What Caused The LA Fires?

The malevolence and stupidity of liberals. It's so bad that even some celebrities have turned on the Democrat politicians, including the governor and mayor.

    Some of the latest reports on the fires:

    The most destructive wildfire in Los Angeles history has burned over 17,000 acres with zero containment, scorching the seaside area between Malibu and Santa Monica. The inferno has destroyed at least 2,000 building structures (damage estimates in the tens of billions of dollars) and forced 130,000 residents to evacuate their homes. Meanwhile, a new fire ignited overnight in the Hollywood Hills area.

    The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection's latest update on Thursday morning shows that the Palisades Fire has burned through more than 17,200 acres, while the Eaton Fire has expanded to 10,000. Both fires still have zero containment.

    Also, the Hurst fire has spread to nearly 900 acres, 10% of which are contained, while the Lidia Fire has burned 350 acres, 40% of which are contained.

    The newest, the Sunset Fire, was sparked on Wednesday night in Hollywood Hills and has grown to dozens of acres. 

L.A. Mayor Karen Bass returned from Ghana and was literally without words when asked about how her actions contributed to the problem, but eventually other liberals will undoubtedly come around to some version of blaming global warming for the fires. 

    The direct physical cause of the fires is undoubtedly going to be human. Perhaps arson, but more likely from homeless encampments throughout the LA basin. "Fire officials say that homeless camp wildfires doubled from 2020 to 2023 to 13,909. There were 24 'homeless related' fires in LA County responded to every day of 2021."

    So, let's look at some issues leading up to the current fires:

• "In October 2024, Joe Biden's Administration officially pronounced an end to controlled burns in California for fire mitigation." Perhaps not related to these fires, but it shows a general lack of concern over managing forests and range land.
  
• Thanks to Mayor Bass, "[f]rom the 2023-2024 to the 2024-2025 budgets, the LAFD’s budget was reduced by over $17 million from $837,191,237 to $819,637,423." At the same time, the city's budget for homelessness was $1.3 billion, although half went unspent. 
• The gay LA fire chief, Kristin Crowley, "implemented an internal 'racial equity plan' in 2021, and, in 2023, launched a bureau in preparation for a three-year strategic plan to increase diversity in the department." As Pride.com's headline proclaimed: "Amid Palisades fire, Los Angeles' first LGBTQ+ fire chief is proving that lesbians get it done." 
• Due to a lack of updated infrastructure, fire hydrants ran dry or operated at lower pressure.
• The LAFD has had a shortage of firefighters, probably exacerbated by the DEI policies and budget cuts. 

The next battle for many of the affected homeowners will be insurance, as some of the largest home insurers stopped writing policies in parts of California earlier this year due to the number of large wild fires and the regulatory environment.