Looking to move here in the future, but concerned about wildfires (Sandy: apartment, house)

[moshywilly]

I'm 22M and I am from NJ and I recently moved to California. My cousin and I are the typical Californian exodus people who want to eventually flee out of here for the usual reasons, too crowded, too many wildfires, climate sucks, too expensive, you know. I'm an IT major who graduated and I am going to be building up experience my resume for the next couple of years while living here in my grandparents' house and my cousin is building up experience on whatever she does and eventually wants to move out here.

I'm reading the news about the wildfires and I absolutely can't believe most of the things the news says, because they constantly exaggerate like saying "hundreds of thousands of people". We see lots of smoke here, but my grandparents' house is still standing and the main part of the Bay Area never gets hit by wildfires. It's more the interior portions of the Bay Area. So does every semi-rural or non-crowded town in the West get burned down? It seems like crowded places or concrete jungles are not prone to wildfires. I really wanted to consider moving to Oregon in the future (for the sake of spaciousness out here), but I am worried about wildfires. It seems like the West Coast itself rather than "West" is more prone to these problems. I'd rather be dealing with the September snow in Colorado and worrying about car pileups than fires. All you have to do is shovel snow and life goes back to normal the next day, that's what I miss about living in NJ. Nothing natural could ever destroy the East.

[SusVelo]

You should check into the history of fires in Colorado...

[Larry Caldwell]

You were just a kid when Sandy hit, weren't you? That destroyed a big hunk of NJ.

Try to keep it in perspective. Hundreds of thousands of people is not that many when you realize California has a population of 40 million.

[texasdiver]

Fires are mostly going to be a *personal* problem for you if you choose to live in rural forested areas or along the exurban/wildland fringe. The towns getting burned (which is tragic) are all isolated mountain towns tucked into steep remote wooded valleys.

The larger cities tend to be much more defensible. That isn't always the case as with Santa Rosa CA last year. But it is generally the case. Colorado won't make you safe from fires. A few years ago the entire city of Colorado Springs nearly went up in smoke and some suburban areas around the city were burnt to the ground.

Every place has it's poison. Here in the west it is mostly fire and earthquakes. In the Gulf Coast region it is hurricanes. In the plains and midwest it is floods and drought. In the southwest it will be extreme heat and drought.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

Because California never has any wildfires?


Stay safe. Stay in the Bay Area of California.

[leastprime]

Originally Posted by Larry Caldwell

You were just a kid when Sandy hit, weren't you? That destroyed a big hunk of NJ.

Try to keep it in perspective. Hundreds of thousands of people is not that many when you realize California has a population of 40 million.

And how are you and Myrtle Creek doing?

[Parnassia]

OMG OP, that disillusionment didn't take long did it? This, after forum members held your hand for months before you finally got your ducks in a row enough to make your move to CA now you can't wait to leave again? The East Coast you were so disdainful of now doesn't look so bad does it? You're dismayed because of something that was predictable about CA and that you could have discovered by yourself? Are people here going to face more months of hand holding all over again for a move to CO? Of course CO is going to have wildfires! So will OR.

Any geographical information source could have told you that the western states are more arid than the eastern states. Even looking at a map could have shown you that. A lot more of the land is open range, public or private forest, or desert instead of intensely managed cropland or covered in concrete. Things so many refugees from the Eastern Seaboard think they must have. The whole region is more prone to wildfire. Western wildfires make the news every year. If you live out west, fires will be a natural event in your life, much as hurricanes, floods and ice storms are in the east. Just wait...you'll experience an earthquake too. Every place has its natural hazards, its unpleasant little realities. If you can't handle that, just move back to a big east coast city apartment, lock the door, and be done with it.

[Metlakatla]

If you're trying to ask whether "the media" exaggerated the wildfires in Oregon (or elsewhere), the answer is no.

[moshywilly]

Originally Posted by Metlakatla

If you're trying to ask whether "the media" exaggerated the wildfires in Oregon (or elsewhere), the answer is no.

I think the media always exaggerates. Every time I google "vaccine news" the news keeps trying to discourage people from the excitement of a vaccine, then another day, they make you feel excited about a vaccine. Also the media is probably underestimating the coronavirus case counts due to crappy testing systems. I'd say the media is exaggerating about wildfires. There are no real news these days.

[Metlakatla]

Originally Posted by potanta

I think the media always exaggerates. Every time I google "vaccine news" the news keeps trying to discourage people from the excitement of a vaccine, then another day, they make you feel excited about a vaccine. Also the media is probably underestimating the coronavirus case counts due to crappy testing systems. I'd say the media is exaggerating about wildfires. There are no real news these days.

I don't think you understand how "the news" works. The fires are real, and no matter how badly some kid posting from grandma's basement wants to believe "the news" is exaggerating the situation, the reality is is that the media is providing an accurate portrayal of the situation here, and I'm sure those of us who are actually living through it would agree.