By now you’ve seen the horrific images from Southern California where massive wildfires have devastated the region.
As of Thursday morning, there have been five confirmed fatalities and over two thousand burned structures. Over 180,000 people have been evacuated from the affected areas – and officials are warning they’re nowhere near having the multiple fires under control.
Residents in certain areas are being told to leave immediately and take no time to take anything with them. Irreplaceable items have been lost in the fires – family photos, precious heirlooms, jewelry and all kinds of other things money won’t be able to replace. But in times of crisis, life has a way of reducing itself to the critical and essential.
It’s also obvious that wildfire is no respecter of person, profession, or income. Some of the most valuable real estate in the country has been reduced to ash. In the coming days we’ll undoubtedly be hearing about celebrities who have lost all their worldly possessions.
As Christians, our hearts break over the tragic loss of life, as well as the suffering these blazes have caused. Anyone who has ever lived through a natural disaster can especially empathize with the range of emotions that come with something of this magnitude.
But even before the smoke clears, many are asking pointed questions:
How did the fires start? Why are some fire hydrants running dry? What wasn’t done that could have been done days, weeks, or even years ago that would or could have changed the course of this tragedy? Is there negligence on the part of elected and appointed officials?
There are not necessarily answers to all those questions, at least not yet, but we know that the crisis is making clear that there are consequences to poor leadership and shortsightedness. In fact, repercussions to either the misprioritization or the altogether ignoring of critical concerns can be deadly.
Environmental zealots have long objected to calls to thin forests and create natural breaks that can slow the progression of flames.
Janisse Quinones, chief executive and chief engineer of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, explained why fire hydrants in the completely destroyed Palisades area went dry.
“We had tremendous demand on our systems in the Palisades,” Quiñones explained. “We pushed the system to the extreme. Four times the normal demand was seen for 15 hours straight, which lowered our water pressure.”
However, what wasn’t discussed or addressed was why California has repeatedly refused to build additional reservoirs that could have held the water those hydrants draw from. With consecutive years of above-average rainfall, a lot of that water has simply been drained off into the Pacific Ocean.
Since 1979, California’s population has grown by more than 20 million people – and yet not one additional single large-scale water-storage facility has been built.
There’s a December 2024 memo circulating online today from Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin M. Crowley warning Los Angeles Maor Karen Bass that the more than $17 million they’ve cut from the department’s budget has “severely limited the department’s capacity to prepare for, train for, and respond to large-scale emergencies, including wildfires.”
Asked about the cuts at a press conference today, Mayor Bass said now is not the time to discuss the budget.
Priorities matter and have consequences.
Scripture makes clear, “When good people run things, everyone is glad, but when the ruler is bad, everyone groans” (Proverbs 29:2, The Message).
One can hope and pray there will be a reckoning and intense scrutiny over what has transpired in California.
Image from Getty.
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