The Catastrophic Effects of Bad Policy: California Wildfires

Southern California Fires Before January 7th

On November 6th of 2024, a small fire ignited out in Somis, between the Thousand Oaks and Camarillo areas. These areas were reporting wind speeds of 60 to 80 miles per hour, due to the infamous Santa Ana winds that sweep through Southern California from late fall through early spring. Once the fire started, the winds picked it up and spread it across the 118 freeway, through the mountains and into Camarillo neighborhoods.[1] It would ultimately burn over 19,000 acres, destroying 240 primary residences and damaging over 100 more.[2] This became known as the Mountain Fire, and at the time, there wasn’t much reporting on it. It took firefighters two weeks to fully contain the blaze, as they battled high winds, low humidity, and open area on rugged terrain that allowed the fire to easily spread.[3] Even now, months after, there is still no known cause for how the Mountain Fire started.

Just a month later, on December 9th, another fire broke out, this time in Malibu, just 37 miles southeast of where the Mountain Fire was. It again was exacerbated by strong, Santa Ana winds, tripling in size in just one hour, and threatening students sheltering in place at Pepperdine University.[4] It burned 4,000 acres, destroyed 20 structures, damaged many more others, and was eventually contained after roughly ten days.[5] This became known as the Franklin Fire, and it scared residents of Malibu who remembered all too well the devastating Woolsey Fire back in 2018, which ravaged an unthinkable 96,000 acres, destroyed over 1,600 structures, and evacuated close to 300,000 people across Ventura and Los Angeles Counties.[6]

The reality is, that wildfires have been a constant, horrifying, and real threat across California. They don’t all get the media attention or national response that this week has received, but the problems have been there and have continued to persist year after year after year. I mention this to hopefully show you throughout this article how the problems coming to the surface have been and were present months earlier in the Mountain and Franklin fires, yet were not addressed, resulting in preventable catastrophe. This week, Los Angeles specifically, reached its breaking point.

Status of Palisades, Eaton, and Other Fires

On Tuesday, January 7th, around 10:30 in the morning, fire caught in the brushy hillsides of Pacific Palisades – a wealthy, famous Southern California neighborhood.[7] Since then, the fire has burned over 23,000 acres, threatened over 12,000 structures, and as of Monday, January 13th, it remains at only 14% containment despite having over 5,000 personnel deployed to the scene.[8] Entire neighborhoods have been turned to ash, while surrounding hotels are completely booked full of displaced residents. Tragically, eight people have lost their lives in the Palisades fire and there are many others missing.[9]

This was just the beginning of a chaotic week of fires across the county. That same day, at 6:30 in the evening, another fire broke out on the other side of the county, in the Altadena/Pasadena area. It has burned over 14,000 acres, destroyed 1,900 structures and threatened close to 40,000 others, and is currently at 33% containment.[10] Over 3,400 personnel are currently deployed for what has become known as the Eaton Fire, and another 16 lives have been lost because of the fire.[11]

Four hours later, at 10:30, yet another fire broke out, this time further north in Sylmar, shutting down sections of the 210 freeway and quickly spreading along the hills. This fire has been the most contained, of the three, at 95% contained, and only burned 799 acres, with no lives lost.[12] Over the course of the week, everyday one or more new fires have been popping up, with quick responses by firefighters keeping them from turning into as large of fires as the Palisades and Eaton fires have become. As it stands, Los Angeles is not out of the woods yet by any means with these fires, and large portions of freeways as well as roads close to each area remained closed. Officials have not released causes for any of the fires, but they have hinted at the potential of arson for the Palisades Fire, and potential transformer or power line explosions for the Eaton and Hurst Fires.

Five Policy Failures

The question on everyone’s minds as we are watching these fires devastate entire neighborhoods and communities around us is: how in the world did we allow this to happen? How are the fires burning as much and as fast as they are? Why isn’t deploying our firefighters proving effective? What went wrong? There is a lot of noise across the internet trying to explain the answer to that question. At the end of the day, the government has great capacity, and great responsibility, to enact policies that will help and prepare our state for tragedies like these fires. The government must enact policies to address core issues like our water supply, wildfire prevention through clearing brush, supporting our police and fire departments, and spending taxpayer dollars as well as federal funding wisely to promote the safety and wellbeing of its constituents. If the government does not do that, or – even worse – if the government implements policies that actually hinder accomplishing those goals, then it has failed in the primary responsibilities that it owes to the people it represents and serves. I believe the catastrophe we are seeing play out in Southern California can be attributed to five main policy failures on part of both our state government and local Los Angeles County government.

