Having lost one household to a fire, my heart goes out to these poor folks and the brave souls fighting these fires...

However...

I can't think of a quicker, more certain way to bankrupt this country than for us to continue bailing folks out of their stupidity, just because they do it en masse.

When people lose all they own to fires, floods, or economic change, it is unfortunate and sad. When it happens to individuals, they end up collecting insurance or selling at a loss if they prepared properly. Even the best insurance doesn't cover everything, so, as in my case, you take what you get, what you paid for, and you start over.

When it happens to large groups, suddenly our leaders feel this must be mitigated by taxpayer dollars, as if something is signficantly different between the losses suffered by individuals vs. the losses suffered by members of a group. To me, this is akin to buying votes with federal and state revenue.

I've cited it before, and I will continue to bring it up, because it is just as valid now as it was 200+ years ago.