The California Fires

I’ve been watching Los Angeles burn for over a week now, the images and videos painting a hellscape of destruction. Palm trees spitting sparks like Roman candles. Entire neighborhoods reduced to soot and ashes. I learn that some celebrity’s house was destroyed. Lots of celebrities have lost their homes. There are thousands of ordinary people who have lost everything. I’ve watched video of incredibly brave pilots flying helicopters and fixed wing airplanes dropping water on the fires despite the most dangerous flying conditions you can imagine. The amount of heroism on the ground of this tragedy has been astounding, from firefighters to homeowners coming together in crisis. I watch the destruction and the destroyed communities and my heart is broken for my fellow Americans in Southern California.

Just a few months ago it was the people in the North Carolina mountains, entire towns wiped off the map by floods and landslides. Months later those folks are still homeless. It will take years for their recovery. Same for California. Natural disasters have the power to wipe out in minutes what it took a lifetime to build. For the people of North Carolina, the freak hurricane was a once in a lifetime disaster. For the people of Southern California, destructive wildfires are a fact of life due to a collection of conditions from drought and the Santa Anna winds to questionable land management restrictions—or lack thereof. But in either case watching people dying and their homes being burnt to a crisp is a catastrophe.

Along with the bravery of so many there are also examples of human depravity. Seeing men walking around with blowtorches starting fires intentionally is the sort of thing that makes my blood boil.

But, just like the disaster in North Carolina, it hasn’t taken long for the conspiracy theories to sprout up on social media. We humans want to assign blame, it is unavoidable when people are angry, I suppose. The Los Angeles Mayor has come in for her share of criticism with her deer in the headlights press conference to being out of the country—in Ghana??—while her city was burning. The California Governor has come in for lots of criticism as well, as have some of the policy decisions that his government has made that many people believe have contributed to the severity of the fire. But there have also been other theories thrown into the mix claiming everything from deliberate malfeasance on the part of the governments involved all the way to blaming the fires on a United Nations plot to destroy LA to make room for a smart city! Now, there’s a new one that claims that the fires in Pacific Pallisade were set deliberately by Hollywood big shots to destroy Sean “Diddy” Combs’ home and all the evidence to be found inside and underneath his house. Sigh….

By far the worst take I’ve encountered watching this story unfold is one that thankfully I’ve only seen once or twice but even that is too much. California is being destroyed by fire because of God’s wrath and judgement. People who feel this way also seem to delight at the prospect of this so-called divine justice. Be careful what you wish for. If you think that God is behind this because of the sins of Southern California, you better hope he doesn’t start looking for sinners in Short Pump. I happen to know that Short Pump is crawling with them, including the one writing this blog. So, I’ll just let the conspiracy folks believe anything they want. I don’t know enough to cast blame, especially while the fire is still burning. What I do know is that some really good people have lost everything. My heart is with them.