Stop Blaming Politicians. L.A. Was Built to Burn.

Since the fires began to engulf Los Angeles last Tuesday, we’ve been covering the devastation—and its root causes.

Peter Savodnik wrote about evacuating his home. Nellie Bowles pointed out the shocking incompetence of city lawmakers. Austyn Jeffs hiked to the Santa Ynez reservoir to ask why it was empty. Los Angeles residents revealed the despair of losing their homes. Our editorial, Paradise Lost, explained how this fire is not just a natural disaster, but a man-made one. Bari underlined that point with Martha MacCallum.

Today, we wanted to offer a different view.

Leighton Woodhouse says you can spend your time blaming Gavin Newsom, Karen Bass, DEI, and budget cuts. But, in fact, California is built to burn. That’s because we built a massive civilization in a place where fire is as much a part of the natural habitat as summer rains are in the east.

Appreciation to our friends at Newsweek for allowing us to reprint this essay, which we consider one of the smartest takes on the disaster. —The Editors

There’s a common misconception that beneath the asphalt, Los Angeles is a desert. It isn’t. It’s grassland. And part of the natural cycle of the grassland ecosystem is fire.

Twenty-seven years ago, Mike Davis wrote Ecology of Fear: Los Angeles and the Imagination of Disaster. One of the chapters is titled “The Case for Letting Malibu Burn.” In it, he argued that the area between the beach and the Santa Monica Mountains simply never should have been developed. No matter what measures we take to prevent it, those hills are going to burn, and the houses we erect upon them are only so much kindling.