Failure #1: Water Policy

First up is water policy. It’s critical for California to implement a strong plan to catch, store, and move water across our state. Why? Because we are prone to drought and, clearly, to fires! That means that when we have years with a ton of rain, as we did in 2023, it is so important to wisely steward all that rainwater so that we are set up well for future years when we maybe don’t get as much rain, like we saw in 2024.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, in January of 2023, when flooding was strong across California due to atmospheric rivers, 95% of the rainwater that came in to California’s dams was pushed back out to the Pacific Ocean.[13] Why was rainwater not collected? Well, California water policy has focused specifically on protecting one type of endangered fish, known as the Delta Smelt. To protect them, California policy requires reduced pumping of reservoirs at the beginning of storms to give the smelt enough time and water to swim upstream away from the pumps.[14] However, as a result, less water is pushed out into the areas where we need it for use and thus ultimately reducing the amount of water that can be captured during storms.

How did this water policy affect the Palisades and other fires this week? Firefighters reported early on that the fire hydrants they were connecting to had no water. Our firefighters, responding to a massive blaze amid 100 mile per hours winds, were battling the fire without water. The reason for this is simply because there wasn’t enough water stored, which is a result of the water policy just explained. It directly connects to what we are seeing happening now. Upper Palisades, where the fire was concentrated Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, has three large storage tanks that each hold 1 million gallons of water. This is what usually sustains the city. By 3AM on Wednesday, all three tanks were empty, and were not able to be refilled at the rate needed to continue providing firefighters with the water they needed.[15]

The next question then is, what do you do when the tanks run out? At this point it may be no surprise to hear that the backup reservoir closest to the Palisades fire, the Santa Ynez Reservoir, was no help to the water situation. While the reservoir can hold 117 million gallons of water, it was sitting completely dry. Apparently, this specific reservoir sustained a tear to its cover back in February of 2024, and was subsequently drained while the cover underwent repairs. The LA Department of Water and Power, or DWP, sought bids for the repairs in April, but didn’t sign off on a contract until November.[16] Officials such as former DWP General Manager Martin Adams said that DWP could have begun filling the reservoir once it realized the fire risk presented by the weather and red flag warnings across the county, but that the process itself takes a month and, by the time the fire broke out, the reservoir likely would not yet have been filled to capacity. As a result, the reservoir was completely empty, and there was no additional source of water beyond the three tanks used for normal activity in the city.

So far, city officials are responding to the reports of these problems by saying that the key issue was the city just simply isn’t built to handle wildfires. That even if they had the water supply under control – which they didn’t – they still wouldn’t be able to push through the volume of water at the speed required to effectively fight a wildfire. LADWP CEO, Janisse Quiñones, outlined this problem by explaining that, “Four times the normal demand was seen for 15 hours straight.”[17] But doesn’t this beg another question, which is what protocols are in place then to handle wildfires? Southern California sees wildfires, sometimes massive wildfires, nearly every year. The Palisades aren’t far from other areas that have seen these fires, like the Malibu fires earlier in the year or in prior years. Why is there no plan or infrastructure in place to address a wildfire? It seems that city and county and state leaders haven’t learned from prior tragedies.

The smoking gun to prove that point lies in the case of the Mountain Fire, which burned through Camarillo just in November of 2024. It was reported by firefighters back in November that they were facing low water pressure and water shortages while fighting the fire just two months prior, and yet, nothing was done about it.[18] No reservoirs were filled as a result. No emergency policies were put in place. Nothing was done about it at the time. Why? Because that fire got less media coverage and resulted in less damage. But be clear on this: the issue isn’t just the Palisades. The issue isn’t just an isolated, unfortunate event. The alarm was raised, the alarm was ignored, and the people living in the Palisades are paying for it now.

You may have thought we were done with water policy, but there is more. Not only were the reservoirs dry, not only did we dump valuable rainwater back into the ocean, not only did we ignore firefighters concerns of water shortages – as a state we also shut down and deconstructed several dams across Northern and Southern California, limiting water storage. Gavin Newsom supported the removal of these dams in the interest of Native American tribes, river restoration, and the health of salmon. Listen to this explanation of his priorities, “A major focus of Newsom’s salmon strategy is partnership with Tribal Nations. Salmon were and continue to be at the core of California indigenous culture, both by providing an important food source and forming the foundation of many creation stories.”[19] These priorities affected dams on Eel River, Ventura River and Malibu Creek – which is one Northern California river, and two Southern California rivers – where we desperately need water. This is after Newsom’s support and approval of the removal of an additional four dams along the California-Oregon border earlier in the year.[20]

All in all, California’s water policy is a complete mess. There are so many conflicting priorities and interests and actions that it’s impossible to track how Governor Newsom thinks that his decisions are actually helping Californians. We can’t pump water and instead release it back into the ocean to protect a certain species of fish, we deconstruct dams all over the state to somehow honor salmon as a sign in Native American tribes, we leave massive reservoirs empty in critical fire-prone areas for minor repairs, we have NO plan in place for cities to attack wildfires – even though they have seen wildfires near them several times in the past, and we ignore previous instances of firefighters running out of water. What a total disaster, and it’s just the first of five policy failures.

