It's the Fuel, Stupid

Jan 244 min read

Why did LA burn? Not Climate Change. Fuel.

Climate doesn't burn. Fuel burns.

Less fuel, less fire. Low fuel, easier fire to put out.

Excess fuel, excess fire. Massively excess fuel, massively excess fire.

Sure, fire does not live on fuel alone. It needs air and aridity. Hence, Santa Ana Winds make a bad situation much worse, especially after eight long months of no rain.

Devil Winds & drought aside: No fuel, no fire. No excess fuel, no insane conflagration.

Celebrity Democrats Stupidly Blame Climate Change

Climate Change did it, say Gavin, Barbra & Bernie.

Stop cooking with gas & flying to see grandma, and it'll stop, they say.

Peak Irony is here.

California spent untold billions to reduce CO2 emissions, not that it matters in terms of global emissions, since California’s are but a rounding error at that scale, which is what counts. Indeed, China & India's CO2 emissions dwarf California's.

California’s CO2 emissions may have gone down due to very heavy cCon, but any reduction is now dwarfed by the monstrous plume rising from the #LAFires. Anti-CO2 policies laid waste to California’s workaday economy, now they've laid waste to LA's luxe landscape, even as they've sent a virtual volcanic eruption into the global atmosphere.

When it comes to wildfires, it's the fuel, stupid.

The fuel load in chaparral-lined SoCal canyons is almost triple now from what it was when Ronald Reagan was in the White House. It's up a whopping 60% in just the past two decades, as shown in the graph above. Below is a map depicting where fuel loads are highest in the area. The blue and green colors indicate higher fuel loads.

LA Fuel Density Map, circa 2020: Blue & green are bad.

The LA wildfires carried almost three times their normal punch when they came roaring off the unnaturally thick chaparral and into Pacific Palisades and other La La Land enclaves. Those Devil Winds have blown through SoCal canyons since the Earth cooled. But now, carrying massive released energy from all that extra fuel, they've become monstrous blow torches. Entire towns were turned into post-apocalyptic hellscapes.

Climate didn't do that. Fuel combustion did. Only fuel burns. It's the fuel, stupid.

Fuel Reduction Then & Now

LA burned all the time before the Spanish explorers discovered the future City of Angels. Those regular fires left behind a fraction of the wild fuel load that LA's canyons now hold. Because they kept the fuel load in check, those fires weren't massive.

Then fire suppression became a top priority, starting soon after the 49ers came to California in the mid-1800s. That started the fuel buildup we suffer from today.

But, maniacal fire suppression, though troublesome, wasn't the killer thing.

High chaparral near Malibu: Areas in the Palisades Fire exhibited MORE fuel than this.

Woke Land Use is the Killer Thing.

"Land Use" is such a post-modern term, so much nicer to woke ears than "Forestry". Woke Land Use opposes logging, fire roads, harming protected species, infringing on sacred spots, and other invented sins against Mother Earth. Environmental Justice warriors hover and watch, ready to sue anyone foolish enough to cross their path.

Result? Fuel doesn't get reduced very much, and not at all in many SoCal spots.

Newsom Cut $100M From Fire Budget Before These Huge Fires

Fuel reduction is nowhere near where it needs to be under Newsom & the Democrats.

"Gavin Newsom Cut $100M from Fire Prevention Before Huge Fires" - Newsweek

The 24-25 budget signed into law by Gavin Newsom slashed wildfire and forest resilience funding by $101M, per the California Legislative Analyst's Office.

Cuts included $5M from CAL FIRE fuel reduction teams. - Newsweek

The results are huge fuel, followed by historic firestorms.

One result is a holocaust for the deer, cougars, owls, hawks and other wild animals who call the canyons and forests home, not to mention our beloved dogs, cats & horses. Humans should protect animals, but failed miserably.

Another result is scores of dead people. The Talmud teaches that "taking a life is like destroying an entire world." These fires destroyed an entire galaxy.

What's changed since the 49ers got here?

The Devil Winds haven't changed, notwithstanding being unusually strong this year. The regularity of fire hasn't changed, notwithstanding the arson and other man-made causes of this hellacious January. The big change is the huge fuel load, higher now than ever.

Newsom & Bass must go! California must reform!

Governor Gavin Newsom & Mayor Karen Bass must go ASAP. Further, the influence of climate-obsessed environmentalists must be destroyed. Those environmentalists dominate the politics of coastal California. They're particularly thick in Pacific Palisades, Malibu, Pasadena and other now devastated towns. That's a Bonfire of the Vanities for the ages.

New leadership is necessary to do two monumental things: radical levels of fuel reduction and massive construction of water projects. There is much that underlays each of those, from removing impediments and lawfare, to prioritizing human over fish needs.

But, first things first. Even as the fires are being fought, we must change leaders.

The Much Needed Recall of Gavin Newsom