Photo Credit: Image: Jeff Head via Flickr, public domain.
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If government officials had intentionally set out to orchestrate this catastrophe, I don't see how their actions would have been different.Much has already been written about the L.A. wildfires and doubtless much more will be written in the future. The single most important point in the whole situation is that these fires were, if not completely preventable, at least foreseen. A firefighter warned Joe Rogan about it at least six months ago. What happened in Los Angeles was the result of a cascading series of events including adverse weather, bone-headed administrative decisions, and a degree of negligence that should be investigated for cause.
Phase One for this catastrophe was set years ago. Recently, I wrote about this contributing factor. Bowing to climate change alarmists, environmental activists, and ignoramuses in the public, California has spent decades prioritizing fire suppression over preventive measures, including the removal of brush, dead trees, and excessive forest litter that serve as fuel for wildfires. California is not alone in this wrong-headed approach to forest management. Massive amounts of dry, organic material spread across millions of acres is, as we have seen, a conflagration just waiting to happen. Wildfires are commonly ignited by lightning, negligence, and arson, the latter being a particularly heinous offense.
A document was published in 2012 wherein the FBI, DHS, and other agencies sounded the alarm over terrorists being interested in starting wildfires near densely populated areas in order to cause “economic loss, fear, resource depletion and humanitarian hardship.” The terrorist group al-Qaeda even wrote about it in their magazine! (Who knew al-Qaeda had a magazine?) This tactic is effective, since all it requires is ordinary, readily available materials, and it can be conducted by individuals with little to no training.
Enter Biden, Harris, and Mayorkas. According to Customs and Border Protection, 367 individuals whose names appeared on the terror watch list were apprehended by the Border Patrol between 2021 and 2024. This represents a 2,521% increase from the 14 suspected terrorists apprehended between 2017 and 2020. Those individuals are not even the tip of the iceberg of the 11 million illegals who’ve swarmed across our borders in the last four years.
To date, there have not been any confirmed links to terrorism, but the fact remains that our own government warned us about it over a decade ago yet has enacted policies that make it plausible. Citizens near the Calabasas and West Hills fires detained an individual on Friday who they claimed was starting a fire. The police later charged him with a parole violation but not with arson. Other residents in the area detained a man who they say was riding around on a bicycle carrying a blowtorch, trying to set old Christmas trees and garbage bins on fire.
The L.A. wildfires started in the Topanga Canyon last Tuesday morning. Besides dry brush and celebrities, Topanga Canyon also contains many homeless encampments. People cooking food and drugs in steep-sloped canyons with dry brush is a recipe for disaster. Local residents pushed for legislation to have them removed, but it’s taking time. Meanwhile, L.A. County responds to multiple wildfires in homeless encampments every day.
If Phase One is allowing massive amounts of unburned fuel to accumulate, and Phase Two is to import vast numbers of illegals, some with malicious intent, and to allow homeless encampments in fire-prone areas, then Phase Three is to reduce the amount of available water, firefighting personnel, and equipment.
California hasn’t built a new reservoir since 1980. One reason for this is that dams and reservoirs are costly, and voters feel that the money would be better spent elsewhere — perhaps on Governor Newsom’s high-speed rail. California residents have faced periodic droughts and water shortage measures for years but have chosen not to take action to increase their potable water supply.
Another reason is a three-inch silvery blue fish that lives in the San Joaquin Delta. The delta smelt faces extinction, so, once again, legislators bowed to special interest groups and diverted water from crop lands and reservoirs and allowed it to flow into the ocean in order to save the fish. Good for the smelt, bad for the Angelenos. Firefighters reported finding no water in the fire hydrants in some neighborhoods.
Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass has also played a role in this disaster. Bass cut the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) budget by over $17 million this year and was out of the country when the fire started. A Sky News reporter followed her around the airport when she returned, peppering her with questions. Bass chose not to respond.
Someone else who chose not to respond was Governor Gavin Newsom. When he was confronted by a resident who asked him about recovery efforts, Newsom indicated that he was on the phone with pResident (not a typo) Biden. “Can I hear? Can I hear your call? Because I don’t believe it,” she responded. Newsom claimed he had no signal and was unable to reach the president.
Never one to miss an opportunity to stick his foot in his mouth, during a press conference, Biden reassured beleaguered Angelenos with the good news that he had just become a great-grandfather. He also took the opportunity to make jokes, telling speakers to “Fire away!“ during a White House press conference on the fires. Even Kamala Harris looked shocked. He went on to pledge that the taxpayers of the other 49 states would cover 100% of California’s disaster assistance costs. One wonders how the residents of Lahaina; East Palestine, Ohio; and in the six states impacted by Hurricanes Helene and Milton feel about that announcement.
Meanwhile, the LAFD has focused on DIE issues. The city’s first LGBT fire chief, Kristin Crowley, is on record saying, “With the new DEI Bureau, the department will develop and drive forward key diversity, equity and inclusion strategies and initiatives to enhance the LAFD’s work environment and performance.” When asked about numbers, Crowley said that she’s “not looking for a specific number. It’s never enough.”
Evidently, sexual preferences and melanin content are more important to Chief Crowley than skill and experience. During COVID, the LAFD suspended 113 firefighters from duty because they chose not to receive the mRNA vaccines. When the vaccine mandate ended, some were called back to work but were informed they could still face disciplinary action and possible job termination.
Adding insult to injury, some insurance companies dropped fire coverage from their policies months ago in the face of rising payouts and stricter government regulations. This story is still developing, as the California Insurance Commissioner just barred companies from dropping fire victims’ policies until 2026.
All that was lacking from this deadly cocktail were the Santa Ana winds. When they arrived, there were recorded wind speeds in excess of 100 mph.
This was an inevitable perfect storm of decades-long administrative failures, bad decisions, and meteorology. As of Friday afternoon, we’ve seen over 35,000 acres burned, 10 people killed, thousands evacuated, and over 10,000 structures damaged or destroyed.
If local, state, and federal officials had intentionally set out to orchestrate this catastrophe, I don’t see how their actions would have been different.
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Image: Jeff Head via Flickr, public domain.
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Image: Jeff Head via Flickr, public domain.
