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In the mountains of NC-back in the day-it was on more than one occasion someone literally looking for a little work as a firefighter But yea-they don't have CCTV everywhere to catch these guys
California Fires - INFO (not politics)
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JCTarheel82
Honored Member
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Alleged Arsonist Arrested In Los Angeles Amid Deadly California Wildfires: What We Know
A man has been arrested in Los Angeles after neighbors said they saw him trying to start a fire with a “propane tank or flamethrower."
www.forbes.com
The man, who was detained by nearby residents who held him down until police arrived Thursday, was reportedly carrying a “propane tank or flamethrower," according to neighbors.
One of the women involved in the citizen's arrest, Renata Grinshpun, told local news he had a "propane tank or... like a flame thrower" and that someone saw him "behind a van, trying to light something on fire."
After interviewing the suspect, investigators determined there was not enough probable cause to charge the man with arson or suspicion of arson, and he was instead arrested on a felony probation violation, assistant Los Angeles Police chief Dominic Choi said Friday.
LAPD officer Charles Dinsel reportedly told NewsNation the arrest has prompted officials to launch an arson investigation at Victory Trailhead, where the Kenneth fire began 20 to 30 minutes before the man was detained by neighbors.
When asked if the fire was set intentionally, Dinsel told NewsNation, “At this time, that's what we believe,” but LAPD also tweeted late Thursday that it “CANNOT confirm any connection to any fire by this suspect at this time.”
Callatoroy
Honored Member
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Not gonna go back to find the article but this was a headlineAlleged Arsonist Arrested In Los Angeles Amid Deadly California Wildfires: What We Know
A man has been arrested in Los Angeles after neighbors said they saw him trying to start a fire with a “propane tank or flamethrower."
The man, who was detained by nearby residents who held him down until police arrived Thursday, was reportedly carrying a “propane tank or flamethrower," according to neighbors.
One of the women involved in the citizen's arrest, Renata Grinshpun, told local news he had a "propane tank or... like a flame thrower" and that someone saw him "behind a van, trying to light something on fire."
After interviewing the suspect, investigators determined there was not enough probable cause to charge the man with arson or suspicion of arson, and he was instead arrested on a felony probation violation, assistant Los Angeles Police chief Dominic Choi said Friday.
LAPD officer Charles Dinsel reportedly told NewsNation the arrest has prompted officials to launch an arson investigation at Victory Trailhead, where the Kenneth fire began 20 to 30 minutes before the man was detained by neighbors.
When asked if the fire was set intentionally, Dinsel told NewsNation, “At this time, that's what we believe,” but LAPD also tweeted late Thursday that it “CANNOT confirm any connection to any fire by this suspect at this time.”
"Police find not enough evidence to charge suspect with arson"
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“…
The alert was supposed to target residents in the area of the West Hills neighborhood, which was threatened by the Kenneth fire. Instead, it blared on cellphones across Los Angeles County on Thursday night and, for some, several times on Friday.
The county is the most populous in the nation, with 9.6 million people, equal to nearly 3 percent of the U.S. population.
The fires’ effects on cellphone towers could have caused the problem, officials said, calling the error a “serious breach of public trust.”
The failure has led public safety officials to fear false panic — or perhaps worse, that residents might ignore future, accurate alerts because they’d become accustomed to false warnings.
The county’s emergency management office said in a statement that it had sent an “accurate, correctly-targeted alert” on Thursday, but that it somehow went far beyond its intended audience. After the initial error, the county said, “echoes” of that alert — carrying an identical warning message — arrived on cellphones throughout Friday.
The county used Genasys, an emergency communications company, to send the alert, and said the company was part of its review of what went wrong. …”
Lots of cameras around.
superrific
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1. The fact is that the LA fire department has a larger budget than it did last year. This bullshit is ridiculous. The mayor did not in fact cut the fire department's budget. Some of the money was moved around.
2. It is unreal hearing the same people who bleat "get rid of government waste" now turn around and complain that the city tried to reduce waste. People are so fucking dishonest and stupid.
3. I've been involved in big organizations before, as have most people on this thread. How many people at a big corporation are happy with their budgets? In my experience, nobody. They are always complaining they don't have enough money for this or that. Of course, they don't see the big picture. They don't see what the money that they think they are due is actually doing.
I don't know the extent to which the fire chief actually has visibility into the entire budgeting process. In some places, they do and in other places they don't. I do not know which is the majority position. But certainly the complaints sound to me like a lot of aimless frustration. Everyone is pissed off about what is happening, and people can get snippy.
4. Meanwhile, the firefighters got pay increases totaling $53M -- which seems quite substantial for a department with a total budget of less than $1B. I don't know the breakdown of costs, but I doubt that labor is more than 50% of the total cost. So they got 15% raises this year and who knows how much in the future. I don't begrudge them their pay, but you can't have everything. They got new gear, they got raises, and they got less overtime and some mechanic positions that were vacant didn't get filled.
Again, the expectations that some idiots place on government agencies is utterly ridiculous. They don't work miracles. Government work doesn't pay as much. Often the work is hard to manage. There are politics. There is human fallibility. That the department did 95% of what it theoretically could is not a reason to criticize it -- at least not if one wants to live in the real world.
Here's an idea for the rich people who don't want their homes to burn: pay more in taxes. Stop fighting every tax increase tooth and nail. 'Cause you get what you pay for.
2. It is unreal hearing the same people who bleat "get rid of government waste" now turn around and complain that the city tried to reduce waste. People are so fucking dishonest and stupid.
3. I've been involved in big organizations before, as have most people on this thread. How many people at a big corporation are happy with their budgets? In my experience, nobody. They are always complaining they don't have enough money for this or that. Of course, they don't see the big picture. They don't see what the money that they think they are due is actually doing.
I don't know the extent to which the fire chief actually has visibility into the entire budgeting process. In some places, they do and in other places they don't. I do not know which is the majority position. But certainly the complaints sound to me like a lot of aimless frustration. Everyone is pissed off about what is happening, and people can get snippy.
4. Meanwhile, the firefighters got pay increases totaling $53M -- which seems quite substantial for a department with a total budget of less than $1B. I don't know the breakdown of costs, but I doubt that labor is more than 50% of the total cost. So they got 15% raises this year and who knows how much in the future. I don't begrudge them their pay, but you can't have everything. They got new gear, they got raises, and they got less overtime and some mechanic positions that were vacant didn't get filled.
Again, the expectations that some idiots place on government agencies is utterly ridiculous. They don't work miracles. Government work doesn't pay as much. Often the work is hard to manage. There are politics. There is human fallibility. That the department did 95% of what it theoretically could is not a reason to criticize it -- at least not if one wants to live in the real world.
Here's an idea for the rich people who don't want their homes to burn: pay more in taxes. Stop fighting every tax increase tooth and nail. 'Cause you get what you pay for.
stankeylegjones
Distinguished Member
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So, if you oppose paying higher taxes you shouldn’t complain when your home burns down??? The fuck are you talking about? What a callous thing to say now.
I actually agree with most of this. One caveat is that evidently the LAFD was forced to cut back on overtime. With most places being as short-staffed as they are, overtime is typically used to fill holes caused by employees being out sick or unavailable. When the OT is cut out those positions simply aren't funded, which results in the department operating understaffed. That can make a major difference, particularly in major emergencies like wildfires where it is so important to get a lot of people on scene very quickly.
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This. Everyone that is capable and able to help should be joining together to get these fires under control.
Thank you to everyone that is helping.
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