Calif Wildfires

Marcie Mac

Just Plain Ole Tired
Jeeze, the devistation in Malibu (again), not to mention the various other areas that are burning.

For the LIFE of me, I don't understand why you would fork out a couple of mother in law for a house in a brush area and not protect it as much as possible.

As an insurance broker, I cannot tell you the number of times I have had houses inspected only to find eucalyptis (sp) trees, palm trees, pine trees right next to the house, brush right up to the door. Trying to get them to plant the hillside with plants that are not oil based, to seal the eaves under the roof, (a really favorite place for embers to find after floating in the air for a few miles) cut back the trees is like asking them to sell one of their children. Won't replace the wood shake roofs. They don't want to fork out money for a pool pump so they can use the pool water in case of emergency. I have been thru enough fires to know that there is NOT an unending supply of water when you are fighting a big brush fire, in fact you have very little water when the same water source is tapped from various places.

All of these fires except one I think are arson.

Marcie
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
Why on earth would someone put an accelerant right next to your house? Thats like sitting with a bunch of full gas cans around your house waiting for someone to toss a match...lol.

As dry as it is out there and with all those fires, I would be clearing my lot way back and having my house as fire safe as possible. Think cinder blocks, metal studs and metal roof...lol. Might not be quite as pretty but it wont burn as easy...lmao.
 

Abbey

Spork Queen
Marcie...I hate to say it (throwing stones at me is ok) but I feel the same way about people who build a house RIGHT on the coastline. I lived 11 years in Florida and knew more than one person who had the beautiful beachside house and rebuilt it more than once from hurricanes. This affects us all hugely on insurance rates.

We had a small river in the city I grew up in, as well as several large lakes surrounding the city. In 1972 there was a dam break and a huge flood insued. Not to mention the 300 people who were killed...the city was devastated. They formally declared that no one (actually it was most business like) could rebuild in the flood plain. That worked for about 10 years, but people tend to forget things like this. It has slowly rebuilt in that path to where you wouldn't really even realize it was a flood plain. They call it a 100 year flood plain, but that doesn't mean you have to wait 100 years before the next flood. It could be tomorrow.

Going through that flood at 13 years of age had a huge impact on me. I can still imagine the smell on EVERYTHING, the typhoid shots, no clean water...I just can't imagine why someone would go back to putting themselves in peril like that.

I'm off my soap box now. :smile:

Abbey
 
I lived in Laguna Beach for several years when I was growing up. I still remember how scary the brush fires were.

One time I was a minor neighborhood hero, for reporting a fire. My friends wanted to go "camping" in the canyon behind the houses across the street from us. One of the guys had matches so we could build a camp fire. I said I wasn't going with them if they were going to light a fire, because we'd get in trouble. They said fine, wait behind if I was chicken. Just a few minutes later here they come hightailing it out of the canyon and I saw the flames already licking up behind them. The brush was so dry that the fire practically exploded.

I ran home and got my mom to call the FD. Within a quarter hour there were a dozen trucks lining our street. The neighborhood mobilized with blankets and shovels (to smother flames and dig firebreaks) and everybody on that side of the street was out soaking their roof and yard with garden hoses. They were successful in containing the fire eventually but it took hours.

I bet most of the "arson" fires are like that, man-made but not malicious. It sure made an impression on my friends and me. I bet we are some of the most fire-safety-conscious people around. I see red when someone tosses a cigarette out of a car window.
 
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