Phelim McAleer: 'Progressive' Los Angeles had its priorities so wrong - and then was unable to handle fire when it struck

These areas are now mile after mile of empty desolation.

The question I most often get from non-Americans (and many non-Angelos) is just how could fires destroy so much of one of the most advanced cities on the planet.

There are some uniquely American reasons for the destruction. Most houses in the US are built with the flimsiest of materials. The houses consist of timber frames and chipboard with a skin of cement on top of the chipboard. A relative who spent many years working in the American construction industry said: “You could break into an American house with a sharp knife.”

In Los Angeles these flimsy wooden houses have been sitting in the dry, desert-like air for decades, drying out waiting for a spark. And because they are so expensive – every square foot of the site is used. They are very close together. And unfortunately the fires started as the city was also experiencing unusually strong winds. Thousands of houses were destroyed within hours.

But how did the fires start? They are still investigating the cause of the fires but most fires in the city are caused by electric wires coming down in high winds or because of arson. (It has nothing to do with climate change. Hundreds of years ago the first explorers to the area noted how the hills often went on fire.)

Los Angeles, like many “progressive” cities in the US has seen a massive rise in homeless encampments and lawlessness. The authorities have taken the view that it would be unfair to punish people who want to live on the streets and commit crime. Until recently it was not a crime if you shoplifted goods worth less than $1000. So not surprisingly Los Angeles saw a lot of people on the streets committing crime. The homeless Industrial complex in Los Angeles encouraged all this. It has spent $24 billion on the problem — which means providing services, such as food, and even drugs, to the often criminally insane. At last count there were over 60 thousand living on the streets and the city was looking increasingly third world.

And the criminally insane are often fascinated with fire. So why is anyone surprised when fire after fire erupts because of arson started by the homeless?

Los Angeles had its priorities so wrong across the board. Firefighters ran out of water because reservoirs were emptied for maintenance that never happened.

And speaking of firefighters when she was hired, LA's Fire Chief Kristin Crowley, said she was focused, not on fire-proofing the city but on increasing diversity in the ranks and hiring women, racial minorities and LGBTQ people for the job. She was successful in that ambition. The three top fire commanders in LA were lesbians. This was not a coincidence.

This progressive worldview destroys everything it touches all in the name of being the “good people”.

The Department of Water and Power — the utility that is supposed to ensure there is actually water for us Angelenos and for firefighters – published their annual report just before the fires. They managed to create a 59-page document that droned on endlessly about “sustainability, solar energy, ‘green’ hydrogen, decarbonization, diversity, and equity.”

The report had just one paragraph on wildfire mitigation. But even when they eventually tried to mitigate the danger, the Department of Water and Power ran into barriers that protected plants before people.

In 2019, they wanted to widen a fire-access road and replace old wooden electric poles in the Topanga Canyon, beside the Palisades, with steel ones to make power lines fire and wind resistant. In the process, crews removed 182 “Braunton’s milkvetch” plants which are an endangered species. State officials immediately investigated the plant destruction. The California Coastal Commission ordered the Department of Water and Power to stop work and issued heavy fines.

It seems that protecting plants was more important than mitigating fires in crazy Los Angeles.

• Phelim McAleer is a Co Tyrone born producer/journalist living in Los Angeles