Reply #7: Actually, you can say the same thing

[depakid]

If you live in Tornado alley, you'd be wise to have a shelter. It's also smart to be prepared if you live in a flood plain.... or below sea level (people had be warning for years what might happen to New Orleans).

Parts of California are the same way- if you live in a canyon or on a hillside full of brush- chances are that one day it will burn.

Chaparral is a fire climax community. Fires are supposed to happen- and so people shouldn't be surprised when they do. It's largely an artifact of property values and socioeconomic tendencies that people who tend to live in fire prone areas are wealthy.

It's not wealth that gets their houses burnt down- it the choice of where to live- or what sort of house to build.