After reading the dreadful news about the current wildfires and evacuations in France and Spain, our thoughts go out to anyone affected, and especially to sitters.
Please let us know how you’re coping.
Especially for the house owners who might be displaced and lose their homes due to the fires
Hoping all sitters, hosts and pets are safe as the fires ravage parts of France and Spain. Thinking of you.
Of course the primary issue is safety, but I was thinking more about how sitters would cope with communicating with absent HOs and evacuating with pets in tow - not all are easy - and where they’d go. Not everyone will have access to transport or alternative pet-friendly accommodation. Also, will HOs return early, to relieve sitters under these awful circumstances?
We live in southern California and wildfires (as well as earthquakes) are always a risk here. We leave an emergency preparedness section in our printed binder that includes information from local authorities on what to do/expect if a fire breaks out, where to get emergency information, and where a ‘go bag’ is for the pets (with a couple days food/water/bowls/copy of county license). We leave instructions to first make sure sitters themselves can get out safely, then second to grab the dog (she is very compliant) and third grab the cats only if there is time. If they can’t get out with all the pets, then locate the closest first responders and inform them the address and the pets left inside, with a brief description. If they can evacuate our emergency contact would step in and take the pets (we selected our emergency contact because she is 45 minutes away and would not likely be under the same evacuation orders, and we always confirm she is ready, willing and able before we leave for a trip).
Anyone sitting in a wildfire prone area should ask the HO upfront what the plan is if evacuation becomes necessary.
Great planning.
Wildfires unfortunately happen every summer across the U.S. So far this fire season, Oregon state (in the Pacific Northwest) has had more than 1 million acres burn, for instance. The current fires are overwhelming fire crews, because there are so many going on at once.
So sad. I hope they get it under control soon.
A sign of things to come, tragically.
Utterly heartbreaking.
Remember back in the 70s when scientists told us the ozone layer had a hole in it…& the world got their act together and fixed it? 
I’ve lived in various parts of California, mostly in Northern California, and we do the same, as do all the homeowners here. In fact, homeowners have often told me they prefer having sitters who live in California as we are all well-versed in how to prepare for and cope with wildfires, quakes and other disasters. Sadly, people in other places are now learning about what we have always had to prepare for.
I mean, most of the fires were started by arsonists.
Ozone layers, or global warming are not the reason for the fires.
Digging into this a bit more: some of the fires were started by human error, though a number are also attributed to the high temperatures.
One thing that does not get discussed enough is just how many eucalyptus trees there are across Spain. Driving through, there were moments I genuinely thought I was back in Australia, the density of eucalyptus was that noticeable.
Eucalyptus is not native to Spain. In Australia, we back burn regularly specifically to keep fires smaller when they do happen. Spain, and plenty of other countries, imported eucalyptus for ornamental purposes without fully accounting for the fire risk that comes with it.
The vicious cycle is that eucalyptus seeds actually germinate in response to fire, so once an area burns, eucalyptus outcompetes everything else that died in the blaze and takes over even more ground than before.
Given the combination of rising temperatures and the sheer number of eucalyptus trees growing where they were never meant to be, I think this is going to become a normal, recurring event rather than an exception.
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Unfortunately, annual wildfires are now common in a bunch of states. I know this, because I led large remote teams at work and we would have folks in wildfire regions on alert to evacuate or evacuating in various parts of the country every summer.
California hosts who think that knowhow exists concentrated in locals apparently don’t follow the news. For example, this fire season, more than 1 million acres have burned in Oregon.
I think Californians are well aware that other states and countries are facing huge fires now. In fact, we follow fire news avidly no matter where it’s coming from.
The difference is that fire has been a fact of life for us all of our lives. Californians literally talk about “fire season” because it’s a distinct part of every year, always (because we also have a rainy season and not rain here around and are prone to drought ) and sadly fire season has grown from a few months to 6 months or more.
Most of us have been up close to major fires and even had to evacuate, sometimes more than once. That’s not a common experience in other places. We are used to monitoring information sources and being ready to evacuate within minutes and assessing evacuation routes.
It’s a way of life here same as other disaster or weather prep is in other places — such as people in coastal areas who have gone through hurricanes and know how to understand what’s happening from the weather reports and know what to do and not do because they know how hurricanes unfold. Me, I wouldn’t have a clue how to handle a hurricane so I’d be more likely to do the wrong thing.
My family members in other states ask me “why don’t you just“ type questions that show they haven’t dealt with fire danger or evacuation from it. There is an experiential learning curve.
Many, many former Californians have actually moved all over the U.S. and many Californians are relatively new to the state.
An example: I lived in California (both in Northern and Southern) for many years and actually have had to deal with wildfire dangers more in Oregon. I also have lived along the Ring of Fire for most of my life, dealing with not only (super) typhoons — also known as hurricanes — but plenty of earthquakes. If I left, I would still have such knowhow.
Tangent: My years in California and other places with fire seasons (this is commonly referred to in various states) actually helped me decide where to buy homes. I look for wildfire risks, along with flooding history, and try to avoid such places.
I always insist about speaking a minimum french in my listing
Sitters might understand why it’s so important…
I case of emergency the town hall, the police warnings are not in foreign languages
In Usa and UK it is NEVER in french
I asked Google’s Gemini AI, were most of the recent wildfires in France and Spain started by arsonists?
No, most of the recent wildfires in France and Spain were not started by arsonists, though deliberate acts of arson do account for a significant portion of them. While authorities in both nations have detained numerous individuals on suspicion of arson during the current crisis, official data shows that the vast majority of wildfires are caused by human negligence or accidental errors, supercharged by climate-driven extreme heat and mismanaged land.
Breakdown of Wildfire Causes
Negligence and Accidents: According to France’s Ministry of Agriculture, roughly 90% of all wildfires are caused by people, but mostly through carelessness. Common accidental triggers include unextinguished cigarettes, campfires, agricultural machinery sparks, and malfunctioning vehicles or power lines.
Arson: Intentionally set fires represent a smaller subset. Data compiled by the European Environment Agency indicates that about 30% of human-caused fires in France are deliberate. In Spain, many intentional fires are legally treated as arson but are historically driven by land-management disputes, such as clearing brush and forests to create cattle grazing land
The “Supercharger” Effect: While human actions (accidental or criminal) provide the initial spark, experts note that the historic scale of the recent blazes is driven by record-breaking heatwaves. These extreme temperatures dry out vegetation, turning forests and abandoned farmland into a tinderbox where any small spark can rapidly explode into an unmanageable disaster