Failure #2: Fire Prevention Policy

Water policy isn’t the only area that should be addressed by our government to assist in fire prevention, there are several other decisions that can be made about clearing trees and brush as well as updating electrical infrastructure that are critical to reducing both the likelihood of fires starting and the ability of fires to spread. California didn’t just fail in its water policy, but in its broader fire prevention policy as well.

Let’s start with clearing trees and brush. California has been abysmal at forest management. Governor Jerry Brown issued an executive order during his tenure as governor for California fire agencies to complete 500,000 acres of forest management (such as thinning forests) each year from 2018 to 2023.[21] Governor Newsom reaffirmed those goals through an agreement with the U.S. Forest Service on a federal level to each complete 500,000 acres of forest management each year by 2025. But this didn’t translate into action. In 2023, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection reported just 105,000 acres of forest management performed.[22] That’s barely 20% of the 500,000-acre goal. Congressman Tom McClintock (R-CA) has warned in the past, “Our forests are now catastrophically overgrown, often carrying four times the number of trees the land can support. In this stressed and weakened condition, our forests are easy prey for drought, disease, pestilence and fire.”[23] This is because of conflicting priorities and messaging. How much have you heard the phrase “save the trees?” If you google it in the context of California, an overwhelming number of organizations pop up with that very mission. On one hand, government officials acknowledge they need to perform forest management, but on the other hand we are constantly prioritizing saving trees and reforestation than we are actually reaching the goals set to clear dead trees and fire-prone brush.

But while forest management can help to prevent the spreading of wildfire, there are even better steps the state can take to prevent fires from catching in the first place. The leading causes of wildfires in California are lightning, arson, and utility lines.[24] There was no lightning reported within the last few months to ignite the fires, but the latter two are being investigated as potential causes. With arson, a general lack of law and order across California has emboldened criminals to carry out these crimes. The best thing our county can do is support law enforcement and prosecute arsonists to the full extent of the law in hopes of deterring future arsonists. Our new district attorney, Nathan Hochman, who just took office in December is seeking to change the tide in California by promising that the maximum punishment will be sought for arsonists, which could be as severe as life in prison.[25] Then, even beyond trying to deter arson, there is still another issue yet to be addressed: power lines.

One of the largest fires our state has seen, the Thomas Fire back in 2017, was ignited by Southern California Edison power lines during a period of high winds.[26] In fact, in the past ten years, six of California’s most-destructive wildfires were a result of power lines. An audit back in 2022 reported that California State Officials had been failing to hold utility companies responsible for fires started by their infrastructure. It found that “The new Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety approved utility companies’ wildfire prevention plans even when they were ‘seriously deficient.’”[27] It also said that the Public Utilities Commission “does not use its authority to penalize utilities when its audits uncover violations.”[28] The report found that there were 40,000 miles of bare power lines located in high fire-risk areas, and that the utility companies were relying on shutting off residents’ power rather than upgrading their equipment. Southern California Edison is currently investigating if their transmission lines near the Eaton and Hurst fires could have been the cause that sparked either of them.[29]

These companies need to do a better job of upgrading their equipment, fireproofing it, or moving it underground; our government needs to do a better job about holding these companies to the standards they laid out for them and honestly reporting findings of audits to ensure continual improvement. Especially when they have the potential to spark massive wildfires like we have seen in the past and are seeing now. We all intuitively know and can see the effects of our aging power grid, and it would benefit more than just wildfires to bring it up to date.

Failure #3: Fire Department Policy

Both water policy and fire prevention policy focus on things that we can do around us to help prepare our cities and counties in the event of a fire. But there is no preparation as important as supporting our fire departments. I just can’t stress enough that in a state like California, where it is known that we are prone to fires, and where we see large fires at least every other year it seems, that we support the very people whose job it is to fight back these fires and prevent the damage they bring. Sadly though, the third policy failure we saw this week was directly with supporting our fire departments across LA County.

Quite frankly, we just don’t have enough firefighters. The LA Fire Chief acknowledged this fact in a press conference, “L.A. County and all 29 fire departments in our county, are not prepared for this kind of widespread disaster. There are not enough firefighters in L.A. County to address four separate fires of this magnitude. The L.A. County fire department was prepared for one or two major brush fires, but not four, especially given these sustained winds and low humidities.”[30] This is the result of massive shortage of firefighters in California. In 2023, 35 percent of wildland firefighting jobs were left vacant.[31] Why is this the case?

