By Ray Birch
REDDING, Calif.—The number of wildfires in California isn’t a surprise to John Cassidy, but the size and intensity of the blazes are–and that’s affecting everything from the psychological stresses on members and employees to how his CU thinks about disaster planning.
Cassidy, CEO of the $973-million Sierra Central CU, told CUToday.info that the magnitude of California wildfires is difficult to comprehend, and even harder to believe may be the “new normal” in this state. Cassidy said that is placing additional demands on credit unions regarding how they address and prepare for these disasters, which the CEO termed “apocalyptic.”
Sierra Central CU is headquartered in Yuba City, with offices in the hard-hit Redding area. Eighteen large wildfires now burn across California, scorching more than 600,000 acres
“I grew up in San Francisco and I have seen fires all my life,” said Cassidy, who said the credit union and its staff are all currently unharmed. “North of San Francisco, these terrains have always created pretty strong forest fires, but never the massive types of fires like these today.”
More People In The Paths Of Fires
Cassidy explained what is making the fires stronger and affecting more people is there are many more residents building homes that lie in the paths of the wildfires, which are feeding on an increase in the “fuel” on the ground—dead trees and underbrush—making the California fires in recent years hotter, bigger and longer.
“With the decimation of the lumber industry over the last 40 years, that business is no longer clearing out the forests, clearing out the timber and brush,” explained Cassidy. “There are 120-million dead trees on the ground in Northern California. In the past you had forest fires, but they were far more manageable because you did not have this level of fuel on the ground waiting to explode.”
Cassidy noted that the Carr Fire will go down as the hottest fire on record due to the dead trees and the manzanita underbrush.
“Manzanita is an oil-based wood, which basically turns into dynamite at 100 degrees,” said Cassidy. “The California forests are not managed like they were in the past, and now these fires have become a nightmare.”
Cassidy, too, pointed out that the Santa Rosa fire last year took the identical path as a fire in 1964.
“But the destruction today was far greater because in 1964 that fire did not have thousands of people living in its path,” he said.
Adjust To Bigger Threat
Cassidy emphasized that credit unions in California have to adjust to the growing threat of wildfires, saying disaster preparedness plans must address the speed at which fires are moving today and that backup systems may have to be “rethought.”
“Are your redundancies now in the right—safest—places,” he said. “If not, you need to move them. The new normal for credit unions in California is that you have to spend quality time reviewing your disaster preparedness plans annually, if not twice a year. Make sure you have communications chains, email chains and text chains to update and contact employees. Don’t just have your employees’ cell numbers, get the numbers of their spouses.”
The duration of the fires is another consideration plans must address. Cassidy pointed out that two years ago the Monterey fire took almost four months to put out. That, he said, should have credit unions setting aside more money, as the exposure has simply become greater.
Cassidy acknowledged that the scope of the recent fires is leaving more members without jobs as businesses are destroyed.
“That is affecting their ability to repay and the credit union has to consider that in its planning,” he said. “The magnitude of these fires will lead to additional losses for credit unions, so we have to look at that as a special component of our disaster planning.”
Disaster plans must also include counseling for staff who will hear stories from members of how they have lost everything from the fires.
“I believe one thing many disaster preparedness plans don’t account for well is the aftermath of these fires,” said Cassidy. “Front-line employees are emotionally affected hearing these stories from members they care about. Our staff are trained to handle these situations, but with fires burning so wide and so long there are just more of them. So, it can be hard for staff. Make sure you have counselors available and try to lighten up employees’ work days as best as you can.”
Cassidy said Sierra Central moved quickly to respond to the latest fire, recalling that “one Thursday everything just lit up.”
“Our 24 employees in the Redding area are all OK, now. We had one displaced for a week but now she is fine,” said Cassidy. “No employees lost their homes this time. In the October fire of last year my CFO’s home was destroyed. But our entire team jumped right on this, helping members with $5,000, 2% emergency loans for basic necessities—and many members have taken advantage of that. We are just helping each member on a case-by-case basis, helping them as best as we can in any way we can.”
The emergency loans waive payments for 90 days.
Dedicated Team
Cassidy applauded the dedication of his team, which was back at work in the Redding area on the Monday after the Carr fire first threatened on the previous Thursday. The CU has three locations in Redding, one that was directly affected by the wildfire.
“We were telling our employees there that they did not have to come back to work until Tuesday or Wednesday, but they all said they wanted to get on the job as soon as possible to help members,” Cassidy said. “We have a great team. The human spirit is amazing.”
Sierra Central has 10,000 members in the Redding area and so far 55 have lost their homes.
Cassidy emphasized the credit union and the people in the local communities thought that someday a big fire could happen, but when it did, they were still shocked at its size and force.
“People thought that someday it could get really bad, with all that fuel on the ground,” said Cassidy. “But this thing was unprecedented—it created its own weather and a 140-mile-per-hour fire tornado that jumped the Sacramento River. This thing is unbelievable. So while this was not unexpected, it is unprecedented and that makes it difficult to put your arms around it because it’s bigger than anyone ever thought it could be.”