Fire

Remember in the article just below this I said that when I run the world people who opt out of insurance won't get to use FEMA services? I need to amend the Trogvision Worldview. People who don't leave areas when they're being ordered to evacuate also need sanctions. I think the municipality should get to sue them later, but I also think there ought to be immediate sanctions. Right now this is about fire, but just as often it's about flooding, hurricanes or whatever other event Mother Nature can vomit up. In my world, the immediate sanction is: You don't get rescued.

It sounds colder than it is. It's very similar to the logic applied to the deli line. If you're Number 84, and you walk away when it's nearing your turn, woe unto you. You have to wait, until there's a break in the action, or until everyone else's orders have been taken care of, or until everyone else is dead. Either way, it's a long wait. And what's more, you knew this going in. Don't leave your secure, Number 84 place in line. Leaving=bad.

One of the fire chiefs in L.A. County estimated his needs at 1,200 firefighters. He only got 600. Part of the problem is that they're chronically understaffed. Staffing at the rate of need is a duty that is owed the people of California. It's one thing in a pinch, but rescue personnel can't constantly be pulled from various areas as standard operating procedure. What this ill-fated decision to underfund and understaff means is that it's particularly important in this emergency to evacuate when ordered to do so.

I'm reminded of the Simpsons episode in which Bart and Lisa are removed from the Simpson home due to perceived parental negligence. Marge and Homer have to take a parenting class and the instructor tells the class to "put your garbage in a garbage can, people. I can't stress that enough."

It seems simple: Get. Out. Hey, wait, it actually is that simple. Get out, and if you're too stupid to get out, don't make anyone exert one iota of energy on the thing you were too stupid to do, because the other, smarter people need the rescue people more than you do.

Yes, there are people who aren't able to get out for one reason or another. Presumably they have working radios and TVs and cellphones and can call ahead to alert the rescue personnel that they are in harm's way and need help. I'm not talking about them. I'm talking about people who willfully decide that, having been graced with survival of a fire previously, they will risk it again, dump the gallons of water they're holding on to the fire that's now threatening their homes, watch the action from their roofs, etc. If the fire departments, ie people trained to handle this very activity, are having a hard time deciding which spot is next because the winds are so treacherous, how is it not the height of arrogance for Joe Citizen to think he knows better?

Source:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071022/ap_on_re_us/california_wildfires
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/weather/july-dec07/fires_10-22.html