Let us first stipulate that Los Angeles city and county, as well as the entire Golden State, could have had the best governance in the history of human affairs, yet still there would have been property-destroying fires in Southern California this week.
When the National Weather Service issues a rare "Particularly Dangerous Situation" (PDS) fire warning for the counties south of the Tehachapis, as it did Monday afternoon, things just burn. The December 9, 2024, PDS warning preceded the Franklin Fire, which consumed 4,000 acres and destroyed 20 buildings around Malibu. A November 5 alert anticipated the next day's Mountain Fire in Ventura County, torching 20,000 acres and 240 structures. Similar wrath followed the only two other PDS designations before this week, in October 2020 (Blue Ridge and Silverado fires, in Orange County) and later that December (the Bond fire, also in the O.C.).
