Interesting article. But I stopped reading when I got to the obligatory End of the World reference.
“Homebound offers a glimpse of how Silicon Valley sees the potential to make money on a planet that’s increasingly inhospitable . . . ”
Over the weekend, here in San Diego, someone talked about better air conditioning, “since 100 degree days are becoming more common in San Diego”.
I tried to find ANY actual evidence that 100 degree days were becoming more common over the past 10 years or so in San Diego, and ANY evidence it was scientifically connected to the Scary Monster.
Very enterprising for project management services and general contracting though the 15% – 25% is a big bite in the insurance settlement. No mention of how they contract out the repairs or how they address the availability of materials to rebuild.
We can go on blaming climate change but we do need to make changes. States, Counties and Cities allow overdevelopment of risky areas without sensible defensive space, water resources and adequate fire fighting staff with equipment. Seems it always boils down to how much money and who is going to pay.
I am truly sorry for these people decimated by wild fire and hope they can rebuild their lives.
Re your comment: Seems it always boils down to how much money and who is going to pay.
Regardless of risk (fire/flood/hurricanes/etc) they want others to pay or subsidize. Goes for insurance premiums as well as rebuilding.
I’m an old fart and back in 1974 our neighborhood was flooded. Federal government offered low interest loans to assist in the repair/rebuild. Those that got them paid them back. Now many folks expect a Federal funds handout to rebuild. As an aside, after that flood the government (don’t remember if it was federal or state) built a small levee system to prevent future floods (it worked!), turning the top of the levee into a recreational greenway.
I have read that they can build hurricane resistant homes in Florida, but I have never heard the California Uniform Building Code has addressed fire resistant standards to the same extent it addresses earthquake standards. Are elimination of flammable roofing and requiring automatic sprinkler systems enough? Would fire resistant siding, overhangs, etc., help? The 400+ homes destroyed in the Painted Cave fire near Santa Barbara were built so closely together that the entire tract was destroyed domino style. Will we ever require defensible clear space around the new developments being approved? Whether climate change is man made or a natural cycle shouldn’t we try to reduce the damage potential?
Yes, we should. A construction style developed in Australia can make homes virtually fire proof. A few homes here in San Diego were built with this design and when the 2007 fires roared through North San Diego County, one doctor who lived in one of these homes never left his house. He watched as the fires enveloped the brush surrounding his home but never damaged his house at all.
It is possible. The problem is whether California will address forest management or not. If you spent the extra money to build a fire-proof home only to find the politicians came to their senses and reduced the exposure, you would be out a good amount of money.
What California needs is more leadership and less Virtue Signaling from Sacramento.
“The problem is whether California will address forest management or not.” “What California needs is more leadership”
The majority of wildfires in CA are on Federal land. The state of CA doesn’t control that.
If you’re saying we need better forest management and real leadership to reduce the fires, you need to place more than 50% of the blame with the Fed for their mismanagement since more than 50% of the fires in CA are not on lands the state controls.
Nice try making this a partisan battle. But the reason Federal land isn’t cleared is all the environmental restrictions due to the Spotted Owl, “wet lands” protection and fear for other critters. Can’t mess up their “habitat”, don’t you know.
Maybe before you try to make a dumb comment, you learn about the subject. Might make you look less partisan and boring.
Or admit you agree that forest management is the ONLY thing we could do in the short term. Now THAT would be intelligent.
The state of CA is responsible for fires on state land.
The Fed is responsible for fires on federal land.
That’s all I’m saying
October 8, 2020 at 10:44 am
Allan says:
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In Oregon we have been decimated by fires and it is 100% attributed to forest management and idiocy. Fire fighters watched as the Beachie Fire smoldered in the National Forest for weeks, unable to put it out because of idiotic policies to let wilderness fires burn and not allow chainsaws, cats, & other firefignting equipment in until enviormental impact studies are done. This fire ended up killing 5 people and decimating 1000’s of buildings. This began the dominoes falling; when that fire exploded resources were committed to that fire, thus when fires broke out in my area firefighting was left to crews of mostly volunteers as requests for aid were denied, because there was no help available. Because of this we lost 159 homes. We once had 1000’s of loggers in the woods, who frequently put out small fires before they erupted. The spotted owl, and whatever other critters enviormental radicals would find, eliminated the front-line defense of loggers in the woods, left forest lands overgrown, and instituted idiotic policies to restrict access. Envorimentalists have decimated logging communities, and reduced them to welfare states, and created policies that destroyed the forests, and animals, they sought to protect. Either we manage forests or nature will, at catastrophic costs, there is no other option.
Interesting article. But I stopped reading when I got to the obligatory End of the World reference.
