January 10, 2025 - 10:00am
Santa Monica, California
Much of Los Angeles County remains under red flag warnings as a series of enormous wildfires, which began on Tuesday morning, continue to devastate the region. Although the exact cause of the fires remains officially “unknown” — a man has been arrested on suspicion of trying to light a fire in the Woodland Hills area — it is confirmed that the first blaze ignited in the hillside area near Pacific Palisades. This area, an upscale residential neighbourhood home to nearly 25,000 residents, has suffered catastrophic damage, with recent estimates indicating that as much as 75% of all structures and residences have been destroyed.
The fires have claimed the lives of at least 10 individuals so far, though officials warn that the death toll is likely to rise. More than 2,000 structures have been consumed by the flames, and at least 130,000 residents remain under evacuation orders. Experts caution that Los Angeles is far from clear of danger, with these fires potentially becoming the most costly wildfire disaster in American history.
There is no question that California’s environment played a role in the scale of the crisis. The Santa Ana winds are strong, dry winds that typically occur in Southern California in the autumn and winter months, driven by high-pressure systems which force air to flow downwards towards the low-pressure areas along the California coast. Santa Ana winds can reach speeds of 40-60 miles per hour, with gusts exceeding 100 miles per hour in certain areas, especially in canyons and passes. The combination of strong winds, dry air, and warm temperatures makes Santa Ana winds a significant contributor to wildfires since they can spread rapidly and make firefighting efforts extremely challenging. For this reason, red flag warnings had been in place nearly a week prior.
However, abject political leadership and failures in emergency preparedness should not be overlooked. Incredibly, clearing out the fire has been a near-impossible task because LA’s fire hydrants had run dry, an unthinkable event which no elected official has yet to provide a reasonable excuse for. Having an effective network of fire hydrants ensures that first responders can keep fires under control and protect both lives and property, yet reports of non-functioning or dry hydrants go back years, which bring into question the viability of Los Angeles’ emergency response systems and infrastructure.
This was made even more difficult by the fact that Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who cut short her taxpayer-funded junket to Africa, decided to reduce the Fire Department’s budget by nearly $17.5 million earlier this year.
Under Mayor Bass, the city hovers on the edge of bankruptcy, fuelled by unsustainable pay raises across departments, reckless spending on ineffective homelessness initiatives, and a concerning surge in lawsuit settlements covering issues ranging from sewers and street vendors to federal housing funding. Unfortunately, cutting LAFD’s budget is a decision that she may come to regret. There is a growing movement of angry Angelenos demanding that she resign over her poor handling of the disaster.
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SubscribeFires are fought via preventive measures (such as controlled burns, firebreak zones), if you wait for fire suppression to prevent the fire from reaching populated areas the game is 90% lost.
The issue here is (or should be) the total failure of forest management by Newsom, which is something that is fully controlled by the state and not dependant on weather, climate change, power cuts or any other fluke incident.
Directing the conversation on how firefighters were unable to put out the fire deflects the blame from the governor & mayor who failed to plan and act when they should have.
Having lived in CA for 25 yearrs, this issue of poor forest management (amonst others) is nothing new and has been a major issue since the 80s. Conservation activists in conjunction with politicians have done a huge disservice to the state with no accountability. Eventually, the piper must be paid, and for what it’s worth, it it karmic to see the liberal elites in their exclusive coastal enclaves being put to the torch by their own green programs.
Indeed, the piper is being paid. As already pointed out, in addition to the failure to manage properly the woodlands, ensuring bracken and such are removed via controlled burns, there is another issue just as important.
Hundreds of millions of gallons of water are flushed out to the ocean in order to preserve the habit of a few species, like the snail darter. This limits the amount of water available for storage to fight fires. That’s why the hydrants went dry. It’s a terrible travesty of mismanagement, and something for which the mayor, governor, and other elected officials should be held accountable.
It remains to be seen if that accountability actually occurs.
In the meantime there are various calls for LA citizens, and others nationwide, to contribute funds to help those affected. Apparently, there’s not enough money in the budget, after progressive DEI and LGBTQ+ hiring programs, donations of material and financial support to Ukraine, as well as sanctuary city policies handing out money, food, housing and other support for illegal immigrants, to actually provide assistance to LA’s own American citizens.
Now ain’t that all just grand?
Not.
