It isn't grassland; it's chapparal. Chapparal is its own kind of ecosystem that has evolved around fire. Many of the plants, for example, have seeds covered in a waxy coating that means they can only germinate after a fire. Interestingly, creosote releases its waxes into the soil when it burns, which actually makes the soil fireproof. This means that a major danger following a season of wildfires is landslides, as the hills once covered in creosote are more in danger of flooding. After the fire we had when I was in high school, the county seeded the slopes with grass in hopes of keeping them where they were.

Why did I live there? Why have I since moved to a region that is not merely also prone to earthquakes but, in fact, has a great big unexploded volcano in view on a clear day? Because the climate suits me, for one. If you like warm, dry weather, for example, you're going to live in a region with fire danger. (Actually, I don't like warm, dry weather; I was born in LA County.) In addition, human civilizations have pretty much always been in flood danger, because humans build alongside rivers. This is for both agriculture and commerce; these are still things that influence where people live today.

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Gillian

"Now everyone was giving her that kind of look UFOlogists get when they suddenly say, 'Hey, if you shade your eyes you can see it is just a flock of geese after all.'"

"You can't erase icing."

"I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!"