Kiwi in California wildfires: Jody Brettkelly wonders what will come next

Wildfires, high temperatures, a summer of protests, a rogue leader, and a pandemic. This is life on the west coast of the United States.

“The next one will be a plague of toads,” says Jody Brettkelly, a New Zealand journalist based in California. But it wasn’t the toads who were struggling on their trip to Oregon recently. They were terrifying “huge” fires.

Brettkelly, formerly of Whakatāne, and her husband Kevin Coldiron said the year had been one of dealing with crises in California.

The couple decided to escape the dark orange haze in Oakland caused by weeks of wildfires and headed for the clean air of the high desert and mountains of Bend, Oregon, where their eldest son, Harley, lives.

“One of my friends called it the apocalyptic Trump orange. There is ash everywhere, in the garden, all over the grass and we are breathing all of this,” says Brettkelly.

They had decided to drive the eight hours north instead of flying, due to the high risk of Covid and the often lax enforcement of wearing masks on flights. They planned the trip down the west coast not knowing they would be leading into another deadly wildfire crisis in Oregon.

“Honestly, we weren’t even paying attention to it because a lot is happening here, it wasn’t even news,” says Coldiron.

The couple say it was terrifying to find themselves driving in the dark in the Oregon countryside, with huge flames on both sides of the road and unable to turn back.

“It seemed to go on and on,” says Brettkelly. They arrived at their destination hoping that the mountain air was cool and clear, but instead they were engulfed in smoke and ash.

Back in Oakland, the couple say the record fires are expected to burn for several more weeks and for many people living in the San Francisco Bay Area they are the last straw.

Coldiron says his cousin packed up and went to Boise, Idaho.

“The mover said that just in August they had already moved 12 people from the Bay Area to Idaho, basically they are driving their truck from one place to another,” says Coldiron.

“A lot of people are saying, ‘I can’t take it anymore,'” says Brettkelly. “Even [California Governor] Gavin Newsom says this is the new normal … it will be next year and next year. People say, why should I stay in the Bay Area, where it is so expensive? “

Her youngest son, Cy, 16, has been homeschooled since the beginning of March and has no idea when he will return to the classroom.

“Distance learning is quite difficult … it’s about being disciplined, nobody forces you to do the work,” says Cy.

The good news is that he started surfing as a Covid risk-free sport and taught himself how to trade the stock market with the money he makes from babysitting.

Brettkelly says it’s been a “totally shitty year, constant fire and police sirens, terrifying day and night.”

“You can’t go out because the air is terrible; most people are sick of Zoom; the news is terrible and the bottom line is that Trump could win again, scary. People who love him, love him, have never seen him. blind devotion. They are also the people who refuse to wear masks. “

Interestingly, says Brettkelly, home prices in Oakland are “unbelievably high.” She says the prospect of leaving her 20-year home for good isn’t easy.

Coldiron says he still hopes some positives will emerge from the two crises.