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 ...
So it sounds like they’re trying to say that LA was as prepared as they could ever be. But the climate change overwhelmed their preparations.
Ok then ,it sounds like that’s what they’re going with.
Yeah? Let's see an accounting of where all that "invested" money went. I'm going to guess that almost none of it went to anything useful.
They're wasting their time. Gavin is not going to be able to spin his way out of this one.
There will be somebody new for 2028.
As climate change fuels record heat, leaving the hillsides primed for wildfires to grow swiftly into massive conflagrations, these factors led to catastrophe.
I know, I hate that. Let the authors go live in a mid-rise
Too many rich people not paying “their fair share.” Not enough homos, trannies, dykes, chomos, Injuns, people of color working in government. Not big enough budgets. Not enough bureaucrats. Not enough regulations. Not enough windmills and solar panels. Too many white people and systemic racism. Not enough illegal aliens. And OF COURSE. Orangeman bad!!!
liberal arsonists waited until the winds reached 100 miles per hour and then unleashed hell. This had nothing to do with climate change
You raise a good point. In some parts all the good buildable land was developed decades ago with single family dwellings with actual yards. Newer development is packed in with near-zero yards. I’ve often thought they’d’ love to get their paws on the prime old land and reuse it in their new style. Problem for the commies is they are not fully in power (yet) and can’t just “take” it.
They can once the taxes on the charred parcel go unpaid.
No more single-family homes.
Every possible explanation is entertained except government incompetence and corruption.
You are obviously a racist. 🤡
Climate Change = steaming pile of $hit....
The leftists always keep bringing up the climate change lie. The valley and mountains surround LA have been fire prone for thousands of years, since the last Ice Age. American Indians avoided settling there because they didn’t want to burn alive every time after time there was a firestorm.
I was reading the New York Times comment section and they still are pushing the climate change line in the comments. There were a few decent rational posts however so maybe things are changing.
It’s a publisher’s and editors mandate. All articles about nature must include a climate change angle. I have no idea why.
This article is stupid. L.A. is not just California’s largest city it is the 2nd largest in the country. This year is a La Niña weather pattern year. The phenomenon has been known for ages. The Santa Ana winds are also a fairly predictable eventuality. The palisades fire was likely started in somebody’s backyard - I have heard it was power tool sparks but can’t confirm any of it - but whatever started it the wind gusts took the embers down the block. From there it went up in a flash.
Unprepared yes. Absolutely. Which is dereliction of duty by the entire chain of command. And the bottom line is it doesn’t matter if it was “climate change” or unfortunate coincidence of natural predictable events - the bottom line is that they did not invest in the right things. They are focused on everything but their most important duties as civic leaders. They tore down dams and won’t bring in more water, won’t build more reservoirs, and won’t build new desalination plants. They did blow $150 billion on a chop-choo that hasn’t been built, they allocated $100 million to fight Trump in court, they banned menthol cigarettes, they spent $25 billion on “homeless” without a dent in the problem, they banned concealed weapons from all public and private places unless a sign specifically allowing them was posted, they spent fire budget money on transgender coffee shops, you name the virtue signal they did it. But they didn’t fix the water system or the roads or the electric grid.
They and their ideology have got to go. They are unfit for duty and don’t understand their primary directive.
“As climate change fuels record heat”
Every damned time. They have to get that in there.
This was a serious spin job effort. It took four lefties to write it! They know this is politically bad for the Democrats, not just in LA and California, but nationally too.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.