Damage was made worse in Andrew by the numerous houses that were ill-built and ill-inspected having no hurricane anchors, roof decks held down by 3 or 4 nails not the 20+ or so mandated. Some inspectors had apparently taken kickbacks. That's on governments, too. I keep watching
those inspector videos in Arizona where the guy has been repeatedly drug before the inspection department for complaints from the builders and even other inspectors who rubber stamped inspections where trusses were broken, connector plates missing, shower stalls cracked, window frames cracked, even one window installed upside down...all missed by the city inspector.
The problem in every state (R or D) is that any attempt to create fire breaks, to thin the forest (most forests now have 300-600 trees where a healthy forest has less than 100 trees per acre), and practice real forestry management, is sadly, that they are fought in court by, of all people, Sierra Club, etc. When the Nature Conservancy endorsed control burning, they were treated like pariah by the other mainstream environmental groups. But the NC was right, and to this day, they practice controlled burning. We need to be conservationists, not preservationists, because the hands-off approach to fire management will result in huge conflagrations sooner or later, like Yellowstone in 1988. All these places were selectively burned by nature and by the Indians for thousands of years. In places, Yellowstone burned five foot of forest litter down to bare ground. To try and ignore that is to ignore the very ecology of the forest.
I see they have arrested an arsonist, but I also saw pictures of electric lines whipping in the wind and sending a shower of sparks below. That is a fixable problem. And that is a much better use of money than sponsoring gay parades (like the LA fire dept. did.) $1.7million of the current fire department budget has been set aside for "Equity and Inclusion Staffing." These DEI initiatives got so bad in the past 4 years, I know people who quit Wal-mart and $150k plus bonus jobs in Hdq. because it was against their religion to endorse and promote among their group members gay activities that they were opposed to. One just accountant runs a donut shop now, and said despite the lower income he is much happier, and he doesn't have to pretend what he views as deviant behavior is just grand. Basically, forcing religious people to endorse such behaviors isn't acceptable. Most Christians are tolerant of gays, but that's not the same as requiring them to endorse such, especially when their tax dollars are funding those initiatives. "Queers for Palestine" has to be one of the dumber things I've seen as anyone with have a brain knows homosexuals in Palestine would be stoned to death.
Government has a job. Just do it and ditch the social engineering.
You typing on your phone?