Years of policy failures, bookended by insufficient preparation in the days leading up to the California wildfires, laid the groundwork for historic destruction, former California state Rep. Mike Gatto says.
“When the history of these fires are written, people will conclude that it was 25% the weather and 75% incompetence and poor management,” the Democratic ex-lawmaker told The Daily Signal at his Palos Verdes, Calif., home.
The fires resulted from a perfect storm of strong winds, overgrown brush, and dry conditions due to a lack of rain for nine months, Gatto said, but poor preparation and slow reaction time from local, city, and state officials, among them Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Gov. Gavin Newsom, allowed the fire to reach such devastating proportions.
More than 12,000 homes, businesses, schools, and other structures have been destroyed since the…
