First, MrsMac and I too feel sorry for the fire victims in California. Those people are truly screwed and will be looking towards the government for help. When it doesn't come I wonder what will happen? Maybe this is the start of the reset. Keep in mind California is the fifth largest economy in the world.
I just finished a book by T.C. Sherry,
Deep Winter. A quick synopsis of the book: Mount Rainer erupts in Southern Washington state. The ash and mud flows post the eruption is enough to start the snow ball rolling down the mountain that causes the country to go into an economic slide.
Now some hard facts. The blame for these fires lay at the feet of the citizens who voted in the idiots in Sacramento.
When MrsMac an I lived in Los Angles 1987-92 it was a full time job doing control burns and brush hogging the canyons. Around 2005 they stopped doing this because of environmental concerns. The last time I was in California ~2009 many counties were using goats to clear the brush but there was a debate going on as to whether that was acceptable either.
At the time many of the land/home owners were screaming about not clearing the brush and dead trees however due to pure democracy they were overridden by folks who had no fear of wild fires. That is people who rent and folks east of the Sierra Nevada.
It should be interesting what transpires in California. Stay tuned.