When disaster strikes, government emergency alert systems offer a simple promise: Residents will get information about nearby dangers and instructions to help them stay safe.

Some residents who lost everything during the Los Angeles wildfires received a much-needed lifeline as they began the long road to rebuilding.

Recent wildfires not only brought lose and heartache to the residents of the Los Angeles area, they also scorched state, city and county politics. While the initial voting in the races for California governor and Los Angeles mayor is more than a year away memories of how politicians dealt with the fires and its aftermath will linger.

Wildfires are endemic to California and natives used fire to shape the land. Orange County and California must learn from the wildfires and decades of government failure in Los Angeles County, and prevent the next disaster.

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