Did you ever listen to Cal alum and West Coast legend Dr. Bill Wattenburg on KGO radio? What a brilliant man, book and real-world smarts. He was an acquired taste due to his temper and serious topics... he didn't spend time fawning over Brittany Spears (Ronn Owens). He became a contemporary of Dr. Glenn Seaborg and Berkeley's world-renowned scientists.
Dr. Bill - who taught physics at Cal, worked on the Apollo Mission, was an inventor, and conducted research at Lawrence Livermore Labs - also fought fires on the down low every summer with his fleet of yellow iron (Caterpillar dozers and heavy equipment). He even ran his bulldozers at night fighting fires even in his mid 60s, cutting fire breaks.
At the end of the Gulf War, more than 550 Kuwaiti oil wells and were ignited by retreating Iraqi troops. Experts said it would take 4, 5 years to put out the fires. Instead of long-term, structured, guaranteed contracts that were being negotiated for fat terms, Dr. Bill claimed to spearhead a different strategy. Companies would be given x number of well fires (say, 5) to put out; when completed, they'd receive x million dollars, and 5 more wells. This incentivized production over Insider deals. The oil well fires were put out in eight months.
Dr. Bill gave the West Coast an education on the airwaves about nuclear power, common sense, and our beloved forests. He grew up in Plumas County, and educated his listeners on maintaining healthy forests and fighting forest fires. He spoke for decades about how our forests are out of "equilibrium". The self-appointed experts let Yellowstone burn, and 1.4 million acres burned. Idiots. We used to have forests in equilibrium with smaller manageable fires, but with decades of mismanagement we now have super fires.
The chapparel in Los Angeles is a little different, but we still have similiar components: excess fuel, poor planning, less firemen and volunteers, few fire breaks or controlled burns. The fuel builds up, which creates bigger problems. L.A. had crazy wind, two wet years (fuel), followed by drought, so fires were expected. But they failed to deploy 1,000 available fire personnel, or equipment to Pacific Palisades. It was a real sh-t show. And to think that LA had dozens of fire personnel probably making $500,000 or more per year. A 117-million-gallon reservoir was left empty, and some out-of-state fire rigs had to pass through Sacramento for certification? Water pumps couldn't run because if kooky Progressive policies (generators would cause pollution). LA County had months to prepare, but multiple LAFD and LADWP leaders stressed DEI was their top priority.
