Trump blames Biden and California Gov. Gavin Newsom for deadly wildfires

CA has been blue for over a decade for the vast majority of counties. LA County has voted Dem in every election since 88. So yeah, the Dems are in charge. This only became an issue just recently? Maybe try to not be so ignorant. You think wildfires are new from "climate change"? I love the "orange god" BS. It tells me you can't have a rational conversation because you are bringing up something that is totally unrelated to what's happening in CA. Why do you keep bringing up Tuberville? Do you have a thing for him? If so, cool, you do you...

I see you just want to keep your head in the sand and not blame who's in charge(unless they have an R next to their name...). Maybe stop playing politics and start actually demanding that those in charge do their job. Total failure from the county and state level regarding this issue. Heads will roll and most happen to be Dems. So be it.

 

I just read Tuberville's comments and here they are. Dumb quotes. You send them money to help those in need most importantly. But I do get what he's saying. It would be akin to Florida not requiring houses to be up to code for hurricanes and then when inevitably a hurricane hits and Florida keeps asking for FEMA money to rebuild those houses over and over again. CA needs to enact strict rules regarding controlled burns(way more than they do now) and reservoirs that are properly filled for emergencies like now. Also, should require new houses to be enacted with fire prevention measures. CA needs major changes and should've done this before this disaster struck.

“And it … you know, I don’t mind sending them some money. But unless they show that they’re [going to] change their ways and get back to building dams and storing water, doing the — the maintenance with the brush and the trees and everything that everybody else does in the country, and they refuse to do it, they don’t deserve anything, to be honest with you, unless they show us they’re [going to] make some changes,” he added.

The Five Feet That Could Prevent the Next Palisades Fire

 

Not even sure what “pre-positioning assets” means in case of fire. It’s not a damned Hurricane. Can’t predict where a power line will spark or a camper will irresponsibly start a fire. Nor can they predict when. Hell out there a cigarette out the window can do it. Where do they “position” those firefighting assets? How often would they just be wasted (as I’m sure sometimes also happens when a hurricane doesn’t hit as hard as feared)?

It’s certainly reasonable to have increased readiness in fire season and have even higher alert when the weather forecast shows those Santa Ana winds, but they aren’t going to activate the national guard or call in firefighters from other states based only on winds which on their own don’t do any damage. Whereas with major hurricanes we do call in those outside assets. Now if they want to pour those extra resources into actual forest management and pro-active measures that would make more sense. Too much sense, most likely.

 

I think its a lead pipe cinch that changes will happen after this catastrophe. Implementing and enhancing fire breaks between natural areas and residential areas would help. And Since so many rebuilds will be starting at ground zero, it should be easy to require fire-resistant building materials and making defensible spaces part of landscaping requirements for larger lots or as part of a development/neighborhood - i live on top of a hill in a wooden home surrounded on 3 sides by forest and think about this a lot but since I don’t own those forests and there are zero zoning ordinances of any kind (the stated philosophy is “you can’t tell a man what to do with his own property”) in this county, i am vulnerable. It is a risk i have chosen to accept to live here.

 

Pretty interesting old video from Colorado. In a neighborhood, I would think you need most folks on board in regards to 100’ buffer vs 5’



Lot if interesting stuff coming out on ember protection, vinyl windows melt, eves and gutters. I thought the part on decks or deck furniture being the ignition point on a number of Colorado was good.

 

No doubt. It's pathetic that you (anyone) would even have to voice something like this. People weren't griping about the residents and leaders of NC or FL when flooding or hurricanes hurt them. Dem pols certainly weren't threatening their relief funding.

What kind of world are we in, what kind of country have we become, when this is standard stuff from the right? Just vileness......and then they double, triple, quadruple down........we're really way past that by now.....on more vileness at every turn.

What kind of people would vote for this?

 

this is how to build in this area. green roof, fireproof materials on the shell, fireproof all vents to prevent ember intrusion, defensible space around the structure. this architect just put his house through baptism by fire and it came out just fine

Fire Protection Measures Saved House in Pacific Palisades, CA, | Firehouse

Chasen, who runs a Santa Monica architectural firm, completed the home’s construction last year. A Pacific Palisades native, he began his career rebuilding homes after Malibu fires in the 1990s, which shaped his instinctive focus on fire-resistant design.

Unlike older homes in the area with large vents, this one was sealed tightly to prevent embers, with stucco walls and a fire-resistant roof. Multi-pane windows helped block smoke and flames from entering.

These measures alone would likely have not have been enough, Chasen said. The home’s owner, who requested anonymity, cleared nearby vegetation well ahead of time and removed anything flammable from the home’s perimeter just hours before the fire struck.

“You can’t have material around the house that’s going to allow spot fires to accelerate, like a big tree that’s going to catch fire. Then you need a second line of defense with a hardened building,” he said. “In this case, both those things together were effective.”

 

As fire-resistant home survives, owners hope rebuild takes realistic look at disasters | ABS-CBN News

Like many other residents affected by the fires, Kovac and Maher saw a photo online of a nearby neighbor’s destroyed home. But in the background, their home stood intact.

