As our relative walked through what had been her family home, she began to cry as she recorded the destruction. Her place was one of the thousands burned down a year ago in the Palisades Fire in Los Angeles. Other relatives living in Altadena had to flee the Eaton Fire at about the same time, although their home was not damaged. Likewise, the childhood home of my wife’s cousins was also consumed in that same fire.
Our relatives were just a few people affected by these two fires, which together destroyed almost 17,000 homes. In a place known historically for wildfires, this was almost unprecedented in its destruction, yet both fires could have been prevented had people in authority simply cared to act. Unfortunately, California governance once again has caught the people of LA both coming and going, as the cause of the Palisades Fire was due to deliberate decisions by authorities to protect so-called endangered plants instead of the residents of the city. After the fires, government officials have made it nearly impossible for people to rebuild.
The Eaton Fire came about because of the failure of Pacific Gas & Electric—a government-protected monopoly—to cut power to its lines while the infamous Santa Ana Winds blew like clockwork westward from the Mojave Desert. As for the Palisades Fire, the authorities have even fewer excuses, as the fire broke out from an earlier fire set by an arsonist in a nearby state park, a fire that firefighters were forbidden to completely put out because doing so might harm some state-identified “endangered plants.” Shawn Regan writes:
Not only was the Palisades Fire entirely preventable, the evidence suggests; it was also fueled by California state policies that, in the words of one attorney representing fire victims, “put plants over people.”
In October, a federal investigation confirmed that the Palisades Fire was not a new ignition, but a “holdover fire”—a rekindling of the New Year’s Eve arson blaze, known as the Lachman Fire. Investigators determined that the specific origin of the Palisades Fire was “a burned-out root structure at the base of dense vegetation approximately 20 feet south of the perimeter of the Lachman Fire,” just beyond the handline dug by LAFD crews on January 1, on land owned and managed by California State Parks.
The reason government officials ordered the firefighters not to fully extinguish the fire was because of environmental plans:
The plan designates large swaths of the park as “avoidance areas,” where normal firefighting tactics are typically restricted. Within these zones, “no heavy equipment, vehicles, and retardant are allowed,” the plan states, and “fire suppression activities may not occur within these areas without consultation of an Agency Representative, or a Resource Advisor assigned to the incident.” The plan also says that no “mop-up” operations to extinguish smoldering hot spots are allowed in these areas “without the presence of an archeologist READ [resource advisor]”—meaning that thoroughly putting out a fire required bureaucratic oversight.
When the fire rekindled itself into a blaze, all it took was for the Santa Ana Winds to do what they have done for centuries: help turn fires into conflagrations. This hardly is a new thing. Actress Zsa Zsa Gabor saw her Bel Air home burn down in 1961 when the Santa Ana Winds came to visit:
In November 1961, scorching Santa Ana winds fueled a fire that claimed nearly 500 homes in one of California’s wealthiest communities. LIFE magazine covered the “Bel Air Fire” and reported on residents of the neighborhood — Maureen O’Hara, Fred MacMurray, Richard Nixon, Zsa Zsa Gabor (seen here with legendary LIFE editor, Dick Stolley) — dealing with the threat from, and the aftermath of, the flames. The article, “A Tragedy Trimmed in Mink,” describes the destruction of the ritzy neighborhood: “It was probably the poshest exodus since the fall of the czars sent the Russian nobles fleeing.”
Once the fires began, the response of the LA government was inadequate, as officials communicated poorly, especially during the evacuations, and equipment broke down and fire hydrants ran dry. For that matter, at the time when the fires were raging out of control, LA Mayor Karen Bass was in Ghana, attending the inauguration of the country’s new president. As I wrote after the fires last year, California politicians have engaged in both self-deception and have actively deceived their constituents.
Blame It on the Oil Companies
Anyone familiar with California’s history knows that—like much of the arid American West—wildfires are a way of life:
The archaeological and ecological record in California reveals a long history of wildfires in the state of California. In a study looking at pre-1800 wildfires, almost 1.8 million hectares were estimated to burn annually in California. This is about the level that has burned as of early October 2020 in California. Scientists estimate that the summer and autumn seasons were often filled with smokey skies of burning forests. This could be because forest cover was generally more widespread in the past, resulting in larger fires. Fires were also seen as mostly healthy for forests, as newer growth would sprout more easily after fires.
Yet, thanks to fire suppression policies on both the national and state levels, the fuel of wood and underbrush that feeds the fires has increased greatly, making forests even more vulnerable. Furthermore, in the LA area, much of the ground cover includes chaparral, which thrives in hot, dry climates but also burns easily.
One would think that, given the fact that Santa Ana winds come like clockwork and that the mountains surrounding LA are covered with combustible plants, the authorities would recognize the problem and engage in as much fire prevention as possible, especially in the areas where homes come up to the mountainous areas. Unfortunately, that is not the case.
California officials, however, claim that there is only one real reason that wildfires have become worse, and that is climate change. And since they blame the burning of oil and gas for heating the climate, the State of California has an active lawsuit against a number of oil companies, claiming they are solely responsible for the fires:
With the Palisades and Eaton fires still growing, experts say these could be the costliest wildfires in the state’s history.
Big Oil knew these climate-fueled events would threaten communities decades ago: A 1979 Exxon memo about the potential impact of burning fossil fuels found that “[t]he southwest states would be hotter, probably by more than 3°F, and drier,” predicting some of the very conditions that are fueling the fires in California.
Of course, if California officials have their way and they regulate the oil industry into abandoning the state (which seems to be their goal), the costs would be enormous and would completely destroy the state’s economy, something that California Attorney General Rob Bonta doesn’t seem to notice. But progressive California politicians don’t have to be concerned about their policies actually harming real people, as the state’s voters have already told themselves that progressivism is the only legitimate political philosophy and that only left-wing progressives are fit to serve in office, and that mindset is not likely to change.
Forget about Rebuilding
California bureaucrats are not only adept at endangering the state’s residents by enabling massive wildfires, they also excel at making sure that the victims of wildfires cannot rebuild their homes, which has been the case for many years. Thanks to the environmentalist capture of the state’s government—largely adopting an anti-impact philosophy—people looking to rebuild are likely to find the state and local regulators are hostile to their efforts.
And, even after California Governor Gavin Newsom claimed he would order state workers to cut through the red tape of the permitting processes, residents that want to rebuild are finding that the various government agencies with whom they deal have their own agendas—and rebuilding isn’t one of them:
In May, Denise and Adonis Jones applied for LA County permits to rebuild their Altadena home. Seven months later, they were still waiting. Adonis Jones, a former high school football coach, likens the anticipation to “hanging on the tip of a diving board” preparing to dive into a pool. Eventually he got tired of the metaphorical bouncing. “So we just sat down at the tip of [the diving board] and just looked at the water,” he says.
Everyone trying to rebuild after the fires needs a permit to start construction – and having one can determine whether a family is still in limbo waiting, or framing up a new house. After a slow start, data from Los Angeles City and County show that about 12% of properties destroyed in the Palisades have permits to rebuild, as do about 16% of properties in Altadena.
Like the Jones family, as well as people who have lost their homes in earlier California wildfires, these fire victims are finding that California governance is a huge bait-and-switch operation. The vast majority of people who were left homeless by the fires will collect their insurance money (if they can get it) and move elsewhere. Despite the “We really get it this time” rhetoric spouted by California politicians about the need to accommodate people who wish to rebuild, it is the same old thing in the Bear Republic, and always will be.
