Deflection

The press has it right to blame the politicians for the wildfires, since this is really not the blame of the civil engineers or foresters. The politicians are responsible for funding good management of an adequate water supply and flammable trees and shrubbery. As the press has been pointing out, there has been deflections in good management for water supply and/or forestry.

Any civil engineer could easily calculate the number of gallons that it would take to put out a house fire. When a subdivision is constructed, the city engineers will work with the developer to determine the water supply needed for the homes, including fire protection. If there is not enough water for the subdivision, then subdivision should not be constructed until the water needs are met. But, as the press is showing on videos, the water levels of the reservoir do not have the water in them to put out the fires. It should be understood at the time of subdivisions developed that reservoirs will not be full in the dry seasons and that they will need maintenance. Water reservoirs need to be designed to accommodate the dry seasons and reservoir maintenance and still be able to put out house fires.

As clearly shown in the videos, there was not enough water in the reservoirs to put out these house fires. There can only be one answer on why there was not enough water, since the engineers would have supply the politicians with the water needs, by public policies. The politicians would have over ruled the engineers. And, as most engineers have experienced working with politicians, they will over ride the information provided to them by the engineers.

The best engineers have the ability to teach the politicians. From education and experience, engineers know the best layout for a given engineering feature, and the engineers never want an engineering feature to go political, since the politicians only wants results shown to the citizens and does not care about practicality. Engineers have seen plenty of disasters when projects go political.

With LA being in an area where it is easy for the shrubbery to become dry in the dry season and can burn easily, there has to be good forestry management. The planting of shrubbery next to the homes needs to be properly designed not to become so hot as to burn the house down. The amount of shrubbery needs to in the open areas needs to be controlled. If needed, controlled fires should be commenced when needed. But, as the new sources are stating, there has been no controlled burns in this area.

This is an area that is subjected to burn, and every politician knows that there needs to be good forestry management. But, instead of hearing in the news that management funds are being spent to manage the forestry needs, we hear that the city has had major cuts made in fire protection. The politicians are provided no management funds for forestry.

It is correct for the press to blame the politicians for the fires in LA, since they approving cuts in management of both water resources and forestry. The politicians have deflected good engineering and forestry management in the city of LA.

Roger