Patricia Heaton Speculates on What Caused LA Fires: ‘Sad Way to Learn a Lesson’
By Movieguide® Contributor
In the wake of the devastating fires in the Los Angeles area, people are chiming in about what went wrong for such a tragedy to occur, including actress Patricia Heaton.
“They haven’t cleared that brush in like 40 to 50 years, so there is a tinder box just sitting on top of this beautiful space looking over the ocean,” the EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND actress explained. “So, for whatever reason, whatever committees, whatever groups were standing against touching the trees, or touching the underbrush…it’s a sad, sad way to have to learn a lesson that you have to do forestry management.”
She also criticized officials’ comments about the system being “overwhelmed,” saying that they should have been prepared ahead of time.
“I know some of the officials were saying, ‘Well, the system was overwhelmed.’ Well, in case of a huge fire, of course, it’s going to be overwhelmed,” she said. “You should know that and have been prepared for that. So, I think there’s a lot of money spent in LA, and we can’t figure out where it’s going.”
READ MORE: HOLLYWOOD RESUMES PRODUCTION AFTER PAUSING FOR LA FIRES
Heaton explained that a prop was passed in 2014 to create new reservoirs, but zero have been created.
“We can’t just rely on the government to take care of things,” she said.
“It’s people coming together in your community and insisting on getting stuff done. And sadly, this is a very, very, very harsh lesson, but I guess that’s what it takes to kind of break apart that bureaucracy and get the stuff done that the government is supposed to do, which is take care of the infrastructure first and foremost,” Heaton concluded.
Her organization, the October 7th Coalition, posted, “We are praying for the city of Los Angeles and for God’s wisdom and protection to be with the firefighters and local officials. 💔”
While investigations about the cause of the fire are ongoing, experts have theorized that a Jan. 1 fire that was put out by firefighters that day later ignited the blazes, NBC News reported.
READ MORE: ‘ANGELS IN THIS WORLD’: ACTRESS TAKES IN FORMER COSTAR WHO LOST HOME TO LA FIRES
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