Montague town official shares firsthand account of California wildfires

A drone image captured by Sean Werle of smoke from the Pedro Fire in Catheys Valley, California, where Werle and his wife reside. Werle, who serves on the Montague Conservation Commission, also owns a house in Montague. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO/SEAN WERLE
Published: 08-01-2024 5:26 PM |
CATHEYS VALLEY, Calif. — Since Montague Conservation Commission member Sean Werle began living in California with his wife in 2018, he has gained a fair share of experience with wildfires.
“It’s part of life in California,” said Werle, who also continues to own a house in Montague. “It’s part of life in the American West now.”
Werle has lived through record-breaking wildfires before, and the ongoing Pedro Fire located 20 miles away from his home in Catheys Valley has covered the area in smoke. Although wildfires are part of life for residents of the West Coast, the most recent wave have burnt a record number of acres in California. The Park Fire near Chico, California, has become the fifth-worst wildfire in the state’s history.
Werle filmed a time-lapse video of the smoke from the Pedro Fire from 3:14 p.m. until 8:27 p.m. on July 25. The footage begins by showing mostly clear skies until smoke can be seen in the background, billowing into the sky and dimming the afternoon sunlight. He also took photos using a long exposure lens.
“You can see the hillside burning in that photograph,” Werle said.
Despite their home not directly abutting the Pedro Fire, smoke has diminished the air quality in such a way that Werle is stuck in his home until conditions improve.
“The risk for us is air quality rather than the actual fires,” Werle said. “The Central Valley sometimes gets hit very hard by the smoke, which is a serious health risk.”
Werle’s property sits in a location at the foothills of Yosemite National Forest, where conditions are less favorable for fire. He said he feels safe there, both for the location and expertise of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Article continues after...
Yesterday's Most Read Articles






However, Werle has not become complacent. Only a few years ago, a fire started 500 yards from their home and burned several acres of land, and the Oak Fire in 2022 burned more than 19,000 acres and destroyed 127 homes in Mariposa County, where Catheys Valley is located.
“You’re always prepared to leave if you have to,” he said. “We’re not all that concerned with it because of the topography, but ... we’re ready to bail out if we need to.”
In California and other West Coast states, intense heat and dry conditions have made the risk of fire significant. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection has reported that as of July 30, wildfire activity is 2,816% higher than last year, and conditions are still favorable for wildfires to erupt and spread.
Since the start of the Pedro Fire, Werle and his wife have not been ordered to evacuate, and the fire is around 15% contained, as Werle reports. Although the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection has been responding to the blaze, Werle is still concerned for the future, especially because wildfires have worsened as the climate out west gets warmer and drier.
“What can happen and has happened in California is that so many fires get going at once that the resources run out,” Werle explained.
The impact of these fires is personal for Werle. He said he has friends in Alberta, Canada, in the town of Jasper, who lost their home in the fire that destroyed a third of the town. This fire started on the hottest day recorded in human history and has yet to be contained. In 2022, the Oak Fire destroyed the homes of people Werle knew. Now, he reports that residents have moved away due to rising insurance costs because of wildfires.
“They’ve just decided to sell and leave, and they’re the lucky ones, because they could sell,” Werle said.
The concern rests in the ability to pay for insurance, or for a company to insure certain homes in wildfire-prone areas of California.
“A lot of people … have family properties that they don’t have a mortgage, so they can take their chances and just stay there, but they can’t get insurance. So if a fire comes through and they get burned down, they’ll lose everything,” Werle explained.
Although Werle has enjoyed living in California and feels safe in their home, it is hard to say what safety will look like in the next five years.
“In five years, it may be totally different,” Werle said. “There may be so many fires that they can’t cover everything. Who knows? I don’t know what the future holds.”
As the climate shifts, Werle said he is thankful to still have roots in Montague.
“I’m very, very glad that we still have our house in Massachusetts,” he said, “mainly because the West is getting hit really hard by all this.”
Erin-Leigh Hoffman can be reached at ehoffman@recorder.com or 413-930-4231.