FLASHBACK: Trump WARNED California Governor About Forest Fires

LA Times owner: It's 'crazy we don't elect leaders with competence' | On Balance

Today in Stupidity

One of the primary drivers of the devastation has been a lack of water due to unfilled reservoirs in Los Angeles County and unmaintained, failing infrastructure that caused fire hydrants to run dry. As RedState reported, the Ynez Reservoir was taken offline for maintenance during wildfire season, a decision that has turned out to be catastrophic.

When three 1-million-gallon capacity water storage tanks in Pacific Palisades went dry Tuesday night, firefighters were forced to abandon efforts to save thousands of homes. LA Department of Water and Power (LADWP) CEO Janisse Quiñones has repeatedly claimed during press conferences that her utility did everything it could to prepare for the forecasted wind event and support the Los Angeles Fire Department as it responded, but left out one key fact: The Santa Ynez Reservoir in the hills above Pacific Palisades, which holds 117 million gallons of water and normally feeds those tanks, had been drained and taken offline for repairs to its cover even though the state's brush fire season was ongoing.

What caused the dry fire hydrants? The new CEO of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Janisse Quiñones, told reporters on Wednesday that there was just too much demand on the system.

Quiñones was hired by Bass in April to run the city-owned LADWP at the eye-popping salary of $750,000 plus a housing allowance. She “has the skill set and leadership experience to advance the department into 100% clean energy by 2035,” the mayor said at the time.

“It’s important to me that everything we do, it’s with an equity lens and social justice,” Quiñones told a radio host in July, “and making sure we right the wrongs that we’ve done in the past from an infrastructure perspective.”

It's like clockwork at this point. It doesn't matter what role these people fill, they are all obsessed with DEI not just as a factor, but as a priority. Ask yourself this: Why does a person whose job is to keep the water flowing and power on need to be concerned with "social justice" ? Are pipes, pumps, reservoirs, and fire hydrants racist now?

The entire thing is absurd. Even if you assume Quiñones is otherwise qualified for the job, city officials should not be wasting time and resources trying to socially engineer outcomes centered on left-wing ideology. Does the water work? Is the power on? Those are the only two questions with which Quiñones should ever be concerned.

How Long is California’s Fire Season?

The length of the fire season in any given year in California depends on summer temperatures, rainfall, and wind, with the most fires historically occurring between May and October. However, recent data show that, due to rising temperatures and decreased rainfall, the season is beginning earlier and ending later each year, approaching a year-round fire season.1

When Does the California Fire Season End?

The fire season in California tends to end once the state receives heavy rainfall. However, the impacts of lack of
forest management mean that clean-up is often ignored, which can keep fires burning throughout the winter months.

Since wildfire thrives in hot and dry climates, drought elevates fire risk significantly. Drought leaves trees, grasses, shrubs, and soil with very little moisture, making the landscape extremely flammable.

Likewise, ongoing droughts and water diversion and mismanagement in California pose a serious threat for fire season. A recent report by the US Drought Monitor found more than 97% of the state is in severe or extreme drought, causing concern for the year ahead. When winds are paired with hot, dry weather, they pose a major fire hazard. For example, the Santa Ana winds in Southern California (also known as Diablo winds in Northern California) are strong, dry, downslope winds that blow from the mountains towards the coast and can cause wildfires to ignite and spread rapidly. Consequently, these winds reach up to 40 miles per hour and in some cases can reach up to hurricane strength, exponentially increasing in the speed of fire spread and triggering extreme destruction in short amounts of time.

As much as 90% of wildfires are started by humans. Common reasons for wildfire ignition include unattended campfires including the homeless and migrants, fallen power lines, discarded cigarettes, vehicle crashes or the use of equipment that creates sparks, like metal grinders.