Leaders of Local First Responder Agencies:
We’ve watched this week in horror as multiple wildfires have consumed thousands of acres and caused evacuations in most of L.A. County, and we are very thankful the brush fires that were reported locally this past summer – when the temperatures were high, rain was rare, and both West Virginia and Ohio implemented burn bans – did not spread in the same ways this awful tragedy has on the West Coast.
We understand we are not subjected to “Santa Ana” winds, and that the weather we’re experiencing now helps with preventing widespread fires, but we also know emergency personnel in southern West Virginia DID battle forest fires just a couple of months ago in Logan, Mingo, Kanawha, Wayne, and Lincoln Counties. In fact, since July 2024, the state’s Division of Forestry reported 464 wildfires that torched more than 15,000 acres in the Mountain State, according to a WV Metro News report on November 8th.
So please, let’s pay attention to the real reasons why these L.A. wildfires flamed in the first place, and let’s not ignore why your California colleagues are now claiming their first-responder agencies were not properly equipped to battle the blazes. Obviously, we don’t want to make the same mistakes.
Thank you for what you do for all of us every day. Be safe and God bless.
Sincerely,
Praying for the City of Angels
