A Lesson from the Ants

 

It never fails. Following any disaster, there is an obsession with finding out whose fault it was. The Los Angeles area fires are no exception.

It’s been reported that firefighters on the ground ran out of water and that a reservoir was dry. The fire chief had repeatedly warned that the fire department was underfunded. The mayor was in Africa when she should probably have been back in town for the start of this event.

All these things are true, but I do think we need to consider whether reversing them would have made much of a difference. It’s generally agreed that the area was hit by hurricane force winds over an extended period, making it unsafe for water- and retardant-dropping aircraft to fly, leaving control of the fires and their embers in the hands of ground forces. Even had aircraft been up, the wind might have prevented the water and retardant they released from falling in the right place.

It seems pretty clear to me that while they fought bravely and saved lives, there wasn’t much that ground forces by themselves could have done to prevent this tragedy. Let’s just say that L.A. was ready for an 8-point earthquake, and a 9 came along.

The people who lost their homes are understandably frustrated and angry. But is it only current officeholders and officials who may be responsible? What about all those who preceded them and perhaps failed to consider the exploding population of L.A. and neglected to build the necessary fire-prevention infrastructure? And those who denied or ignored climate change?

The victims of the Pacific Palisades fire include many celebrities and wealthy people. Also included are the not-so-wealthy, those who lived in homes that were valuable only because they had stood for decades. Add to these folks victims of the Eaton fire. Most, in one way or another, are homeless now, just what the L.A. area needs, right?

I look at it like this. Let’s say you accidentally kick over an anthill in your garden. You have destroyed the ants’ home. Do the ants blame each other for lack of preparedness? No! They immediately set out to rebuild the anthill. Or maybe they move to a safer location and build a new one. This said, I am no entomologist, but it seems likely that they rebuild the same type of anthill - they’re ants! As humans, though, we strive to find out what went wrong and try to build back better, as the phrase goes. That’s good.

But fault-finding is a waste of valuable time when disaster is fresh and people are hurting. There will be plenty of opportunity for blame later, when attorneys get involved.