You can never go home again...

"Tonight, those winds are supposed to start to pick up again. Maybe this fight is far from over. Then once the final sparks are extinguished, the fight over rebuilding will start. Money and location. It will be a mess. And to clean up all the toxins in the ground due to the fire, will take many, many months." 

There is an old adage which I heard quite a bit as a lad. Whenever I would get nostalgic about the good old days, especially in the town I grew up in, I often heard, "you can never go home again". Why not? Why can't I go home again? Because things change. The home you once loved, you might not love anymore. In fact, you might hate it. But there is a point to this rambling.

The good people of Los Angeles might not know this now, as they are still going through the shock and awe of this mega-fire, but the City of Angels might never look the same again. Houses that were built and grandfathered in to be right up to the water - gone. Houses on the hillsides - maybe never again. Out of control dry vegetation in every nook and cranny? No more. 

This fire was something which should have been expected at some time. Why? Fire season happens every year. In the past, LA has been very lucky as most fires have been rural. Some structures burned, but nothing like this year. All it was going to take was a perfect storm of government mismanagement, lack of rainfall, and Santa Ana winds on steroids. Then it happened. The fire that even at this writing, is eating up more acreage and structures in LA. 

Some are asking now what the cause of the fire was. Was it some homeless person, trying to heat up some food? Was it malicious arson? Some are thinking it was the wrath of God to punish the Hollywood elite for mockery during the Golden Globes the night before the fire started. Maybe we will never know. But we do know one thing. As capable and intelligent as mankind has become, we are no match for nature. Seeing those 80 to 100mph winds whip those flames into a frenzied inferno, is something I will never forget.  

Tonight, those winds are supposed to start to pick up again. Maybe this fight is far from over. Then once the final sparks are extinguished, the fight over rebuilding will start. Money and location. It will be a mess. And to clean up all the toxins in the ground due to the fire, will take many, many months - maybe years. 

Can the Angelenos ever go home again? Where then, will they go? Many states will welcome them as new residents. There are, however, some states that will have one caveat. Leave your politics in the smoldering ruins of your former city. Why? California politics are as toxic as the soil in LA is right now. Sorry, but that is my opinion.