Firefighters, specifically those who work for CalFire or even as federal firefighters, specially trained for wildfires, work 72-hour weeks, often away from their homes and families for multiple weeks if not months at a time. It is also common for them to be putting in over 1,000 hours of overtime during fire season, sleeping out in the ash and dirt, breathing in the smoke and poor air quality day and night.[32] To put it mildly, this is a tough job. Researchers at the University of Montana have even found that specialized units, like the federal hotshots, can expend as much energy during a fire season as cyclists competing in the Tour de France.[33]

Now knowing all that and putting in perspective just what a demanding job it is, you might expect that the average wildland firefighter is paid super well in California. If you assume that, you would be wrong. In 2023, the starting firefighter for CalFire earned just $15.56 per hour.[34] Just as a reminder, this year Governor Newsom raised the minimum wage for fast food workers to $20 per hour, yet men and women who sacrifice their comfort, time with family, and personal safety are barely paid the state minimum wage. President of Cal Fire Local 2881, a firefighter union, expressed the difficulties they are running into with staffing as a result, “We now have a world where you can work at Target and In-N-Out and make $22 an hour and our starting firefighter makes $15.56 an hour. Who’s gonna want to put their life on the line in a time where the state really needs firefighters when they can go work somewhere else and make more money?”[35] Not only is pay abysmal for these firefighters, but it also fails to recognize the intense physical and mental toll the job takes on them and their lives. Cal Fire Captain Mike Orton described the cost, “I would be willing to bet that there’s suicidal ideation in half of our employees right now, and half of them have a plan to do it.”[36] Cal Fire Battalion Chief Jeff Burrow reported that 80% of his crew got divorced in just one year. Many firefighters are reporting that sleep deprivation, alcohol abuse, and drug abuse are increasing problems.[37] Is it any surprise then that CalFire lost 10% of its workforce in 2023, when firefighters suffer all these circumstances and endure PTSD just to then worry about how to pay their rent?[38]

CalFire is bleeding experienced firefighters left and right because they haven’t been able to compete with local fire departments, not in salary and definitely not in experience. This is especially true in a state like California where the cost of living is so high that individuals have to consider if their job really will pay the bills at the end of the day.[39]

Failure #4: Monetary & Budget Policy

That leads us into the fourth policy failure that exacerbated this crisis, which is monetary and budget policies. While our firefighters for CalFire are significantly underpaid, our state and local governments saw fit to reduce the budget for Los Angeles Fire by $17.6 million dollars.[40] The reason for the budget cuts is still unclear, but there is a memo circulating that was sent by LAFD Fire Chief Kristin Crowley to the Board of Fire Commissioners warning that the budget cuts “have adversely affected the Department's ability to maintain core operations."[41] LA’s Mayor, Karen Bass, has said that the cuts did not impact the fire department's ability to handle fires, but Crowley wrote that the budget cuts meant a $7 million dollar reduction in overtime hours, which "severely limited the Department's capacity to prepare for, train for, and respond to large-scale emergencies and affected their capacity for brush clearance inspections and residential inspections.”[42]

This is damning. Mayor Karen Bass knew that cutting funding was affecting the fire department’s ability to respond to fires, but she proceeded with the budget cuts anyway. What’s even worse is that she sent out a memo on January 6th, just one day before the fires broke out, demanding that the LA Fire Department needed to cut an additional $48.8 million dollars in the budget.[43] It’s so sad that the very mayor of the city – who is responsible for the safety and wellbeing of her constituents – would disregard with concerns from her Fire Chief and instead would demand even more of the very thing she was being warned is hurting the Fire Department’s ability to do its job. The people of Los Angeles deserved better leadership than that.

Mayor Bass is defending herself by saying these fires would have happened anyway, that the winds were too strong, that this situation was unprecedented, and no amount of money would have made a difference. But this is a long-term problem compounded by years of a lack of support by our government for our firefighters and fire department. It isn’t just that more money this year would have stopped this fire; it’s about the mentality of prioritizing and supporting fire departments and wildland firefighters so that our cities and county are ready at any time for intense fires. It’s about a culture that says we would rather have too many overqualified firefighters at the ready, too much water stored in reservoirs, and too much infrastructure around our cities, than to cut it all back and suffer the harm that brings. I’m sure that taxpayers, myself included, would approve of and love to see our money funding programs and departments that save our lives, save our homes, and save our cities.

I hate the government overtaxing us and wasting that money on ineffective programs. But that does not mean that the government should cut down all spending. The responsible position is to use whatever money you do take from the people you represent to actually represent their interests. Throwing all that money down the drain on programs that don’t work is unacceptable. Paying police officers and firefighters reasonable salaries so that they are ready when we call 911 is imperative.

California, and Los Angeles County specifically, should have the best of the best in terms of our firefighters. We have the dryest climate, we are the most prone to drought, and we have the most people and homes at stake. We also have a full history of aggressive and destructive wildfires. This means that it is negligent at best, and wicked at worst, to cut funding to such a key department, and to leave residents stranded and on their own when the unthinkable happens.

Failure #5: Leadership

Which brings us to our last category of failure, which is less of a policy failure and more of an overall observation. The Los Angeles fires reveal a deep and abiding failure of our state and city leadership.

