One of the things that kills me is that whenever anything hits the news, everyone on the Internet becomes an instant expert. It doesn’t matter if the subject is the use of force, medicine, fire suppression, or engineering. Whatever the big news article, the Internet has an easy solution, and since no one has implemented your solution, it must mean that there is a conspiracy of rich guys who are not doing it because reasons.
The fires in LA are no exception. The latest I have been seeing is:
- how all of LA should be surrounded by a fire suppression sprinkler system that douses the buildings and surrounding countryside to ward off wildfires.
- Buildings should all be built of the same materials as kilns or perhaps of bricks, so that houses won’t burn.
- Neighborhoods should build their own reservoirs and hire their own fire departments to protect that specific neighborhood
- Establish volunteer fire departments where people who live in a neighborhood could defend it
I can think of half a dozen reasons why each of those ideas would fail spectacularly. I am sure that my readers can as well. The easiest and most effective answers are the ones that won’t be used. Again, I use Florida’s wildland forestry system as an example. I spent more than 25 years as a firefighter, have a degree in fire science, and a hold a Red card as a certified Federal wildland firefighter, but I clearly don’t know as much as a Liberal Arts major who works at Starbucks and spends his time solving all of the world’s problems on social media.