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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

#401

Post by elevatedastalt »

jcranmer wrote: post #393
nox101 wrote: post #386

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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).

So the proposal is for 350 Million people to move to New England?

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

#402

Post by ashoeafoot »

jandrewrogers wrote: post #343
geysersam wrote: post #318

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are there areas of California where insurers are not operating anymore because of wildfires? That's crazy

Yes, there are parts of California that are uninsurable against wildfires. Technically they could be insurable but State regulators will not allow insurance companies to raise premiums sufficient to cover the actuarial risk. The necessary premiums are prohibitively expensive for homeowners, but anything less risks bankrupting the insurance companies and increases their reinsurance costs which also must be passed on t…

Would it make sense to allow this? The models as you said make it a non viable buisness and where that gap exists scams move in, which the routinely have to be bailed out by the public.

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

#403

Post by curiousgal »

throwaway249281 wrote: post #115

There's a lot of fingerpointing but as Daniel Swain put it: 1. This was completely expected and forecasted both short and long term by regional climate and weather experts. Two very wet winters caused fuel buildup followed by an extremely hot and dry year. 2. There is very little that can be done in these situations. 100 mph gusts of embers can't be fought with hoses and air attack isn't possible in high winds. 3. Ha…

> There is very little that can be done in these situations.

Ah yes, same response to school shootings; "No way to solve this, says the only country where this happens every year".

There's nothing that special about California that makes it different from many other places around the world with densely populated forested areas that do not get insane wildfires almost every single year.

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

#405

Post by curiousgal »

vFunct wrote: post #385

After hurricane Andrew Florida changed their building codes to account for hurricanes. But can California do the same for wildfires? Is it even possible to construct fireproof homes? (With stone construction or whatever?)

> Is it even possible to construct fireproof homes?

Of course you can. This is a solved problem. The US chooses to use lumber because it's cheap and fast. You get what you paid for.

Many poor countries use hollow red clay bricks for construction, which are fire proof. You don't need to break the bank to build a fire resistant house. It's just like with most think in the U.S., the "system" is built in a certain way to benefit certain establishments.

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

#406

Post by pkulak »

s1artibartfast wrote: post #340
mulmen wrote: post #331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's one of the most sought after opportunities in prison. "In prison" is doing a lot of work there. > And the state can't afford to pay them fully. Then the state can't afford to be on fire. An externality that isn't accounted for. > Considering they want to do it, and the state already pays a huge amount to house prisoners, its not that insane. I'm really shocked to hear someone just casually say slavery in the U…

yeah, I expect there are some foundational differences in world view at play. IMO, its not slavery because it is 100% optional. It is a restricted privilege that prisoners actively seek and compete for. It is sought after because it is an improvement over the alternative. I'm honestly unsure how this can be framed as a negative.

You can’t give someone only two options, one less bad, then claim there was a free choice made.

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

#407

Post by esalman »

geomark wrote: post #388
esalman wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

LA is surrounded by high fire risk areas. The wildfire risk is also really unpredictable. The rule of thumb is the closer you are to the beach, the lower the risk. We were looking to buy a house in Orange or Anaheim Hills because those areas are comparatively affordable. But after the airport fire we steered clear. I took a fire insurance quote on an Orange property, their model says the fire risk is 4 on a scale of…

My sister lives in Anaheim Hills. A couple years ago a brush fire burned right up to the property line behind her house. Fortunately her house was undamaged. Last year the insurance company declined to renew her policy. I think you made a wise choice to avoid that area.

I guess so. I hope your sister is doing alright. Nobody wanted to insure properties in Orange or Anaheim Hills for me either, only option was to get calfair policy. We ended up buying in Aliso Viejo.

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

#408

Post by earnestinger »

emmelaich wrote: post #338
earnestinger wrote: post #77

I see there are three separate fires several km apart. How do they start so synchronously?

There's always a slight chance of arsonists. Every few years in Australia we get a story of arsonists setting fires. Sometimes they're firefighters, too.

> There's always a slight chance of arsonists.

Actually, that was my first natural reaction. (Though I do live in the neighborhood of Russia, here probability of foul play is much higher up the list)

> Sometimes they're firefighters, too.

That is messed up.

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

#409

Post by sahila »

throwbacktictac wrote: post #398
throwbacktictac wrote: post #397

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

She cut some 2% of the LA fire department budget, 17M out of 837M. The outrage is politically fueled more than any rationale reasoning.

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

#410

Post by lm28469 »

lend000 wrote: post #356

This saga has led me to do some research on the state of modern firefighting. From what I've gathered, we're still using the same methods (more or less) we've been using since the 1960's when Phos-Chek was introduced. There have been significant improvements in information (locating fires early with satellites and drones as such), which is no doubt valuable, but I was underwhelmed by the lack of advancements in actua…

We should stop believing tech can and will solve every single of our problems.

Between climate change, poor forest maintenance, poor infrastructure maintenance, building in risk areas, &c. it's all a matter of time. We're not gods and we will never be, we should have learned to live with our environment, not against it.

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