Char Miller, a professor of environmental analysis and history at Pomona College, described the fires as “entirely foreseeable.”[44] Joe Scott, the chief fire scientist at a wildfire risk consultancy said, “It was not if, it was when.”[45] The fact that these fires were just a disaster waiting to happen is a scathing rebuke of the leaders in charge of protecting our state.

The root cause of this failure is the prioritization of an ideology over reality. It’s leaders who pour millions, billions, of dollars into building charges for electric cars that consumers aren’t buying, into programs that will, at best, slow global warming by just tenths of a degree Celcius.[46] It’s leaders who focus on passing legislation that tears children from their parents over gender ideology, on preventing law abiding citizens from obtaining guns, on banning voter ID, on keeping illegal immigrants here legally. It’s politicians who are most caught up in their desire for power and are most focused on fighting Trump or other politicians they disagree with. They prioritize a narrative over the lives and livelihoods of real people, hardworking people, the American people. Gavin Newsom is so focused on slowing climate change and posturing for environmental groups that he completely neglected simple steps that could be taken to prevent these fires from becoming as large and devastating as they did. Our state is so focused on funding liberal agendas and ineffective programs that they cut funding for men and women who sacrifice their lives to save the lives of others. It’s weak, it’s feckless, and it is unacceptable.

Policy is not a game. Leading a state or county or city is not a game. It’s not something you can just do whatever way you want with no regard for others. Policy changes, affects, and saves people’s lives. Sadly, this week policy destroyed lives. A good governor can’t just cross his fingers and hope for the best, can’t be so caught up in his image that he doesn’t take the time to consider the real-world impacts of what he is doing. And yet, that is exactly what we got with Gavin Newsom as our governor. Already, he has blamed local governments for the water shortage. He lied on Sunday night when he went on Meet the Press and claimed that all reservoirs were completely full when the fires broke out.[47] He brushed away a concerned citizen who had just lost her home by claiming that things would be different the next time – but were they different this time? Were they different from the fires that happened just months before them? How can we trust his word when he will not be honest with Californians?

A good leader must be humble, humble enough to realize that their ultimate responsibility is to serve others, not to promote themselves. This means making the hard decisions, it means passing legislation that seems boring – like good water storage policies or preparation for emergency situations. A good leader realizes that this type of behavior most likely won’t make the headlines, or won’t gain you national popularity, but it does prevent catastrophe, protect your citizens, and fulfill your duties. And most importantly of all, a good leader admits when they are wrong, when they have made mistakes, where they need to make changes, and when it is time to step down.

A Biblical Example of Good Leadership

Ultimately, this takes a type of humility that comes from outside of us, a humility rooted in reverence to God and a desire to walk in righteous ways. The best leaders are those who know they are not just obligated to the people under their rule, but who know they will give an account before a holy God. We must hold our Governor and the Los Angeles Mayor accountable for their actions in this disaster, but even if they are not held accountable to the extent they deserve in this life, they will be held accountable by God for how they have misused the great privilege and authority they have been given in their positions.

I want to tell one story of good leadership, taken straight from the Bible, as an example of how situations like these should be handled. My fellow Christians will know this story well, and it is that of Joseph and Pharaoh in Genesis 41. In Genesis, Pharaoh, who oversees Egypt, has two disturbing dreams about cows eating each other and grain stalks swallowing up other grain stalks. Joseph, who was wrongfully in prison at the time, is called by Pharaoh out of prison as the only person who can interpret his dreams. By the power of God, Jospeh interprets the dream and warns Pharaoh that it is a prophecy of seven years of famine coming to the land. Verses 29 through 31 read:

“There will come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt, but after them there will arise seven years of famine, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt. The famine will consume the land, and the plenty will be unknown in the land by reason of the famine that will follow, for it will be very severe.”

Pharaoh has just been told by God Himself that Egypt will see seven years of great plenty, that they won’t want for food or water, that it will seem all is well for them. But they should be warned that following those seven good years, intense famine will consume the land, and it will be so bad that they won’t even remember the good times. This is when a foolish or prideful leader would say, the land is doing so well, the people are fed, there is no potential famine on the horizon – I’ll just sit back and watch the abundance roll in, and not worry about a potential famine that seems super unlikely. But a wise, humble leader would heed the warning, and say that even though all looks well right now, hard times will come, and the land and people should be prepared regardless of how great things are right now.

Pharaoh took the latter path, placing Joseph as directly under him in power and charging him with preparing for the famine. Verse 47 describes how Joseph enacted these preparations:

“During the seven plentiful years the earth produced abundantly, and he gathered up all the food of these seven years, which occurred in the land of Egypt, and put the food in the cities. He put in every city the food from the fields around it. And Joseph stored up grain in great abundance, like the sand of the sea, until he ceased to measure it, for it could not be measured.”

