If only there were some real Eagle Scouts among Los Angeles's leadership.
I suppose that more than anything right now, watching what's happening around Los Angeles, is that I'm reminded of the Fire Safety merit badge in the Boy Scouts. Fire Safety isn't required for Eagle Scout, but it's such a basic set of knowledge that the vast majority of scouts who stick with the program earn it and usually sooner than later. I earned my Fire Safety badge at a "merit badge college" that our local district had every winter at Rockingham Community College. It was a course that lasted for two hours and we learned quite a bit about fire and how to be cautious with it. One of the things that came as a surprise to me - I was twelve at the time - was that sometimes firefighters and land management people purposefully set fire to the forest floor. This is called a "controlled burn" and it is very useful in destroying useless scrub, rotted undergrowth and fetid material that really would be potential fuel for a serious forest fire. Controlled burning gets rid of that, makes the forest cleaner, and has the added benefit of bringing nutrient back into the soil.
There is a lot that I could say about the wildfires in Southern California right now. I suppose first and foremost is that the situation might the the worst example yet of ignoring reality for the sake of "feelings". The requisite water resources, personnel, and methods of delivery for all intents and purposes did not exist. It had been eliminated in favor of progressive programs and policies. Like f'rinstance a tiny fish that apparently is not endangered at all.
That alone qualifies the L.A. fires as being a man-bred horror straight out of an Ayn Rand novel.
The thing of it is, fire is not really all that complex a concept. We learned much about fire in fourth and fifth grade at school, including what is required for fire to start and what to do if God forbid you or someone else catches fire.
I suppose that more than anything right now, watching what's happening around Los Angeles, is that I'm reminded of the Fire Safety merit badge in the Boy Scouts. Fire Safety isn't required for Eagle Scout, but it's such a basic set of knowledge that the vast majority of scouts who stick with the program earn it and usually sooner than later. I earned my Fire Safety badge at a "merit badge college" that our local district had every winter at Rockingham Community College. It was a course that lasted for two hours and we learned quite a bit about fire and how to be cautious with it. One of the things that came as a surprise to me - I was twelve at the time - was that sometimes firefighters and land management people purposefully set fire to the forest floor. This is called a "controlled burn" and it is very useful in destroying useless scrub, rotted undergrowth and fetid material that really would be potential fuel for a serious forest fire. Controlled burning gets rid of that, makes the forest cleaner, and has the added benefit of bringing nutrient back into the soil.
It's not all that hard to do. I've seen it done before. I know a lot of firefighters who have taken part in controlled burns.
I mention that because President-to-be Donald Trump and others have touched upon controlled burning. It is absolutely something that California's government should have been doing for a long time already in preparing for the outbreak of wildfires. This is a basic tool of wise land management and it is very foolish to not have been employing it.
Folks, fire really isn't that hard a notion to grasp. When there's heat and air and a source of fuel, they can come together and start fire. It's then a matter of taking one or more of those elements out of the equation. A cool head (pun maybe horribly intended) will readily know what is the best way to do this in a particular situation. Just as that same mind will recognize the potential for fire in an environment, and understand how to prevent it from breaking out at all.
Maybe California should hire some old-school scoutmasters and merit badge counselors to come in and teach basic fire safety to the officials of Los Angeles and the surrounding areas. If an adolescent can grasp such things, there is no excuse for grown adults to not have that knowledge also.
