following the fire, comes the reconstruction. However, as California faces a severe climate crisis with soaring temperatures and devastating wildfires, the rebuilding process is taking on a new form. The state has been dealing with both the largest wildfire season on record and the challenges brought on by the pandemic. By the end of 2020, over 4.2 million acres had been burned by nearly 10,000 fires. Northern California has been particularly hard-hit by megafires, while Southern California, especially Los Angeles, is now the epicentre of the pandemic, leading the nation in both confirmed cases and deaths. Amid a historic housing shortage and low interest rates, California's home prices have reached record highs. In August, the median cost of a single-family home in the state surpassed $700,000, and in September it continued to increase. While the price of new homes is going up, many homeowners are discovering that the cost of rebuilding after a fire is even higher. Home rebuilds are decreasing throughout the state due to a lack of contractors, pressures on the rental market, and a worsening climate crisis. California, still facing an affordable-housing crisis, has seen a decline in new construction permits for the past two years after steadily rebounding for over a decade following the 2008 recession. The number of new home construction permits in California reached 120,000 in 2018, then decreased to 110,000 in 2019. Following a devastating wildfire in Malibu on December 30, 2020, the rebuilding process in the state, which is facing a severe climate crisis, is evolving. The California Industry Research Board, responsible for monitoring construction and permit activity, expects to release its 2020 data in February and estimates that only 103,670 housing units were issued last year. California, the state with the largest population, is facing a severe climate crisis with soaring temperatures and devastating wildfires. The rebuilding process after these disasters is evolving, with more homeowners opting to start fresh rather than rebuild. The issue is complicated by the difficulty of tracking permits for fire-related losses and the widespread impact of wildfires across multiple municipalities. This trend suggests a shift in the way Californians are approaching rebuilding in the face of increasing fires. The lack of contractors in the state has left homeowners waiting for four or even five years to rebuild after disasters like the Camp Fire. Despite expectations for an increase in permits following the fire, the number has not risen. Many insurance companies offer large payouts, but finding a contractor available to build a new home can be a challenge due to the high demand. Some homeowners are choosing to leave instead of waiting. However, in areas where the land is valuable, such as Malibu after the Woolsey Fire in 2018, rebuilds are progressing steadily. The whole city was emptied, and 650 of its expensive homes, including those owned by Miley Cyrus, Gerard Butler and Robin Thicke, were destroyed. However, more than one-third of those homes now have permits to be rebuilt, compared to just over 10% in Paradise. "Rebuilding after a fire is like someone who gets bitten by a shark and still goes back to surf," said Michael Nourmand, president of the Los Angeles real estate brokerage Nourmand & Associates. "But people in LA quickly forget. Most are planning to rebuild." It is easier to rebuild if you have the financial means, as California has strict building codes in place since 2008 that require fire-resistant materials and landscaping. In 2011, California mandated that all single-family homes must have sprinkler systems, which can add over $20,000 to the cost of rebuilding a pre-2008 home. Those who decide to rebuild are forced to enter the rental market, adding strain to an already inflated housing system with high demand. As a result, the state's most vulnerable residents are impacted, leading to a 16% increase in homelessness numbers in 2019, with over 150,000 residents now experiencing homelessness. Due to the impact of COVID-19, it is anticipated that those figures will increase. James Ryan, the president of Time for Homes, an organization committed to eradicating chronic homelessness, explained that when numerous homes are destroyed, individuals are forced to relocate, causing rental prices to rise. This in turn leads to a rise in affordable housing and a decrease in housing insecurity. Governor Gavin Newsom's eviction moratorium, aimed at safeguarding tenants from losing their homes due to pandemic-related difficulties, is set to expire on February 1st. However, some reports indicate that evictions have been increasing during the pandemic, despite the moratorium in place. According to Ryan, there are always individuals who are overlooked and end up facing forced evictions, forcing them to seek alternative housing options. This has resulted in a situation where there is a growing number of people looking for housing, while the supply of homes is decreasing. As a result, there has been