It’s been more than three weeks since the beginning of the Los Angeles area wildfires and the level of devastation is overwhelming. The numbers are stark: The fires killed 28 people and incinerated more than 16,000 structures. Officials peg the economic damage at $150 billion or more, with insurance companies expecting losses of $30 billion.
We’ve also seen the heartbreaking images of our fellow Californians combing through the wreckage looking for their beloved pets and remnants of their lives. My wife is a Red Cross volunteer and I can’t stand hearing the tragic stories after she returns from a service call.
In this fast-paced social-media-dominated world, we all jump to various policy conclusions. I’ve done so myself, as I’ve ruminated in previous columns about the various insurance, land use, wildfire prevention, and water policies that exacerbated the situation. These are important issues and need to be hashed out, especially as the state and federal governments consider aid packages and regulatory relief to speed up the rebuilding process…