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The Klamath-Siskiyou Mountains are home to one of the nation’s largest deposits of serpentine, a rare, chromium-rich soil produced by weathered ultramafic rock. While relatively harmless in its benign rock and soil form, new research shows that chromium can turn into a carcinogen during wildfires. 

The study, authored by Cal Poly Humboldt soils scientist Chelsea Obeidy, breaks down how chromium can convert into a carcinogen — hexavalent chromium, or chromium-6, a toxic heavy metal dubbed the Erin Brokovich chemical for its role in the landmark water contamination lawsuit — when exposed to extreme heat. That chemical can then leach into groundwater.

Obeidy digging up soil samples at Eight Dollar Mountain. | Photo: Matthew Polizzotto

The research, published last month in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Science & Technology, calls for a deeper understanding of how wildfire can affect soil contaminants. “In a rapidly changing climate where soil and water resources are increasingly important and where wildfire intensity, extent, and recurrence are increasing, it is essential to understand the landscape controls on soil and water quality,” the study states. 

Obeidy was inspired to look deeper into the subject while working on her Ph.D with Matthew Polizzotto, an earth scientist and environmental chemist at the University of Oregon. During her research, she came across a study out of Stanford that found elevated levels of hexavalent chromium in fire-affected soils near Santa Rosa, prompting the question: How do wildfires affect chromium-rich serpentine soils in northern California and southern Oregon?

“There isn’t a lot of research on this topic,” Obeidy told the Outpost. “There’s been some studies that have measured it in river systems after a fire, but overall, there just needs to be more research. … Serpentine soils — even without wildfire — sometimes have elevated concentrations of this carcinogen associated with their groundwater … but we still don’t understand how it’s getting in the groundwater.”

Obeidy and her colleagues made the trek to Eight Dollar Mountain, an expansive botanical range located in the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest in southern Oregon, to collect soil samples at different elevations to capture a range of soil weathering.

“We were really curious about how variations like temperature, burn intensity or landscape position — at the summit, in the middle of a big hillslope and down by the river — impact how chromium-6 varies,” she explained. “We sampled the soils and conducted these little experiments on them to figure out how chromium-6 would be generated at different temperatures.”

By “little experiments,” Obeidy means they torched the soil samples to simulate wildfire intensity. Samples that were taken from the summit and burned at 750ºF produced the highest concentrations of the carcinogen, whereas low-intensity fires generated less.

To recreate the effect of rainwater passing through the soil, they packed burned and unburned samples into plastic columns and pumped them with a synthetic rainwater solution to simulate one year of precipitation. 

“We wanted to quantify how long this contamination would last [in the environment],” Obeidy said. “And we found that, yeah, it could last from anywhere from a half a year to two years, and that really was dependent on the temperature and position in the landscape.”

There’s no indication that the carcinogen has had any significant impacts on the environment or regional water supplies as of yet, but “it definitely could,” Obeidy said. “We want to get the word out and for people to be aware, but I don’t want to scare people. … There just needs to be more research on it.”

Ultimately, she hopes agencies like CalFire and the U.S. Forest Service will take this research into account during the post-fire response and clean up to ensure groundwater isn’t being contaminated. 

“We should be monitoring for chromium-6 in these post-fire landscapes, just to make sure that people’s drinking water is safe,” she said, adding that well water should be subject to additional testing. “It should definitely be investigated further.” 

You can check out the study here.

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Winter is off to a wild and woolly start here in Humboldt. The region’s record-breaking rainfall will be followed tonight by a high-wind warning, according to the National Weather Service. 

“A very strong system will approach Northwest California Tuesday, bringing strong to damaging winds to the region Tuesday Night through Wednesday morning,” warn the good folks at the NWS office on Woodley Island.

As you can see in the graphic above, a “High Wind Warning” covering Humboldt, Del Norte, Trinity and Lake counties will be in effect from 7 p.m. tonight through 10 a.m. Wednesday, with the strongest winds over the coastal headlands, exposed ridges and “channeled gaps” in the terrain.

The agency’s warning continues:

Downed trees, blowing debris, and power outages are likely. AVOID TRAVEL DURING THE STRONGEST WINDS! High wind warnings and wind advisories have been issued for the entire region. Wind gusts of 50-70 mph are likely in Del Norte, Humboldt, Mendocino, and Lake counties with locally higher gusts. Elsewhere gusts to 50 mph are possible with ridge-tops possibly seeing higher winds. Saturated ground will make trees more susceptible to toppling over. Prepare now for the possibility of losing power.

The Humboldt County Office of Emergency Services is also encouraging caution and preparedness. (See below.)

Stay safe out there, folks! 

Press release from Troop 15/Pack 95:

Boy Scout Troop 15 and Cub Scout Pack 95 will again be picking up Christmas trees in the Arcata, Eureka, and McKinleyville areas and hauling them to green waste for the community.  We will be doing this on Saturday December 28 and again on Saturday January 3 between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.

