On the California Fires

Thoughts on the tragedy that has befallen Los Angeles:

With a number of people dead and thousands of homes and businesses destroyed, the massive fires fuelled by strong winds in Los Angeles have been utterly devastating. Prayers for all those involved are desperately needed. But the sad truth is this: California leaders and authorities were clearly quite unprepared for these fires, and much of the blame must lie with them.

Yes, California is known for having its fair share of fires, and the strong Santa Ana winds do exist, but so many experts are now speaking out on the main reasons for this out-of-control inferno. Many preventative measures should have been taken, but were not. There has been a major problem with things like resources, forest management, and water storage on the one hand, and political correctness, woke policies, and misplaced priorities on the other.

From governor Gavin Newsom to LA mayor Karen Bass (she was on a junket in Ghana to attend a foreign inauguration!) to the female fire chief Kristin Crowley, mismanagement reigned supreme. All the emphasis in California has been on bogus green concerns, progressive causes, and DEI, not the people and their safety. Now LA is burning down. Firefighters are not even finding enough water to fight the fires with, especially in places like the Pacific Palisades. Heads should roll over this insanity.

With Democrats in control of California for decades now, implementing radical policies, all in the name of saving the planet, the state has become a basket case of incredible proportions. It has been all about leftist nostrums and ideologies, not looking after Californians.

For example, Newsom had gotten rid of four dams. Native American Indian groups in California wanted their rivers back so they could catch salmon. Thus he destroyed much needed water supplies. He said having them would harm a small fish (the Delta smelt) population in northern California. So water now cannot flow down to the rest of the state. A complete waste of resources.

Controlled burns in the state have been either blocked or severely contained because of Newsom’s obsession with various green concerns. And yet now there is much more environmental damage due to these fires than would have occurred with the sensible burning off of undergrowth that fuels these sorts of fires.

Recall that in 2014 Proposition 1 was voted on and passed. That ballot called for creating new water reservoirs, but none of them have been built in the past decade. No reservoir has been built in 10 years, so 100 billion gallons of water just run into the Pacific Ocean each year. This is insanity on steroids. Greens and green politicians keep blocking these sensible measures to retain water.

Newsom had previously sent excess firefighting equipment to Ukraine! They do not have money to deal with this. Not enough planes. Not enough fire fighters. Not enough anything it seems, except PC ideologies. And Newsom waited 24 hours to finally send in the National Guard.

Under Newsom’s watch, emergency escape rooms were supposed to have been built, but they were not. Controlled burns were cancelled. Firefighters were fired for not being vaccinated during the Covid wars. Newsom is more concerned that his state be Trump-proofed than it is fireproofed. All this is criminal negligence.

Karen Bass went overseas, even though it was known that devastating weather conditions were about to occur. When Bass came back to LA she refused to answer any questions put to her by reporters – she did not say a word! How long was the flight back from Ghana? Some 16 hours (I just looked it up). But her team could not even prepare a brief statement for her in that time?

Bass has been much more concerned about making LA a sanctuary city. She spent kazillions of dollars to house and look after illegal migrants. Bass has also cut $17.6 million from the firefighters’ budget. Talk about being fully out of touch with what really matters. All this is criminal negligence.

Fire chief Crowley wanted to increase diversity, equity and inclusion in the fire department – that was her main aim. She is a proud member of the alphabet brigade. So she put all her emphasis on pushing woke agenda items and the DEI creed.

She insists that firefighters must feel safe in regard to DEI agenda items. Um, what about keeping Californians safe from raging wildfires? Would not that be a much better thing to concentrate on? The system is now broken and fully politicised. All this is criminal negligence.

Adam Carolla said this about the DEI madness: “I applied to be a firefighter in LA and had to wait 7 years to get called back for an exam because I wasn’t black, Hispanic, or a woman. Apparently, this is what is considered important in California when it comes to fire safety!”

Donald Trump had warned about all this months ago. He posted this:

Governor Gavin Newscum refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and snow melt from the North, to flow daily into many parts of California, including the areas that are currently burning in a virtually apocalyptic way. He wanted to protect an essentially worthless fish called a smelt, by giving it less water (it didn’t work!), but didn’t care about the people of California. Now the ultimate price is being paid. I will demand that this incompetent governor allow beautiful, clean, fresh water to FLOW INTO CALIFORNIA! He is the blame for this. On top of it all, no water for fire hydrants, not firefighting planes. A true disaster!

And for the bigger picture, it seems we have no money in FEMA (remember the Hurricane Helene debacle), and no water in California fire hydrants – thanks Joe and Gavin and the Dems! We are so thankful for how you are looking after us.

The sad reality is that California was NOT prepared for this. The authorities, leaders and politicians needed to have had plans and policies ready for this sort of thing well in advance. This does not seem to have been the case. They were woefully unprepared for this, and they need to take full responsibility for what has happened the past few days. For the fourth time: All this is criminal negligence.

As Charlie Kirk put it: “California has spent billions on the dumbest ideas ever. High speed rail to nowhere, equity programs, homeless high rises, and every LGBTQ pet project imaginable. But when it’s time for government to do basic things, they can’t. Breakdown of the social contract.”

Oh, and of interest, a social media friend asked me this question recently: “Will the celebs who lose their houses actually blame the Democrats who caused this, or will they be lazy and blame climate change?” At the very same time I got this nutjob comment sent to my website:

“Los Angeles today demonstrates climate change in action. It is not alarmism but reality. The scientists were always right, but idiots like you are still in denial. What a stupid, ignorant man you are.” Good grief, gotta love these true believers! Clueless wonders!

Spiritual considerations

Plenty of Hollywood celebs and bigwigs were impacted by the fires. People such as Billy Crystal, Paris Hilton, John Goodman, Anthony Hopkins, and James Woods have lost their homes. And plenty of more ordinary folks have as well. Woods said this: ‘We found out really quick that none of us are celebrities, none of us are rich or poor, none of us are Republicans or Democrats – we are all in this together.’

Tragedies like these are great levellers. We are all equal when we lose everything. Sure, the wealthy will be able to quickly rebuild, to erect another luxurious beachside mansion and the like. But there was so much loss of precious items, be they photos or wedding memorabilia or what have you.

Often during times like this it is hoped that people will regain a sense of perspective, get their priorities right, and see what really matters. But sadly this is not always the case. I have written before about quite damaging wildfires that swept through Canberra some years ago.

I was in that city not long after it occurred, and I was driving with a Christian leader there, looking at the damage. I asked him if a disaster like this helped the residents there to start seeking for spiritual truths and sustenance. He laughed and said, ‘Nope, they are just as pagan as ever.’

Too often such hardcore things should lead people to reassess their lives and priorities, but it does not always happen that way. So many people are so spiritually hardened that even losing everything might not be enough to shock them out of their spiritual stupor.

Also related to these questions of theodicy (Why does God allow great suffering and hardship?), is the fact that we do not always know the answers. In these fires, many people lost everything while many others lost nothing, or hardly anything. Why did some people get the short end of the stick here?

One Fox News correspondent who lives there and had to quickly evacuate found out that her home and some others nearby in a heavy fire area managed to be spared. She said, ‘I am not a religious person, but this was a miracle.’ Well, it was great for her, but others did not fare so well.

Why some, and not others? We will not have all the answers we want this side of eternity to such questions. But what we can do right now is pray for all those impacted by this in the LA area. It will be a long steep valley to climb out of. So continue to keep them in your prayers.

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