Posted on 01/11/2025 10:25:36 AM PST by E. Pluribus Unum
In Los Angeles’s chaparral-covered ecosystem, wildfires in the mountains are an annual ritual. But when those fires leaped into residential neighborhoods earlier this week, killing at least 11 people and destroying thousands of homes, the city suddenly found itself in survival mode.
A critical question became why the largest city in California, a state that has spent years fortifying itself against wildfires, couldn’t stop the fires this time. State regulations required residents in high-risk neighborhoods to create vegetation-free buffers around their homes. California had invested billions of dollars to reduce the amount of woody fuel for fires to burn. It boasted the largest firefighting force in the nation.
Yet within a few days, decades-old communities and beloved landmarks were gone, and residents are left asking why.
Experts said several key factors — including urban sprawl, a resistance to clearing vegetation around homes, and a water system that’s not designed to combat multiple major blazes at once — left L.A. exposed to disaster. As climate change fuels record heat, leaving the hillsides primed for wildfires to grow swiftly into massive conflagrations, these factors led to catastrophe.
“There was a lot that could have and should have been done,” said Timothy Ingalsbee, executive director of Oregon-based Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics and Ecology. “Decades before we knew about climate change, we knew this kind of urban sprawl was a big risk.”
Sprawling risk
The planning flaws that exacerbated the wildfires have long plagued Southern California. The two communities decimated by fires, Altadena and the Pacific Palisades, were built decades ago at the foothills of mountains that frequently burn. Dotted with single-family homes lining narrow, winding streets, they are difficult to defend and difficult to evacuate.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
The MSM-Democrats are beginning to develop and get their storyline together.
And there it is, the liberals are going to tell us that it’s all because there’s too many people sprawling out and climate change.
Because DEMOCRATS ARE IN CHARGE OF EVERYTHING!!!
If they keep saying “climate change” over and over again they think they can make it true.
That is classic black magic.
If climate change is blamed, I turn them off.
Well if “The Future Is Female”, you just got a glimpse of the future.
Yup—if anyone uses the term “climate change” they are part of enemy occupied territory or enemy sympathizers.
The only nation that gains from this kind of talk is China—which laughs at our eco-freaks.
DEI and the Peter Principle.
Now go save the world you heroes.
The Washington Post? This should be good for a laugh or two.
But that's "social justice" for you, the way they see it.
“...As climate change fuels record heat” - Stopped reading.
Blue Flame Smurf RATS.
Stopped reading at: “ … California, a state that has spent years fortifying itself against wildfires … “
Absolutely!
The mention of “climate change” discredits the entire article.
Isn't this what Obama hates (the burbs)?
Hire incompetent people based on sex, race, etc. rather than competence... fire the people who know what they’re doing... DEI training... corrupt politicians stealing billions for themselves and cronies.
NYT, CNN, and now this are all attempting to spin this to save Newsom as a POTUS candidate in 2028.
The next time dam removal is mentioned, how about we let the Colorado River run free?
Yup. The push will be for large apartment buildings and complexes. They allowed it to burn in order to rezone and shape the area the way they want.
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