Could the Los Angeles wild fire have been prevented?

[WyattEarp]

In fairness to Kherg, he's reacting to all the GOP horseshit that CA should forfeit all federal assistance because it had a lesbian running its FD and nonsense like that.

If we were living in a time of normal political discourse from the GOP, no one would be raising the issue.

My personal experience is that every state pursues fire prevention in a different manner. In recent years, California has been a far outlier in their practices. Of course, their geography and population density expose them to more wildfire risk.

I hope we read some objective coverage about what the various States are doing with fire prevention and how that compares with California. One might say now's not the time for the Federal govt. or anyone to be debating that. Just so you know, I'm not one to say now's not the time to debate gun control after a tragedy. It seems to me to be a good time while the public is focused on the event.

What does that mean relative to Kherg's post? I would expect the Trump Administration to put more pressure on California to examine and apply best practices in fire prevention. I would also expect the politics surrounding fire prevention to change quickly and dramatically inside California. Like almost all governmental bodies, Sacramento will likely be caught off guard by the changing political landscape.

 

[mandrill]

My personal experience is that every state pursues fire prevention in a different manner. In recent years, California has been a far outlier in their practices. Of course, their geography and population density expose them to more wildfire risk.

I hope we read some objective coverage about what the various States are doing with fire prevention and how that compares with California. One might say now's not the time for the Federal govt. or anyone to be debating that. Just so you know, I'm not one to say now's not the time to debate gun control after a tragedy. It seems to me to be a good time while the public is focused on the event.

What does that mean relative to Kherg's post? I would expect the Trump Administration to put more pressure on California to examine and apply best practices in fire prevention. I would also expect the politics surrounding fire prevention to change quickly and dramatically inside California. Like almost all governmental bodies, Sacramento will likely be caught off guard by the changing political landscape.

Well, no.....

The actual criticism from MAGA is that CA failed because it has "3 lesbians named Kristin running the LAFD". You can try and spin that, if you want.... I suppose.

But the companion thread to this one on TERB features your buddies Addict and Mitchell specifically singling out DEI practises and has 4 x as many views and posts, mainly the TERB MAGAts attacking DEI and raising other unfounded horseshit about the fire response.

If the GOP and MAGA have actually raised well founded technical concerns about the fire response, I have yet to read them

And why is Sacramento responsible for choices made by LA?

 

[kherg007]

I will add I heard an interview (former LA Times reporter) that in 1980 John Gerard the LA fire chief outlined how a fire in the foothills could sweep on down and cause this sort of conflagration (reporter said LA Times refused to run a story on it because they felt he was "scare mongering" to increase his budget). He said you'd need to build fire breaks and use dynamite in places to stop these sorts of fires and back then asked about increased budgets for the fire department to handle this potential disaster -the taxpayers of LA did not want to pay for something that might happen. So, this danger was known for some time, and generations of leaders and citizens ignored it. Thus the current govt folks seem to have inherited the mantle of hoping it doesn't happen whilst not preparing for it.
Thus, 45 years ago it was not DEI that caused the ignorance.
It was plain old politics.

BTW, a similar thing happened in SF where a big political fight over whether to spend millions reinforcing the upper deck of Candlestick Park for a stronger possible earthquake. Finally they won and got the money and did the retrofit in the 1980s and it probably saved 10,000 or more lives in the 1989 earthquake during the world series.

 

[WyattEarp]

Well, no.....

The actual criticism from MAGA is that CA failed because it has "3 lesbians named Kristin running the LAFD". You can try and spin that, if you want.... I suppose.

But the companion thread to this one on TERB features your buddies Addict and Mitchell specifically singling out DEI practises and has 4 x as many views and posts, mainly the TERB MAGAts attacking DEI and raising other unfounded horseshit about the fire response.

If the GOP and MAGA have actually raised well founded technical concerns about the fire response, I have yet to read them

And why is Sacramento responsible for choices made by LA?

I personally haven't heard anything about lesbians or DEI from official channels like the President-elect, nominated Cabinet members or Congress. I suppose there will be one or two political outliers shooting their mouth off about what they don't like.

The GOP concerns are around clearing brush, fire breaks and water retention/distribution. It seems like I have been hearing about the lack of prevention and preparation for over ten years now.

I'm not sure why you think the State of California (Sacramento) is not part of directing wildfire prevention policy around the state. This would be one issue where I wouldn't be arguing that responsibility is atomized. Don't worry the L.A. Mayor will not be re-elected.

Lastly, there's a lot of members I simply tune-out because I don't think they well-represent any political group in the U.S. or Canada.

 

[Zoot Allures]

How do you infallibly fireproof roofs in a "perfect storm firestorm"?

I may be naive but

Refer to post 9 and 50 , one guy did it with water sprinklers on his roof

It is the embers that land on the roofs that spread the fire

Roofs can be made fire proof as they have fire proof material

I have a fire blanket in my kitchen to put out grease fires

Even cedar shingles can be made fire reisistant

 

[squeezer]

I don't vote for the people on the Left who say stupid things so I generally don't react much. It kind of frees my my mind and political energy. The caveat is I avoid most cable news including Fox News.

