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LA wildfires force thousands to evacuate, NASA JPL closed

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Re: LA wildfires force thousands to evacuate, NASA JPL closed

#391

Post by defrost »

slavik81 wrote: post #373
defrost wrote: post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> why is there apparently no water in the fire hydrants? They emptied the tanks fighting the fire. From the article in the GP comment: The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power in a Wednesday press conference refuted claims, including those made by Caruso, that water tanks in Pacific Palisades weren’t fully filled ahead of the fire. Departmental officials said the three tanks in the area were filled to capacity w…

Three million gallons is a few large swimming pools of water. Is there no way to draw from a larger source? For comparison, the Hollywood reservoir is 2.5 billion gallons.

> Is there no way to draw from a larger source?

What are your thoughts on that question?

I'm in Australia, while I cannot personally answer your question wrt these specific tanks I do imagine there was some means by which they were filled to the brim.

Re: LA wildfires force thousands to evacuate, NASA JPL closed

#392

Post by pzduniak »

defrost wrote: post #293
darth_avocado wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The blame starts with the mayor and top brass of the city government. The literal job description involves running the city based on money they have, including prioritizing what’s important. Fire departments and emergency services are the last departments that need budget cuts. Obviously some blame does also fall on the fire chief, but fire departments are usually well run and from the looks of it, there seems to hav…

> The literal job description involves running the city based on money they have, including prioritizing what’s important. Sure, and to that end the Police and Fire together make up in excess of 60% of the entire budget. Should all income go to the Fire Dept? (Obviously not) .. again, I'm an outsider, but from a helicopter perspective there already a good sized portion of the budget going towards Fire as a priority a…

>Should some of the Police budget be cut and redirected?

I'm as far from this situation as you can be, but yes, absolutely, it's ridiculous how much money is set on fire on ineffective budget items, while at the same time AFAIU the police force is not really held responsible to do its job.

Re: LA wildfires force thousands to evacuate, NASA JPL closed

#393

Post by jcranmer »

nox101 wrote: post #386
block_dagger wrote: post #378

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Correction: among the most pleasant _when natural wildfires don't burn everything down_. People need to take long-term conditions into account when choosing locations for habitation.

Does anyone do this? SoCal, NorCal, Seattle - Earthquakes SoCal, NorCal - Fires Midwestern States - Tornadoes North Easy - Blizzards South Easy - Hurricanes Which part do you suggest everyone move to?

Northeast. Structural modifications for heavy snow are light (make sure the house is well-insulated, get yourself a nice heater, don't put any pipes in the exterior walls, and have sloped roofs rather than flat roofs), and they're not particularly dangerous if you're prepared to be cooped up in a house for a day or two (and you're not in the main lake effect snow belt, where snow can be rather constant).

Re: LA wildfires force thousands to evacuate, NASA JPL closed

#394

Post by motoxpro »

pizza wrote: post #286

Many neighborhoods and landmarks along PCH in Malibu just gone. There's nothing left. Hard to fathom or overstate what the impact of all this will be. Every year I go down to the beach at sunrise on January 1st with my dad. We pulled over somewhere, don't know where, along the way, to catch the sunrise. Today when I first woke up I opened twitter and saw a video of the charred skeletons of the houses right where we w…

I remember that time. What a nightmare. Was saying the current one is probably the worst I have ever seen.

Used to go to that place all the time, friend was working when it happened.

Re: LA wildfires force thousands to evacuate, NASA JPL closed

#395

Post by mulmen »

xeromal wrote: post #387
mulmen wrote: post #359

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> yeah, I expect there are some foundational differences in world view at play. Agree. I find it fascinating that perspectives can be so different. > It it is sought after because it is an improvement over the alternative. Yep, no objection from me. > I'm honestly unsure how this can be framed as a negative. To me it's the part where prison is apparently even worse than risking your life fighting fires for free. The…

I don't have much skin in this argument but I'll offer one more perspective. Some people enjoy work and some people enjoy risk taking. I have a feeling that are some people in prison that like being badass and the hero and this job seems like an excellent opportunity. Your point that they would rather fight fire than be in prison strikes you as they must really hate prison when some people are just wired differently…

Yeah to me this sounds like letting slaves pick their bunks. It’s technically autonomy but not in any meaningful way. It’s certainly not a free person choosing their living arrangements.

I guess if you don’t consider prison labor to be slavery then it might be palatable but I just can’t draw that distinction. Especially given the history.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penal_labor_in_the_United_St...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Codes_(United_States)

Re: LA wildfires force thousands to evacuate, NASA JPL closed

#397

Post by throwbacktictac »

linotype wrote: post #303
bloudermilk wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only guidance I’ve heard so far is that the shelters are in need of bedding. Neither of the press briefings today offered more opportunities for support.

Where the hell is Karen Bass? Our government?

I keep seeing questions about the location of Karen Bass and I don't understand the outrage. Did she fly to Ghana when the fires erupted? Is she not allowed to take vacations? Was she expected to magically reappear in California when things got out of hand? Has her responsiveness been extremely latent.

Re: LA wildfires force thousands to evacuate, NASA JPL closed

#398

Post by throwbacktictac »

throwbacktictac wrote: post #397
linotype wrote: post #303

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where the hell is Karen Bass? Our government?

I keep seeing questions about the location of Karen Bass and I don't understand the outrage. Did she fly to Ghana when the fires erupted? Is she not allowed to take vacations? Was she expected to magically reappear in California when things got out of hand? Has her responsiveness been extremely latent.

Ok, I understand some of the criticism now. 1.) She cut funding to the fire department budget by millions of dollars. 2.) There is a video floating around where she is totally unresponsive to questions.

Re: LA wildfires force thousands to evacuate, NASA JPL closed

#399

Post by Terr_ »

azemetre wrote: post #324
rayiner wrote: post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recommend to everyone to get out of cities and counties that have large pension liabilities. You will be less safe, your kids will be educated more poorly, and your quality of public services will be whittled away because the money is going to retirees and debt. E.g. Retirement benefits and debt service took up 43% of Chicago’s budget in 2022: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/30/opinion/chicago-illinois-... . A deca…

And go where exactly? To towns that don't even have the tax base to support themselves and lack jobs? It's not like suburbs aren't sitting on financial bombs either.

> It's not like suburbs aren't sitting on financial bombs either.

Reminds me of a video (part of series), titled "Why American Cities Are Broke - The Growth Ponzi Scheme". Previous HN submission and discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32495647

TLDR: Suburban and certain commercial development is money-loser because tax-revenue is way under the long-term costs of the infrastructure to support it, and already denser areas (including the housing of poorer people) are subsidizing spread-out/richer zones.

Re: LA wildfires force thousands to evacuate, NASA JPL closed

#400

Post by mulmen »

anon291 wrote: post #290
mulmen wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm still uneasy about it. They're in a vulnerable position and the alternative is unpleasant because of the same people offering the "opportunity". The pay is only legal because they're prisoners. If it was a fair wage I'd be more comfortable although still uneasy.

They're being provided with a full life while the rest of us pay for it. If, at market rate, their earnings make up for the expense the state pays for them, I'd be willing to let them earn it, but I doubt any are earning that much.

The problem with running prisons like a business is that they scale so well.
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