On May 27, North State Public Radio podcast “Nancy’s Bookshelf” aired Episode #815: In the Line of Fire, which featured Butte County Deputy Chief Administrative Officer Katie Simmons in a conversation about her work in disaster recovery and emergency management for Butte County. Specifically, the conversation focused on Simmons’ recently released book, “Three Fire Mountains: Stories of Wildfire and Recovery in California”. Simmons worked on recovery efforts for Butte County and the Town of Paradise in the wake of the 2018 Camp Fire, and multiple other long-term recovery efforts. In her book, she explores the varying effects of wildfire on individuals, families, communities, and governments as local and State agencies in California grapple with the realities of recovery.
The book describes the thread of trauma throughout fire, aftermath, and recovery, and how even when community wide, the source of trauma is the same, individuals are all impacted differently. It also outlines the ways in which State and Federal agencies can codify and localize their approaches to wildfire recovery, beginning to parse out the differences between recovering from an urban fire and rural wildland fire, and key recovery pace and scale indicators such as ownership versus renting, municipal infrastructure versus wells/septic, insurability/underinsurance. More information about the book is available HERE, and the podcast episode is available HERE.
For additional information, contact RCRC Senior Policy Advocate Tracy Rhine.