Tom Sito:
The thing to remember about the LA fires is this is not new. Prairie scrub and underbrush have been drying out and burning since the Ice Age. The pioneers used to call them prairie fires. The strong dry autumnal winds similar to the Sirocco or Mistral was named Santa Anna Winds in the 1880s. In 1946 Raymond Chandler wrote a story set during one of these called Red Wind. Joan Didion wrote about them also.
The difference this time is Climate Change. We had two wet years which grew a lot of wild scrub followed by the driest year on record. With climate change the winds are much stronger than normal, almost hurricane force. Whether this fire storm is just a one time thing or represents a new normal remains to be seen.
Wow! To think it's FaceBook that is needed to set so many people straight on the facts of life. I remember learning why The Blue Hills outside of Boston are named "The Blue Hills." It was first thought by English colonists that it was haze from fires. Smoke. Why? Many areas in the "New World" were forested and nature deals with it all with fire.
Fires are part of nature. No preventing them all.