“It really does look like an apocalypse or a war zone, with everything and ash and rubble and still fire smoldering and smoking and burning, and seeing our house standing there, there is a bit, I guess, of survivor's guilt, if you want to use that term,” Maher said. "We're proud and happy and that our efforts paid off. But we never imagined a scene so stark as this.”

Some of the efforts that went into designing and building the home included a fire-resistant fiber cement, a planted roof, and sprinkler nozzles that spray out Phos-Chek fire retardant.

In addition, they have worked on creating defensive space around their home, minimizing the amount of fuel that can burn easily when caught by embers.

 

I can’t imagine being one of the only remaining houses. It would be a relief but I wonder what they’ll feel going forward. I want acreage for my next home, but for a neighborhood that would feel desolate and lifeless, and then you’re dealing with rebuilding thousands of homes around you for years on end.

 

The house may be standing but is it livable?

Does it still have power and water? Were the power lines burned up? Were the water or sewage lines damaged? If the transfer stations were damaged then no water or sewage will run.

If the electric grid got wiped out, no one is returning until that is fully built back up.

 

survivors guilt down to tears in the interview I saw. talk about a test case though, wow... I suspect insurance companies are going to become very fond of some of these approaches. need to invent a better home suppression foam system. battery powered

 

it will not be livable for a while, just like the ones that stood post Ian in many places. water and sewer should be okay other than lift station panels once the power is rebuilt. with ian, we had to vacuum tons of sand out of the sewer systems and the storm systems. good thing about being underground, it doesn't burn

 

My sister-in-law's parents house is miracously still standing in Malibu. Her parents are with them in N. California. No word on when the house might be habitable. They did say about 20% of the houses in the area survived.

 

Yeah, I didn’t touch on that,but smoke damage is a thing too. If the house remained sealed maybe it didn’t damage it but ‍♂️

 

la fire department sent 5 fire engines, holding 25 trucks and 1000 men in reserve int he first critical hours when the fire broke out. unconscionable decision when stopping it right away is the only hope.

LAFD bosses sent just 5 fire engines to Palisades Fire — while holding back 1,000 firefighters and 35 trucks in critical first hours

Los Angeles fire bosses deployed a just fraction of its firefighters and trucks to the deadly Palisades Fire until it was already out of control — sending just five the 40 available fire engines and holding back 1,000 firefighters, according to a damning new report.

The critical decisions — blasted by experts and ex-fire chiefs as a spate of “missteps” — were made even as extreme warnings were coming in about life-threatening winds the turned the blaze into the most destructive in Los Angeles history. “You would have had a better chance to get a better result if you deployed those engines,” former LAFD Battalion Chief Rick Crawford told the Los Angeles Times.
.....................
Officials held off on ordering hundreds of available fire crews to remain on duty for a second shift last Tuesday, which would have doubled the manpower on hand, to help battle flames taking hold in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood, according to internal fire department records obtained by the Times. Despite being available, no extra engines were readied in the Palisades region prior to the fire breaking out there, according to the logs.

LA’s Deputy Chief Richard Fields, who is in charge of staffing and equipment, stressed that his plan was “appropriate for immediate response” and slammed critics for playing “Monday morning quarterback.” His boss, Chief Kristin Crowley, also defended the decision. The Times also reported that before the fires, LAFD leaders decided not to deploy nine fire engines to fire-prone areas like the Pacific Palisades — deciding instead to keep them in position in Hollywood and the San Fernando Valley.

 

Monday morning quarterbacking or not that does not look good.

 

Bill Burr has a message for some of our local fire experts.

 

apparently the thousand referenced were firemen that could have been sent if their shifts would have been extended.

it wasn't calling them in and sacrificing response time elsewhere, it appears that they just didn't want to pay the OT.

L.A. fire officials could have put engines in the Palisades before the fire. They didn't - Los Angeles Times

As the Los Angeles Fire Department faced extraordinary warnings of life-threatening winds, top commanders decided not to assign for emergency deployment roughly 1,000 available firefighters and dozens of water-carrying engines in advance of the fire that destroyed much of the Pacific Palisades and continues to burn, interviews and internal LAFD records show.

Fire officials chose not to order the firefighters to remain on duty for a second shift last Tuesday as the winds were building — which would have doubled the personnel on hand — and staffed just five of more than 40 engines that are available to aid in battling wildfires, according to the records obtained by The Times, as well as interviews with LAFD officials and former chiefs with knowledge of city operations.

 

I’m not sure what a “standard response” is, but I assume it isn’t to immediately send 1000 to every reported brush fire. That sounds like a Monday morning QB.

As they let it get out of hand, obviously after sending those trucks it wasn’t enough. So did the initial people at the scene think they could handle it, and then just not control it? How long did it take them to call in backup? If they called for help and it was delayed for “hours” that would be a bad look. I don’t think initially just sending 5 trucks sounds that out of line. It’s more what happened when they first laid eyes on the fire, and how long before they recognized it needed to be all hands on deck.

The staffing decision sounds like an obvious mistake though given the weather forecast.