California wildfires

[putnam6]

Just Indulge me, if they had sufficient funding. Were not short staffed, and had every reservoir filled or hydrant working, what would have changed?

We'd still have a burned Palisades and Altadena. Still would have lost the fight. Even the best funded fight. While we will never know, I think it's irrelevant to the outcome that happened, and something that needs to be addressed after the fact.

Fires for Southern California are in September through December and may pop back up in May. Never seen a major fire event in January in 18 years. Usually mudslides are right now.

From Google AI.


It's outside normal climate behavior to have the pressure centers set up like The end of the monsoon in January.

The climate plays a greater role than a even a woefully underfunded LAFD. It's a shame this happened in a drought after record rainfall, it really is.

Blame the atmospheric rivers. It frefilled the lakes, flooded farmland and then dried out during the HOTTEST YEAR ON RECORD.

No matter what circumstances LAFD was in, and I think even if they had a full reservoir, the outcome and loss isn't lessened the slightest bit.

Like covid, from the moment China let it out, it was always going to end up an endemic disease that never goes away. And nothing done or not done would change the seemingly deterministic outcome.

LA was always going to burn to the same ravaging extent.

All the water in the world and hundreds of extra firefighters isn't doing shit if you can't stay positioned in an offensive position against the fire. It's a false dilemma because nothing was stopping it.

So while LAs inadequacies may be fact and without debate, and put under a retrospective microscope, it's not changing the outcome, nor would it have.

So it's once again, "misinformation". LA being inept and the fire being beyond ability to stop can both be true simultaneously.

And maybe the Chief will get her funding back? Maybe scrutiny will get new stations built? Hydrants up to code?

Good on her if she does, but it's wasn't changing the outcome damage-wise to any large degree.

She's in a better position because her city failed her department, because if hey didn't, she would be getting roasted as the DEI hire that was unqualified to lead in the crisis when everything still burned.

Because the same thing would have happened. No matter the preparedness people are still running down a hill and jumping in the ocean to escape it.

The inadequate support the city gave her is better saved for the congressional inquiry.

I don't think anybody is saying the fires wouldn't have happened but could it have slowed it down allowing those killed an opportunity to escape? 


It's difficult to believe the FireChief would be so adamant about being under-budgeted if she were wrong, she brought all of this up a month ago if not longer, how many fire trucks can be fixed in a few weeks for 17 million dollars?

Hell didn't a Palisades Shopping area get saved because the owner hired a private firefighter team and a few tankers full of water?

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nati...584894007/
 

LOS ANGELES − Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is facing political heat from across the city and beyond as catastrophic fires continue to burn for the fourth day.
The fires have killed at least 10 people and burned nearly 25,000 acres in the Los Angeles region as of Friday, though not all the blazes are under Bass' jurisdiction. Among the ones that are include the biggest: the Palisades Fire, which broke out Tuesday and rapidly consumed thousands of homes as residents fled for their lives. It had burned more than 20,000 acres as of Friday afternoon and has wreaked havoc since it ignited.
Bass is facing criticism over two issues in particular: a funding cut to the Los Angeles Fire Department in the fire-prone region and the timing of a diplomatic trip to Ghana as dangerous fire conditions loomed.

 
"LAFD’s operating budget did get reduced by $17.6 million - part of that reduction included 61 total positions (civilian) being eliminated," the city's controller's office said in comments sent to USA TODAY accompanying the documents.
A report from the fire department sent to the mayor and city council in December says: "These budgetary reductions have adversely affected the Department's ability to maintain core operations."
The fire department report states that a $7 million reduction in overtime funding "further exacerbated operational challenges across key bureaus" including those that deal with wildfire management and air operations.