Mark Waldrep loses almost everything in LA wildfire.

[Sal1950]

Even more tragic is the dream of rebuilding. As so many insurers are pulling out of California [as well as Florida] due to climate change and the current cost of building materials which now have to withstand not only earthquakes but fires, as well and the toxic nature of the soil on which these homes once stood it will be years before this once prized real estate could ever hope to be redeveloped!

You can't blame climate change for the radical thinking of denying water to folks that need it to save the smelt fish.

 

[barfle]

I can’t imagine how long it’s going to take to rebuild. Even if insurance payouts cover the losses, I don’t see labor or supplies being plentiful enough, even at premium costs, to ever make this a distant memory.

 

[DuncanS]

I can’t imagine how long it’s going to take to rebuild. Even if insurance payouts cover the losses, I don’t see labor or supplies being plentiful enough, even at premium costs, to ever make this a distant memory.

We have a similar issue on this side of the pond, but due to flooding, people are finding that insurance companies won't insure houses that could possibly flood based on mapping data, if you have been flooded you really are in trouble. I'm half way up a hill so if I flood everyone else is in way more trouble! I always thought that one of the things with insurance was to spread the risk, legally over here we must have car insurance and if there are a lot of claims everybody's price goes up, mind you that doesn't stop the companies trying not to pay out.

 

[Owen Smith]

One of the sad things about the fires is some houses survived, and many of those had features that made that much more likely. Like metal roofs and cement rendered walls, fences made of non combustible material where they touch the house, gravel and cleared vegetation around the walls etc. What I don't understand is why so many houses were built with flammable materials like wood or asphalt shingles for roofs and wooden exposed walls, and no effort made to contain flammable debris around the walls. That seems very short sighted in a known wildfire risk area, especially when most houses caught fire due to flying cinders landing on their flammable surfaces. Surely building codes have a role to play here?

 

[Sal1950]

That seems very short sighted in a known wildfire risk area, especially when most houses caught fire due to flying cinders landing on their flammable surfaces. Surely building codes have a role to play here?

The unfortunate truth is "hind sight is always 20-20"

 

[4-earredwonder]

One of the sad things about the fires is some houses survived, and many of those had features that made that much more likely. Like metal roofs and cement rendered walls, fences made of non combustible material where they touch the house, gravel and cleared vegetation around the walls etc. What I don't understand is why so many houses were built with flammable materials like wood or asphalt shingles for roofs and wooden exposed walls, and no effort made to contain flammable debris around the walls. That seems very short sighted in a known wildfire risk area, especially when most houses caught fire due to flying cinders landing on their flammable surfaces. Surely building codes have a role to play here?

It probably comes down to aesthetics, Owen. Fireproof homes with metal roofs and 'cement rendered walls' just aren't that aesthetically pleasing in tony neighborhoods like Pacific Palisades and ocean front Malibu...where keeping up with the Joneses is more than just a catch phrase!

And enough prescient films like Earthquake, San Andreas where the whole of California is turned to rubble with the famous line at the end 'We'll REBUILD' is being realized as more FACT than merely FICTIONAL.

It is estimated that Miami, Florida will be underwater by 2050 and New York City within the next century and nothing can hold back the great oceans of the world.

At one time the entire Planet Earth was water and over time land masses emerged forming continents so its not surprising that billions of years later we are firsthand experiencing a return to Earth's origins. Volcanic eruptions, earthquakes popping up in areas not usually prone to seismic activity are becoming more common and it has been said that if Yellowstone National Park's Super Volcano should erupt it would decimate the whole of North America and there's been plenty of seismic activity in that National Park as of late.

And the proposal that electric cars replace gas engines is another myth as the Industrial Revolution is alive and well and won't soon abate...at least in our lifetime!

 

[Owen Smith]

The unfortunate truth is "hind sight is always 20-20"

People knew about this many years ago. One of the houses that survived was specifically designed by an architect to survive wildfires. There were supposed to be updates made to building codes and mitigation actions done by local government, but the work has languished for more than a decade. I don't want to get political here and blame any particular party. But this had already been predicted and actions started but there was almost zero follow through. Apart from people that did it themselves, like that architect designed house.

 

[Owen Smith]

It probably comes down to aesthetics, Owen. Fireproof homes with metal roofs and 'cement rendered walls' just aren't that aesthetically pleasing in tony neighborhoods like Pacific Palisades and ocean front Malibu...where keeping up with the Joneses is more than just a catch phrase!