Yes, but what about the bullet train to nowhere brought to the people by Governor Moonbeam — remember him? The state has sunk $1 billion in that and all that can be seen are pillars in lonely farm country. It is reminescent of the poem by Shelley
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desart. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
“My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”
No thing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
All that said, Newsom is as handsome as any Hollywood actor/celebrity. That has to count for something.
Trudeau, Macron, Newsom all biting the dust! Shame we have to wait to get rid of the last wokester standing back here in Blighty.
I think Elon is assisting nicely with getting that process completed.
Matt, all Trudeau has actually done is to indefinitely suspend Canada’s Parliament bcause he got tired of being asked questions and being investigated. . Macron is still taking France in the fascist-lite direction. Newsom is nowhere close to resigning.
Unfortunately, all true. BUT, a change is coming. The edifice is crumbling.
The malicious truth is that people there are living out the consequences of their policy and electoral choices. The explanation that the state “failed” to deploy proper preventive measures misses the point; the state actively avoided or banned such steps from happening. The state actively nurtured its growing vagrant and homeless community which is notorious for setting fires. The state actively hamstrings forest management efforts in deference to its enviro paymasters. And Newsom will continue being mentioned as a 2028 presidential candidate.
People are also required by law to reduce brush in their own property, something that is rarely enforced, even when neighbours call to complain.
They need to get it gooder and harder after assuming the right position.
Additionally, most of these eco-fascists are not pro-environment as much as they are anti-human, having bought into the “Population Bomb” nonsense of the 60’s. Loss of life and property is baked into their policies.
Will Starmer take the knee to the arsonists?
“No water” captures the situation perfectly.
But Trump offered them water in 2020 and they took him to court over the issue of the smelt. This is fact.
As far as I can tell, LA’s leadership is lesbian. The mayor, the fire chief, the assistant fire chief — all lesbians. As they said their emphasis would be on creating “diversity” in the rank and file, one would expect many more in the command chain.
A better question might be, “Should Gavin Newsom politically survive what he has done to California”?
An even better question could be, “How does California recover from democrat party mismanagement”?
Was it a failure to do proper forest undergrowth clearance that contributed to this?
Absolutely. Nearly all problems blamed on “climate” result from poor land use/land management policies imposed by people obsessed with…climate…
There is another problem with DEI hires that is not being addressed. They are beholden to the politicians which hire them. It’s hard to do a good job of fire chief when the job priorities aren’t stopping fires first and foremost .
The weirdest thing about this article is that It doesn’t say if the Governor and Mayor are Republicans or Democrats. And not knowing too much about USA politics I had to ask google.
They are both Democrats.
I am more and more convinced this rag called Unherd is just another Left supporting media outlet.
Another political disaster and show of incompetence from the Left and Unherd (stupid name) does what it can to deflect.
I am still waiting for any criticism of Starmer here in the Uk….
Anyone who takes a cursory interest in US politics knows that Newsome and Bass are Dems and that Newsome is Nancy Pelosi’s protege and that he hopes to run for President next time.
That group – those who take an interest – are the great majority of writers and posters here. And most of us despise the Left.
Your point?
“Tory Minister in sleaze scandal…”
Or
“Minister in sleaze scandal…:
That would actually require you not to know if the Tories or Labour are in govt.
Wake up
Why are you waiting when there’s no queue? There’s loads of articles that are critical of Starmer on this site.
Richard does raise a valid point, however poorly. It is obvious that Kalifornia has become a dangerous example of what woke, corrupt democrats can do to a state. it is also passing strange that in nearly all news articles when democrats are in trouble their party is not listed. When Republicans are in trouble, party affiliation is highlighted.
This is similar to the documented reluctance to list race or religion of criminals and terrorists if they are of certain races or religions.
California GDP c£4trillion. 14% of US GDP. Significantly the biggest of any State. That’d be one of the richest Countries in the World were it a Country on it’s own.
Now it seems for all for the alleged Woke-ism alot must be working. Perhaps alot of very clever folks like living there?
That GDP figure makes the lack of water at hydrants, failure to back burn and so on, all the more egregious.
Certainly begs some questions for sure. We’ll see what is uncovered.
And a lot of very clever scammers like governing there because they can tax the heck out of the rich people.
Who then still chose to live and base themselves there. Tricky that fact isn’t it. Maybe they welcome a good bit of it, if not all.
