Fire is a natural part of the ecological system. You can by time, but eventually, it will happen. Building in wildlands is a recipe for disaster, if you don't create breaks, or defencable zones. It's not a simple problem, with a simple solution. A big part of the problem, is building all those homes there, but if you're gonna build, then you should protect. A lot of people build in forested areas and don't create defensible zones, because, that's why they move there, for pretty trees.
this post was submitted on 09 Jan 2025
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True, it's a multi-level fuck-up, which nature is showing us quite clearly. Solutions would not need to be that difficult, just gradually stop burning fossil fuels, stop eating meat, build responsibly and spread money evenly. Too bad that all the people getting rich from these things have a succesful propaganda campaign going on. Nature will not be tamed however, not in the foreseeable future.
Just give firefighting responsibility to the cops! Then they can show up to your kitchen fire, put it out, shoot your dog, and arrest you for complaining all in one trip!
This is incorrect.
the updated budget in November saw a $53 million increase over the previous year once the council took into account the department's unappropriated balance calculation, which provides funds after the budget is approved.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/los-angeles-mayor-karen-bass-pushes-back-criticism/story?id=117512817
"No they didn't, it was only a budget cut until the unions fought them and forced them to hand over more budget' isn't exactly the win you think it is here.
Even worse, despite call numbers increasing over 5x from 1960, the fire program has been completely unable to expand since 1960 and was basically completely at the mercy of people doing brutal amounts of overtime to keep things going... until they lost the ability to pay them overtime too! The fire department is absurdly understaffed and underfunded. Imagine still making the same salary as 65 years ago, while having to do 5x the work!
While the 53 million budget increase the unions managed to grab is a good improvement, along with the ~200 more trainee firefighters it allowed them to hire but aren't yet ready to deploy, it's the definition of too little and too late.
High winds preventing firefighting planes and copters, low water levels since the city has let nestle steal all of it for free, electrical problems to prevent pumps from sending water from afar, and not enough man hours to manage and prevent fire conditions in the first place- as it says in the article you posted, no amount of budget could have prevented this, because there was more to play here than just the budget. But enough people and man hours to properly manage things would have done a lot to limit the scope of the disaster.
Careful. I also said this and my post was removed for misinformation. Looks like musks crew are invading.
Screenshotting this because I don't know how to reliably link comments across instances.
Maybe if they all shoot the fire in the back when it's sleeping?!
Given the history of wildfires in California, someone has anti-survival traits.
They cut ~2% of the budget. Anyone spewing this funding cut bullshit is a partisan hack.
Quit being reactionary.
I suspect they could have doubled the budget and they still wouldn't be able to control those fires.
Still it looks like it's affecting rich people, so something will probably get done about it.
Why do you think it's okay to cut funding to the fire department while keeping the police(gang) force that is notorious for not actually doing anything to help it's citizens?
Think about the priority of the ~~community~~ wealthy community members.
Fires cause insurance payouts. This means big paydays when those 'priceless' works of art go up in smoke. You sell the land and buy somewhere without the insurance hikes. Win-win-win for the wealthy.
Crime causes property values to decline. A break in is harder to deal with. Rabble protesting for fair treatment can get violent. The homeless need to be driven from the wealthy areas so the wealthy can enjoy their champagne and caviar in peace after snorting coke off of a trafficked sex slave's tits. Police are so very valuable for keeping the wealthy safe.
They know exactly what the right priority is... for the people who actually matter (not us.)
that’s not what reactionary means
$17.5 million, or around 2 percent of the previous year’s budget of $837 million. It was the second-largest departmental operating cut to come out of the city’s 2024-25 fiscal year budget, which shaved funding from the majority of city departments — but not the police.
the article does say the percentage… and maybe it’s insane to cut their budget at all, given california’s recent fire problems, and they should’ve increased it by about 100%….
so, given the difference between -2% and +100%, and half the city burning down, it’s a pretty big deal.
it's not even remotely close to half of the city burning down. But given the damage estimates are running somewhere around $150 billion, it's bad enough
the “half” figure was hyperbole… you should check out the concept.
America: Funding cops to shoot black people, defunding actual helpful social needs since 1864.
From my understanding the water towers had completely ran out of water and pumps couldn't keep up. There's was no issue with volume through the existing water system, there's just no way to contain a fire that big. They should be taking preventative measures such as raking the forest.
Can't tell if this is idiocy or peak satire.
Well done.
Oh it's even better than that. They're referencing a direct quote from trump.
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I have to do other people's jobs. Slap some tin foil on em and throw them in to help.
This is some pure bullshit right here. Never let a tragedy go to waste, gotta get those clicks. No amount of budget would have prepared the city for this. They would have needed literally 10x to contain the fires fast enough.
High winds prevented the use of air based equipment. The same winds drove burning embers for miles into absolutely bone dry foliage.
It's been way to dry here for too long to do any controlled burns, so no way to effectively get rid of the fuel.
The FD could always use more resources, but the extent of this fire has nothing to do with a lack of resources and much more to do with climate change.
Sure but climate change just isn't sexy. "Hey everyone that problem we've been telling everyone about for decades has resulted in the predicted outcome, it's pretty terrible."
So the lesson here is to get more slave labor to fight these fires?
I mean, yes, but also fuck the cops and fund the fire department
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