Watching from a Distance. The Emotional Toll of California's Wildfires

This past Friday session, my stock portfolio experienced a loss of $4,000. Unfortunately, it’s a normal occurrence under these difficult stock market conditions. The TSX closed at 24,767.73 points, down -305.67 (-1.22%). The decline continued today as the TSX lost another -231.41 points (-0.93%), closing this Monday at 24,536.32 points. For the day, my stock portfolio experienced a further loss of $1,700.

With my margin debt paid off, I don’t have to worry about anything. Still, as always, I like to keep a close eye on my numbers. My non-registered portfolio closed today’s session at $149,639.24, my US portfolio at $5,764.25, my RRSP stock-only portfolio at $83,043.92, and my TFSA portfolio at $136,270.06.

I have been closely watching the wildfires affecting the Los Angeles area. It’s a terrible tragedy. I’ve never personally experienced the loss of a home, but I can imagine how those affected must feel. A few years ago, my family’s neighbor in New Brunswick lost their home to a fire. It was a complete loss. Luckily, my parents' house was saved.

My old folks were disturbed by a knock at the door, asking them to prepare for evacuation. They packed essentials, including family photo albums, while neighbors helped move some belongings to a safe place. I wasn’t home when this happened, as I was in Montreal. Thanks to the firefighters' hard work, my family’s house didn’t suffer any fire or water damage.

The neighbor’s house, however, was completely destroyed and later rebuilt. During a fire, even if your house isn’t directly affected by flames, it can suffer significant water damage. Water damage can be as destructive as fire in terms of loss, but fire is far more dangerous because of the immediate life-threatening risk.

More recently, just a few weeks ago before Christmas, another fire occurred in my New Brunswick neighborhood. This time, it was our second-next-door neighbor. The house, an old structure in need of serious repairs, caught fire. Surprisingly, the family living there was renting, even though the house seemed uninhabitable. The roof needed to be redone, the windows were in poor condition, and one window was even broken.

The fire didn’t completely destroy the house, but it’s no longer livable. A sad sight, with Christmas decorations still visible through the broken living room window. The family had planned to spend Christmas there, but that wasn’t possible. Fortunately, no one was home when the fire happened. Thankfully, my experience with residential fires stops here, and I hope it stays that way. In my small New Brunswick town, many houses are located close together, which is a risk to consider when buying a home. Personally, I don’t think I’ll ever buy a house.

Currently, I’m still in New Brunswick with my family, having stayed here since October. I decided to remain through Christmas instead of traveling back to Montreal in November. There’s no bus service connecting New Brunswick to Quebec, which makes winter travel complicated. Living in a place with almost no public transportation is incredibly inconvenient. A bus route between New Brunswick and Rivière-du-Loup, even once every two weeks, would be a huge help.

I miss my little tiny Montreal apartment. Spending the entire winter in New Brunswick is always challenging for me.

In Montreal, I live in a small studio apartment in a building likely constructed in the ’60s or ’70s. It’s well-maintained, but I sometimes worry about fire risks. I have renters’ insurance now, but I went many years without it—a mistake I wouldn’t recommend. Without insurance, you could lose everything and have nowhere to go in an emergency. My advice: enroll in renters’ insurance with a reputable institution to ensure peace of mind.

You never know when something like this might happen. I split my time between Montreal and New Brunswick, much like a snowbird—except instead of Florida, I spend winters in New Brunswick. Since COVID, I’ve been spending a significant portion of the winter here.

Lately, I’ve been going through my pictures and videos. When taking photos on my phone, I often take multiple shots of the same scene but rarely review them. Over time, they accumulate. Recently, I’ve been cleaning up my photo library and discovered some great pictures, like this one:

 

I took this picture in Montreal on Saint-Laurent boulevard - or the Main if your prefer. It's one of my favorite picture that I took last year. 

One thing that I missed from Montreal is the coffee shop. 

I have been monitoring the situation in California. I’ve listened to many testimonies and watched several live streams on TikTok. Unfortunately, too many creators are spreading conspiracy theories. In my opinion, these fires are simply caused by climate change. The winds have worsened the situation, along with the lack of water supply. Many beautiful communities are being affected, and it’s truly heartbreaking to see. I’m only watching from a distance, but even so, I find it morally exhausting. These fires are incredibly difficult to contain. I had never really heard of the Palisades before this. Maybe I had, but it wasn’t something I had paid much attention to. From what I’ve seen, the Palisades were a really special place.

Today was a busy day at work, and I didn’t have time to take advantage of the market. I currently have over $13,000 in cash waiting to be invested in my RRSP. I think the TSX could drop further, so I’m not in a rush to invest. However, I may start making small investments over the next few weeks.