Brianna Sacks
@bri_sacks
I cover climate change-fueled disasters for the @washingtonpost. And I love to run stupid far.
Just a reminder that the opinion section is walled-off from the newsroom and is home to about a tenth of the Post's journalists. I have had so many conversations with folks who canceled their subs, urging them to reconsider and stressing that ownership doesn't interfere in…
@bri_sacks on a reality so many will face: "Each major, once unfathomable disaster has been laying out the truth in clear, plain terms: In this era of climate change, there are fewer and fewer safe places. Great loss, for many of us, is inevitable." washingtonpost.com/climate-enviro…
"My dad said little. At one point, he put his glove-covered hands on the cracked remnants of his office wall and bowed his head. 'My whole life went up in smoke,' he said." Really moving essay about covering the #LAFires by @bri_sacks washingtonpost.com/climate-enviro…
This, by @bri_sacks, is just aching. And replicated so many thousands of times across Los Angeles County. washingtonpost.com/climate-enviro…
‘Cash offers only’: After L.A. fires, scorched lots in both the Pacific Palisades and Altadena are selling fast. @bri_sacks and @ReisThebault explain why, and what's at stake washingtonpost.com/weather/2025/0…
1/ A team of @washingtonpost journalists spent nearly 2 months probing what went wrong in the response to the Eaton Fire. See it here washingtonpost.com/weather/intera… By @joyceslee @partlowj @JohnMuyskens @samueloakford @sarahkaplan48 @bri_sacks @aaroncdavis and @imogen_piper
A tale of two executive orders, issued on 3/1/25 Newsom trying to get more wildfire safety work done this year, addressing a critical issue for CA: gov.ca.gov/wp-content/upl… Trump trying to get the cut out like it's 1950, after firing key personnel: whitehouse.gov/presidential-a…
It appears that staff fired today include meteorologists, data scientists responsible for maintaining weather predictive models, and technicians responsible for maintaining the nation’s weather instrumentation network (among many others). 2/11
The now-confirmed and rumored additional cuts to come at NOAA/NWS are spectacularly short-sighted, and ultimately will deal a major self-inflicted wound to the public safety of Americans and the resiliency of the American economy to weather and climate-related disasters. 11/11
Also ask how many of those fired employees had a “red card” qualifying them to assist in wildfire response. We surge wildfire response by calling up a militia of non-fire personnel who are qualified (red carded) to work on fires. How many wildfire minutemen did we just lose?
New Report: "FEMA Established a Process to Review Hermit’s Peak Assistance Claims but Did Not Meet Required Processing and Reporting Timeframes" oig.dhs.gov/sites/default/…
Wow. The @latimes reports Mayor Bass’ office has been editing out Q&A sessions from news conference videos posted to her FB page, cutting out parts where reporters press her about her handling of the fire. LAT asked Bass’ office why the videos are being edited, & got no response.…
The L.A. mayor’s firing of her fire chief stirs heated controversy in a city still reeling from recent fires. Some top city officials feel blindsided. Firefighters union says they are fully behind their fmr chief w/ @ReisThebault @bri_sacks washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/02…
"At California’s Yosemite National Park, the Trump administration fired the only locksmith on staff on Friday. He was the sole employee with the keys and the institutional knowledge needed to rescue visitors from locked restrooms." And at other parks:
Incredible data here from @rebuildbydesign From 2011-2024: 95.5% of U.S. residents live in disaster-declared counties All Senate and 99.5%* of all House of Representative Districts have had at least one federally-declared disaster due to an extreme weather event since 2011.
Article: thehotshotwakeup.substack.com/p/a-letter-fro…