Fires, Lies, & Poetry

 

As I write this sitting in the MD DC suburbs, it is snowing heavily. This is about the third snow since the new year started. In the last few years, we have seen little snow, and the winters have been warmer. This fact led many to talk about global climate change, while others point to days like today and say that all is normal. Well, the point of change is that it is variable and we often see the extremes at either end of the weather forecasts.

The fires in the Los Angeles area show another aspect of variable weather. For many months during the year, Southern California enjoys mild temperatures and sunny days with little rain. Then, as autumn turns into winter, cyclical rains are expected. In recent years, there has been so much rain that flooding and landslides have occurred. Last year saw record temperatures across much of the western part of the country. States from Arizona to Oregon experienced weeks with thermostats recording temperatures over 100 degrees.

Los Angeles was no exception. And, as temperatures rise, vegetation dries up and dies, thus providing fuel for any wayward spark. This year saw little rain; less than an inch has fallen. Not to overuse a phrase, a perfect storm was in the wings, just waiting for the return of the Santa Ana Winds. If you can think of these winds as a hurricane without the rains, you can get the picture. In a hurricane, the winds are unrelenting and often appear in bands, feeding upon what came before; these winds are little different. They came from the east, barreling over the mountains that rim the area with great fury, toppling trees and power lines. Perhaps a fallen line ignited a fire, perhaps a spark from a backyard barbeque? We don’t yet know. But fire begets fire when there are acres of dry tinder ahead. And winds drive embers to land on roofs, backyard fences, and treehouses. Soon entire neighborhoods are engulfed.

Fire doesn’t care whether the home is one perched high above the ocean with a beautiful view, a multimillion-dollar mansion owned by a movie star, or is in a valley, a modest cottage built by its owner. Both went up in flames. To me, it was astounding to see how fast the fires moved and how quickly homes were destroyed. And, it was also surprising to note that certain blocks remained with houses on one side seemingly untouched, while across the street lay destruction. Fire is contrary and fickle, it seems.

As reported by The New York Times:

“Fire scientists say they hope the fires will be a catalyst for major change, with new requirements for retrofitting older houses, prohibiting rebuilding in burned areas or encouraging people and developers to leave areas that are deemed high-risk. “We have to recognize that the failure in urban planning happened 50 or 80 years ago when we were first laying out the communities on the fringes of L.A.,” said Michael J. Gollner, an associate professor, and director of the fire research laboratory at the University of California at Berkeley. “We know how to make the destruction dramatically less.”

“But the overhaul required to fireproof communities comes with enormous costs, either for retrofitting or rebuilding fire-vulnerable homes or for land newly deemed too risky to build on — a particularly difficult prospect in a state with a severe housing crisis. These changes also might mean a painful shift in identity for Californians, as preventing wildfires could require constructing homes without vegetation nearby, far from the wilderness that many hold dear.”

As the Washington Post reported:

“The Eaton Fire has left Altadena in ruins — a scene that Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger described as a “war zone.”

Entire blocks now lie in ashes, homes erased as if they never stood. The fire’s chaotic winds carried embers for miles, igniting destruction in unpredictable bursts and leaving pockets of survival amid overwhelming loss, Barger said.

The destruction is especially acute around Eaton Canyon: “I was absolutely shocked. There’s not even a word for the destruction that it caused in that area,” she said.”

 

I was saddened to see so much criticism of the firefighting when there was little water pressure, or dry hydrants as neighborhoods burned down. Think for a minute, we’ve seen firefighters battling wildfires, clearing brush, chopping trees in the path, and setting up breaks so the fire will no longer have fuel as it progresses over a ridge, for example. Then they call in the planes to drop retardant and stop the forward progress. This is repeated again and again as they gain control of the blaze. Fighting in an urban development is so very different.

But, then turn to your neighborhood. Maybe a home was on fire, so what did you see? Several engine companies and many firefighters putting out a fire at a single dwelling. Or maybe there was a row of townhouses where multiple companies were called in to save the buildings. Consider the efforts you saw then. How could that intense battle for one or a few homes compare with fire entering an entire city, one where every house on the block was endangered and sending embers to houses on the next block? That becomes a conflagration. There is no brush to cut down, no way to build a break or a berm to slow the fire. And the hurricane-force winds keep the planes out of the air. And, as multiple companies tap into the same water supply, the pressure drops and the waters run out. In some cases, loss of power caused the pumps to fail.

