Burned: The Social Inequalities of Fire Recovery

Fires are becoming the “new normal” for residents of California and the American West. How do people recover from these megafire disasters? How do social characteristics like gender, class, and race impact recovery from disasters? For this project, I use the case of Shasta County, a primarily working-class rural county in Northern California affected by three major fires in 2018, most notably the Carr Fire which destroyed almost 230,000 acres and 1,100 homes. This book draws on extensive qualitative data with Shasta County fire survivors, aid workers, and first responders to examine the experiences of disaster survivors as they navigate the disaster recovery process, often with notably divergent outcomes.