After a vacation hiatus, Bill Maher is back with a monologue called, “New rules: political firestorm.” Here he parses blame for the L.A. fires between unavoidable causes (no rain, lots of brush) and avoidable ones (blockheaded politicians). The latter, he says, involves cuts in the firse-department budget, stolen or nonfunctional hydrants, empty reservoirs, exposed power lines, and a mayor who was off in Africa after saying she wouldn’t leave L.A. while in office.
Maher is clearly pissed off, more so than in many other videos. But he’s still funny (note his criticism for a city statement apparently prioritizing DEI over fighting fires.)
h/t: Divy
I’m not impressed. It’s the easiest thing in the world to sit on your ass and criticize with hindsight. The fact remains that those particular fires could not have been stopped by any feasible amount of more money or water.
With more money and water they could’ve saved a lot more houses and possibly people, too. More money, wisely directed, could have filled up the empty reservoir, supplied more water to the many empty hydrants as reported in multiple locations, cleared more fire breaks, employed more firefighters and supplied more equipment.
Yes, there are still going to be fires. But they can be controlled to an extent around humans with good planning and money.
I wonder about the old method of fire vs. fire.
Karen Bass should not have been traveling to Africa after she said she wouldn’t. Not sure, however, whether that makes a difference beyond appearances.
I’ve seen different takes on the money argument. Clearly, some budget cut to the fire department on one hand but increases on the other. I’m not sure what the actual effect was, although, as another poster noted, more money (wisely spent!) can’t hurt.
Was it possible to have more water available? Almost assuredly. Was the problem due to politics? Probably not, unless you count ‘regulations’ as an unmitigated bad idea. But this should be investigated.
The DEI argument is just silly. Now, one can debate whether DEI efforts are the best way to increase underrepresented groups’ participation in firefighting (or anything else), but it’s highly unlikely that the small budgetary expenditure harmed firefighting effectiveness and I’ve seen no evidence that the diverse firefighters themselves are any less effective than any other personnel. Criticizing a 28 year old veteran who climbed through the ranks as a ‘DEI hire’ is absurd.
It’s important for all of us (myself included) to stick to the facts in these explosive discussions. I don’t think Maher did that. He’s been excellent at skewering ‘woke’ culture and that’s a legit stance. But he needs to be careful to consider actual cause and effect.
On one of the many channels that ran that video of the assistant fire chief saying, If I can’t lift your husband what’s he doing getting himself in a fire?, a viewer who said she was a firefighter with decades of service left a long comment explaining that at least in her city — not Los Angeles — women who aren’t physically up to the task of entering burning buildings and dragging people out contribute as outside workers. There are a legion of tasks to be done on the ground supporting the crews on ladders which are within the physical capacity of women, …like her at any rate. She never felt disrespected or “Didn’t Earn It” by the men she worked with. She went on for several paragraphs to show how women could serve in fire departments in many specific ways that didn’t compromise effectiveness and which freed up men to do the jobs that only men can do. (And yes, these are the dangerous jobs that make fire widows. So there is that.)
I’m relating this as someone who doesn’t think there is any reason to care if “under-represented” groups get more represented in firefighting or anything else. Women should have a shot at any job they can do, including leadership, but no preference especially in jobs they can’t. A woman who can’t do a particular job shouldn’t mean the job gets done only as well as she can do it. I thought she made an impressive, knowledge-based, sympathetic argument against DEI but also against systematic exclusion.
Thanks for the info. The assistant fire chief should never have said that. Very ill advised.
Can you paraphrase the argument against DEI? Because what you’ve written seems like an argument for diversity, equity, and inclusion.
StarTalk Youtube video “Why are the LA Wildfires So Extreme? Makes a lot of good points. Neil deGrasse Tyson sits down with climate scientist Daniel Swain to learn about the destructive fires in The Palisades and Eaton. It mentions fire resisting things to do e.g Fine mesh steel to prevent embers getting into buildings.
There are plenty other videos showing how one hour fire resistant materials can help but it also needs maintenance to always be keeping gutters and roofs free from leaf litter. Don’t have flammable trees/shrubs/ wood fences near house. It was a choice between spending money on fire proofing vs just relying on insurance to rebuild.
In Tokyo planners have built blocks where metal fire proof flats act as firewalls between older style houses.
In San Francisco after the great fire of 1906 they built a dual water system with a dedicated pipeline to emergency hydrants which are fed from 222 well placed cisterns. One fireman said that a part of the LA problems were when houses burned down the plastic water pipes were vapourized and so leaked but it is possible to have metal solenoid valves at entry to house which are shut when there is no electricity. ( could be undesirable / a problem during non fire event power failure)
We should hope the rebuild should be based on fire resistant structures. If insurance companies even want to get in on insuring these areas, they should insist on it.
Lots of good ideas. Let’s hope they get used.
Lots of things could and should have been done. Brush removal and controlled burns. Pre-positioning fire trucks. Repairing broken hydrants. Overtime so that fire crews could quickly respond. These things take planning and leadership, however.
Fires are not the same as hurricanes or earthquakes in that they can be prevented or quickly stopped.
Damage from hurricanes and earthquakes can both be prevented. It’s not a disaster if nothing is destroyed except some landscaping.
I thought it was interesting that Meyer paid 13 % (I presume) State taxes. I presume Fed taxes would be similar. There I think is part of the problem.