By now you’ve probably heard about at least 15 Californians killed (latest is 19 people dead) by rocks and mud that slid down from the fire-ravaged, denuded Santa Ynez Mountains above Montecito, just south of Santa Barbara. True compassion will motivate us to protect other Californians by doing our utmost to prevent more death and destruction.
Of course, the mudslides wouldn’t have happened except for the huge “Thomas Fire” above Montecito, which was one of dozens of cataclysmic wildfires in California in December.
Stop and realize there were 9,133 separate wildfires in California in 2017. That official number is amazing and wholly unacceptable. Easily more than 10,000 structures wiped out. None of these fires were caused by lighting, were they? Nearly all were man-made.
Oh, you’ll see “cause unknown” in the official reports, and you’ll suspect that downed power lines caused the devastating “Tubbs Fires” in Santa Rosa in October. There’s also suspicion that the “Creek Fire” above Sylmar was sparked by “a snapped line on a high-voltage transmission tower.”
Yet the much-videoed “Skirball Fire” near Bel Air was determined by L.A. County’s arson unit to be neglectful cooking at a “homeless encampment.” So that’s man-made. If we subtract 2 fires caused by power lines and 1 fire caused by a neglectful transient, there are still 9,131 separate wildfires unaccounted for! All these wildfires in 2017 — who or what caused them?
I say it’s time to admire Smokey the Bear and remind people, “Remember, only you can prevent forest fires.” Indeed, it’s high time for both Left and Right in California to demand that the ruling Democrat prevent wildfires. Don’t tolerate Jerry Brown and Democrat legislators neglectfully blaming “climate change” instead of caring for California families!
Here are ideas for new laws that could help:
1. Impose new stiff penalties, including prison time, for people who cause wildfires either through neglect or pyromania. Since uncaring transients and evil boys are likely perpetrators of most of the California wildfires, every government “homeless” agency needs to hand pamphlets to every transient they see and every government school must drum into the heads of children why we need to “love our neighbor” and why setting fires is wrong. Church schools can and should add fear of God and that God is watching.
2. Purchase many more planes and helicopters that can fight wildfires better and faster. This can be done using existing funds, but liberals are loathe to cut government waste, aren’t they? Republican state legislators should introduce bills cutting waste, fraud, and abuse and spend the saved money on a new wildfire “air force” for California. Even if the ruling Democrats kill these Republican bills, the Republicans could publicly pressure the Democrats to come up with their own bill to buy more planes and copters and station them in high-risk areas of the state.
3. Pass a new law requiring a wide-enough barrier between hillside homes and wild brush to stop the spread of flames and sparks. Since wind-borne sparks can jump freeways, the barrier needs to be at least that wide. A wide-enough width must be studied, because people and their property matter more than weeds and wildbrush. Any Democrat politician who bows to opposition environmental groups on this is not a “public servant.”
Any other ideas? Bottom line, Californians of all political stripes need to demand that our elected officials PREVENT wildfires in the future, and stop irresponsibly excusing themselves because the official fire report reads “cause unknown.”
As many as 90 percent of wildland fires in the United States are caused by humans. Some human-caused fires result from campfires left unattended, the burning of debris, negligently discarded cigarettes and intentional acts of arson. The remaining 10 percent are started by lightning or lava.
Wildfire Causes, U.S Dept. of the Interior
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