Angelenos have paid a heavy toll with the recent fires

But what if their fire trucks had to as well?

Image: Tooley Street fire, London, 1861.¹

The recent fires in Los Angeles, California, have startled not only the Angelenos who live there, but us as well, on the other side of the globe. Many years ago, I knew someone who lived in Los Angeles and who later moved up to Washington, and to Oregon, who, shall we say, knows about such things. I asked him about US construction methods: Why do they build homes out of wood? He answered, Because we have a lot of it. I asked Does it not burn very readily? He answered Yes. I asked Why don’t they then make homes out of brick? and he said Because they don’t.