Wildfires in California are caused by bureaucracy. That’s not the claim of some rabid free marketeer such as myself but of ProPublica, a significantly less froth-at-the-mouth-inclined organization than others in the media.

Still, that’s also not quite what ProPublica says but rather that the damage caused by big wildfires is caused by California’s interlocking and self-confusing layers of bureaucrats who can’t manage forestry.