LA Fires!

[Jeremy McCreary]

Im reading about the inevitable mudslides when it rains, no bush to hold the soil, I guess that depends how much it rains.

SoCal has a 2-season climate some call "Mediterranean". The "wet" season brings most of its annual rainfall in a few large drenching winter storms with little rain in between.

The longer "dry" season sees almost no rain. Moisture carried inland by marine (air) layer mists and fogs in late spring through summer is about all the moisture plants typically see during that time. By the end of the dry season, the dense brush cover promoted by the winter rains is typically bone dry.

During the dry season, brush-covered soils tend to develop an impermeable veneer or "varnish" that results in very high runoff rates during the winter deluges. Result: Dangerous runoff-driven debris flows in our steep and rugged coastal and inland mountains — especially in areas with granite-like bedrock.

The San Gabriel Mountains east of LA are the poster children for this normal process, but the Santa Monicas on the coast WSW of LA aren't far behind. The current Pacific Palisades fire is in the Santa Monicas, the Eaton fire in the San Gabriels.

All of that's pretty much business as usual in this terrain and climate. Now add steep burned slopes to the mix, and you've got real recipe for disaster in the steeper canyons.

 

[Mr. Coffee]

It is almost silly looking for a cause. It is not what sparked a fire, it is the conditions when anything can spark a fire, due to fossil fuel over use/global warming's chaos consequences returning home; static electricity from a trash bag in the wind. Anything. Two years of major rains then one with none multiplied by hairdryer hot dry gale force winds.

One of the things that climate change is driving is periods of very high rainfall followed by very dry periods. The periods with very high rainfall produce a lot of vegetation growth, which is nicely dried out and provides even more fuel for the next fire during one of those dry periods.

Again, if you have high winds, neighborhoods on steep terrain, and neighborhoods with road networks with few ways in and out and lots of dead-end streets you are building a death trap during a wildfire. Firefighters are not paid to risk their lives to save anyone's home.

 

[Chargeride]

Someone posted an incredible picture of heavy dark morning traffic going past all the hills alight with fire, it looked terrifying.
Then I read the caption, it was the last big fire some years back.

I never use twitter/X, but ended up on it again, holy jesus theres some crackers stuff on there, but at least people do shout it down.
Ludicrous fakes of space lasers hitting LA, this blue painting of Oprahs house so they dont shoot her, cropped, sped up, faked, reversed, dubbed, zoomed in.
But its not all bad, all these posts get bombed with people disecting what nonsense it is.
Its the wild west, dont take your gns.

 

[Catalyzt]

It is almost silly looking for a cause. It is not what sparked a fire, it is the conditions when anything can spark a fire, due to fossil fuel over use/global warming's chaos consequences returning home; static electricity from a trash bag in the wind. Anything. Two years of major rains then one with none multiplied by hairdryer hot dry gale force winds. The torch guy was doing his full-time job as a road worker melting tar. He probably did not have very high SATs and could not read a room very well when neighbors jumped on him. These are fire storms. There are ember tornados and they create their own winds as they draw cooler air from the bottom sides and shoot sparks and debris miles high up the middle. They can even create their own dry lightning storms. Anything in these conditions that is even slightly flammable explodes. Another concern is if and when they happen in less affluent South Los Angeles. Marshal Law would be declared. It is scary as hell. Desperate brown people will be shot by the National Guard during the 47 inauguration. Which images would Fox 'News' cover first, pre-emptively.

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Pedaluma! << The torch guy was doing his full-time job as a road worker melting tar >> <<

He probably did not have very high SATs and could not read a room very well when neighbors jumped on him.

You have absolutely no factual basis for saying that, correct? That was not reported from any reliable source, was it? You made that up, correct?

Why did you do that?! I know the guy who tackled him! He's my colleague's husband! He was about to start a fire in front of their property. They asked him what he was doing and tried to de-escalate the situation verbally. He kept saying, "I have to do this, I have to do this."

OF COURSE the reason they are setting fires is VERY important. It determines how me and my neighbors will spend the next 60 hours or so. Climate change is also very important-- just less so, for those of us living here, for the next 48 hours, because we have immediate practical decisions to make.

If all we have to worry about on Monday and Tuesday nights are spot fires from Eaton, we can kind of chill and just leave Watch Duty running all night with out phone volume turned up.

If it's a rando on drugs-- which I could totally believe, one of several very likely scenarios, these weird new street drugs (cathinones/bath salts/synthetic cannabinoids do cause weird repetitive behaviors, e.g., people on meth take apart television sets, on bath salts, people take off their clothes and call the police-- we're going to be concerned, and just keep an eye out around the neighborhoods.

If it's terrorists, we should be out on the street with a view of the park, looking for fires where we think they would be most likely to set them. And of course it could be terrorists, domestic or from some other country, or an alliance between the two. Terrorists could also be recruiting desperate unhoused people on drugs; several scenarios are very plausible. We just don't know.

It is very important not to spread inaccurate information during a crisis. If you're guessing, you need to say so. This is not like you.

I live 2.2 miles from the closest edge of the Sunset Fire on Wednesday night and about 5 to eight miles from Eaton.

 

[Chargeride]

That politician with the sunglasses always looks to me like hes goin to pull them off , look at the camera with a huge grin and say.

'Alrighty then'

 

[Mr. Coffee]

You have absolutely no factual basis for saying that, correct? That was not reported from any reliable source, was it? You made that up, correct?

