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[gregndodgers]

Originally Posted by ajjohnsonsoxfan

Or it could be that this fire was 4x bigger than anything anyone had ever seen and no amount of fire fighters would be sufficient to make a dent in a firestorm that big. Also if you don't have the ability to fight a firestorm from the air no amount of water from a hydrant will be enough. They aren't designed to fight firestorms. They are designed to fight a single house fire or 2. These same people pointing fingers and spreading disinformation (not referring to you Greg) would be the same people complaining about fire fighters' salaries, overtime and pensions. Let's all take a beat and show some real empathy for those that are suffering before playing the blame game. Unfortunately this selfish behavior is normalized from the top as we don't have a leader that's magnanimous enough to comprehend putting others before themselves.

If the hydrants had pressure, the water could have been used to save the dozens of homes I saw burning.

I served on a nuclear sub in the late 1990s. After each torpedo drill where we engaged a simulated enemy sub, we deconstructed every minute detail to determine what we did right and what we did wrong.

In the case of Eaton, the fire started around 6:30 pm on Tuesday, and the Santa Ana winds were blowing at 60 mph sustained winds. Obviously, that’s incredibly fast! But I also experienced the 2018 Woolsey fire, which raged not far from the current fires, and in that fire, the Santa Ana winds played a big role too. In Woolsey and Eaton, the fires burned uncontrolled.

So after Woolsey, what lessons were learned? The Wolsey fire burned 100,000 acres and destroyed over 1,600 structures. Also, the 2018 Camp fire destroyed 153,336 acres, caused 85 fatalities, displaced more than 50,000 people, and destroyed more than 18,000 structures. So it is incorrect to say that we had not seen a fire this big before.

Are we to accept that some fires are too large to control? That we are powerless to prevent destruction of thousands of structures? That widespread destruction, hardship, and loss of life is inevitable?

Well, I’m a submariner, a career military officer, and I will never accept those terms. We must understand what our leaders did right and what they did wrong, and I am currently under the belief, that there is a lot of blame to go around.

Should our leaders be pointing fingers and assessing blame? No, because they must focus on saving lives and homes. But we as concerned citizens should be asking questions because these fires are still raging and we must ensure our leaders know we will not accept incompetence. As the fires continue to burn and more homes are threatened, our leaders must have the requisite sense of urgency. Citizens help promote that.