This is a tangent, but an important one for many people. The people in city and county government are usually people just like us. In varying usually small degrees, we're distracted, stumbling through life, trying to figure out what's going on and keep up. The disasters that afflict us are usually small and nobody notices them. Someone I know overwatered a magnificent mulberry tree in their front and killed it -- a sad loss in several ways that can't be repaired.

If there are any real supermen or superwomen, don't look for them in city or county government. In a major disaster like the Palisades Fire, their lost tree is your lost neighborhood.

Our city government screws up on an almost ongoing basis. Yes, it's "little things" but in a major disaster, those same little things will have big consequences.

The LA fires have impacted people I'm close to. One couple, the husband a successful lawyer, had 6 hours to evacuate, dismissing their children's pleas to leave. They finally evacuated in time to save themselves, but they didn't pack hardly a single thing, thinking they would return the next day., Their house burnt to the ground. I feel terrible for them. I remember wonderful family Thanksgivings with them at their house. I hope the point of my comment isn't too abstract.