This website started as a commentary on the danger of wildland fire with specific reference to a proposed housing development in North San Diego County called Stonegate/Merriam Mountains. The website has evolved into:

     ♦ A whistle-blowing effort that implicates the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, Cal Fire (the state firefighting agency), and Newland Communities (the major developer behind the project). The whistle-blowing effort is intended to draw the attention of as many of the politicians and news organizations as possible.  

     ♦ An expose of how government officials promote dangerous housing developments in order to reap large financial contributions from special interests.

     ♦ A complete historical investigation of the proposal to build a 2,700-home residential development (a city) atop one of the most dangerous and fire-hazardous mountains in all of Southern California with extremely poor road access. This is being done in spite of the inability to evacuate in certain likely wildfire scenarios.

    ♦ A recent update of the folly of the Shelter-In-Place fire strategy (requiring people to stay put in the event of a wildland fire instead of evacuating) that was highlighted by the 2009 Australian wildfires in which over 200 people lost their lives.

There is a striking comparison to be made between what is now occurring in San Diego County and what has occurred on Wall Street that led to the global financial meltdown. In both cases, two common elements are at work:

   ♦ Risk-takers who are willing to sacrifice and destroy others by taking inordinate and unjustified risks for the sake of their own fast profit. These risk-takers (whether they be the developers who promote a dangerous project like Stonegate/Merriam Mountains or the promoters of irresponsible financial vehicles such as credit default swaps in a company like AIG) do not care what happens in the long run, since they will have disappeared with their massive profits long before the catastrophic consequences of their schemes become known; and

   ♦ A blind eye exhibited by government regulators who are supposed to safeguard the public. In the case of the Wall Street meltdown, it was the inaction of the Security Exchange Commission, the rating agencies, the Federal Reserve and government oversight agencies in general. In the case of the Stonegate/Merriam Mountains development, it is the San Diego County Supervisors and Cal Fire who are failing to respond to vigorous whistle-blowing efforts that have pointed out the catastrophic consequences of this development.

This website previews some of the chapters of "The Politics of Fire - The San Diego Catastrophe," an account of what has occurred in San Diego County. This book stands as a permanent record and testament when the Stonegate/Merriam Mountains development is approved and a wildfire catastrophe occurs.