Californians come to Idaho for many reasons. Don’t judge too quickly | Opinion
I’m 16 years old, my parents are out of town for the day, and I’m in the car with my little sister, hurrying home from work.
As I’m driving all I can focus on is a mushroom cloud of smoke rising from the beautiful mountains and wilderness I call home. I’m panicked and shaky, knowing I am heading straight towards what now looks like a devouring monster. The closer I get the redder the sky becomes, and the harder it is to breathe without inhaling smoke and fire retardant.
I’m only a minute away, but I’m suddenly stopped by a man in reflective gear. He won’t let me through since he’s trying to evacuate people from the very area where my house is. But I won’t back down, instead I beg him to let me through until he relents.
Before I go the man leaves me with this: “Fine, but it’s your funeral.” I don’t care.
Because my sheep, dogs, ducks, and the lambs we are raising for fair are trapped on our property unable to escape the wildfire’s path of destruction without me.
What happened to my home is not rare.
It has been known for some time that California has one of the worst housing markets in America. With an average of 35,500 homes lost within five years due to fire, that crisis only worsened.
To go even further, fires are one of the most dangerous natural disasters in the world, especially targeting California. In fact, California is said to be the most fire-inclined state with 2,569,386 acres of land lost fires in 2021 alone — much of it in rural areas.
While many residents carry fire insurance, large insurers like State Farm have begun to drop clients who live in a high-risk fire zone. This leads to homeowners being forced to rely on California F.A.I.R. plan, which despite its name is anything but fair. Even after receiving the claim settlement after a fire, the payout is not enough to buy or rebuild a new house within California borders.
A Los Angeles Times article notes that “More homes have been lost to wildfire in the last eight years than in any other period in California history.” However, this primarily addresses the urban areas, which already struggle with the housing department shortage. This does not fully address, however, the rural areas affected closer to northern California, and unfortunately this is also where houses are rarely ever re-built after a disaster like a fire.
Yet despite this struggle many in California face, I can understand the disdain Idaho natives feel. Because I too don’t like the idea of my home state changing regarding land, politics, and population.
However, if you can understand how many were affected by Carr Fire (36,000 families), Camp Fire (30,000), River Fire (11,200), etc. you’ll realize how many of those refugees were forced to look somewhere more affordable for the sake of their families, children, or individual survival.
Mountains and pine trees as far as the eye can see, wildlife at every corner, close communities and small-town living: this is northern California, where I’m proud to say I’m from. And leaving that was not my family’s first choice.
But when we were left to fend for ourselves knowing that a new home would not magically appear, much less within an affordable price range, we didn’t have many options left. The heartache of leaving my home behind fueled my passion to bring to light that people not just in Idaho but everywhere will have to learn people’s stories before judging them by their California license plate.
Sadie Myers is an English major at Northwest Nazarene University from Colfax California who currently lives in Caldwell.
This story was originally published February 20, 2026 at 4:00 AM.