Malibu and Yosemite: The Burning Factor

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Malibu has been burning ever since it’s been known to mankind. The geographic condition along with fierce Santa Ana wind has made it the perfect burning zone. Yosemite is prone to fire because of its natural condition but not to the extent like Malibu. Malibu has been inhabited for more than a century. Malibu is a place where people went to settle down because of the natural beauty. Mountains along with pacific shoreline are the perfect dream location for many reality businesses. All these natural beauties and the addition of hot and dry weather came with a dangerous problem; which is nothing but fire: a fire which is intensified exponentially by the wind of Santa Ana. In his book Ecology of Fear, Mike Davis explained that the fire hasn’t slowed down the population growth or building new homes in Malibu.
The word fire is closely associated with Malibu. Davis believes that, “Malibu, meanwhile, is the wildfire capital of North America and, possibly, the world” (Davis 97). Throughout the recorded history, Malibu has been burning over and over again. This might be the sole reason for Malibu’s reputation as the wildfire capital of the world. There is very little human- induced reason for this fire in Malibu; virtually all the fire reported is caused by natural reasons. As David said in his book, “The rugged 22-mile-long coastline is scourged, on average, by a large fire (1000 acres plus) every two-and-one-half years, and the entire surface area of the western Santa Monica Mountains has been burnt three-times-over this century” (Davis 98). So it is relatively safe to say that Fire is a very common naturally occurring disaster in Malibu. Apparently fire was not strong enough reason to stop the human settlement in Malibu, which has...

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