Joseph heeds the warning and begins preparing by storing some of the abundance that Egypt was experiencing. This turned out to greatly bless the people of Egypt once the famine came:

“The seven years of plenty that occurred in the land of Egypt came to an end, and the seven years of famine began to come, as Joseph had said. There was famine in all lands, but in all the land of Egypt there was bread.”

We see here that once the famine came, Egypt was prepared. There was bread, there was food, and all the people were sent to Jospeh for their needs. In fact, people from other countries traveled to Egypt for food, because Egypt was so well prepared.

This is an astonishing example of good leadership. Of course, Governor Newsom most likely will not be receiving dreams from God as to when famine or drought or fires will hit our state – maybe he would if he asked the Lord for wisdom, but either way it’s probably unlikely – but the principle remains the same. A good leader should not take the good years in the land for granted. A good leader should be preparing for hard times while there are good times, and not be so foolish or arrogant to think that the good times will always be the case. Governor Newsom and all the other leaders in our government have had ample time and resources to be preparing our land for the common difficulties that we see year after year – like drought and fires. A wise leader would look at these patterns and realize it must be the priority to make preparations to prevent these disasters, or where they aren’t preventable, to mitigate them so that they aren’t quite as destructive.

While these fires should have never been as bad as they were, I sincerely hope that they have provided our leadership, as well as us as residents of California, with valuable lessons to take with us moving forward. I hope that our government will make real change, learning from its mistakes, missteps, and negligence. I hope that we as the people of our state will rise up and demand wise stewardship, demand better preparations, and demand change in policy. Do not vote for this again in 2026! Our leaders must be held accountable. In fact, there is already a petition circling calling for the resignation of Mayor Karen Bass that I will link below. I believe that all the leaders involved in this catastrophe – our Governor included – must resign, and they must resign now.

How You Can Help

What can you and I do to help? First, please stay up to date and stay safe. Check the Los Angeles Fire Department’s updates on a regular basis for updated evacuation and warning zones, as well as containment and other important details. If you are anywhere in the Los Angeles area – keep yourself and your family safe. It is being reported that the Santa Ana winds are expected to be pretty bad again through Thursday of this week, so please keep watch on any fires near you and be ready to evacuate as soon as is needed to protect your life and the lives of those you love.

Then, if you have the time and ability, there are an abundance of places in need of volunteers and donations. The LA Dream Center is an organization looking for volunteers to help with receiving donations, passing out donations, directing traffic, sorting clothes, preparing hot meals, and praying with families. My Safe LA is another organization that partners with the Los Angeles Fire Department to enhance community resilience and could use volunteers to do that. A few other names are the American Red Cross LA Region, Hearts in Action LA, and LA Animal Services. Here are the links to these organizations in the show notes so that you can see for yourself what each organization needs and if they fit with how you might be able to help:

Another option if you can’t volunteer is to donate to many of these same foundations. The LA Dream Center is asking for donations of socks, toiletries, baby wipes, laundry detergent, baby formula, canned goods, electrolyte drinks, snacks, and many other essentials. Another great organization is Every Life, a pro-life diaper company. You can purchase a “Buy for a Cause” bundle on their website, which includes a month’s supply of diapers and wipes, and it will be given to families directly affected by the wildfires through partnership with City Serve, LA Dream Center, and Convoy of Hope. There is also Habitat for Humanity Greater Los Angeles, which will focus on helping families with housing needs. Again, here are the links to these organizations to give:

Then, for my fellow Christians, pray for the communities of Los Angeles. Pray for those who have lost everything – their homes, their neighborhoods, their security and safety, and the lives they have built. Pray that our leadership would be brought to its knees in humility, would recognize the destruction they have caused, and would change course. Pray that there would be revival in our state to demand better governance. Then, look at the impermanence of life, look at how quickly everything you have can be turned to ash, and be reminded that your hope cannot be in the here and now. Your hope must only be in what extends beyond this life – in union with Christ and relationship with God. If you are distracted by the busyness of life, the successes of hard work, and the things this world offers, let this be a wakeup call that those things can go up in smoke in an instant, and then what will you be left with? Put your hope in something – in someone – who is better, who is permanent, and who offers you lasting peace, security, and rest. Let’s use this as an opportunity to be the hands and feet of Christ, to reach out to those in need, to build the church back up, to comfort and equip our brothers and sisters in the faith, and to tell our neighbors that God works all things, even fire and destruction, for His glory and our good.

*link to sign the petition for the resignation of Mayor Karen Bass:

References:

[1] Toohey, Grace, Noah Haggerty, and Sandra McDonald. “How The Mountain Fire Exploded Into SoCal’s Most Destructive in Years - Los Angeles Times.” Los Angeles Times, November 9, 2024. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-11-08/la-me-california-mountain-fire-southern-california-destructive-ventura.

