Off Topic: Los Angeles Members Please Check In

[gregndodgers]

My wife and I stayed up late last night talking about all the LA fires. I told her that my gut says incompetence is partly to blame for the quick spread of the two biggest fires, Palisades and Eaton. I saw the Eaton fire firsthand on Wednesday morning, and there were no firefighters trying to save homes in the southern portion of Altadena. I saw dozens of homes burning in a span of 20 minutes, and there was not one firetruck present in the area I was in. Apparently, there were not enough firefighters available. In my opinion, that is not a sufficient excuse. Not having enough firefighters is a sign of incompetence in my opinion. When I saw the fire up close, we were already 12 hours into the Eaton fire, yet the fire was still burning out of control.

Remember, we all know that brush fires can get big fast. Heck, my family and I had to be evacuated in 2018 due to the Woolsey fire! And in that 2018 fire, the fire burned uncontrolled all the way to the sea. If not for the sea, how far would that fire have burned?

When did it become acceptable for fires to burn out of control and destroy thousands of homes?

The other big problem is that there was not enough water to fight the two largest fires. The fire-hydrants went dry not long after the fires started.

So it appears that California's leadership was not prepared for these very large fires that grew quickly due to very fast winds. The winds were part of the problem but poor planning and slow response were also to blame in my opinion.