With respect to the Los Angeles wildfires, I’m not interested in blame. I’m interested in answers.

I want our government to learn what it needs to, because fires like this should never happen again.

But to get that kind of personal growth, our leaders need to be honest with themselves. This doesn’t mean listening to their biggest detractors. But they do need to ignore their own spin doctors. The truth lies somewhere in between.

We need honest assessments so our leaders may learn from this tragedy.

First, it’s necessary to dispense with the myths.

The fires were not caused exclusively by “climate change.” The Los Angeles basin has had wildfires since before there were cars. And even if climate change exacerbated certain factors, it’s no license to fail to adequately perform what is in your control.

Southern California wildfires weren’t technically caused by lack of “forest management.” While this might have been a factor in the Northern California fires of 2018, the neighborhoods affected here don’t have forests in the conventional sense. “Brush clearance” is a better term.

And though it’s a popular criticism, the fires weren’t exacerbated by Mayor Karen Bass going to Ghana. Perhaps she could have returned faster, and been more ready to address the media. But the trip was largely overhyped by Bass’s critics.

Other relevant factors fall somewhere between “valid” and “legendary.” There was a reservoir without water, and there were hydrants that ran out of water. But sometimes reservoirs will be offline for repairs. And hydrant pressure is largely a function of a system so old that its limitations are not any one person’s fault.

But now that we’ve dispensed the false narratives, let’s examine the facts, and then what could have been done better.

It is a fact that on Jan. 3, the National Weather Service started warning everyone that Los Angeles would face “critical fire conditions” the following week. On Jan. 6, the NWS was more passionate than I have ever seen from a usually staid government agency. “HEADS UP!!! A LIFE-THREATENING, DESTRUCTIVE, Widespread Windstorm is expected Tue afternoon.”

I’m a father of three children, and I’m used to immature egos not always being able to make the leap into growth. So I often start with two gentle questions. Is there anything you could have done better? If someone else was in your position, what might they have handled differently?

I’d like to see our elected and appointed officials answer those questions. But because they likely won’t, I’ll take a stab at doing so for them.

The first three prompts have to do with the period between Jan. 3 (when the warnings started) and Jan. 7 (when the fire first broke out).

Given the National Weather Service’s warnings, which also specifically identified the Pacific Palisades area as being in the highest risk, should we maybe have dispatched crews to cut fire breaks on our hillsides? Should we have proactively sprayed fire retardant in the most high-risk, high-vegetation areas? Should we have perhaps dispatched personnel to be ready to direct traffic along major evacuation routes?

The next prompts cover the period immediately after the fires broke out. As with the prompts above, I hope they’re no-brainers. Let’s see if these cause any honest acknowledgments:

There’s a long list of actions that were taken too slowly. Could leaders perhaps have grasped the scope and magnitude of the problem quicker, and acted more decisively? Does it help fire victims or politicians to hold hourlong press conferences where everyone strokes one another, when the people who need the information the most don’t have electrical power or internet access to watch them anyway?

The final three prompts have to do with our general preparedness for the fires. These problems go back a few years, and again, I believe these questions are no-brainers:

Many fire victims will have a hellish time dealing with their insurance (or lack thereof), and all Californians will have a hard time getting insurance in the future. Have we taken the honest, difficult, yet critically necessary steps to fix California’s insurance markets?

The pilots fighting these fires worked wonders and are genuine heroes. Should we perhaps have more firefighting aircraft on the ready in California, for times like this? Why are we always seeking help from other jurisdictions?

We saw a hobby drone take a Super Scooper aircraft out of commission, and it appears that some of the fires were caused by arsonists. In any event, the Los Angeles Fire Department says that from 54% to 80% of fires in Los Angeles are caused by the homeless. Do our lenient laws contribute to fire risk? Should any of them change?

As these prompts show, we need not get into debates about delta smelt or climate change to conclude that we could have done better. If we answer the above questions honestly, we have to conclude that mistakes were made, often on matters that aren’t really up to debate.

Mike Gatto served in the California Assembly for six years. X: @MikeGatto