[2] Toohey, Grace. “Mountain Fire Crews Faced Water Issues. What Happened? - Los Angeles Times.” Los Angeles Times, November 15, 2024. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-11-15/water-pressure-became-an-issue-fighting-the-mountain-fire-how-bad-was-it.

[3] Fioresi, Dean, Julie Sharp, Marissa Wenzke, and Iris Salem. “Ventura County’s Mountain Fire Reaches 100% Containment After Destroying 240 Structures.” CBS News, December 10, 2024. https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/mountain-fire-in-moorpark-fueled-by-strong-winds-amid-red-flag-warnings/.

[4] NASA Earth Observatory. “Franklin Fire Leaves Its Mark on Malibu,” n.d. https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/153722/franklin-fire-leaves-its-mark-on-malibu.

[5] Toohey, Grace, Clara Harter, Noah Haggerty, Rong-Gong Lin II, and Hannah Fry. “Update: Two Dead, 1K Structures Destroyed in Los Angeles County Wildfires.” Los Angeles Times. January 8, 2025. https://www.firehouse.com/operations-training/wildland/video/55255729/two-dead-1k-structures-destroyed-in-los-angeles-county-wildfires.

[6] Gabbert, Bill. Woolsey Fire Archives - Wildfire Today. November 14, 2019. Wildfire Today. https://wildfiretoday.com/tag/woolsey-fire/.

[7] Johnson, Julie. “How Did the L.A. Fires Start? Here’s What We Know so Far.” San Francisco Chronicle, January 9, 2025. https://www.sfchronicle.com/california-wildfires/article/la-fires-cause-arson-power-20025016.php.

[8] CalFire. “Palisades Fire: Incident Update on 01/13/2025 at 9:34 AM | CAL FIRE,” January 13, 2025. https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/2025/1/7/palisades-fire/updates/ec336b91-9127-4f3a-b6d1-672a7d04168f.

[9] Weber, Christopher, and Holly Ramer. “Death Toll From Los Angeles Wildfires Rises to 24  | AP News.” AP News, January 13, 2025. https://apnews.com/article/los-angeles-wildfires-southern-california-c5826e0ab8db965cb2814132ff54ee6f.

[10] CalFire. “Eaton Fire: Incident Update on 01/13/2025 at 7:18 AM | CAL FIRE,” January 13, 2025. https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/2025/1/7/eaton-fire/updates/7a1188f8-3cae-43b0-af8b-03a76b02c067.

[11] Weber and Ramer, “Death Toll From Los Angeles Wildfires Rises to 24  | AP News.”

[12] CalFire, “Hurst Fire: Incident Update on 01/13/2025 at 8:20 AM | CAL FIRE,” January 13, 2025, https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/2025/1/7/hurst-fire/updates/ded9cc25-f98d-4c9e-8f4e-75799d1b0a41.

[13] Smith, Hayley. “Anger Flares as California Stormwater Washes Out to Sea - Los Angeles Times.” Los Angeles Times, January 20, 2023. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-01-20/anger-flares-as-california-stormwater-washes-out-to-sea.

[14] James, Ian. “Inside the California Operation to Keep Water Flowing - Los Angeles Times.” Los Angeles Times, May 13, 2024. https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2024-05-02/inside-the-california-operation-to-keep-water-flowing.

[15] Hamilton, Matt. “Newsom Orders Probe Into Why Pacific Palisades Reservoir Was Offline During Fires - Los Angeles Times.” Los Angeles Times, January 11, 2025. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-01-10/as-flames-raged-in-palisades-a-key-reservoir-nearby-was-offline.

[16] Ibid.

[17] Tidmarsh, Kevin. “Fact Check: What Really Happened With the Pacific Palisades Water Hydrants?” LAist, January 11, 2025. https://laist.com/news/climate-environment/why-did-pacific-palisades-water-hydrants-run-dry.

[18] Toohey, Grace. “Mountain Fire Crews Faced Water Issues. What Happened? - Los Angeles Times.” Los Angeles Times, November 15, 2024. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-11-15/water-pressure-became-an-issue-fighting-the-mountain-fire-how-bad-was-it.

[19] Plachta, Ari. “Newsom Backs 3 Dam Removals on California Rivers. Here’s Where Salmon May Soon Swim Freely.” The Sacramento Bee, April 1, 2024. https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article284875197.html.

[20] James, Ian. “Largest Dam Removal in U.S. History Frees Klamath River - Los Angeles Times.” Los Angeles Times, August 28, 2024. https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2024-08-28/klamath-river-dam-removal-completed.

[21] Danielle Venton [KQED], and Scott Rodd [Investigative Reporter]. “Cal Fire Fumbles Key Responsibilities to Prevent Catastrophic Wildfires Despite Historic Budget.” KPBS Public Media, June 21, 2022. https://www.kpbs.org/news/local/2022/06/21/cal-fire-key-responsibilities-prevent-catastrophic-wildfires-historic-budget.

