la fire rethinking their priorities

Hindsight is always 2020 and Monday morning quarterbacking is in full swing when it comes to the Los Angeles firestorm.  See this Washington Post article, A key ‘weakness’ in L.A.’s wildfire strategy went unaddressed for years, Post probe shows

The weakness was and it remains, the City did not own and operate any wildfire fighting teams of their own. They were dependent on other agencies deploying outside resources to fight wildland fires. If LA had proceeded with fulling forming those teams (2) they would have added a total of 50 staff. Would that have been enough to stop the conflagration that is still not totally contained? The simple answer is no.

In another story they detailed all the mutual aid resources that were pre-deployed before the fires started, and they were considerable. But to citizens and elected officials, perception and reality often are not in sync with one another. The fire department had authorization and knew they needed the wildland assets but spent funding on other priorities.

I expect plenty of heat to be brought on the LA Fire Chief. Maybe she will survive or maybe not. I always say that people demand a sacrificial offering, and the Chief would be a natural one to offer up, no matter if it is justified or not.