[NYTr] Class, Race and the California Wildfires Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2007 15:57:12 -0500 (CDT) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit sent by Milt Shapiro (mexnews) Reuters - Oct 25, 2007 Charred bodies of migrants found in path of California fires By Dan Whitcomb Border patrol agents discovered four charred bodies in rugged mountains near the Mexican border on Thursday, bringing the probable death toll from California's wildfires to 12, even as firefighters gained the upper hand in their five-day battle. Agents found the badly burned remains, thought to be three males and a female, at the bottom of a rocky ravine in the mountains east of San Diego, about 3 miles from the Mexican border. Together with two other burned bodies found earlier Thursday in a house in San Diego county, the discovery doubled the probable death toll from the fires. At least 60 people have been injured. As crews used a break in the weather to bring most of the fires under control, President George W. Bush surveyed the devastated areas and met with a few of the estimated 500,000 people who fled their homes in California's largest mass evacuation. Bush, who was roundly criticized for his handling of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, flew over hard-hit San Diego in a helicopter with California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and visited charred neighborhoods. "It really is important for me to come out here and see first hand the situation, and there's no question a lot of people are suffering, and there's no question there's been terrible losses," Bush said. The four bodies found near the Mexican border were likely illegal immigrants who were overrun by flames as they walked through the rugged terrain. The remote area is often used by coyotes -- guides who smuggle people into the United States for profit. They appeared to have died in the Harris fire, U.S. Border Patrol spokesman Matthew Johnson said. "It seems fire related. The Harris fire at the border was out there," Johnson said. 2,000 HOMES GONE About 2,000 homes have been destroyed or damaged since Sunday, when wildfires began breaking out across the southern half of the state. "These fires are among the worst disasters in California history, and the president and I just had a heartbreaking tour of the disaster," Schwarzenegger said. The wildfires broke out during the weekend after the winds began to blow in from the desert at more than 80 mph (130 kph). They have blackened more than 800 square miles in a parched region that suffered its driest summer on record. San Diego County has suffered some $1 billion in losses, and three of the largest fires were still burning there, mostly in the eastern, less populated part of the county. But most evacuees were allowed to return home and Qualcomm Stadium, which had provided shelter for some 10,000 people at the height of the disaster, was closed. Steve Conner, 62, whose home was one of 30 reduced to ruins on his block in suburban San Diego, described the moment he confronted the loss of his house and neighborhood as a "total breakdown." "Emotionally, it was just beyond belief," the Vietnam War infantry veteran said, his voice shaking. "It's just totally wiped out. All the trees are black. ... it just reminded me of Vietnam. It just reminded me of a war zone." One of the last major battles was in Orange County, where firefighters were trying to stop the 25,000-acre Santiago fire. The blaze, which has destroyed 14 homes and was burning into the Cleveland National Forest, was being investigated by local authorities as well as the FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms as an arson. A $150,000 reward had been offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible. A risk firm said insured losses from the fires would likely cost between $900 million and $1.6 billion. (Additional Steve Gorman in Los Angeles) Copyright B) 2007 Reuters Limited *** Workers World - Nov 1, 2007 issue http://www.workers.org/2007/us/calif-fires-1101/ Class, race and the California wildfires By Teresa Gutierrez On the East Coast, an unprecedented warm October reminds us all about the crisis in climate change. It is fall, but the trees are still green, flowers are still blooming, birds still sing and, troublingly, there is no need for a jacket. But on the West Coast, the burning fires of Southern California are a stark and painful reminder that the times they are a-changingband not for the good. As of this writing, almost half a million people have had to flee their homes in Southern California as a result of wildfires that started Oct. 21. An estimated 700 houses and businesses as well as 260,000 acres have been destroyed. One person has been reported dead and more than 20 people have been injured. [Note: this figure is climbing; it's now at least 10 dead, including four Mexican migrants found burned on a