Soooo when is it NOT Fire Season??? Franklin fire in Malibu CA (60 Viewers)

[superchuck500]

Holy cow- the last frame is Altedena CA

almost every building is/was on fire.

The aerials coming in over Pallisades is crazy. It looks like Dresden.

It looks like this through much of the area.

 

[Booker]

I know we all get sideways about the cost of insurance being so close to Gulf of TBD, but one saving grace is exposure is limited to 6 mo out the year.

California wildfires have become a 12 month exposure.

Im certain we will start to hear the cost of coverage in California once this is all over and folks rebuild and have to get coverage.

Getting homeowners insurance is getting more difficult in a lot of places. When we bought our house in the foothills a couple of years ago our previous insurer wouldn't cover it. Fortunately State Farm did sell us a policy after they sent an agent out and they saw that the property had been fire mitigated by the previous owners, but it's not cheap.

And we know that other people in our area have been dropped by their carrier, and that was before the fire last summer. We were just talking a few nights ago, before all hell broke loose in LA, about having an agent come back out to advise what else we should do to further mitigate so we don't get dropped in the future.

 

[Booker]

This issue in Palisades wasn’t lack of water but lack of water pressure.

Fact check: What really happened with the Pacific Palisades water hydrants?

Why did water hydrants run dry in the midst of a conflagration? City officials stressed that the shortage was due to low water pressure, not a complete lack of water. But what caused it, and can it be prevented?

laist.com

Interesting, as one notable asshat celebrity mentioned he had left his sprinklers running while blaming politicians for there not being enough water.

 

[Madmarsha]

This issue in Palisades wasn’t lack of water but lack of water pressure.

Fact check: What really happened with the Pacific Palisades water hydrants?

Why did water hydrants run dry in the midst of a conflagration? City officials stressed that the shortage was due to low water pressure, not a complete lack of water. But what caused it, and can it be prevented?

laist.com

Isn't a lack of water a cause of lack of water pressure?

 

[superchuck500]

Isn't a lack of water a cause of lack of water pressure?

Did ya read it? Yes, a lack of water in the local tanks - but the system is designed for that, but the draw was so great that there wasn’t enough pressure to move reserve water into the depleted tanks.

Clearly the system wasn’t designed for the demand experienced in this event - which is a flaw that should be corrected. But the system had plenty of water (per these reports at least).

 

[Madmarsha]

Clearly the system wasn’t designed for the demand experienced in this event - which is a flaw that should be corrected. But the system had plenty of water (per these reports at least).

So maybe something should have been -- and better be -- done about that.

 

[Booker]

Did ya read it? Yes, a lack of water in the local tanks - but the system is designed for that, but the draw was so great that there wasn’t enough pressure to move reserve water into the depleted tanks.

Clearly the system wasn’t designed for the demand experienced in this event - which is a flaw that should be corrected. But the system had plenty of water (per these reports at least).

Doesn't some of the issue also have to do with the system having been originally built for a fraction of the homes and population now reliant upon it?

 

[CapitalCitySaint]

Doesn't some of the issue also have to do with the system having been originally built for a fraction of the homes and population now reliant upon it?

I feel like that is the case for almost all of the infrastructure in the US, really.

 

[Madmarsha]

Doesn't some of the issue also have to do with the system having been originally built for a fraction of the homes and population now reliant upon it?

To be fair, I did hear the mayor's assertion basically that the hydrant system isn't designed to deal with this magnitude. Her point being, I guess, that residential hydrant systems are designed for more single house usages than entire blocks. And obviously the winds didn't allow for air support. But, yeah, it does stand to reason that if the original system is intended for a less dense population, it's just compounding. But this event? This doesn't happen for just one reason. And that's the problem.

 

[Bayouboy]

I feel like that is the case for almost all of the infrastructure in the US, really.

Absolutely. And Americans would balk at a tax that would bring us up-to-date with our infrastructure. Most will just birch and complain rather than help pay for the necessary upgrades. Hell, most would just want to add it to our debt. All to say this country will not survive.

 

[Bayouboy]

Terrorists could certainly cause havoc throughout the entire state of California and most of the Southwest with a hundred bucks in fireworks.....causing 10's or 100's of billions in damage.

 

[Madmarsha]

I feel like that is the case for almost all of the infrastructure in the US, really.

Well, I mean, that is true ... and especially in economically depressed areas. Which this area is not supposed to be. Or am I wrong?

Also, isn't the perimeter of the Palisades alone enough to cover the area of, say, Manhattan? I mean, just think about that.

 

[superchuck500]

Well, I mean, that is true ... and especially in economically depressed areas. Which this area is not supposed to be. Or am I wrong?

I think there is widespread deficiency in the quality and capacity of infrastructure systems in the US - due to lack of public investment and long-term life-cycle replacement. I'm sure some elements of it are worse in economically depressed areas but for something like a water system in LA county, I doubt that it varies much by neighborhood (though I really don't know).

 

[Madmarsha]

Terrorists could certainly cause havoc throughout the entire state of California and most of the Southwest with a hundred bucks in fireworks.....causing 10's or 100's of billions in damage.

Shhhhhhh.

 

[CapitalCitySaint]

Absolutely. And Americans would balk at a tax that would bring us up-to-date with our infrastructure. Most will just birch and complain rather than help pay for the necessary upgrades. Hell, most would just want to add it to our debt. All to say this country will not survive.

I think it’s because of how much we see instances of government waste, pocket-lining and misuse of funds that people would prefer to see existing funds spent more responsibly before agreeing to further tax increases.