I'm saddened at the loss of life and property in southern California. I can't imagine having to stand by and watch everything I've worked for simply go up in smoke and not being able to do anything. What upsets me even more are policies and prohibitions that are in place that prevent clearing dead underbrush from these forests. There are those out there who fight tooth and nail to prevent healthy controlled burning of underbrush in the guise of environmentalism or saving the planet or whatever, yet it is those very policies that are not only destroying homes, businesses, and lives, but natural animal habitat also. Some of these forests are hundreds of years old. They are designed to withstand the occurance of occasional natural fires, but they can't withstand 40 years of bad environmental policies. When normal natural fires aren't allowed to burn and remove dead refuse from the forests, eventually fire ends up consuming not only the refuse, but the forests themselves. What a tragedy!