California Wildfires

[[DHT]Osiris]

Is there really a way to contain a wildfire driven by 100 mph winds?

No, but a sufficiently funded and adequately equipped fire department as well as equivalent federal agencies could have potentially saved more lives and more property.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

This is insane:

View this content on Instagram

View this content on Instagram

So 'clearing the insurance rolls' there was clearly fraud, and should be treated as such. That company should be bankrupted with lawsuits, tomorrow.

 

[Indus]

I'm horrified by the images I'm seeing of entire blocks burned to cinders.. and not even 1 structure left standing.. but I'm curious about something..

1. Are there no brick houses there?

2. Are brick houses are equally at risk of a big fire like this?

I always thought brick walls and asphalt roof shingles were non flammable. Am I wrong?

 

[IronWing]

Hear me out. Nuclear bomb

It’s been done.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

I'm horrified by the images I'm seeing of entire blocks burned to cinders.. and not even 1 structure left standing.. but I'm curious about something..

1. Are there no brick houses there?

2. Are brick houses are equally at risk of a big fire like this?

I always thought brick walls and asphalt roof shingles were non flammable. Am I wrong?

In 99% of cases brick is a facade, and there's wood and plastic and paper and all sorts of other material behind it. Even castles can burn with sufficient heat and something that can catch fire inside it.

 

[Muse]

A likely aggravating factor in the system getting depressurized was that so many homes burnt down resulting in massive leakage. I believe this also happened in Lahaina.

They interviewed a fire chief (IIRC) on ABC news tonight who said this. He said many of the PP homes had sprinkler systems (I think the kind that go off if a house is on fire, but maybe also irrigation systems as well) that continued to "leak" water after the house was lost to the flames, further reducing available water and pressure.

 

[Muse]

The hell he shouldn't, treating the pandemic like a public relations problem rather than a health emergency like nations such as South Korea and Japan that were run by responsible adults did.

He's highly incompetent, worse yet is he doesn't know he is (or acknowledge it), can't be bothered to determine what competence is. Naturally, when it comes to appointing cabinet his concerns do not include competence.

Saw an interview yesterday by a guy who was on Trump team for a long time. He said that Trump acknowledges that he purposefully lies to people and that he figures that tell people a lie long enough and they will come to accept it as true. It's one reason I loath him.

 

[Pens1566]

In 99% of cases brick is a facade, and there's wood and plastic and paper and all sorts of other material behind it. Even castles can burn with sufficient heat and something that can catch fire inside it.

Never been a resident, but having spent tons of time in southern California for both work and family, I can't recall ever seeing a brick home.

 

[Muse]

My friends just lost their entire home & everything in it. I sure hope that insurance doesn't give them hassle. Their family & pets made it out safely, thankfully.

Nursing homes evacuated:

View attachment 114677

Before & after satellite photo:

View attachment 114680

I'm going to see family next weekend, including my nephew & family who live in west L.A., not far from PP, but they are probably safe. They have long time roots there, I'm sure they know people who just lost their homes, it's a sure thing.

 

[Muse]

Never been a resident, but having spent tons of time in southern California for both work and family, I can't recall ever seeing a brick home.

What appear to be brick houses, at least in coastal California aren't supported by the bricks but by wood frames. The brick is exterior to the supporting structure. This is earthquake country afterall.

 

[BoomerD]

We need DEI insurance now!?

The right’s idea of a DEI firefighter to the rescue!

 

[Indus]

Never been a resident, but having spent tons of time in southern California for both work and family, I can't recall ever seeing a brick home.

Yeah I've lived for a long time in concrete and brick houses/ apartments and the danger was always the paint was flammable.

So I got used to houses/ apartments where they would just put white chalk to "White wash" the walls as a cheap substitute for paint.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

Never been a resident, but having spent tons of time in southern California for both work and family, I can't recall ever seeing a brick home.

Yeah no idea either. They're common in some dry environs, TX at least. I cannot comment on southern CA itself though.