Yes, we know, you only vote for people on the Right who say very stupid things.

 

[nottyboi]

I think if they had 10 Waterbombers on standby instead of 2, it would have made a HUGE difference.

 

[WyattEarp]

Yes, we know, you only vote for people on the Right who say very stupid things.

They bother me too. It's easy to tune them out if you don't let Joy Reid and Rachel Maddow curate your news.

 

[princekwekua]

This house was the only one in the neighbourhood to withstand the Pacific Palisades fire

 

[mandrill]

I think if they had 10 Waterbombers on standby instead of 2, it would have made a HUGE difference.

It means paying for them. And their crews. And their maintenance..... for an event that might never happen.

 

[basketcase]

Prevented? No. Even Joe Rogan was going on a few years back about heat and the Santa Anas meaning an eventual catastrophe. Could the state have spent more to manage fires? Yes but that would require higher taxes and the idiots trying to blame it on DEI would never want that.
The only other action that could have been a little helpful is preventing corporations from taking as much water from the Colorado river but that would involve 4 or 5 states cooperating and still wouldn't have made a huge impact.
But prince is right to point out that the government regulations that many Americans hate actually serve a purpose.


Then again, maybe I'm wrong and having a lesbian fire chief was the problem.

 

[Robert Mugabe]

It means paying for them. And their crews. And their maintenance..... for an event that might never happen.

Sounds like you were in charge.

 

[mandrill]

Sounds like you were in charge.

I'm sure Mitch's sources of "news" would have posted incessantly that "Newsome spends 5 x as much as he needs to on excess airplanes at the honest citizens' expense!"

 

[WyattEarp]

Prevented? No. Even Joe Rogan was going on a few years back about heat and the Santa Anas meaning an eventual catastrophe. Could the state have spent more to manage fires? Yes but that would require higher taxes and the idiots trying to blame it on DEI would never want that.
The only other action that could have been a little helpful is preventing corporations from taking as much water from the Colorado river but that would involve 4 or 5 states cooperating and still wouldn't have made a huge impact.
But prince is right to point out that the government regulations that many Americans hate actually serve a purpose.


Then again, maybe I'm wrong and having a lesbian fire chief was the problem.

Good effort trying to make this a failure of conservative policies. Thankfully, there ain't a Republican politician in charge of anything for hundreds of miles.

Now the reality. Californians pay some of the highest taxes in the world and are subject to heavy regulation. So if you think a further expansive California government is the solution, that's your prerogative.

 

[wigglee]

I think if they had 10 Waterbombers on standby instead of 2, it would have made a HUGE difference.

10 waterbombers could save 12000 homes...LOL

 

[Frankfooter]

Good effort trying to make this a failure of conservative policies. Thankfully, there ain't a Republican politician in charge of anything for hundreds of miles.

Now the reality. Californians pay some of the highest taxes in the world and are subject to heavy regulation. So if you think a further expansive California government is the solution, that's your prerogative.

The world hit 1.5ºC for the first time but republicans will fix the problem by ending DEI.
Why are right wingers always so ready to jump to the most idiotic misdirections?

Major oil ports are threatened by rising sea levels | Salon.com

Award-winning news and culture, features breaking news, in-depth reporting and criticism on politics, science, food and entertainment.

www.salon.com

 

[basketcase]

Good effort trying to make this a failure of conservative policies. Thankfully, there ain't a Republican politician in charge of anything for hundreds of miles.

Now the reality. Californians pay some of the highest taxes in the world and are subject to heavy regulation. So if you think a further expansive California government is the solution, that's your prerogative.

Nice try trying to pretend a lesbian fire chief is the cause of the fire.

And yes, just like in the electrical grid failures in Texas a couple winters back, pro-corporate regulations on public infrastructure are a part of the problem.

 

[basketcase]

The world hit 1.5ºC for the first time but republicans will fix the problem by ending DEI.
Why are right wingers always so ready to jump to the most idiotic misdirections?

Major oil ports are threatened by rising sea levels | Salon.com

Award-winning news and culture, features breaking news, in-depth reporting and criticism on politics, science, food and entertainment.

www.salon.com

Using the Florida education model, they will just try to claim that the world has always been this hot.

 

[The Oracle]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1879517506651443569

Gavin Newsom and Karen Bass got absolutely destroyed by facts when a fire union chief broke down in tears on CNN, exposing the staffing shortfalls he had been warning about for years. Turns out their “leadership” is more about slogans than solutions, and the truth hit harder than their empty promises ever could.

x.com

x.com

 

[The Oracle]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1879517506651443569

Gavin Newsom and Karen Bass got absolutely destroyed by facts when a fire union chief broke down in tears on CNN, exposing the staffing shortfalls he had been warning about for years. Turns out their “leadership” is more about slogans than solutions, and the truth hit harder than their empty promises ever could.

Karen Bass is Toast here...Newsom will slither out of this you watch.

They will DEI some other incompetents in charge when all is said and done.