The worst thing happening in America right now besides a felon reclaiming the White House is the fires in Southern California. There are 24 confirmed dead and I am sure that number is going to continue to rise. Every day we see the destruction in the news and on the web. Famous people have to evacuate their homes. Some have returned to find their homes just fine and others have found their homes completely destroyed. My wife has a High School classmate who posted pictures of his completely destroyed home on Facebook. It was a sad sight to see and I feel sorry for him. I hope his Oscars survived because he earned them. Those pictures and stories of the celebrities who have been forced to evacuate from the encroaching fires have been heart-wrenching. Some have lost their homes and others have returned to find their home just fine. What I have a problem with is the people who are not rich and famous whose lives have been completely destroyed and who don’t have the resources to start over again. You may read a couple of stories about them. Still, just like the Hurricane victims here in Florida after Ian, their stories will be soon forgotten as we move on to the next story and the next disaster or sensational news story.

California has a long history of wildfires. Many areas have experienced repeated ignitions over the last century such as Orange County. When you look at the reasons for these fires they vary from fire to fire. Lighting is one reason and so is arson. Many are just through the carelessness of people. No matter what the reason these fires will continue to occur and we need to make preparations on how to deal with them before they start.  Wisconsin, where I grew up, had what I think of as the deadliest wildfire in our history, the Peshtigo Fire. Over 1.2 million acres were burned and up to 2500 lives were taken. It probably started as a slash-and-burn land management situation to clear forests for farming and railroad construction. On the day of the fire a cold front was moving in which increased the wind speed. The increasing wind fanning the flames created a firestorm. The superheated flames of about 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit or hotter advanced due to winds of over 100 miles per hour or stronger. When a firestorm erupts it is like nature's nuclear explosion. Having studied the Peshtigo Fire in grade school as part of Wisconsin history you get an idea of what the people in California are experiencing. With the wind feeding and blowing the flames to such a hot temperature, I wonder just how much water reaches the flames or does most of it evaporate before makes it to the ground. The combination of heat and wind may make these fires extremely hard to contain.

These forest fires are what many would term as a natural disaster. Living in Florida I am familiar with natural disasters. Like California with its Forest Fires, we have our Hurricanes. I am reading many Republicans are blaming Governor Newsom for the California Wildfires. I am pretty sure he is not running around the state of California with a book of matches lighting these fires. If these fires are Newsom's fault why were the fires that happened when Reagan was Governor not Reagan’s fault? Why were the fires that happened when Brown was Governor, not his fault?  Why were the fires that happened when Schwarzenegger was Governor, not his fault? Blaming Governor Newsom for these forest fires is like blaming Governor DeSantis for the Hurricanes that hit Florida yearly. With Ian that devastated the area where I live, we are not even close to recovering after over two years. Sanibel Causeway was badly damaged and was shut down because parts of the causeway were washed away. Governor DeSantis was called a hero because he got the Causeway open in just a month, it has been suggested that they name the damn thing after him. Over two years they are still working at shoring up the Causeway trying to ensure that it will be able to withstand a Category 5 Hurricane. They knew how vulnerable these causeways were long before Ian hit us. Why weren’t these things done before a category 4 hurricane hit it? Playing the blame game doesn’t solve anything and just causes more division.

Why is Newsom being treated so much differently than DeSantis? Politics is one reason. Republicans are trying to discredit the Democratic Governor of California something that the Democrats did not due to the Florida Governor. I hate to say this but now is not the time for politics. People are dying and people's cherished homes and possessions are being destroyed. Homes can be rebuilt and we can acquire more possessions but lives can’t be replaced. During crises, like what we are seeing in California, the nation should be united to help those that have been affected by the fires. It should never be used for politics that will just divide that nation more than it already is. It should not be used to try and manipulate people by spreading more hatred. The people of California should not be treated with blackmail to make them succumb to an ideology that they don’t agree with. That is what didn’t happen in Florida. The nation united to help Florida and the nation should unite to help California.

One thing that definitely needs to happen is the talking heads who don’t have a clue of what they are talking about need to keep their mouths shut. One mouth in particular is Trump. He says there is just a very large faucet in Canada that takes a day to turn on. What he is talking about is nonsense. Canada’s water is not ours to take and there have never been negotiations with Canada to divert water which would have to take place nor, has anyone suggested the infrastructure that would take years to build at an astronomical cost be built. Trump has claimed that Governor Newsom refused to sign the water declaration that was put before him that would allow millions of gallons of water to flow from the north. The document and the declaration do not exist. Why would Trump turn this into a political show at the people's expense? Better yet, why would Trump lie? Nothing and I repeat nothing that Trump has suggested would have helped fight these fires. In fact, the best thing that Trump could do is keep his mouth shut and let better and smarter men do their jobs. Turning a natural crisis into a political figure-pointing match when you don’t have a clue what you are talking about just weakens our nation more and more.