I bet something like stucco or adobe with a tile roof survives better than most there. Probably uncommon though.

 

[Muse]

A DWP official acknowledged that the reservoir’s absence likely contributed to some diminished pressure and dry hydrants in upper regions of the Palisades.

Would it have made a significant difference, probably not. It was just Murphy's law rearing it's head. For the people asking why they where working on the reservoir in December/January, I ask those people, what time frame would you have picked? I expect the DWP will conduct a post mortem on what happened and probably the results will make nobody happy.

Newsom is calling for an independent investigation of contributing factors.

 

[MrSquished]

does less than an inch of rain since last april have anything to do with this? I dunno.

 

[Muse]

So 'clearing the insurance rolls' there was clearly fraud, and should be treated as such. That company should be bankrupted with lawsuits, tomorrow.

The California Fair Plan isn't really a company. It's an insurance entity that was created legislatively so that property owners could get insured when insurance companies wouldn't insure them.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

The California Fair Plan isn't really a company. It's an insurance entity that was created legislatively so that property owners could get insured when insurance companies wouldn't insure them.

Then the entity should be sued out of existence. If Congress voted to create it, they should be on the hook for it. Personally, if it cannot perform the job it was created to perform.

 

[Muse]

Then the entity should be sued out of existence. If Congress voted to create it, they should be on the hook for it. Personally, if it cannot perform the job it was created to perform.

I don't think Congress has anything to do with it. I think it is a California thing, the governor and legislature created it. If it didn't exist a lot of people wouldn't be able to insure their homes.

The CA Fair Plan is a ``last resort'' insurer. They cover homes when other carriers won't due to wildfire risk, bad claim history, etc. These policies are bare bones and don't come with liability coverage and don't cover certain perils.Jul 18, 2024

Even ordinary insurance companies can fail to honor claims if they lack the funds. This event in SoCal may see some of that. The claims will be massive.

I have EQ insurance and I pay a lot. I figure there's a fair chance that my house will be destroyed and I won't get the coverage I'm supposed to get because the funds won't be there. I keep the insurance because an event may occur for which the company can cover me. It's something of a crapshoot. My EQ insurer is The California Earthquake Authority, a not-for-profit agency.

 

[Brovane]

Then the entity should be sued out of existence. If Congress voted to create it, they should be on the hook for it. Personally, if it cannot perform the job it was created to perform.

I wouldn't take Instagram as a source of truth.

The CA Fair plan is essentially a insurer of last resort which has become to commonly used because of how CA restricted insurance rate increases. If the CA fair plan doesn't have enough money to payout all claims, it will collect funds from insurance companies operating in CA. I don't see how suing the CA Fair plan out of existence is going to help. What needs to change, is CA needs to allow insurance carriers to charge fully based on risk.

 

[BoomerD]

Never been a resident, but having spent tons of time in southern California for both work and family, I can't recall ever seeing a brick home.

Stucco is far more common than brick in CA.

 

[Greenman]

I'm horrified by the images I'm seeing of entire blocks burned to cinders.. and not even 1 structure left standing.. but I'm curious about something..

1. Are there no brick houses there?

2. Are brick houses are equally at risk of a big fire like this?

I always thought brick walls and asphalt roof shingles were non flammable. Am I wrong?

Brick veneer is anchored to the home with metal clips that are nailed to the framing and extend into the mortar joint between the bricks. The walls crumble in an earthquake.
An actual brick home that has no wood framing would colipase in a minor earthquake.

 

[HomerJS]

Republicans are blaming DEI on the fires.

Who was responsible for Covid when the white man was in charge?

 

[Brovane]

Republicans are blaming DEI on the fires.

Who was responsible for Covid when the white man was in charge?

Of course China.....

 

[Greenman]

Republicans are blaming DEI on the fires.

Who was responsible for Covid when the white man was in charge?

China.

 

[igor_kavinski]

Of course China.....

China.

And people refusing to wear masks played no part in it?