I mean, I was born in California and lived there as a young kid and until recently moved out. Climate change may be playing a part, but nobody wants to admit that the towns that burned down were tinder boxes. I’ve been to Paradise many times years before it burned and the many others in the Sierra, I always thought, this whole place is going to go up in flames, why would you build here? Of course, it did.

You might still be able to go to the library and pull up the microfilm, the old newspaper articles show wildfires were a regular occurrence and many of the same towns burned down a century ago. Either this has buried on purpose or property owners don’t want to confront uncomfortable facts.