Pitting of rural versus urban in relation to Los Angeles fires

The Los Angeles Times is reporting this morning that Cal Fire sent resources to rural California, prioritizing the state's remote reaches over the area destroyed in the Palisades fire.  Here's the lede for Connor Sheets' story: 

Since 2021, state authorities have repeatedly declined to fund wildfire prevention efforts in communities devastated by the Palisades fire, according to Cal Fire records, which show the agency instead poured money into projects in far-flung rural areas.

Records reviewed by The Times show Cal Fire elected not to fund more than $3.8 million in Wildfire Prevention Grants for Santa Monica Mountains communities including Pacific Palisades and Malibu over the last four years.

Meanwhile, many other projects in areas sometimes deemed by the state to be at lower wildfire risk received most or all of the amounts they requested — and in some instances even more. The sums, often in the millions of dollars, were allocated for a range of projects and tasks, including clearing brush with goats and distributing informational mailers.

* * * 

A Cal Fire spokesperson said a total of $17.8 million has been granted for 33 Wildfire Prevention Projects in L.A. County since the 2020-21 fiscal year, with nearly 125 acres of land within five miles of the Palisades fire “treated” with brush removal and other fuel reduction efforts over the last four years.

* * * 

Cal Fire declined to grant some of the funding the council requested because the initial proposal “included ‘home hardening’ — which is funded by an alternate grant program.”

For comparison sake, Sheets includes this information:

Meanwhile, also in August, Cal Fire awarded the Shasta Valley Resource Conservation District $86,000 more than the $1.7 million it had requested to “mechanically remove trees” on 682 acres outside the city of Yreka. Home to fewer than 8,000 people near Mt. Shasta, the surrounding area has seen large fires in recent years.

As part of the same grant program, the state agency in August awarded nearly $300,000 more than the $1.78 million Mariposa County — which has a population of around 20,000 — requested to manage vegetation along county-maintained roadways.

I'm sure we'll be hearing more about this in the coming days, but for now I'll just express regret over this pitting of rural versus urban.  I also wonder about the extent to which places like Los Angeles are seen as a lower priority because of their more robust metro fire departments.  I also note that the fires now raging in Los Angeles County have been characterized by FEMA not as wildfires, but as conflagrations fueled by structures.   That said, I believe these fires are thought to have been ignited in brush or woodlands that are part of the Santa Monica Mountains.