Who is to blame? It, to me, is beyond belief that outsiders thought that pointing fingers was a way to address this problem. Yes, there were lives lost and thousands of properties and homes destroyed. Even so, many people were safely evacuated, and many homes were spared. But how would you have stopped the fires? I would rather applaud those who worked and are still working to contain these horrific fires and look to the future for different solutions.

This is a fire update from the Washington Post as of 1/17/25.

But, complaining is one thing, outright lying by some should not be tolerated.

The BBC Verify addressed many of these claims and counterclaims, in this article.

Complaints were posted online calling out the LA Fire Chief, who is a career firefighter with many years of service, but is also a gay woman. They implied she was a Diversity hire or DEI, and they said “DEI” means DIE. The president-elect kept talking about turning on the water from Northern California and shunting it to Los Angeles. That is not the problem as noted by the Times.

“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 snowmelt from the North, to flow daily into many parts of California, including the areas that are currently burning in a virtually apocalyptic way,” Mr. Trump said.

The governor’s press office responded with a statement on social media.  There is no such document as the water restoration declaration — that is pure fiction,” the statement on X said. “The Governor is focused on protecting people, not playing politics, and making sure firefighters have all the resources they need.”

The Republican Congress recently implied that California would have to meet certain unspecified requirements before disaster relief would be granted. Was the same requirement made before the recent hurricane damage in the red states of Florida, North Carolina, or Georgia?

As reported by MSN:

“For months leading up to the election, Trump, and Republicans railed against the leaders of Democratic cities and states, including Newsom, painting California as a bastion of liberal policies and politicians who were unequipped to solve problems such as crime, illegal immigration, and homelessness. …. But none of those officials faced anything like the vitriolic, partisan, and online-dominated political environment that will complicate the Los Angeles recovery….

A version of that criticism has persisted during the fires, as Republicans, some Democrats, and many voters have questioned whether state and city officials did everything they could to prepare for and fight fires that have claimed the lives of more than 20 people and whose economic losses could total between $50 billion and $150 billion, according to analysts.

Former Democratic Governor Jerry Brown said Newsom is facing an enormously complicated set of governing challenges in overseeing the damage assessment, executing the recovery, disposing of toxic materials, and “staying on point and engaging the federal government to the maximum degree.”

Newsom has rebutted criticisms of the state’s preparedness by emphasizing that state funding for Cal Fire has nearly doubled during his time in office from $2 billion to $3.8 billion; the number of state fire personnel has also grown, from 5,829 to more than 10,741. The Democratic governor has also highlighted the decisions that he made with state and local emergency officials to pre-position 110 fire engines, as well as specialized crews, water tenders, and other equipment in six Southern California counties several days before the fires.”

Other reporting noted:

“Three main water tanks near the Palisades, each holding about 1 million gallons, were filled in preparation for the fire because of dangerous weather. The tanks were all depleted by 3 a.m. Wednesday, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power CEO and Chief Engineer Janisse Quiñones said during a news conference Wednesday. Although water continued to flow to the affected areas, demand for it rose faster than the system could deliver it.

"There’s water in the trunk line; it just cannot get up the hill, because we cannot fill the tanks fast enough," Quiñones said. "And we cannot lower the amount of water that we provide to the Fire Department in order to supply the tanks, because we’re balancing firefighting with water."

A reservoir near the Pacific Palisades that is part of the city’s water supply was closed for repairs when the fires broke out, and it might have eased the water pressure issues had it been operable, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday.

Other social media users claimed slow construction of California’s reservoir led to the hydrants running dry. But, local infrastructure failures, not regional water storage, caused the hydrant problems, so it’s wrong to blame them on these projects’ construction timeline.”

Can’t we all work for the restoration of the lives and livelihoods destroyed by these fires? Shouldn’t we be helping those who lost loved ones mourn and recover?

As Americans usually do when faced with disasters, let’s not blame the victims, but work for their healing.

I’ll close with some poetry from poet Amanda Gorman who lives in the Pacific Palisades. These are the last few lines of her poem.

"Today, we mourn. Tomorrow, reborn. We end the burning, befriend the hurting, mend those who face the flame. We reclaim our city's name, a revelation that only this place tells. To find our angels, all we need do is look within ourselves."

Til next time-Peace!