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If youve never experienced Santa Ana's before its easy to blame the property owners for being negligent. Its not hard to see how that whole thing turned into a firestorm. Houses are packed in and once that inferno fires up theyre going to get burned up until the winds die down.
 
From my friends place in Anaheim this morning.
IMG_20250112_150033.jpg
 
If youve never experienced Santa Ana's before its easy to blame the property owners for being negligent. Its not hard to see how that whole thing turned into a firestorm. Houses are packed in and once that inferno fires up theyre going to get burned up until the winds die down.
Both developers and government ignored this fact in order to enrich themselves. Most of the houses should never have been built in those areas, and probably will be rebuilt there so that the same parties can enrich themselves again.
 
I guess for me "prepping" generally means I'm staying in place. "Survivalist" generally means I'm leaving the house.

Some bubblegum voter complained that Preppers were Hoarders. On reflection, they are totally different. A Prepper stocks up before there is an emergency, while supplies are plentiful. My stocking up in advance is actually to the advantage of the bubblegum voter, insofar as they don't have to compete with me at the grocery store for meager supplies. They should be thanking me, not complaining about my sage anticipation.
 
Both developers and government ignored this fact in order to enrich themselves. Most of the houses should never have been built in those areas, and probably will be rebuilt there so that the same parties can enrich themselves again.
So in your opinion, where should houses be built? It seems one could use this argument to say houses should not be built anywhere in Florida or the gulf coast. They should also not be built anywhere in the mountains because there is a lot of trees and fire fuel there. Due to earthquakes, no one should built homes on the west coast at all. Why do they allow homes to be built in tornado alley or Hawaii? What does that leave? The upper Midwest and New England?

I think the answer is just to try to build to mitigate potential threats. Our home has hardyplank siding, sealed eaves , and a metal roof. Trex decking instead of wood and we have kept shrubs and trees away from the house. I am amazed seeing the trees and shrubs literally rubbing against the siding/stucco on homes in SoCal. Along with people on their roof with a garden hose instead of on the ground with a chainsaw cutting down those trees and shrubs.
 
I was buying bits here and there before the pandemic...

Pandemic hit, I had a closet full, we still did our regular shopping trips but if for some reason we could not, had a month plus in the closet...
 
The irony of government dependancy miserablyfailing the entire community of maybe the most wealthiest socialists residents does not escape me.
 
California has 40M+ inhabitants. LA county has something like 14M, which could have reduced over the last few years, but I'm sure those votes were still counted 🤔.

Anyways, I wouldn't be surprised if the amount of peppers there, are larger than the combined number in the PNW. When I was in the California Air National Guard, several members were cops, many were labeled "survivalist" during that era. Early 90s.

At the time I went along with the animal farm, and mocked the guy with the lifted camo painted Suburban. A few guys would go to their trunks after the drill weekend and show or buy all kinds of stuff.

These guys aren't likely in the current affected areas because they mostly live outside the cities. Most are senior technician level guys who can fix or build their own stuff. They stay in California for various reasons, but are greatly out numbered politically.
 
I think the answer is just to try to build to mitigate potential threats. Our home has hardyplank siding, sealed eaves , and a metal roof. Trex decking instead of wood and we have kept shrubs and trees away from the house. I am amazed seeing the trees and shrubs literally rubbing against the siding/stucco on homes in SoCal. Along with people on their roof with a garden hose instead of on the ground with a chainsaw cutting down those trees and shrubs.
Good points. I live in a danger area (indeed, I had to evac with 15 minutes notice in 2020).

I have thinned mature conifers and brush on two sides of the house (partly for fire danger, partly to reduce the chances of a tree falling on the house during winds - trees fall from winds here every winter), I also clear cut a ten acre swath along the long side of my property (but left a swath as a wind break nearer the house - it does make a big difference).

But I did not think about last minute removal of landscaping plants at the last minute (granted, I had zero time to do that, but I will keep it in mind in the future).

I have pruned some plants and removed others due to their growing thru fences. During the summer I also cut down the tall grass when just before it turns brown - it then comes back green but not as high.
 
So in your opinion, where should houses be built? It seems one could use this argument to say houses should not be built anywhere in Florida or the gulf coast. They should also not be built anywhere in the mountains because there is a lot of trees and fire fuel there. Due to earthquakes, no one should built homes on the west coast at all. Why do they allow homes to be built in tornado alley or Hawaii? What does that leave? The upper Midwest and New England?

I think the answer is just to try to build to mitigate potential threats. Our home has hardyplank siding, sealed eaves , and a metal roof. Trex decking instead of wood and we have kept shrubs and trees away from the house. I am amazed seeing the trees and shrubs literally rubbing against the siding/stucco on homes in SoCal. Along with people on their roof with a garden hose instead of on the ground with a chainsaw cutting down those trees and shrubs.
My comment was not about the homeowners, it was about government and developers. It was the developers, with approval of the government, that built the fire-vulnerable homes that are being lost.

Individual homeowners can take measures to limit their exposure, but in most cases, it is a lost cause. Only by starting from scratch can a home be truly fire-resistant, and that costs a lot of money.

Developers build at the lowest cost possible to meet the regulations. Only custom homes have owner input on specifications, and most of the owners have not educated themselves on what is necessary.

This situation will repeat itself unless the voters stand up and demand measures be taken that will prevent a repeat. Tighter fire resistance in design and build, not allowing building in vulnerable areas, controlled burns, and other measures are necessary, but will people be willing to pay the price?

Edit to add:
In another place, I posted the things I have done to limit the exposure of my home to fire. It was expensive, and takes time and effort to maintain, but I feel it is necessary. Someone on a limited budget would not be able to do this, so there we are.
 
The comments about the L.A. fires reminds me of some comments Jay Leno made about ten years ago or whenever the Oakland, CA area fires forced neighborhoods to evacuate.

Jay said that one family returned to their home after all the fires had died off, and discovered that their house had completely burned down to the ground, except for one bag of Kingsford Easy Light Charcoal Briquettes.
 

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