This was a perfect storm.
My TL is full of LA fires. This was almost inevitable, given the huge fuel buildup over the past two years from all of the excess rain, the complete lack of rain since spring, and then these hurricane-like Santa Anas. It will sadly get worse before it gets better. This may be the…
— Not-So-OK Boomer (@Rand_Simberg) January 8, 2025
Good luck.
The fires seem to be exclusively in Malibu, Topanga Canyon and Pacific Palisades. All three are populated almost exclusively by arrogant, woke showbiz lefties. Fuck them. Fuck them all. The long and the short and the tall.
I see that Gov. Hairgel has been visiting “the frontlines” of the fire areas. No surprise there as so many of his major contributors are in danger of being burnt out of house and home.
He’s also – quite atypically – hiding his well-pomaded mane under a ball cap. Perhaps his favored hair product is flammable?
He’s also chiding those reluctant to evacuate. Understandable, as a contributor who gets burnt to a cinder will cease writing contribution checks.
All of this is only occurring, of course, because the Green ninnies who run this state refuse to allow removal of accumulating dead plant matter that fuels these wildfires. In a bit of karmic justice, many of the supporters of said nonsense are now among the affluent newly homeless and about-to-be homeless. I do not expect any of them to connect the dots. Celebrities are bred for looks, not brains.
I get the sentiment but I am fond of at least a couple people who live there in part because they aren’t woke.
James Woods for one.
Yes, it’s too bad about Mr. Woods.
But, to a really impressive degree, these chickens have come home to exactly where they deserve to roost.
It would be even better were suitable lessons to be learned, but I fear those on the receiving end of this lesson have simply gotten far too used to lecturing the rest of us to spare any bandwidth flowing inbound. Give most of them a day or two to settle into their “refugee” digs and I suspect they will mostly be expostulating about how this is all – somehow – the fault of Trump and his MAGA hordes.
This happens frequently where I live. Our firefighting system is great so damage is usually confined to relatively small areas when compared to how bad things could have been. Everywhere is at risk but it is random where the fires strike.
As always, we are our own first responders.
Every homeowner is encouraged to take steps to mitigate wildfire risk. Landscaping, building materials, active protection. Then there the usual prepping stuff with food, water, power, communications, air filters, etc.
Californians need to get on the prepping/personal responsibly bandwagon because it looks like the local and state government are handicapable. Everyone preaches doom but no one prepares for the most likely things that they will experience. The worst of both worlds.
I assume that, at least with some people, wealth comes with intelligence and as rungs on Maslow’s pyramid are climbed, basic preparation for natural disasters would take place but maybe people just aren’t aware or there is a normalcy bias.
Proper mitigation of wildfire risk is mostly, and deliberately, illegal in CA. The only real defense left is to not live in the hills.
Rand, you diagnosed the problem perfectly. Same here in Australia.
Our bush is the same. The Greenies won’t allow undergrowth clearing and burning during the cool season so we get huge fuel loads. We are having a wet summer here in southern Queensland and if we have dry one next year we will be in trouble.
Our aborigines allegedly practiced “fire stick farming” of the bush which has totally altered the landscape. It was likely more like “let’s light a fire upwind of those kangaroos and we’ll spear one when they go by. They also made a lot a megafauna extinct. So much for “custodians of the land”.
BTW apologies for the Eucalypts (aka napalm trees). An act of unprovoked biowarfare aggression by Australia against the world. I think the things should be made extinct.
Californians, your federal government is warning those of you protecting your homes from looters tonight not to let your children eat the batteries from your red dot sights, no matter how hungry they may be.
https://x.com/sigsauerinc/status/1877377328419852649
Anyone know what the real story is behind the fire hydrant water shortage?
*IF* the news today is correct, part of it was the electric utility cutting power to some areas, thus leaving no power for the water pumps. So, today, they are deploying portable generators to power the pumps.
Err, if so, why did it take them days to figure this out and do it?
(reasonable to do with above-ground power lines
)
I saw someone pointing out that all those destroyed homes and buildings use PVC pipe, which probably means every one of them melted and are leaking water, reducing the pressure everywhere. (A reason to go back to lead pipes!) And the water tanks at the top of the hills were drained dry in the first few hours because the designers never thought they’d need that much water that fast.
Sorry, I don’t want to drink from lead pipes. Copper is what should be used. And lead melts just like PVC.
Copper has its problems in climates where freezing can occur. Good news for LA, that’s not a problem for them. It is also a better use of copper than saving the Green Nude Eel.