In the Monday morning quarterbacking now in full review regarding the Southern California fires, too many so-called pundits display their massive ignorance of history. Amazing, considering all they need to recall is about a week's time. So much of their commentary is focusing on the lack of air resources available when the plethora of flame-age broke out, but one thing every microphone jockey seems to forget is that for the first 48 hours, air support was impossible due to the high winds.
The Santa Ana Winds are known all around Southern California as a reversal of the normal wind patterns - instead of winds coming onshore, we get a west blowing wind that is hot, and extremely unpredictable. It happens every year around October, and the real mystery isn't that air support was impossible during the initial fire outbreaks, but that it was such a surprise to those that supposedly report the news.
Now, a scant workweek later, we're told that the State and Federal responses were slow in offering up air resources. Those air resources couldn't have done anything but take up airstrip space had they been in place around Southern California. And no one seems to recall that while Lake Arrowhead blew up (the incidents known beyond the local area as the Grass Valley Fire and the Slide Fire), LA County refused to give up any of their air support, allowing the first hundred Lake Arrowhead houses to burn in the blink of an eye while Malibu cried over their loss of a grand total of six at that point, and a so-called castle that apparently wasn't surrounded by a moat.
Before you fall for the temptation to jump on the "The State Sucks" or "The Fed"s a Fraud' bandwagon, remember that despite our best attempts at reigning in our carbon footprint, Mother Nature reigns supreme, and apparently she prefers a fat loafer to a tight stiletto heel. California responded better than most could ever hope for, given the conditions on the ground. For those of you in the control room who can't remember what you saw, it's time to rewind the tape.
Sam Jones is a SoCal native who has survived the Old Fire, the Butler Fire, the Butler 2 Fire, and the smoke and ash of the Grass Valley and Slide fires. He can't wait for the snowboarding season.