“Homebound offers a glimpse of how Silicon Valley sees the potential to make money on a planet that’s increasingly inhospitable . . . ”
Over the weekend, here in San Diego, someone talked about better air conditioning, “since 100 degree days are becoming more common in San Diego”.
I tried to find ANY actual evidence that 100 degree days were becoming more common over the past 10 years or so in San Diego, and ANY evidence it was scientifically connected to the Scary Monster.
So far, nothing. But the Group Think spreads.
They keep yelling the world is on fire then bitching about their fire insurance costing more…..forest for the trees again.
Very enterprising for project management services and general contracting though the 15% – 25% is a big bite in the insurance settlement. No mention of how they contract out the repairs or how they address the availability of materials to rebuild.
We can go on blaming climate change but we do need to make changes. States, Counties and Cities allow overdevelopment of risky areas without sensible defensive space, water resources and adequate fire fighting staff with equipment. Seems it always boils down to how much money and who is going to pay.
I am truly sorry for these people decimated by wild fire and hope they can rebuild their lives.
Re your comment: Seems it always boils down to how much money and who is going to pay.
Regardless of risk (fire/flood/hurricanes/etc) they want others to pay or subsidize. Goes for insurance premiums as well as rebuilding.
I’m an old fart and back in 1974 our neighborhood was flooded. Federal government offered low interest loans to assist in the repair/rebuild. Those that got them paid them back. Now many folks expect a Federal funds handout to rebuild. As an aside, after that flood the government (don’t remember if it was federal or state) built a small levee system to prevent future floods (it worked!), turning the top of the levee into a recreational greenway.
I have read that they can build hurricane resistant homes in Florida, but I have never heard the California Uniform Building Code has addressed fire resistant standards to the same extent it addresses earthquake standards. Are elimination of flammable roofing and requiring automatic sprinkler systems enough? Would fire resistant siding, overhangs, etc., help? The 400+ homes destroyed in the Painted Cave fire near Santa Barbara were built so closely together that the entire tract was destroyed domino style. Will we ever require defensible clear space around the new developments being approved? Whether climate change is man made or a natural cycle shouldn’t we try to reduce the damage potential?
Yes, we should. A construction style developed in Australia can make homes virtually fire proof. A few homes here in San Diego were built with this design and when the 2007 fires roared through North San Diego County, one doctor who lived in one of these homes never left his house. He watched as the fires enveloped the brush surrounding his home but never damaged his house at all.
It is possible. The problem is whether California will address forest management or not. If you spent the extra money to build a fire-proof home only to find the politicians came to their senses and reduced the exposure, you would be out a good amount of money.
What California needs is more leadership and less Virtue Signaling from Sacramento.
“The problem is whether California will address forest management or not.” “What California needs is more leadership”
The majority of wildfires in CA are on Federal land. The state of CA doesn’t control that.
If you’re saying we need better forest management and real leadership to reduce the fires, you need to place more than 50% of the blame with the Fed for their mismanagement since more than 50% of the fires in CA are not on lands the state controls.
Nice try making this a partisan battle. But the reason Federal land isn’t cleared is all the environmental restrictions due to the Spotted Owl, “wet lands” protection and fear for other critters. Can’t mess up their “habitat”, don’t you know.
Maybe before you try to make a dumb comment, you learn about the subject. Might make you look less partisan and boring.
Or admit you agree that forest management is the ONLY thing we could do in the short term. Now THAT would be intelligent.
The state of CA is responsible for fires on state land.
The Fed is responsible for fires on federal land.
That’s all I’m saying
In Oregon we have been decimated by fires and it is 100% attributed to forest management and idiocy. Fire fighters watched as the Beachie Fire smoldered in the National Forest for weeks, unable to put it out because of idiotic policies to let wilderness fires burn and not allow chainsaws, cats, & other firefignting equipment in until enviormental impact studies are done. This fire ended up killing 5 people and decimating 1000’s of buildings. This began the dominoes falling; when that fire exploded resources were committed to that fire, thus when fires broke out in my area firefighting was left to crews of mostly volunteers as requests for aid were denied, because there was no help available. Because of this we lost 159 homes. We once had 1000’s of loggers in the woods, who frequently put out small fires before they erupted. The spotted owl, and whatever other critters enviormental radicals would find, eliminated the front-line defense of loggers in the woods, left forest lands overgrown, and instituted idiotic policies to restrict access. Envorimentalists have decimated logging communities, and reduced them to welfare states, and created policies that destroyed the forests, and animals, they sought to protect. Either we manage forests or nature will, at catastrophic costs, there is no other option.