2024
Rebuilding begins in Lahaina wildfire impact zone
Story by West Hawaii Today. “What’s really important in a megafire like this one, and every single one, is visual deliverable of progress and hope, and that’s what you are providing here for your community,” said Gray Thompson, who went through the massive wildfire in October 2017 that devastated the California North Bay Counties of…
Read More6 years after California’s deadly Camp Fire, some residents are returning to Paradise
Story by CBS news. “People who do decide to rebuild in a place like Paradise, they’re often even safer than they were before the fire, because that place has already been burned.” The town of Paradise, California, was almost completely destroyed in the 2018 Camp Fire — which scorched more than 150,000 acres and was the deadliest…
Read MoreOregon wildfire victims face huge tax bills on PacifiCorp settlements; Congressional fix is stuck
Story by Oregon Live. The disaster tax relief only accounts for about $5.5 billion of the bill’s $70 billion cost. “We don’t have time for people to play politics with the victims. We’re simply out of time.” A bipartisan bill that would exempt wildfire settlements from federal taxation is now mired in election year…
Read MoreTax relief for fire victims still uncertain
Story by The Plumas Sun. “We cannot stop or cease momentum. This is the fight and together we have created a very effective movement to bring justice to fire survivors,” Thompson said in a press release. Victims of the Dixie Fire are in jeopardy of being victimized yet again. State and federal taxes, imposed on…
Read MoreGentrification by Fire
Story by The Washington Post. SANTA ROSA, Calif. — Climate change and its most extreme consequences are pushing up the price of homes throughout much of the American West, as fires and flooding carve into existing housing stock and restrict the amount of land suitable for future building. Over several harrowing weeks in October 2017,…
Read MoreFive months after Maui fires, housing remains Lahaina’s biggest challenge in rebuilding efforts
Story by NBC News. Five months since the deadly wildfires in Lahaina, Hawaii, providing housing for displaced residents continues to be the biggest challenge facing the community’s rebuilding efforts. After the Fire CEO Jennifer Gray Thompson joins Meet the Press NOW to share the latest developments.
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