I have direct personal experience with how insanely and dangerously stupid people can be during conditions of high fire risk. And bluntly the reality is often worse than the rumors. If only because of the old saying, "Truth is stranger than fiction, because fiction has to make sense."

My two favorites were the fires caused by a gender reveal party and the jerk who decided it was a good idea to use a welding torch on plastic irrigation pipe and nearly burnt down my house. After those two I'll believe there is no limit to how stupid humans can be.

 

[Chargeride]

Really the issue is having an armaggedon that is so ludicrously easy to initiate, there was nothing in place to stop a single match turning into one of Americas worse disasters.

 

[PedalUma]

You have absolutely no factual basis for saying that, correct?

That is what I was told from another source. I did not fact check. I also heard that there was no probable cause to arrest for arson, but he was charged with a parole violation. My bad. I stand corrected. Yes, and some people will act nutty when under so much stress in a crisis. This is not time to walk around with a torch.

 

[Mr. Coffee]

How nothing really changes. This is from 1962:

 

[Catalyzt]

That is what I was told from another source. I did not fact check. I also heard that there was no probable cause to arrest for arson, but he was charged with a parole violation. My bad. I stand corrected. Yes, and some people will act nutty when under so much stress in a crisis. This is not time to walk around with a torch.

Thanks, brother, appreciate it. No worries. Sorry if I'm a little tense!

I confronted someone on the Motobecane today... MAGA looking dude in a green SUV. He engaged me in conversation, but mad no sense. How do I get through that gate? Me: No, that's someone's property. Him: How do I get into the park? Me: Actually, you can't, it's all closed. HIM: Do you mind if I take pictures? Me: No, but it's not my property.

Dude's hands were shaking. He was probably just high on weed, but what to do? My new technique: Tactical Lurking. I just rode up the hill again, grinning at him like, "I'm a hard core athlete! Or maybe I'm watching you!" He was still there. Went and got my car and phone, drove back to ask him if he'd do me an enormous favor and leave, just because everyone's on edge right now. Fortunately, he was gone, and had not started a fire.

I can only take another day or two of this. I'm also exhausted from clearing the yard and letting friends and family know that we're not dead. Glad the Santa Anas will be over soon!

 

[BlackHand]

Hang in there @Catalyzt. Glad you and yours are still whole.

 

[Chargeride]

How nothing really changes. This is from 1962:

You could paint a picture of a dinosaur running from the flames and it would probably be historically accurate.

Save your house and then have to listen to five years of table saws, hammer drills and cement trucks.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Reportedly, London was rebuilt in brick and mortar after the Great Fire of 1666. Later, the city survived the Nazi bombing raids. I still cannot understand why America's homes are made of flammable materials.

 

[Chargeride]

I saw a vid of someone opening up their large fire proof safe in front of a news crew.

It was full of guns.

 

[Chargeride]

Double checked, it was from a previous LA fire, man youve got to be a detective thesedays.
Well its still Murica.

 

[Mr. Coffee]

Reportedly, London was rebuilt in brick and mortar after the Great Fire of 1666. Later, the city survived the Nazi bombing raids. I still cannot understand why America's homes are made of flammable materials.

Lots of them are. Heck, in places like LA after decades of ruthless natural selection most of them are.

And it often doesn't really matter. If the fire is intense enough the radiant heat will ignite materials inside the house no matter what the exterior is made out of. I doubt you'd find a fireproof bed or sofa very comfortable. Even in the absence of intense radiant heat, embers can get inside the house (usual through vents, although sometimes even the spaces under the door can let sparks in that ignite carpeting.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Reportedly, London was rebuilt in brick and mortar after the Great Fire of 1666. Later, the city survived the Nazi bombing raids. I still cannot understand why America's homes are made of flammable materials.

In seismically active areas, wood frame homes bolted to strong foundations are the safest bet. You'd be a fool to live or work in an unreinforced masonry (especially brick) building in SoCal — especially in or around the fast-rising Santa Monica and San Gabriel Mountains, where the big fires are now.

Building codes all over the world banned such buildings in seismically active areas after the deadly Long Beach earthquake south of LA in 1933. Most of the 100 or so fatalities in that event came from falling brick.

Interestingly, the fire and seismic risks in and around the LA basin are strongly coupled along that mechanically troubled part of the boundary between the Pacific and North American Plates, the largest and 6th largest on Earth:

Life is complicated. Remember, you usually have time to evacuate a flammable home ahead of an advancing wildfire, but earthquakes strike without warning.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

In seismically active areas

I apologize Jeremy, even didn't think about it! I should have, as I watched 'Earthquake' a 1974 film when I was a teenager!

 

[Chargeride]

All thats missing in California is a plague of locust for the full set.

Sad to see that famous surfer died in the fire, Randy Miod, part of the culture of California that most reminds me of my youth in surfer cornwall.

 

[Mr. Coffee]

You can still have a wood or metal-framed home that is resilient in the face of earthquakes but have the exterior be concrete, metal, vinyl, or stucco all of which are sufficiently fireproof to be as survivable as you are going to get.

There are also these really cool vents that are fire safe. I make do with screens over all of my vents. Although some of them melted in the 2021 burnover event -- for that matter, some of the window screens melted.

Fire Resistant Vents and Ember Safe Vents - Vulcan Vents

Our flame & fire resistant vents are designed to provide excellent airflow & advanced protection against flame and ember penetration to protect the house.

www.vulcanvents.com