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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

#491

Post by rayiner »

khafra wrote: post #483
rayiner wrote: post #344

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/rankings/fiscal-stab... I moved to unincorporated exurban Maryland. The state government is a mess, but it’s mostly preoccupied dealing with Baltimore. Our county is great. Good schools with modest per student spending, the friendliest police I’ve ever interacted with. Even our county landfill is one of the cleanest and most orderly facilities I’ve ever seen. Nicer than most of…

I'd imagine that a lot of the people reading this work in tech, where pretty much every company has instituted return-to-office mandates. And of course, even if you were willing to spend several hours a day commuting, if you're in California exurban areas aren't exactly safer from wildfires.

That is unfortunate for them. But let me tell you how amazing our landfill is. To me, it exemplifies the best of America. It’s so clean and organized, run by orderly, polite, and helpful people. Every time I have to throw out some bulky items, the experience gives me confidence in our local government. My parents, who grew up in Bangladesh, are also amazed by it. Our local county clerk’s office is amazing too. I needed to get one of my kid’s birth certificates reprinted. I went down the street, to the basement of some sober and cost-effective building that was built in the 1980s, and had a new copy in 20 minutes.

I grew up in northern VA in the 1990s and I thought that the whole of America (besides NYC obviously) was like that. Super clean, orderly, and efficient. Then I lived in Wilmington Delaware, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and DC, and it reminded me too much of the third world.

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

#492

Post by gcanyon »

ramshanker wrote: post #480
bloudermilk wrote: post #170

We lost our house to the Eaton fire this morning. It’s difficult to describe the vastness of the destruction in our community. Everything within a couple square miles of us burned.

What was the major building material? Wood or Concrete? I hear wood houses are a lot more popular in US. Sorry for your loss.

Most houses in the US are made of wood. In Los Angeles they often have tile/concrete roofs, but I've read that in a situation like this the problem is the vents under the edge of the roof that lead into the attic: if anything burning gets through there, the house is toast.

Source: used to live in a Los Angeles hilly suburb. If the fires get to where I used to live, that house will definitely burn despite having a cement tile roof.

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

#493

Post by rayiner »

friend_Fernando wrote: post #458
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…

Local governance in general is FUBAR. Here in CA, housing supply policies from the legislature have gotten a lot better in recent years, but construction still gets bogged down at the local level. Most budgeting should be moved to the state level, IMO. It's crazy for Western Springs, Atherton and Beverly Hills to waste money while Chicago and Oakland fall behind. If some magnates decide to move to Texas as a result,…

Why would you want more decisions to be moved up to the state level, where officials will be elected by a low-information statewide electorate, instead of a local level, where there’s at least hope of an informed electorate that’ll hold the government accountable? That’s certainly been my experience living in a well-run county in Maryland.

This guy is my county executive: https://www.aacounty.org/pittmanandfriends. I trust him to make sure our trash gets picked up on time and to keep the community safe. I certainly don’t trust the Maryland government to do that.

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

#494

Post by lightedman »

7e wrote: post #326
anon291 wrote: post #287

California has a long history of failed forest management. At what point will the voters say enough is enough? But they keep electing the same people. https://www.npr.org/2021/06/25/1010382535/gavin-newsom-misle...

Severe drought brought on my climate change is not going to be fixed by “forest management.” There is no forest around any of these fires.

"There is no forest around any of these fires."

That is absolutely incorrect, the Los Angeles National Forest is currently on fire. I live here.

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

#495

Post by ExoticPearTree »

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.

From behind a keyboard and who knows how far away from Los Angeles you are, you may look at it with other eyes than the people who lost their homes in the fires.

And yes, in the end the mayor is responsible for the wellbeing of the city. And people see the mayor is nowhere to be found when their homes burned down. Who do you want them to be mad at?

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

#496

Post by kethinov »

onecommentman wrote: post #334
gammarator wrote: post #285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These aren’t “forests” like in other parts of the West so much as cliffs covered in dry, scrubby brush. I’m pessimistic that they could be systematically cleared or burned in a controlled way.

Burning in a dense residential area…no. Draconian clearing of all trees and brush except for selective fire-aware landscaping…yes, but you are paying significant money to make the residential area look uglier (in some eyes, it’s just a High Desert aesthetic for others), a hard sell.

The residential area being on fire looks significantly uglier to me.

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

#497

Post by pluto_modadic »

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…

this has to be parody. what?!

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

#498

Post by magic_smoke_ee »

kaycebasques wrote: post #8

Map of evacuation zones: https://protect.genasys.com/Search?z=9.689266971108566&latlo... Looks like 3 independent fires?

https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/2025/1/7/palisades-fire

Edit: And hotspots - https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/map/#d:24hrs;@-118.21,3...

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

#499

Post by nprateem »

beernet wrote: post #470

This is sad, devastating, and not surprising. Yet, people voted for policies that will further accelerate climate change and its consequential destructions in the next four years. As someone not living in the US, this is unbelievable to witness. Where did it all go wrong inside of people's heads?

Because no one thinks their house will burn down or flood, or that they will starve.

We're supposed to be self-interested individuals, but sadly most people only seem to wake up the moment their own safety is directly threatened.

Such a shame that 50 years of climate warnings have done practically nothing to stop us reaching the tipping point. If we aren't there yet, we will be in our lifetimes no doubt.

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

#500

Post by infecto »

friend_Fernando wrote: post #441
mschuster91 wrote: post #428

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> More proactive and competent wildfire mitigation would reduce the risk and therefore make insurance premiums more reasonable. Or... not building mansions next to forestry? In Germany we have pretty strict requirements on distances, so it's rare for damages to occur. Also, most of our power grid infrastructure is buried below ground, so videos like the ones circulating on Twitter from arcing lines setting bushes and…

The largest power company in CA is in the process of burying its cables. The risk level is not just affected by proximity to forests. For offshore (Santa Ana) wind events, the riskiest areas are the SW bottom of hills and near canyons. That's where the current LA fires are. IMO, a better prevention measure would be to not build houses out of sticks. That's already the case for much of the housing in Europe. Alas, her…

This narrative about building houses out of sticks also rubs me the wrong way. It's an extremely naive take on why it happens. The reason most homes in America are wood framed is really down to economics. Europe does not have as vast of a forest stock for lumber as the US/Canada does. Over time we have specialized in building wood framed homes and because of lumber, its cheaper.

These homes would have been destroyed regardless of building material. The bigger issue is most of these homes have probably not properly gone through fire mitigation steps.

https://www.insurance.ca.gov/01-consumers/200-wrr/Safer-from...

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