Bill
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Aug 6, 2007
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- 1,304
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- Location
- Sacramento, CA
- Vehicle Year
- 2007
- Make / Model
- Ford Ranger
- Engine Type
- 2.3 (4 Cylinder)
- Transmission
- Manual
- 2WD / 4WD
- 2WD
The utilities are supposed to clear brush from under the power lines. This reduces the potential to ignite a fire, but doesn't eliminate it. I don't know what to say about the Santa Ynez Reservoir being closed for repairs other than it needed to be closed to replace a liner or a cover to maintain water quality. I tried to find out when the date of closure started, but couldn't find a date. This would be the best time of the year to close the reservoir because this is the time of the year that has the lowest fire risk, so I assume the repairs were scheduled during this time for that reason. Normally, the vegetation would have enough moisture to prevent these kinds of fires, and usually these winds aren't this severe in January. This is more of a October through eary December type thing in Southern California.This is some crazy shit. I hear about overgrown brush being a problem, the 117 million gallon reservoir in the middle of the palisades was closed for repairs, the LA fire chief said the city failed her. A lot of finger pointing going on. It's amazing that all of those multi-million dollar homes burned along the ocean front. Why don't we have spinkler systems that can use the oceans salt water?
It just seems crazy that in the world we live in today and with all the technolgy we have, LA isn't better prepared for a wild fire. I sute in the hell hope they learn from this.
We don't allow political rants, but I'm just going to say that between North Carolina and now this, I'd like to see my tax money spent here fixing this, not given to other countries.
The homes and buildings catching on fire are the result of embers either igniting exterior wood or other flamable materials on the exterior of the buildings, or embers that are driven into the loft vents by the winds. When you have high winds it changes everything. The air is also very dry. Surfaces will dry out in minutes. Sprinklers aren't going to do much. Every major fire like this has had people out hosing down their homes minutes before the fire arrives. It's very rare that this tactic is successful. More often than not, people just end up abandoning their efforts and the house burns anyway. Also, using ocean water is kind of not very practical. Only a fraction of those homes are on the waterfront. Most of them are inland and uphill. A system to use water from the ocean would require a separate system to bring the water a mile or so uphill to all the homes. The real problem is that those homes (in Pacific Palisades) are in a high-risk area. There was also the issue of high wind preventing firefighting aircraft from flying.
What can be learned from this? Most of LA is somewhat flat or on uneven ground and has inner-cty and suburban neighborhoods just the same as Phoenix, Dallas, or other American cities. In some areas the more recent development has gone up the steep hillsides due to the absence of flat land that hasn't already been developed. I think the best thing that can be done is to make construction more fire-resistant. Several cities have already added fire-resistance to their building codes. The problem with this is older construction will have to be upgraded and there are probably a lot of homeowners who can't afford anything other than the most basic upgrades. There is a group of people with a mindset that would prohibit people from building homes in high-risk areas. My issue with that is property rights. This is where my libertarian side comes out. If you build there and live there, you need to accept the risks.
What bothers me is this IS being made a politcal issue. It's not political at all. It's not the result of water policies in California. The fish living in a delta 350 miles away from LA has nothing to do with it. We have had several good years of rainfall in California. So, the southern part of the state isn't experiencing any reduction in water allocations from the north. It doesn't matter what the background of the fire chief, city council members, or anyone else is, or any of the other things that have been repeated by people who want to make this political. It's a fire that was spread by high winds, up to 100 mph in some places, that occured while a reservoir is undergoing repairs at a time of the year when the fire risk is as low as it gets in that part of California. Sometimes bad things happen.