[22] Smith, Hayley. “Newsom’s Plan to Harness California Land to Fight Climate Change - Los Angeles Times.” Los Angeles Times, April 22, 2024. https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2024-04-22/california-wants-to-harness-half-of-its-acreage-to-combat-climate-change-heres-how#:~:text=(By%20comparison%2C%20the%20California%20Department,of%20combined%20treatment%20and%20burns).

[23] Grimes, Katy. “California Is on Fire Again and It Was Preventable.” California Globe, September 8, 2020. https://californiaglobe.com/fl/california-is-on-fire-again-and-it-was-preventable/.

[24] Dearen, Jason. “What Ignited the Deadly Los Angeles Wildfires?” AP News, January 11, 2025. https://apnews.com/article/california-fires-possible-causes-6112488f835e45f53c67d4d03d7a1e4f.

[25] Jassin, Liz. “LA DA: ‘Max Punishment’ Will Be Sought for Looters, Arsonist.” News Nation, January 9, 2025. https://www.newsnationnow.com/banfield/la-da-punishment-guilty-looters-arsonist/.

[26] Dearen, “What Ignited the Deadly Los Angeles Wildfires? | AP News.”

[27] Cart, Julie. “Audit: California Utilities Aren’t Doing Enough to Reduce Wildfire Threats.” CalMatters, March 24, 2022. https://calmatters.org/environment/2022/03/wildfires-california-utilities-prevention/.

[28] Ibid.

[29] Johnson, “How Did the L.A. Fires Start? Here’s What We Know so Far.”

[30] McKenzie, Jessica. “‘Not Enough Firefighters’: Historic Wildfires Rage Unabated in Southern California - Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, January 9, 2025. https://thebulletin.org/2025/01/not-enough-firefighters-historic-wildfires-rage-unabated-in-southern-california/.

[31] Langellier, Robert. “We Are Running Out of Firefighters at a Perilous Time.” The New York Times, September 21, 2024. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/21/opinion/california-wildfires-west-forest-service.html.

[32] Streep, Abe. “As Wildfires Increase, the U.S. Is Losing More Wildland Firefighters Than Ever.” ProPublica, March 18, 2024. https://www.propublica.org/article/wildland-firefighters.

[33] Ibid.

[34] Sosa, Anabel. “California’s Firefighter Union Is Poised to Get a Rare Perk: Guaranteed Raises, Forever.” CalMatters, June 30, 2023. https://calmatters.org/environment/wildfires/2023/06/california-firefighter-salary-bill/.

[35] Ibid.

[36] Julie Cart, “Overworked California Firefighters Struggle With PTSD, Suicide, Fatigue, Intensifying Wildfires,” CalMatters, June 13, 2022, https://calmatters.org/environment/2022/06/california-firefighter-trauma-ptsd/.

[37] Ibid.

[38] Sosa, “California’s Firefighter Union Is Poised to Get a Rare Perk: Guaranteed Raises, Forever,” June 30, 2023.

[39] Alexander, Kurtis. “California Remains Short of Federal Firefighters as Fire Season Ramps Up.” The San Francisco Chronicle, July 16, 2024. https://www.sfchronicle.com/california-wildfires/article/federal-firefighter-shortage-19565303.php.

[40] Ingram, Julia. “A Month Before Fires, L.A. Fire Chief Warned Budget Cuts Were Hampering Emergency Response.” CBS News, January 10, 2025. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/california-wildfires-los-angeles-fire-chief-budget-cuts/.

[41] Ibid.

[42] Ibid.

[43] Raichik, Chaya. “Leaked Memo Reveals LA Mayor Karen Bass Demanded the Fire Department Cut $48.8 Million From Their Budget Just Days Before the Fires Broke Out.” X, January 10, 2025. https://x.com/libsoftiktok/status/1877771511290814545.

[44] Bush, Evan, Lewis Kamb, and Adiel Kaplan. “‘Entirely Foreseeable’: The L.A. Fires Are the Worst-case Scenario Experts Feared.” NBC News, January 9, 2025. https://www.nbcnews.com/weather/wildfires/california-fires-foreseeable-worst-case-scenario-rcna186887.

[45] Ibid.

[46] Dayaratna, Kevin D. “Consequences of Paris Protocol: Devastating Economic Costs, Essentially Zero Environmental Benefits | the Heritage Foundation.” The Heritage Foundation, April 13, 2016. https://www.heritage.org/environment/report/consequences-paris-protocol-devastating-economic-costs-essentially-zero.

[47] King, Ryan. “California Gov. Newsom Tries to Weasel Out of Blame With Reservoir Claim — Is Immediately Called Out.” New York Post, January 12, 2025. https://nypost.com/2025/01/12/us-news/gavin-newsom-boasts-california-reservoirs-completely-full-quickly-gets-called-out/.