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7 Dec: Long Beach Press Telegram: How do wildfires start? Usually with people
By Liset Marquez Updated 9 Dec
This week’s explosion of fire activity in Southern California may have many wondering: How do wildfires start?
In short, by humans, says John Keeley, who has been researching fire records from the past 100 years to determine the historical causes of fires in the state.

During Santa Ana winds one of the most common causes is power lines being blown down. Another is arson.
“Humans are the only sources of fires during Santa Ana winds,” said Keeley, a research ecologist with United States Geological Survey. “You don’t get lightning during Santa Ana wind conditions. Humans are responsible for all the fires, either directly or through the power lines.”
According to Cal Fire statistics, seven of the top 20 most destructive California wildfires were caused by power lines or arson. Another seven on that list are still under investigation or undetermined.

“A lot of arson-ignited fires occurs under Santa Ana wind conditions because I suppose the arsonist sees that as an opportunity to create a really big fire,” he said by phone Thursday afternoon.
As for other causes reported by CalFire and the U.S. Forest Service, Keeley said his research has found...ETC ETC READ IT ALL

*****What’s not a factor?
Climate change, Keeley said.
He said climate change would only figure in California’s more heavily forested landscapes in the state.
Looking at 100 years of climate data and fire data for the state, “in Southern California we could not find any relationship between climate and fire,” he said. “We believe the reason is, every single year it’s hot enough and dry enough for a big fire.”...

Which means it’s outside factors that determine a big wildfire.
“That’s usually people igniting fires under bad conditions,” he said.
http://www.presstelegram.com/2017/12/07/how-does-a-wildfire-start-with-people/

some of the following may be small fires, but they all add up:

9 Dec: Pasadena Star News: Fire officials: Pasadena brush fire is arson – the third Southern California case this week
by Brian Day
The Pasadena case is the third arson or attempted arson reported in recent days — one happened Friday night in Anaheim and a second blaze was reported in Irwindale — as much of Southern California was shrouded under the smoke of multiple, massive wildfires...

Anaheim residents helped police detain a man who authorities say was spotted trying to set fires near the Anaheim Hills Festival shopping center at 6 p.m. Friday, authorities said. No active fires were reported in the area at the time.
And police in Irwindale arrested a 33-year-old Azusa man Wednesday on suspicion of arson after he was seen fleeing from the origin point of a nearly 1-acre brush fire near Lario Park in Irwindale...
http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/2017/12/09/arson-suspected-in-brush-fire-on-arroyo-parkway-in-pasadena/

6 Dec: CBS San Francisco: Suspect Arrested In Lake Berryessa Arson Fires
A 59-year-old Napa woman has been arrested for allegedly lighting wildland fires around the north end of Lake Berryessa, authorities announced Wednesday.
Cal Fire said Debra Ann Windholz was being held in Napa County Jail on $500,000 bail for eleven counts of arson to forest land...

However, Cal Fire officials were also quick to point out that Windholz was not responsible for any of the devastating fires that began during the night of October 8 across Napa, Sonoma, and Lake Counties.
The investigations into the origin and cause of the October fires are ongoing...
http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2017/12/06/suspect-arrested-in-lake-berryessa-arson-fires/

6 Dec: ABC7: Suspect arrested for setting Van Nuys palm tree on fire, dancing amid red-flag conditions
The suspect was spotted dancing after lighting the fire.

The blaze damaged not just the tree but nine vehicles in the area.

Police officers and firefighters responded quickly, extinguished the fire and were able to arrest the suspect, Carranza said on Twitter...
http://abc7.com/suspect-arrested-for-setting-van-nuys-palm-tree-on-fire/2749288/

Nice Rundown.

Here's another angle.

Fuel for Fires, Criminal Negligence, and Governor Brown

Governor Jerry Brown has been making headlines asserting global warming is to blame for the California fires.

I'm posting only because missing from the commentary is the recognition that removal of dead trees and brush from the public forests and grasslands has been made illegal by anyone not working for a state or federal agency.

Such good Samaritan husbandry was made illegal due to law suits brought by radical environmentalists.

Those suits were largely paid for by unaccountable non-profit foundations.

Any suits that landed in front of a judge who might rule against the suit would be dropped, and the costs absorbed.
The winning suits were heard before judges with whom the plaintiffs felt comfortable.

It is a practice that has a seedy sounding label: judge-shopping. This explains why large sources of money are needed for such assaults on normal decent behavior. It suggests one needs a judge who is less than that.

These suits were won even though the judges were warned that dry brush is fuel for wildfires, and that there are many people with the experience and ability to reduce such risks free of charge.

But the concerns for wild life, property and human life were all pushed aside. It's hard to call such judges liberal at times like this. If they had a bias, they should have recused themselves from the cases they heard. So perhaps such judges are less liberal and more Leftist?

In other times, times less under the control of ~~Leftist~~ sinister forces, concerns for human life outweighed whatever other arguments anyone could bring to court.

Today, not so much.

Yet even today, were you to let your backyard or empty lot grow uncontrolled, and left to dry out and unkempt, and then a fire breaks out on it -- you would be charged with criminal neglect.

So why isn't the government and its ruling held to the same standard? Why doesn't the press afflict the governor with questions about his comfort with the environmental rules as they stand?

Why does Governor Brown seek to lay the cause of wildfires purely at the door of alleged human caused climate change?

Why does Governor Brown not lay the blame at the door of those whom insisted that the fuel remain on public lands waiting only for the first spark to ignite it all?

Well perhaps its his guilty conscience. When Governor Brown failed even to utter a harsh word against the Green nutcases who forced public lands to be filled with tinder, he became guilty of criminal negligence, and he left those he is supposed to serve at grave risk.