Did "sparks from a tire rim" start the Carr wildfire, or was the deck already stacked?

In My Humble Opinion
1

So there’s this CNN article, here. Apparently, a tractor trailer lost a tire, something which is not preventable, and the sparks started the Carr wildfire. Which has burned an “area larger than Denver” and killed 6 people so far.

What bugs me about this is that this seems to me like blaming the last flake of snow for an avalanche. Or a mine worker dropping a tool and setting off the nitroglycerin.

This forest was rigged to burn. Humans could have built much bigger firebreaks. They could have required every house and dwelling be designed to survive a fire outside. They could abandon the area. Do a controlled burn.

What you can’t do is sit underneath an building avalanche and just tell everyone not to accidentally drop a match or a cigarette butt or any other ignition source.

Is this analysis correct or is there another way to view it? How could this wildfire have realistically been prevented or the damage mitigated?

2

CNN is reporting on what happened. You’re writing about what should have happened or how it could have been prevented. Those are different things.

If CNN hadn’t reported on how the fire was started, wouldn’t you be asking? If they hadn’t reported the initial cause and you asked, that would have been your answer.

I guess they could have framed it to include all the contributing factors, but those contributing factors exist in most California forest fires.