Fires in California

[Tracy Bowman]

Fire is terrifying. Sad to see so many homes & lives lost. One is too many. Praying for those affected.

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[RedlandRanger]

Fire is terrifying. Sad to see so many homes & lives lost. One is too many. Praying for those affected.

After getting a taste of this in 2020 when we had to evacuate our house due to fires, I can relate to what so many people LA are going thru. It is difficult to leave your house not knowing if you will be able to return to it. Wildfires ARE terrifying and it is terrifying how quickly they can move with the right winds. The fire near our house was almost 140,000 acres, but probably 90% of that was done in ONE night (due to east winds) - It ran something like 18 miles up a canyon in one night. That still boggles my mind when I think of it.

Hoping they get it under control sooner than later - praying for all those affected.

 

[rang19ca]

I live about 40miles north of the fires. We are lucky that the winds are blowing the smoke away from us. There are about 150,000 people under mandatory evacuation. The lost structure count is approaching 10,000 !

 

[got3fords]

I live about 40miles north of the fires. We are lucky that the winds are blowing the smoke away from us. There are about 150,000 people under mandatory evacuation. The lost structure count is approaching 10,000 !

I cannot wrap my brain around the devastation. It's surreal.

 

[rang19ca]

I cannot wrap my brain around the devastation. It's surreal.

I know what you mean. I have been watching the videos and live reports, since Tuesday morning. I can't accept that this many people have lost everything. It make me sick to see this.

 

[awd.nv]

I feel bad for all those affected and for those risking life to save others. A youtuber I follow had his home destroyed and seeing the video of his walkthrough was nuts. People just standing in front of their burnt homes probably wondering where to start.

That said, the leaders of the state needs to get their act together. Any animal or plant they were trying to save by not doing maintenance is probably dead now anyway. I love nature, I respect the land and wildlife but if we are going to create cities, let us maintain the land as well to preserve what was built and the life there.

This is very upsetting and the people in charge need to take responsibility for it. Some people will not recover in their lifetime. It may take years for those with insurance to even get paid out. I remember hearing that years after Hurricane Sandy there were people still waiting on insurance payouts.

We will see how CA votes the next election I guess. No matter what party, we will see how many of these people get re-elected.

 

[Stevedbvik1]

My son and his family just moved to the LA area in November from Michigan. He sent me this picture last night. It was taken from the top of their parking garage at their apartment complex. Fire is about 4-5 miles SE of them up in the hills.

 

[Doc]

I won’t complain about hurricanes any more .

 

[Fordup]

I feel bad for them but you have to blame the elected officials for bad priorities. Insurance rates will skyrocket everywhere to pay for multi million dollar mansions. Cut $100 million from forest management to give to crack heads and your playing with fire. Something how fast FEMA has reacted to this with huge funding and how slow and poorly it reacted to a natural disaster in the south.

 

[HeatXfer]

My wife's Aunt & Uncle live on the West side of the 210, about 1k feet from the fire line in Pasadena. They were evacuated on the 8th, but returned home the next day. They've got a bug-out camper, so they're set for up to 2wks on the road. They're worried, and rightly so. The fire hasn't jumped the freeway, but those winds can carry embers up to a mile. All we can do is wait & watch.

In '91 I helped a friend defend his house in the Oakland hills. Homes ½ a block away were fully engulfed. It was intense.

 

[HeatXfer]

I feel bad for them but you have to blame the elected officials for bad priorities. Insurance rates will skyrocket everywhere to pay for multi million dollar mansions. Cut $100 million from forest management to give to crack heads and your playing with fire. Something how fast FEMA has reacted to this with huge funding and how slow and poorly it reacted to a natural disaster in the south.

I agree. I also think there needs to be new building codes enacted that require fireproof & fire resistant construction. Steel roofs, fine wire mesh behind all attic vents, cement board exterior sheeting under all forms of siding. Expensive yes: pay me now or pay me later.

