More about: Neil Young

The impact of the wildfires that are currently tearing through parts of California has yet to be fully measured but we’re getting some sense of the damage through the words of some of the region’s most well-known residents.

According to a recent post on his personal website, legendary rocker Neil Young has lost one of his homes to the blaze. And he’s not mincing words about what is behind it, and who is helping fan those flames.

“Life everywhere is affected by these fires,” Young wrote. “California is vulnerable-not because of poor forest management as DT (our so-called president) would have us think....We are vulnerable because of Climate Change; the extreme weather events and our extended drought is part of it. Our temperatures are higher than ever here in our hottest summer on record. That has not helped...It really is time for reckoning with this unfit leader. Maybe our new Congress can help. I sure hope so.”

The comment above references a tweet from the President that blamed the fires, which have claimed a reported 29 lives and destroyed thousands of homes, on “gross mismanagement of the forests.” Young, a lifelong environmental advocate, hopes that some good will come out of this tragic natural disaster. “Hopefully we can come together as a people to take Climate Change on,” he wrote. “We have the tools and could do it if we tried. There is no downside.”

Young is not the only musician who has been affected by the wildfires. Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker has, according to an Instagram post, had to evacuate his temporary home in Malibu, losing a wealth of recording equipment as a result. “I made it out with my laptop and the Hofner,” he wrote. Wes Borland, guitarist for Limp Bizkit, also posted a video of his house in flames, with the comment that his “pedalboard, 2 guitars, 2 amps, a 2x12 cabinet, several other pedals and misc equipment were inside this house.”

More about: Neil Young