Saving million-dollar homes. Insurance company sends in private fire crew to protect expensive homes. By Matt Christensen. Times-News writer.
The Castle Rock Fire is different from other wildfires in that the homes it threatens are extremely high end.
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Ralph Maughan
Dr. Ralph Maughan is professor emeritus of political science at Idaho State University. He has been a Western Watersheds Project Board Member off and on for many years, and also its President. For many years he produced Ralph Maughan's Wolf Report. He was a founder of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. He and Jackie Johnson Maughan wrote three editions of "Hiking Idaho." He also wrote "Beyond the Tetons" and "Backpacking Wyoming's Teton and Washakie Wilderness." He created and is the administrator of The Wildlife News.
Now we all have to pay as taxpayers to protect homes which should not be there with the justification that it would be horrible for the economy and heart-wrenching for these people to lose their homes! …..and the rest of the forest (which we all use and is these rich people’s backyard) burns!
By the way, I know my view sounds heartless, but I’ve come very close to losing my home twice due to Bush’s Forest policy (Let the wilderness burn, which allows fires to get out of control) I was fully prepared to lose it and accept the risk. It comes with the territory! The fire crews deserve credit because it seems they are forced to fight fires according to politicians rules, not what is smart. Fires are allowed to burn until they “threaten” structures, then the fire crews are supposed to come in and save the day. Any idiot, even me, knows that fire is harder to control as it grows.
Again, though, the Bush Admin. are not just “any” idiots!