hillside. See Reuters story above. -NYTr] The fire is being called one of the worst in Californiabs history, a bperfect storm,b prompting both Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and President George Bush to declare the area a national emergency. Schwarzenegger is deploying National Guard soldiers to help support the 6,000 firefighters who are fighting the flames. Within two days, there were at least 14 separate fires raging throughout Southern California, covering a region from north of Los Angeles to south of the Mexican border. More than 316 fire engines, 19 air tankers, 15 bulldozers and eight helicopters are being used to fight the infernos. Help is being requested from Northern California, Arizona and Nevada. The Associated Press reports that the fires are so extensive that several of them could be seen from space. Due to strong winds, which are erratic and unpredictable, there is no telling where other fires will move or start up. It remains to be seen if the fires will rival the record wildfires of 2003 that killed 22 people, destroyed more than 3,300 structures and caused more than $2 billion in damages. What really caused the fire? One of the firefighters on the site stated that bstrong winds, totally dryb led to perfect storm conditions. But Mike Davis, an academic who writes prolifically about California, takes another view. His writings have been labeled as fringe leftist ranting by the right wing. However, his book, bEcology of Fear: Los Angeles and the Imagination of Disaster,b was on the Los Angeles Times bestseller list for weeks. His views about the fires of Southern California should be noted. Are the fires burning in Southern California, and the destruction they bring, inevitable? Or are they avoidable? Davis documents that fires in the Southern California region of Malibu are part and parcel of California history. Spanish conquistadors could see vast blazes along the coast when they arrived. Back then, due to a healthy respect for the earth by Indigenous people, the Native Chumash and Tongva peoples annually burned brush in that area. These fires, it turns out, were ultimately beneficial in recycling nutrients in the earth and ensuring seed germination. It is therefore natural that this region burns. What is unnatural and avoidable is building in areas that should not be built in. But the rich have to have their ocean views, donbt they? What is unnatural is the drier climate, possibly resulting in more wildfires, as a result of capitalist polluters who have ruined the environment. And what is unnatural are the racist and class divisions that result in the allotting of resources when disaster strikes. Malibu, Westlake & New Orleans: lesson in racism & class oppression Davis compares the wealthy and star-studded neighborhood of Malibu with that of Westlake, an area in Los Angeles where many immigrants and Latin@s live. It is commonly known that August through October is Californiabs wildfire season. It is then, Davis writes, bwhen Westlake and Malibu suffer a common lot: catastrophic fire.b But there the similarity stops. Westlake, it turns out, has the bhighest urban fire incidence in the nation: one of its two fire stations was inundated by an incredible 20,000 emergency calls in 1993,b Davis notes. Many of the sites of these fires are in tenements and apartment hotels. Malibu is the bwildfire capitalb possibly for the world, Davis contends. A large fire in the area occurs every two and half years. bThe two species of conflagration (between Malibu and Westlake) are inverse images of each other. Defended in 1993 by the largest army of firefighters in (U.S.) history, wealthy Malibu homeowners benefited as well from an extraordinary range of insurance, land use and disaster relief subsidies. Yet as most experts will readily concede, periodic firestorms of this magnitude are inevitable as long as residential development is tolerated in the fire ecology of the Santa Monicas.b A film executive protected his home against the current blaze with his own private firefighting team that has been on his payroll. In Westlake, on the other hand, most of the b119 fatalities from tenement fires in the Westlake and Downtown areas might have been prevented had slumlords been held to even minimal standards of building safety.b The differences between the growing rich and the poor, between the working class and the bourgeoisie are becoming more evident everyday. This obscene difference in class society will result in tumultuous struggles. The victims of Katrina and Rita will unite with the immigrants of Westlake and all decent minded people will rise up to reclaim justice. What will burn to a crisp then is not Southern California but capitalism. bEcology of Fear: Los Angeles and the Imagination of Disasterb is available at www.Leftbooks.com Articles copyright 1995-2007 Workers World. Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved. Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011 Email: ww@workers.org Subscribe wwnews-subscribe@workersworld.net *** sent by Steven Robinson AP Via San Jose Mercury News - Oct 26, 2007 http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_7292148?nclick_check=1 [Gulag - California style. SR] Inmates brought in to help fight Southern California wildfires By Garance Burke Associated Press Lake Arrowhead, Calif.-They've stolen cars, used drugs and forged checks. When California is burning, they fight fires. About a quarter of the 14,000 firefighters defending homes and businesses in Southern California from wildfires this week have been prisoners, officials said. Of the 4,400 inmates trained to battle fires in the state, 3,091 were on the front lines Friday from Lake Arrowhead south to San Diego. "It's very close to the most we've ever used," said Seth Unger, a spokesman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. About 3,000 inmates were used in 2003 during the Cedar Fire north of San Diego. "We have to keep some of them back. We can't deploy every one of them." Not every inmate qualifies to be a firefighter. Those who do-male or female-must be physically fit, have no history of violent crime and have four to 36 months remaining on their sentences, Unger said. Once chosen, inmates undergo a grueling, four-week program that includes training in fire safety and suppression. The program has been in existence since the 1940s and makes inmates available for other natural disasters such as earthquakes and flooding. Inmates earn only $1 an hour for their work so officials estimate the savings to California taxpayers every year is about $80 million. That's based on 3 million hours for firefighting and other emergencies, and another 7 million hours in community service. Inmates earn two days of credit for every day on the fire lines. "The program provides great benefits to both the state and the inmate," Unger said. "The inmate not only gets to be outside, but gives back to the community, in some cases the same communities they may have victimized before." Inmates are often sent to cut fire breaks in locations that can't be reached by heavy machinery. They also help protect homes and businesses. In Lake Arrowhead, where the stubborn Slide Fire scorched has burned more than 13,000 acres and destroyed at least 200 homes, more than 220 inmate firefighters were on the lines, said Lt. William Mock, who runs Fenner Canyon, a prison inmate camp in Valyermo. They stood in line Friday evening filling their plates with turkey, peas and mashed potatoes in a makeshift kitchen in Snow Valley, a ski resort serving as a base camp. All wore orange jumpsuits marked "CDC PRISONER," instead of the canary yellow suits worn by most fire crews. "Everybody's just hanging in there, trying to get through this," said Jose Robert Rosales, 23, of Norwalk. "We got axes, we got tools, we cut lines, we make sure none of the houses get burnt." Rosales said being on the fire lines had helped him to think ahead to what he wanted to do after completing his prison sentence: get back to work at his father-in-law's body shop. "The program has helped me a lot physically and mentally," said Rosales, who was convicted of great bodily injury and terrorist threats four years ago. "There's less stress, and you get to go out more and make more money, which will help me when I get out." The work is grueling. "These guys here are working hard on 24 hour-shifts," said Kaliko Johansen, 35, an inmate crew supervisor from Las Vegas, Nev. "It's like working with anyone else, you've got good guys and bad guys out there, the majority of them just want to fight the fire," he said. Johansen was working alongside an inmate crew using axes, shovels and chainsaws to cut a fire break in an effort to stop the advance of the fire. "Those crews are a doing a lot of the grunt work," said Adam Shay, an engineer for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. "They're gonna have some work ahead of them for a while." At least one inmate has died in the line of duty. In July 1999, a male inmate died in Ventura County when he fell from a hillside. Some firefighters said without the help of inmates, the blazes may have caused more destruction. "I think it would be very hard without them. It would really impact us," said Breck Wright, a state firefighter who said he has worked side by side with inmates on dozens of occasions. "They are very effective, hard-working and are well-trained. They know what they are doing." Associated Press Writer Greg Risling in Los Angeles contributed to this report. * ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us Our main website: http://www.blythe.org List Archives: http://blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/ Subscribe: http://blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr =================================================================