Fires In The West Analysis

The story “Fires in the West” is interesting to say the least. According to the story three states in particular, have had an increased amount of fires than in the “past decade”. For the past six years the fires have exhausted resources to put out these fires. This has caused Fire Chief Vincent Bruno to create a policy along with local officials to put restrictions on the fires that will be fought. The manifest function on this policy was to fight fires only where owners “cut a fifty-yard fire break”.

The latent function of this policy can be negative or positive. In one aspect not protecting the houses that do not have a fifty-yard fire break may hurt the “property value”. Many homeowners take pleasure in seeing great landscaped homes with

These principles are blaming the victim, private troubles, worthy vs. unworthy, residential approach, means test, and values analysis. One huge factor in this policy is that it blames the victims. It is understood that resources are not infinite and with an abundance of fires the funds can be running at extremely low rates but that does not mean that public services should be not be given. Instead of blaming the homeowners for the fires the city or town could accept the fact that climate changes are affecting the world and it is having a negative impact of some areas more than others. This policy is directed toward private troubles because it’s aimed at individual homeowners and not all fires that occur on properties. Since “Fires in the West” places blame on the victim it focuses on worthy and unworthy. The worthy would be those that take additional precautions such as creating a fifty yard fire zone because they did not create the fire. It is believed that the unworthy would be those that do not take extra steps to ensure a travesty doesn’t occur at their residence because they created the fire in essence. Residual approach also applies in the articles because the policy limits those who are helped which becomes a private issue and no longer fire safety on the community, which is a public issue. The only means test in this story is that the bushes are cut and a fifty yard cut off point is done to prevent fires. Lastly, values analysis also applies because some homeowners may be hesitant to make the fifty yard cut because they have pleasure from seeing their yard all full of beautiful vegetables, shrubs, and flowers which adds value to their property. For some property values and personal preference may be more important than saving their home from a potential