Katrina of Fire

Associated Press is doing it.
Reuters is doing it.
The New York Times is doing it.

In fact, find me a media source in this country that isn't equating the fires in Southern California to Hurricane Katrina.

Here inlies the problem.

This is not a situation in which poor people were unable to evaqate their homes for lack of transportation or access to information. This is a situation in which rich people have been evacuated from their homes, watched them burn down and will have them replaced by fire and homeowners insurance companies.

This is not a situation that was anticipated and not responded to. No, quite to the contrary, more than 6,000 firefighters backed by a squadron of 90 firefighting aircraft, including a DC-10, 25 air tankers and 40 helicopters, were battling the blaze through coordination of local and state government and promises of support if needed from the national level.

This is not a situation in which a huge population of people in an urban setting were thrown into chaos as they watched their homes and their cities sponged off the map. This was a situation that took place in primarily rural outskirts of the metropolitain centers of Southern California.

This is not a situation in which hospital patients were sacraficed and left for dead, thousands were injured, dead or missing, and people were left stranded for days without access to food or water. In this instance, there was an orderly evacuation of nearly half a million people to shelters and places where they will recieve support.

Southern California has four seasons, contrary to popular belief, though they are not winter, spring, summer and fall.
They are fire, earthquake, mudslide, and draught.
The people of Southern California, though still traumatized, surely, have done this before, they will do it again, and unlike the majority of the country, most of them are not really stunned by this fire.

Stop the comparissons people. It cheapens the recent memory of a true American tragedy.
Rest in peace to the victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.