Hacker News Reader

Much of the damage was in areas where a controlled burn would have been impossible due to geography. And the kind of vegetation in the burn area isn’t suited to controlled burns anyway:

https://thedispatch.com/newsletter/techne/why-shrubland-make...

View on HN

Controlled burns aren't impossible in chaparral, even based on the logic of that article the controlled burns just need to be less frequent and more intense than for forest. There's no reason they couldn't be done.

Some of the neighborhoods that burned consist of very steep hills, single family houses on stilts, narrow winding roads, retaining walls, and almost no clearance for anything. I can’t imagine a controlled burn being done safely.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com