Anyone who would like to schedule a pickup should text or call 707-273-1997 or email arcatacubscouts@gmail. with their name, address, phone number and preferred pickup date (12/28 or 1/3). This is a community service project for the Scouts and there is no fixed cost to pick up a tree - donations are accepted and appreciated but not required.  All donations will help fund camping and other outings and summer camp for the Scouts.

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This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters.

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Facing a mountain of lawsuits, California K-12 schools will have a system in place beginning this year to prevent teachers and other staff from sexually abusing students.

A new California law creates an array of measures to educate school staff, beef up reporting requirements and stop teachers credibly accused of abuse from getting jobs at other districts.

The law, Senate Bill 848, goes into effect Jan. 1 and schools must have protocols in place by July. The law applies to all schools, including private schools.

“I’m proud to see this bill move forward. It’s been really personal for me,” state Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez, the bill’s author, told CalMatters after it passed. “For survivors, this is an important step toward justice.”

Avalanche of lawsuits

The law stems from a previous California law that made it easier for victims to sue school districts and counties. Under AB 218, which went into effect in 2020, victims can file suit until age 40 or even older if they didn’t remember being abused until later in life. That’s led to an avalanche of lawsuits and much greater public awareness of the scope of the problem.

So far, victims have filed more than 1,000 lawsuits against school districts and counties, with some resulting in enormous payouts. A jury in Riverside County in 2023 handed Moreno Valley Unified a $135 million verdict over abuse allegations, and Los Angeles Unified faces more than $500 million in claims.

Overall, California schools face nearly $3 billion in sex abuse claims from former students, according to the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team, a state agency that helps school districts with financial matters. Some of the incidents occurred decades ago, as early as the 1940s, and some of the payouts have been so large that they’ve led districts to financial insolvency.

School accountability

While the new law doesn’t address the lawsuits, it does institute measures intended to stop future abuse and hold schools more accountable. It requires schools to write comprehensive policies on appropriate behavior, and train students, teachers, coaches and other school staff on recognizing and reporting misconduct. It also broadens the number of staff who are required to report abuse allegations.

Perhaps the most noteworthy requirement is creating a database of teachers credibly accused of abuse. The database, to be administered by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, will be available to schools during their hiring processes. The aim is to stop teachers who’ve abused students from quitting and getting rehired elsewhere, only to abuse more students. Teachers who’ve been cleared of wrongdoing will be removed from the database.

Pérez, a Democrat from Alhambra, said she was inspired to author the new law after reading about generations of abuse at Rosemead High School, which is in her district. She also told CaMatters that she was the victim of a teacher’s unwanted attention when she was in high school.

“There are now dollars and cents being assigned to these cases,” she said in September. “It’s really opened up this conversation about what can we do to better prevent this abuse from happening.”

PREVIOUSLY

• Friends of the Eel River Sues County for Failure to Protect Public Trust by Regulating Groundwater Extractions in Lower Eel
• County Staff Present Groundwater Sustainability Plan for Eel River Valley
• Lawsuit Could Force Humboldt County to Regulate Groundwater Pumping in the Eel River Valley
• Judge Rules Against Nonprofit, Says Humboldt County Has Discretion in Managing Groundwater Extraction in the Lower Eel River Valley

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Statement from Friends of the Eel River:

Friends of the Eel River (FOER) has moved to appeal the Humboldt Superior Court’s September ruling denying our claim that Humboldt County has a duty under the Public Trust doctrine to consider the impacts of groundwater pumping on salmon holding in the lower Eel River.

Friends of the Eel River’s Executive Director, Alicia Hamann, explained the move. “We all understand that we need to use less water in drought years. This case asks whether we all share those responsibilities.”

The case was initially filed October 27, 2022, spurred by preceding years of dry conditions and a lack of any regulation of groundwater use, leading to the lower Eel River near Fortuna going completely dry in both 2014 and 2021. In the ruling issued September 28 of 2025, the Superior Court appeared to misconstrue the continuous nature of the public trust doctrine. 

“The Superior Court basically said the County need only consider public trust impacts in some way, at some point in the year – but not when Eel River salmon are most vulnerable to lowered streamflows, as they clearly are in late summer of dry years,” Hamann noted. “The public trust doctrine must apply year round if it is to mean anything.”

Friends of the Eel River is tasked with seeking recovery for the Wild and Scenic Eel River, its fisheries, and communities. The Eel’s native fish serve a crucial role in maintaining a healthy ecosystem, but also healthy Tribal cultures and regional economies. Hamann concludes, “We have stood up for the Eel and its native fish for 30 years, and will continue to do so, even against great obstacles and strong opposition.”

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DOCUMENTS

• FOER Opening Brief
• County of Humboldt Opposition Brief
• FOER Reply Brief

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PREVIOUSLY:

• Attempted Rescue Underway Near Ferndale as 72-Year-Old Woman in Vehicle is Submerged to Her Neck in Flooded Field, According to Scanner Traffic

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Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office:

On December 22, 2025, at approximately 1:05 p.m., the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office Emergency Communications Center received a call from a 72-year-old woman reporting that she was trapped inside her vehicle after driving onto Fulmore Rd. in Ferndale which was flooded. The caller advised HCSO dispatch that water was rising inside her vehicle, and it was rapidly floating down the road.

