The Paradise megafire - the future? (Sacramento, Orange: insurance, townhouse, buy)

[evening sun]

Originally Posted by BeauCharles

The awful thing is whatever they're hit with will get charged to us rate payers. I really wish they'd break it up and turn the pieces into public utility districts.

ITA, smaller utility companies have served other areas well. PGE has a terrible history, when we lived in te Bay Area, I knew people who lost home in the San Bruno explosion. He has since died, the stress probably didn't help.

The PUC needs to stop allowing PGE from raising its rates every time they murder or maim people & communities. Paying out many multi million bonuses to Ceo is offensive, when they are hiking the rates every year.

Mgr, have you talked to any agents, I know a lady in Magalia & the home next to her, was sold in less then a week, once it hit the market.

[mgforshort]

Something else to consider.

Eighty-five people died in the Paradise fire in November 2018. We had, and still have fires popping up all over and everyday here in the "North State", it is part of our life, like getting groceries or the weather report. But the November fire was a MONSTER.

If a fire of this size and ferocity hits Orange County or the Riverside area, victims could be in the tens of thousands or higher.

Our Paradise traffic in the fire came to a gridlock during the evacuation, but the same gridlock is the usual routine in the south, on a normal day in rush hour. I lived it for 37 years.

[Cida]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

I couldn't bear to read the article, when I saw it last Sunday, but it sounds like they're treating the Paradise fire as if it were a naturally-occurring wildfire (as from a lightning strike or such), which it wasn't. It occurred, because PG&E decided against turning off electrical service, even as it knew there was a high risk of fire caused by their equipment. In that sense, the fire doesn't represent the trend for the future.

Maybe in the sense, that climate change is resulting in higher winds, combined with super-dry conditions, it does, but the fire didn't have to happen.

Honestly, I thought it was a poor choice on the part of the NYT to run a feature on such a horrible event, sensationalizing people's misery, terror, horrific deaths, and loss. But...maybe that's just me.

Maybe they thought it would be less in-your-face than if the Los Angeles Times did it? Or, likely they just wanted to make the misery and terror clear to an urban group that doesn't think much about fires like that?

[CA4Now]

Originally Posted by Cida

Maybe they thought it would be less in-your-face than if the Los Angeles Times did it? Or, likely they just wanted to make the misery and terror clear to an urban group that doesn't think much about fires like that?

The L.A. Times did cover it, and there's a lot they printed that people probably didn't want to be reminded of.

"In the aftermath of the Camp fire — 86 dead, more than 13,900 homes destroyed and Paradise decimated — local and state officials said the tragedy was unforeseen and unavoidable, an “unprecedented” monster of fire.

In truth, the destruction was utterly predictable, and the community’s struggles to deal with the fire were the result of lessons forgotten and warnings ignored. The miracle of the tragedy, local officials now concede, is how many people escaped.

A Los Angeles Times investigation found that Paradise ignored repeated warnings of the risk its residents faced, crafted no plan to evacuate the area all at once, entrusted public alerts to a system vulnerable to fire, and did not sound citywide orders to flee even as a hail of fire rained down."

Must Reads: Here’s how Paradise ignored warnings and became a deathtrap:
https://www.latimes.com/local/califo...230-story.html

[CA4Now]

Schools open for the first time since the Paradise wildfire.

https://www.latimes.com/california/s...from-camp-fire

[JGC97]

AT&T is still billing fire victims for phone service when there is no phone or even a house on the property. It's so bad that Kurtis Ming of Call Kurtis is involved now. smh

https://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2019...ms-billed-att/

[evening sun]

Originally Posted by HereOnMars

AT&T is still billing fire victims for phone service when there is no phone or even a house on the property. It's so bad that Kurtis Ming of Call Kurtis is involved now. smh

https://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2019...ms-billed-att/

Did they really call to cancel the service? I know I had to call & cancel our cable & mobile phone bills, & for cable I also had to go to the mall in Chico, as they kept sending the bill. So, it took two attempts. But we did get it sorted, Xfinity sent a bill for un-returned equipment, lol they heard about that one too. I find it hard to belive that they are still being billed, if they truly tried to call & cancel by themselves, it might take a few times, but the companies, normally were sympathetic & issued refunds if any were due.
In any case, I am glad it is finally resolved.

[JGC97]

Originally Posted by evening sun

Did they really call to cancel the service? I know I had to call & cancel our cable & mobile phone bills, & for cable I also had to go to the mall in Chico, as they kept sending the bill. So, it took two attempts. But we did get it sorted, Xfinity sent a bill for un-returned equipment, lol they heard about that one too. I find it hard to belive that they are still being billed, if they truly tried to call & cancel by themselves, it might take a few times, but the companies, normally were sympathetic & issued refunds if any were due.
In any case, I am glad it is finally resolved.

Yes, for months they called. Out of frustration, they finally contacted Kurtis Ming. Kurtis has solved a lot of these types of situations when you can't get a business to cooperate. The lady in the report said she will never go back to AT&T after all this. Can't say as I blame her.

What you mention about equipment was another issue someone had some months ago. The company told them to return it but the customer said it was destroyed in the fire. Even sent photos. These companies need to be more proactive about helping in these situations. It's enough stress dealing with the loss of everything you own and being displaced but having to fight with companies about continued billing is just added frustration.

[evening sun]

Originally Posted by HereOnMars

Yes, for months they called. Out of frustration, they finally contacted Kurtis Ming. Kurtis has solved a lot of these types of situations when you can't get a business to cooperate. The lady in the report said she will never go back to AT&T after all this. Can't say as I blame her.

What you mention about equipment was another issue someone had some months ago. The company told them to return it but the customer said it was destroyed in the fire. Even sent photos. These companies need to be more proactive about helping in these situations. It's enough stress dealing with the loss of everything you own and being displaced but having to fight with companies about continued billing is just added frustration.

I can honestly say, that I had good experiences with the companies I called. I did get a bill from Xfinity, after I had canceled, for the equipment, which the phone rep said was not going to be charged, so I just headed to the mall to get that resolved. Which is why I am not sure why ATT did not behave better, I had a very small phone company, & we left behind a cell phone, in the fire, so when I called to cancel, they rep also gave me some credits on the phone that survived.
Of course no-one needs the extra aggravation after such a disaster.

[Teacher Terry]

Our friends lost their house and are never returning.