Developers said they were safe. San Diego-area officials listened. Courts have blocked several housing projects over failures to analyze the wildfire risks.
Author Archives: Camille von Kaenel
Camille von Kaenel is a former investigative reporter for inewsource focused on environment and energy in San Diego and Imperial counties. Her position was partly funded by Report for America, a national program that supports local journalists.
Previously, she covered growth and development in San Diego County’s backcountry for inewsource. Her reporting unearthed deals a renewable energy developer made to push its project forward over neighbors’ objections and a problem with wildfire insurance that led to a new state law. Before that, she covered the aftermath of the Camp fire for the Chico Enterprise-Record, where her investigation into dozens of deaths that were not directly linked to the fire in the government’s official death count was picked up by national outlets.
Von Kaenel previously worked at E&E News in Washington, D.C., covering transportation and climate policy and politics.
She earned a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University and a bachelor’s degree in international relations from the University of Geneva. She was born in Switzerland and grew up in the Bay Area. Von Kaenel speaks French and Spanish.
