As wildfires raged across Southern California, residents in some of the hardest-hit areas told the media about their harrowing experiences of sheltering, and some even wept as they talked about losing their homes in the fires, said he didn’t know where to go next month.
Resident, Mercedes Baker: I ran into the car with my son. He was so scared that he cried. I was scared, too. We’ll just have to try and get out of Palisade as soon as possible.
Resident, Florence Kearns: [ fire spreads ] it was so fast. A friend of mine went to a neighbor’s house, found it completely burned down, sent us a video, and we were convinced.
Resident kit goldsmith: We’re trying to figure out where to go next month. We’re going to have a baby. We have a lot of friends and a lot of care, and we really want to stay. Losing them is almost harder than losing our home.
Faced with the devastation of their homes, many locals are angry and question the U. S. government’s inaction. People are asking, where are the taxpayers’ tax dollars going?
California resident, Christian Fowles: I think at a core level, as American citizens and citizens of Los Angeles, we expect the government to deliver services. People get angry when they find their basic needs are not being met. I think the people of California, they’re willing to pay high taxes, they’re willing to support things that they don’t necessarily agree with, because there’s a basic assumption behind it, which is that government works for the people. But now in situations like this, when there’s mismanagement, when there’s fear, when there’s no containment, people are asking themselves, what are we spending our tax dollars on.
Another California resident said he had not received any useful information from lower-level government officials since the fire began.
California resident, Michael Moore: I haven’t met any of them who can tell us what happened. I could only ask my neighbors what was happening to my house. I really didn’t know what to say.
Sources close to the situation: the performance of the fire leadership has been dismal
According to the CNN, people familiar with the situation said the department had been in disarray in the face of the fire because of a lack of clear direction from the leadership. Robert Hawkins, president of the Los Angeles City Association for the rights of African n firefighters, said some firefighters had been told to go home after work when they were ready to put out the fire in protective suits. Several times firefighters have tried to put out a fire only to find that there were not enough fire engines to take them there. He said the performance of the fire department leadership was frustrating and unconvincing, and firefighters had no confidence in the leadership.