Humboldt County Sheriff’s deputies responded to the scene along with the Ferndale Volunteer Fire Department, the Fortuna Volunteer Fire Department, the California Highway Patrol, and a United States Coast Guard (USCG) helicopter. The vehicle was located on Fulmore Rd. north of Goble Ln., and the water was covering most of the vehicle. A local Ferndale resident assisted the first responders by providing a tractor, which was used to transport deputies and emergency personnel to the woman’s vehicle. The Ferndale Fire Department further assisted by deploying a swift water rescue swimmer.

The woman was successfully removed from her vehicle and transported by the USCG helicopter to a local hospital, where she is being treated for non-life-threatening injuries.

The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office extends its gratitude to the Ferndale Volunteer Fire Department, the Fortuna Volunteer Fire Department, Cal-Fire, the California Highway Patrol, and the United States Coast Guard for their coordinated response and assistance, which resulted in this successful rescue.

The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office reminds the public to avoid driving through flooded roadways, as conditions can change rapidly and create extremely dangerous situations.

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UPDATE

First District Supervisor Rex Bohn was on the scene, apparently:

NOTE: For more information and a video of the rescue, see our follow-up post here.

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UPDATE, 3:30 p.m.:

Press release from the Ferndale Volunteer Fire Department:

A coordinated multi-agency effort saved the life of a 72 year old woman today after her vehicle became trapped in rising floodwaters and began floating downriver near the intersection of Fulmor Road and Goble Lane in Ferndale.

The emergency call reported a harrowing scene: a vehicle swept into the current with the driver still inside. At the time of the initial report, water levels had already reached the woman’s chest, creating a race against time for local first responders.

The complexity of the scene required a massive mobilization of local and state resources. Because the vehicle was unstable and drifting, a diverse group of agencies converged on the riverbank to coordinate the extraction.

Ferndale Fire Department & Eel River Valley Technical Rescue Team (ERVTRT): Provided specialized water rescue personnel.
Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office & CHP: Managed scene safety and logistics.

City Ambulance: Staged for immediate medical intervention.
Humboldt County Public Works: Assisted with regional access.
U.S. Coast Guard: Deployed a helicopter for aerial extraction.

Rescue swimmers from Ferndale Fire Department and ERVTRT entered the water to reach the semi submerged car and stabilize the victim.
In a display of community spirit and ingenuity, the Cahill Dairy provided critical assistance. The dairy’s operators utilized their heavy duty farm tractors to assist rescuers in navigating the difficult terrain and turbulent water, proving instrumental in the positioning of the rescue teams.

With the vehicle’s position precarious, the Coast Guard Helicopter arrived on the scene, and a rescue basket was deployed.
The 72 year old woman was successfully lifted from the water and into the aircraft. She was immediately flown to St. Joseph Hospital for treatment and evaluation. While her current condition has not been released, the swift actions of the “boots on the ground,” and those in the air, prevented a certain tragedy.

“This rescue highlights the incredible cooperation between our professional agencies and the local community,” said Chief Rick Nicholson of Ferndale Fire Department. “From the technical swimmers to the Cahill family’s tractors, everyone played a part in saving a life today.”

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UPDATE, 2:42 p.m.:

The woman has been rescued and taken via Coast Guard helicopter to St. Joseph Hospital, according to Ferndale Fire Public Information Officer Jif D’Aguanno.

He told the Outpost via phone a few minutes ago that the 72-year-old woman attempted to cross the flooded roadway, but the water was too deep. Her vehicle “started getting taken away by the tide” and then “floated away.”

Ferndale Fire personnel responded along with the Eel River Valley Technical Rescue Team, the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office, City Ambulance, a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter and the local Cahill family, who contributed two tractors to the rescue effort.  One of those tractors was able to effect a rescue from the vehicle, after which the woman was picked up via a Coast Guard rescue basket, hauled into the helicopter and transported to the hospital, D’Aguanno said. 

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UPDATE, 2 p.m.:

The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office Special Services unit is on the scene conducting a rescue attempt of the trapped motorist, Lt. Jesse Taylor said via email. Taylor added that a Coast Guard helicopter is overhead, assisting with the ground units.

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Original post:

Emergency responders are attempting to locate and rescue a 72-year-old woman who was last seen inside a white SUV, submerged to her neck in a flooded field along the Eel River north of Ferndale, according to scanner traffic.

Ferndale Volunteer Fire Department Chief Rick Nicholson has requested help from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office and a helicopter from the Coast Guard. His office is also using a swift rescue boat, according to local resident Caroline Titus.

“He’s done this many times,” Titus said.

The woman called for help at approximately 1:10 p.m., saying she was “floating downstream,” a dispatcher said. She was located off of Fulmor road, near its intersection with Goble Lane, according to scanner traffic.

This news is breaking. We will update when we have more information. The location below is approximate, based on scanner traffic.