Abstract

California Burning

The author explores the question of who is to blame for the fact that San Diego county was unprepared to deal with the wildfires that destroyed large areas of Southern California. The 52nd Congressional District of California, where I grew up, encompasses the eastern suburbs of San Diego as well as a vast hinterland of granite-bouldered mountains and almost impenetrable manzanita chaparral. In recent years this picturesque back country has been a magnet for trophy homes, luxury estates and horse ranches. Developers and county supervisors, eager to service the soaring demand for luxury living in low-tax unincorporated areas, have paid little heed to persistent warnings from fire officials that 80 percent of the brush was more than twenty years old and thus explosively flammable. At this writing, authorities estimate that the death toll from the ten great wildfires that swept Southern California will exceed twenty. More than 3,600 homes and businesses are now charcoal. At least in the case of the Cedar Fire, the ultimate responsibility belongs at home. As local firefighters' unions have been pointing out for years, San Diego County's reigning antigovernment, low-tax ethos--precisely what made it the birthplace of the recent recall has led to critical underinvestment in fire services. To be fair to San Diego taxpayers, however, they do carry other burdens. Former City Councilman Bruce Henderson has calculated that San Diego taxpayers have contributed more than $400 million in the past six years to support the Chargers and Padres, and more than $500 million to subsidize big hotels and theme parks.