Have you any idea how fast the rich and, crucially, their businesses, are leaving California?
Oh sorry, I forgot, we don’t need businesses. Any time we run out of money we can just print or borrow more, eh?
Yes luxury beliefs are for people who can afford them. I guess the slaves that live among them should just choose to be rich.
Think of the Athenian oligarchs with even more disdain for their fellow citizens, and far fewer scruples.
You’d be surprised if this doesn’t irreparably damage Newsome even if the inevitable Congressional Inquiry to follow did conclude at some point in the future he didn’t have any specific role in key decisions that may have increased the risk. It may though actually help the Democrats. They need a strong mid West candidate for 24.
As regards the hydrants, I heard a problem was the pumping plants were threatened by the fire and were switched off to reduce their own fire risk. I didn’t follow this, but their location and fire protection may be a strategic weakness.
As regards elected officials being accountable for public catastrophe’s – we’ve a few of these back here in UK. For example the failure to do proper pandemic prep in pre-Covid NHS, whether that was way less ITU capacity than comparable countries or PPE etc. Tory Minister who took responsibility? They’d been in power for 10 years by then. (Newsome’s done 5yrs). Or perhaps the decision to decommission the Centrica ‘Rough’ national gas storage facility just a couple of years before Ukrainian War and gas supply probs. Again, and no surprise I’m sure, a short term Tory Minster decision for which no consequence.
I don’t disagree with your central thesis but the Rough facility closure is a poor example. That was actually a reasonable decision.
https://watt-logic.com/2022/08/08/re-opening-rough-gas-storage/
Its ongoing usable capacity was too small to make a meaningful difference: the failure was in not having a lot more storage.
Debatable given the current position today. And I wrote my comment before I heard the concerns this evening on our storage capacity. Thus exposing us more to spot market prices.
Oh dear – any excuse to wheel out another “we’re better than them” trope, eh? Incompetence in public office is not a partisan issue. Truss and Reeves are equally useless. As are Starmer and Sunak. And everyone is trying to deal with the consequences of the most useless duo of all: Blair and Brown.
However, even that lamentable pair were giants of effectiveness compared to the absolutely hopeless numpties who run California. Have you been to SF recently. It’s a tragedy on a par with Pompeii.
And the cause of all the fires is….?
Start the discussion….
The main problem is that American voters hate paying taxes and consistently elect politicians (like Trump) who promise to cut taxes. Therefore there is never enough money for public services. Then when these services collapse, the voters are filled with righteous outrage and look for scapegoats among the politicians who didn’t spend enough money on them.
Hence why Trump wants to raise debt ceiling. When’s he ever gone with ‘sound money’ principles in his private life too. The more interesting question is will Republicans give it to him and undermine much of what they say they stand for? We’ll see in a few weeks.
California has the highest taxes in the country. Try again.
And the highest GDP of any State by some distance. Your turn.
Also the worst governance of any state by some distance.
Yeah and the largest population by some distance. He made a case that “underfunding” was the cause of California’s dysfunction. So his assumption was clearly misplaced.
I love how you reflexively understand that you need to defend socialist-adjacent global movements. Its almost instinctual.
Not really. Just respond to an oversimplistic comment when I’ve got a few mins. The real problem is there are too many such comments here.
His entire premise was factually wrong. Its literally a false observation. I don’t know why you feel such desire to double down on false observations outside of the Sunk Cost Dilemma. You’retrying to prop up a sinking ship…but it is entertaining to watch.
A quick google search claims 90% of wildfires are human caused.
Four separate wildfires in one city all starting on the same day..
A winter wildfire… Anyone care to explain that?
Where does Unherd get these writers from?
If you could read with a level of comprehension higher than a 5 year old you would find that it is actually explained in the article:
I suppose this won’t be an adequate enough explanation for you though, will it?
I want Champagne Socialist back.
This new character is worse
Funny you say that. I wondered if it was CS trolling under a new moniker. In both cases, attention is the least effective path to cessation.
Both seem like characters written by the same author.
Both unfortunately too one-dimensional to be believable.
Richard, wilfdires are not dependent on season. The winter wildfires in California are well known. However, as in Greece and elsewhere, these fires are possibly arson started.
Please, let the contributor, whose obviously false name refers to an obsession with his own genitalia, writhe in a sea of willful ignorance.