Fired Up, To Protect Property

Great Tim Egan piece at NYT on the real story of the 19 firefighter deaths in AZ--losing lives to protect summer homes and retirement villas, knowingly built or bought in top fire areas.  Naturally, the homeowners (many no doubt anti-government zealots) then demand that the public-funded firefighters do something to protect them. 

The homeowners know that living in fire country is different from living in the heart of a city. They know the elements — timber, grass, brush, wind, heat, lightning — and the difficult terrain mean that shiny fire trucks cannot arrive at their smoking doorstep on a minute’s notice. They’ve made a pact with combustible nature, a gamble.
And yet, once a galloping afternoon wind transforms a smolder into a sprint of flames, these homeowners expect the best of the best to be on the scene.