My house in the UK if transplanted to the Palisades might well have survived. It has brick walls, aluminium window frames and concrete tiled roof. Apart from the aluminium window frames that's very standard for UK homes. Of course it wouldn't meet earthquake codes since we don't have any. But it completely baffles me why America keeps building homes with highly flammable exteriors, it defies all logic.

 

[4-earredwonder]

My house in the UK if transplanted to the Palisades might well have survived. It has brick walls, aluminium window frames and concrete tiled roof. Apart from the aluminium window frames that's very standard for UK homes. Of course it wouldn't meet earthquake codes since we don't have any. But it completely baffles me why America keeps building homes with highly flammable exteriors, it defies all logic.

Well at least you can rest assured, Owen, that the Big Bad Wolf won't be blowing YOUR house down any time too soon

https://www.bing.com/videos/rivervi...tb=1&msockid=7c63e83fe41411efa68011502db6b01c

 

[LuvMyQuad]

My house in the UK if transplanted to the Palisades might well have survived. It has brick walls, aluminium window frames and concrete tiled roof. Apart from the aluminium window frames that's very standard for UK homes. Of course it wouldn't meet earthquake codes since we don't have any. But it completely baffles me why America keeps building homes with highly flammable exteriors, it defies all logic.

It depends on location. There are no wildfires where i live. Virtually none. More concern has to be paid to snow loads and freezing cycles than anything else.

Communities along the eastern seaboard and gulf coast seldom if ever have wildfires, but they do get hurricanes and flooding.

But there is truth in the pretzel logic of building flammable homes in places prone to wildfires, like Southern California. The emphasis always seemed to be on earthquake proof designs in that area.

 

[barfle]

One of the sad things about the fires is some houses survived, and many of those had features that made that much more likely. Like metal roofs and cement rendered walls, fences made of non combustible material where they touch the house, gravel and cleared vegetation around the walls etc. What I don't understand is why so many houses were built with flammable materials like wood or asphalt shingles for roofs and wooden exposed walls, and no effort made to contain flammable debris around the walls. That seems very short sighted in a known wildfire risk area, especially when most houses caught fire due to flying cinders landing on their flammable surfaces. Surely building codes have a role to play here?

Actually, much of what burned wasn’t in “known wildfire risk areas.” They were in neighborhoods that have stood for 50-75 years.

Most neighborhoods aren’t filled with chapparal (wild shrubbery). They have lawns or, in some cases, gravel “lawn” areas. Very few people expected that sort of combination of low humidity and wind. I lived in SoCal,for about 50 years, and most of the topime, the Santa Ana winds were pretty benign to built-up areas, especially in flat areas.

Clearly, conditions have changed over time. The natural fire cycle has been destroyed by well-meaning mismanagement of the shrublands, and we know that the climate is changing as well. I suspect new construction will require a lot more attention to fire safety, particularly as we learn just jow bad things can get.

 

[Victor Bisio]

I can’t imagine how long it’s going to take to rebuild. Even if insurance payouts cover the losses, I don’t see labor or supplies being plentiful enough, even at premium costs, to ever make this a distant memory.

The Pacific Palisades will never, ever be the same.

 

[ar surround]

Actually, much of what burned wasn’t in “known wildfire risk areas.” They were in neighborhoods that have stood for 50-75 years.

Most neighborhoods aren’t filled with chapparal (wild shrubbery). They have lawns or, in some cases, gravel “lawn” areas. Very few people expected that sort of combination of low humidity and wind. I lived in SoCal,for about 50 years, and most of the topime, the Santa Ana winds were pretty benign to built-up areas, especially in flat areas.

Clearly, conditions have changed over time. The natural fire cycle has been destroyed by well-meaning mismanagement of the shrublands, and we know that the climate is changing as well. I suspect new construction will require a lot more attention to fire safety, particularly as we learn just jow bad things can get.

As the population has grown over the centuries, we have built in many more places. Mother Nature has no friends and she can get lazy (no rain in many months) and then blow her cork wherever and whenever she sees fit. So we get tragedies such as these horrible wild fires. Yes, some of these structures have been there since the 1930s, which may seem a like a long time to humans, but it is not even a blink of an eye in the overall scheme of things.

These are complex problems with no easy answers.

 

[texeast]

You can't blame climate change for the radical thinking of denying water to folks that need it to save the smelt fish.

Yeah right and trump just turned the water faucet and solved the problem. Not! The fact is the far rights misinformation and disinformation strikes again as the water you are talking about would not have prevented the fires and in fact that same water was allowed to drain from trump’s remarks and now the farmers will be without water for their crops. Lies upon lies until the truth is no more!