On Tuesday’s “CBS Mornings,” CBS News Correspondent Jonathan Vigliotti stated that the fires in Los Angeles were “a different kind of manmade disaster.” And “this was a failure of imagination, to imagine the worst-case scenario, to listen to more than a week of weather warnings that escalated in severity, culminating in 100 mph gusts in the forecast. There was a lack of preparation. When the fire broke out, there was a failed response.”
Vigliotti stated, “Following this disaster, and as the flames were still consuming homes and lives, not just firefighters saying nothing could have been done, but also the Mayor herself, Mayor Karen Bass, pointing fingers at climate change and the wind. I want to make it very clear, climate change amplifies this extreme weather. But this was a different kind of manmade disaster. As I report in my book ‘Torched,’ based on sourcing and scientists, this was a failure of imagination, to imagine the worst-case scenario, to listen to more than a week of weather warnings that escalated in severity, culminating in 100 mph gusts in the forecast. There was a lack of preparation. When the fire broke out, there was a failed response. … We retreated down to the Palisades Presbyterian Church, I went live there for the evening news and then the Weather Channel. And I’ll never forget, this man, a resident that we had seen earlier, with his own garden hose, we’re talking, like, Home Depot, trying to fight the flames. He was running behind me, screaming, where are firefighters? I tracked him as he headed down towards Sunset Boulevard, a major artery, no firefighters, no police officers, bumper-to-bumper traffic, and you had good Samaritans that were outside guiding traffic.”
He further said that it doesn’t make sense to put all the blame on climate change and also tell people to rebuild quickly. He also stated, “We can’t be blaming climate change here, alone. We have to adapt, especially as we have our leaders urging people to rush back to rebuild. … This was preventable, we can rebuild in ways where communities are safe, and, as the book explores, unfortunately, that is not what’s happening.”
Vigliotti added, “My opinion is drawn from sourcing, but also, fire experts, who spent weeks on the ground assessing the footprint of this fire, and they make it very clear, while some homes may have been lost, maybe even a neighborhood or two, there was no excuse for entire zip codes to be erased.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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