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WSJ Opinion: Potomac Watch

How Policy Failures Led to Devastation in California

WSJ Opinion: Potomac Watch

The Wall Street Journal

Society & Culture, News

4.22.8K Ratings

🗓️ 13 January 2025

⏱️ 23 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Fires in California have claimed at least 24 lives in what is becoming one of the costliest natural disasters in American history. What decisions made it harder to mitigate the damage, and how will Congress navigate the politics of providing federal aid for the recovery?  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

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0:06.0

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0:12.0

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0:18.0

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0:23.2

flaming hot Doritos, Walker's Max and What's It's Crunchy. From the opinion pages of the

0:33.6

Wall Street Journal, this is Potomac Watch. The Los Angeles wildfires still are not entirely

0:41.6

contained after nearly a week. Fires have killed at least 24 people swept through some 40,000 acres

0:48.1

and destroyed some 12,300 structures such as homes and businesses. Governor Gavin Newsom says the fires may be the

0:56.1

costliest natural disaster in American history, and certainly the fires are terrible to behold

1:02.7

in their destruction. The political blame shifting naturally is already underway in the state and

1:07.7

from Washington. What will be the political fallout from the fires? And what

1:11.8

are some of the policy lessons we can see now, even before all the fires have been put out? Welcome,

1:18.7

I'm Paul Giego, and this is Potomac Watch, the Daily Opinion Page podcast of the Wall Street Journal.

1:24.5

And I'm here with two of my West Coast colleagues, Alicia Finley,

1:28.5

based in California. Kim Strassel usually on the West Coast, but this few days in Washington, D.C.

1:33.5

But both are experienced Western Fire Watchers. Alicia, let's just get the facts first here.

1:39.3

How are the Santa Ana wins now? They say they're going to be picking up again, are they? Well, we've got them out here

1:45.9

probably Gus for around 30 to 40 miles per hour. Luckily, they're not as bad as they have been in

1:50.8

LA where you were getting Gus of up to 100 miles per hour last week. But the San Anas are supposed

1:56.6

to continue for the next few days. And actually, this is pretty normal for this time of year.

2:02.5

Santa Ana's usually come between the months of October and January. And these are basically

2:08.2

just very strong, dry winds that come down from the mountains. And how far are you located south of

...

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