 

[dtech]

FYI, below is the debt of the Golden State, rebuilding from this catastrophic event is going to be a huge challenge, many homeowners (myself included) do not carry full replacement coverage on their dwellings owing to cost. In 2024 natural disasters in the US cost $ 182.7 billion , that amount is likely to be exceeded in the CA fires.

As of 2024, California's state debt is about $158.05 billion. However, the state's total debt, including unfunded liabilities, is roughly $1.6 trillion. This is the highest debt of any state in the country.

California's debt is largely due to unfunded liabilities for health care and pension retirement benefits promised to public workers. The state's debt per household is about $125,000, which is higher than the annual GDP of all but 13 countries.

 

[shovelhd]

California has the 5th largest economy in the WORLD. To be trillions in debt points to absolutely nothing other than total, complete, gross mismanagement.

There better be some serious caveats to the FEMA money. East Palestine and North Carolina are still waiting.

 

[Cmar]

Here's hoping and praying for anyone in CA affected by these fires. I don't watch the news and just saw late yesterday what it looked like there and it's devastating! The winds out there are no joke and can pick up and shift in an instant.

No matter where you live it's always good to have a B-O-B (Bug Out Bag) ready to go. I always have mine filed with a couple days worth of clothing, some medical supplies, money, toiletries and a few protein bars which I rotate. It doesn't have to be large but something just to get you by until help can arrive. This is also another good reason to NOT leave your vehicles low on gas. As Duke said things can and will happen fast and there will be no time (and possibly) nothing open in an emergency.

This is good advice. My wife is the endless optimist so didn't want me making a "disaster box" so I have assembled something similar as a "camping box" which is also practical. We also argue about the fuel thing too, I'm with you, and rarely will I let my Ranger drop below a quarter of a tank.

Yes, minor fires are an almost daily occurrence around here during in late winter and spring as the rural fire service clears excessive fuel from forested areas before summer. Australian forests have evolved with fire and a light burn doesn't hurt them at all, in fact some species need fire to activate their seeds.

We've only come under real bush-fire threat here once, a few years ago during an extensive drought, the fire luckily stopping at the very edge of a petrol station about 1/2 a mile away.
A couple of rural volunteer firemen stayed on site with a truck, and kept a hose spray on the servo's big LPG storage tank to stop it blowing it's safety valve whilst the fire front passed. That's brave.

If that servo had caught alight I imagine we would have come under an evacuation order, as it's all bush from there to our place.

A water-bomber chopper actually dropped it's suction hose and filled its tanks from our backyard dam a few times. I still have the photos somewhere, I think.

I have a petrol fire pump on our dam, normally it's used to water the garden when we are in a drought with water restrictions, but I have enough hose to water down the whole house and surrounds if necessary. I did use it that day to saturate all the area around our house.

 

[Cmar]

FYI, below is the debt of the Golden State, rebuilding from this catastrophic event is going to be a huge challenge, many homeowners (myself included) do not carry full replacement coverage on their dwellings owing to cost. In 2024 natural disasters in the US cost $ 182.7 billion , that amount is likely to be exceeded in the CA fires.

As of 2024, California's state debt is about $158.05 billion. However, the state's total debt, including unfunded liabilities, is roughly $1.6 trillion. This is the highest debt of any state in the country.

California's debt is largely due to unfunded liabilities for health care and pension retirement benefits promised to public workers. The state's debt per household is about $125,000, which is higher than the annual GDP of all but 13 countries.

Wow why are the health care and pension funds unfunded?
I work for the state here and from day one part of your salary is deducted and placed in a state super account, this is invested and you can access it at retirement age. No government of any flavour is allowed to touch that fund, and it is not allowed to be considered as part of government funds. Management of the fund is under the control of a separate and independant department, staffed by people with proven records in finance and banking. The end result is that if every public servant in the state were to claim their funds tomorrow there would still be money left over, it is very much in positive balance. Surely the Californian system can't be that different?

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