a population shift towards California's more rural areas, such as El Dorado County, where sales increased by 28% in 2020 compared to a slight decline in Sacramento. However, the Inland Empire, made up of Riverside and San Bernardino counties, is experiencing rapid growth and has been relatively unaffected by the large wildfires that have plagued other major metropolitan areas in California over the past two decades, such as San Diego, Los Angeles, and the San Francisco Bay Area. The COVID-19 pandemic has further fueled this trend of people moving to more rural areas. The median home prices in Riverside County and San Bernardino County are significantly lower than in Orange County and Los Angeles County. Job opportunities in the Inland Empire are also growing, making it an attractive option for families affected by wildfires looking to relocate. It is challenging to determine the exact reasons for the increase in movement towards areas like the Inland Empire, Joshua Tree, and Palm Springs. The shift may be driven by a combination of factors including affordability and concerns about fire risks. This trend has been observed since 2010, but not everyone has the luxury of moving away from fire-prone areas, especially in a state with a severe housing shortage. Following the Camp Fire, Singer and his wife, Shannon, have been living in an apartment in Chico, 20 miles away, as they deal with the challenges of rebuilding their home such as insurance, zoning, construction, and planning. They have also established a nonprofit called Paradise Stronger, using their fitness coaching background to provide mental health support to residents affected by the disaster. Initially, they were dedicated to participating in Paradise's comprehensive recovery plan to reconstruct the entire city with improvements like more parks, fire-safe landscaping, and better evacuation routes. However, the 2020 fire season introduced new terms like "megafires" and "hot drought," with fire-whipping winds leading to preventative power shut-offs becoming routine. In October, the Singers were forced to evacuate once again due to an approaching fire that had already caused significant damage. Singer, 43, stated that the area where their home would have been was the first to be evacuated this time. He described the scene as filled with smoke and mentioned that he experienced PTSD. His wife expressed her dissatisfaction with the situation and told him that she was unsure about rebuilding and staying in the same place. Singer shared that his wife was reconsidering their location. He mentions that he is willing to remain in the town, but not if it means jeopardizing his marriage. The couple has decided to temporarily halt their plans to rebuild. If they do decide to proceed, they are considering spending $100,000 of their own money for a smaller, more fire-safe home on the same property, with an estimated total cost of $250,000. They were paid $145,000 for the building that was destroyed in a fire, but like many American households, they found out later that their insurance coverage was insufficient. Insurance companies are increasingly refusing to renew policies in high-risk areas, with a significant rise in refusals reported by the California Department of Insurance. Some new developments are now incorporating resilience measures into their construction plans in wildfire-prone regions. One example is Rancho Mission Viejo in Southern California, which is the largest new community in the state and has been in development since 2001. The development plans for Rancho Mission Viejo include preserving 75% of the 23,000 acres of open space. Fire resilience is a fundamental aspect of the construction in the community, with many wildfire prevention tactics in place long before they were required by state and local regulations. The Urban Land Institute recently recognized the community, along with the town of Paradise, as a model for rebuilding after wildfires. Each neighborhood in Rancho Mission Viejo has a 110-foot-wide fuel modification zone that replaces combustible vegetation with fire-resistant plants, and certain plant species are not allowed. Noncombustible construction materials and mandatory fire sprinklers in every home were already in place before California law required them in 2011. The additional cost for fire-safe modifications during construction has decreased significantly. Initially, these modifications added between $4,000 and $10,000 to the cost of each home, but now the cost has dropped to as low as $1,000. Jay Bullock, vice president for planning and entitlement at Rancho Mission Viejo, attributes this decrease to fire-safe methods becoming more common in the market. Mike Balsamo, senior vice president for governmental relations at Rancho Mission Viejo, emphasized the importance of building safely in high fire hazard zones for a sustainable future, stating that there is a specific playbook for this. "We have the ability to establish a community that is as safe from fires as possible." © 2020 New York Times News Service.