Stay and Defend

Here's an interesting connection. Officials in the U.S., including Washoe County, are revisiting stay and defend policies that allow folks to defend their homes against wildfires because of the estimated 200 deaths in Australia's firestorm.

This is a really tricky subject. Humans are usually faster than wildfires but it's difficult for individuals to judge when they are not. When it seems that there are not enough firefighters to keep property safe, a person may be compelled to stay and defend it. As we've learned recently, that can be a fatal mistake.

But to protect someone from that mistake means forcefully evicting them from their property and their right to safeguard it. That is not something many Westerners look kindly upon.