Palisades Fire

Firebird

Gerry Lopez status
Jun 5, 2010
1,130
1,098
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OC
The only sure things in life are death and taxes. But those pics sure are good advertising as far as I’m concerned.

Im also pretty sure I read somewhere that firefighters are more likely to defend properties that have a chance of being saved?
No question.
There is a triage process. If it's possible to get out ahead of the fire front, firefighters will go through communities to assess properties that are safe to defend, and which properties are a write off.
Most states have a standard of 100 ft of bare mineral soil around all structures on a property with limbed up trees to prevent ground fires from spreading into what's called a "crown fire" in the tree tops or vice versa. Once it becomes a crown fire, it becomes impossible to control.
If you live in an urban interface area or a wildland area, if you haven't done your brush clearance (hazard reduction), firefighters will most likely write your property off as unsafe for them to defend.
You'd be surprised how many property owners are non-compliant when it comes to hazard reduction. Which then leads to huge potential liabilities for the property owner. If you have a structure fire that spreads into the wildland area because you have not completed your brush clearance or hazard reduction, will CalFire or the Forest Service come after you for cost recovery for fire suppression? Maybe so, depending on circumstances.
Like I said previous, I could talk your ear off on these subjects. I have a lot of opinions. And you know what they say about opinions........
 

One-Off

Tom Curren status
Jul 28, 2005
14,128
10,250
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33.8N - 118.4W
No question.
There is a triage process. If it's possible to get out ahead of the fire front, firefighters will go through communities to assess properties that are safe to defend, and which properties are a write off.
Most states have a standard of 100 ft of bare mineral soil around all structures on a property with limbed up trees to prevent ground fires from spreading into what's called a "crown fire" in the tree tops or vice versa. Once it becomes a crown fire, it becomes impossible to control.
If you live in an urban interface area or a wildland area, if you haven't done your brush clearance (hazard reduction), firefighters will most likely write your property off as unsafe for them to defend.
You'd be surprised how many property owners are non-compliant when it comes to hazard reduction. Which then leads to huge potential liabilities for the property owner. If you have a structure fire that spreads into the wildland area because you have not completed your brush clearance or hazard reduction, will CalFire or the Forest Service come after you for cost recovery for fire suppression? Maybe so, depending on circumstances.
Like I said previous, I could talk your ear off on these subjects. I have a lot of opinions. And you know what they say about opinions........
Most of Topanga does not have 100 feet of bare soil around the structures. Will the fire fighters write off whole neighborhoods?

Screen Shot 2021-06-07 at 4.56.29 PM.png
 

Chocki

Phil Edwards status
Feb 18, 2007
6,356
6,743
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Planet Earth
No question.
There is a triage process. If it's possible to get out ahead of the fire front, firefighters will go through communities to assess properties that are safe to defend, and which properties are a write off.
Most states have a standard of 100 ft of bare mineral soil around all structures on a property with limbed up trees to prevent ground fires from spreading into what's called a "crown fire" in the tree tops or vice versa. Once it becomes a crown fire, it becomes impossible to control.
If you live in an urban interface area or a wildland area, if you haven't done your brush clearance (hazard reduction), firefighters will most likely write your property off as unsafe for them to defend.
You'd be surprised how many property owners are non-compliant when it comes to hazard reduction. Which then leads to huge potential liabilities for the property owner. If you have a structure fire that spreads into the wildland area because you have not completed your brush clearance or hazard reduction, will CalFire or the Forest Service come after you for cost recovery for fire suppression? Maybe so, depending on circumstances.
Like I said previous, I could talk your ear off on these subjects. I have a lot of opinions. And you know what they say about opinions........
Well said.
But I wouldn’t be surprised because I’ve read articles/seen pictures about people losing their homes to wildfire and while I was sad the lack of brush clearing/doing anything proactive made me say did you WANT your fucking house to burn?

Im moving to a fire prone area in Colorado and this article made me think about in addition to having my own suppression supplies, at some point getting a beater truck and turning it into a pump rig and establishing a volunteer crew of bomberos
 

Firebird

Gerry Lopez status
Jun 5, 2010
1,130
1,098
113
OC
Most of Topanga does not have 100 feet of bare soil around the structures. Will the fire fighters write off whole neighborhoods?

View attachment 110902
It really depends on the fire conditions.
During the Paradise fire, many strike teams did whats called, "fire front following". They let the fire blow through areas that burned too hot to have firefighters in there to provide structure protection. Once the fire came through, the firefighters came in to save what they could.
The photo you posted is the perfect example of the vexing problem we are facing in current times. When this area was first populated post WW2, the extreme fire conditions we've seen in the past 5-10 years didn't exist, so there wasn't a need to pre-plan for devastatingly destructive fires. Now what do we do with the hand we've been dealt? No easy answers.
 
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~rwright~

Michael Peterson status
Apr 14, 2015
2,527
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Los Angeles~California!
It really depends on the fire conditions.
~snip~
No easy answers.
hmmmm,
i'm an ol' WWII buff,
i'd betcha a squadron, of say 15, of these, seen in a photograph i shot as a fire raged in L.A. awhile back,
AK1J0185~ST.JPG
would seriously help out California, and our neighboring states too!
that plane kinda reminds me of them ol' Catalina's,
whom rescued many...

i think that it sucks that California only leases a coupla them yearly...

That said,
here is an ol' movie clip from The Battle of Midway, almost 80 yearz ago, from June 4th, 1942.
these dudes went to fight, Torpedo Squadron 8, from the USS Hornet,
flyin' slow out~dated Devastaters, and all but 1, George Gay, died, fightin':
here's a salute to them, their sacrifice:
:beer:

:jamon:
 
Last edited:

Firebird

Gerry Lopez status
Jun 5, 2010
1,130
1,098
113
OC
hmmmm,
i'm an ol' WWII buff,
i'd betcha a squadron, of say 15, of these, seen in a photograph i shot as a fire rage in L.A. awhile back,
View attachment 110930
would seriously help out California, and our neighboring states too!
that plane kinda reminds me of them ol' Catalina's,
whom rescued many...

That said,
here is an ol' movie clip from The Battle of Midway, almost 80 yearz ago, from June 4th, 1942.
these dudes went to fight, Torpedo Squadron 8, from the USS Hornet,
flyin' slow out~dated Devastaters, and all but 1, George Gay, died, fightin':
here's a salute to them, their sacrifice:
:beer:

:jamon:
We now have 2 super scoopers in SoCal. They do an excellent job. But unfortunately not the complete answer to the problem.