This will be an interesting thread.


the report places a lot of emphasis on the lack of timely evacuation orders by authorities. Actually, you don't need authorization in order to flee from a fire, although notification certainly helps.

The hill close to my home has burned three times in the thirty years I have been in my home. Each time I was loaded and ready to go, not evacuating by the thinnest of margins, until last December's Thomas fire when we did pull the plug in response to a mandatory notice.

I think that authorities in our community, at least, learned from the devastating fires of last fall in the North Bay. There was prompt response to our city by Los Angeles units, who were the first responders I saw in my neighborhood, quite early in the event. I would say that the response was quite decent, although there is only so much that can be accomplished with 40+ mph winds in California chaparral.

There are important lessons to be learned from thoughtful analysis of events like this one. "Those who do not learn from the mistakes of the past re doomed to repeat them." How true!