As a lifelong Californian I can attest to this, however we have annual fires that burn hundreds of thousands of acres every year. Much of it is preventable if the state did it's job and cleared dead brush, but the environmentalist Marxists in control of the state decided that was distrubing the natural beauty and habitat of the land, so no more brush clearing. Ever since the fires have become worse each year. We lost an entire (small) city in 2019 due to this terrible policy that killed 85 people:
Northern California town of Paradise lost 90% of its population after Camp Fire, data shows.
I meant in 2010. The article I posted was 2019.
I think that's California state policy, although it may not be publicly stated.
Small towns in isolated places damage the environment and consume too many scarce state resources that could be better used buying votes to keep Sacramento politicians and bureaucrats in their cushy no-work jobs where they can run their mouths and go to receptions and hot-tub parties every day.