Here Today... Gone To Hell!

Does anyone know if Axls home has been affected by the wildfires in California?  I know they are really close to Malibu.

Not yet. The LA fire department have a fire map, the fires are due east of where Axl is and there's a fair gap between them

Last night Slash and Meegan had to evacuate. They are staying in a hotel.

Probably can't get to Axl's place very easy.  Axl could just stay in the mountains and use Malibu as rental property.

I'm still thinking about that sprinkler system.  The pipes for the fire hydrants are in place.  Attach one tall sprinkler head to it above the rooftop level, make the pole look like a palm tree and hit the button when needed.  Water the whole block at one time.

I'm thinking some of this technology is already there.  They shoot water into the air at these ski slopes to make snow and cover vast areas, just modify that equipment.

(https://i.ibb.co/PDbcsKk/Crop-Irrigation.jpg)






/jarmo

Good idea.  Imagine how much fun it would be when they had to test the neighborhood sprinkler system.   :hihi:

I can't be the only one who has ever thought of this.  I wonder why they don't do something like it?

Fires that size, you need a lot of water to make an impact. Not sure those systems would cut it sadly, though maybe they could upscale them a bit.

Glad Axl's place is okay so far. He seems to deal with this a lot. The devastation from these fires is crazy though.

You can tell I've given this some thought.   :hihi:  The sprinkler system is used before blowing embers ignite elsewhere and spread the fire out or so the fire runs into wet vegetation and slows it down. Some of those people saved their home just by keeping the roof wet with a garden hose.  I wonder if a metal or tile roof would have help?  Maybe there are some new fire codes that help when these folks go to rebuild.  Not right on top of each other would help too.

The fire of London was stopped by removing anything that can burn and creating a boundary, removing the fuel essentially

And there is the issue of "no water" available!

I'm sure they didn't have the same kind of windy conditions LA has dealt with.





/jarmo

That's not going to change.  Mother nature is responding to the changes made by man.  Fire is her way, she'll be okay.  Man on the other hand, not going to do so well.  Great time to sell and move on.

Correct.  Embers were traveling upwards of a mile in California and then reigniting.  Hard to remove all flamable material within a mile radius of an existing fire......

Yeah, I saw that on the map. There's houses outside the fire boundary that have burned, so that must be due to this

Do.fireproof houses exist?

Slash went home last night and last I heard Axl was on his way home.

That is one of the things that they need to work on. Structures out there need to be more concrete and metal.

My heart hurts for those affected! Re: Concrete & steel homes: Also, plastic fake trees and aggregate for a lawn. After all, it's all fake & would fit right in?

I think their problems start with too many people.  More steel and concrete creates more of a heat island.  Less roots in the ground means more erosion, mud slides.  I think they have bans on plastic.  Not sure how to fix what's going on out there but controlled burns is something recommended for forest management.

There's not enough builders and supplies to rebuild that area any time soon.  I'd buy a nice RV and park it on my property.  Not rebuilding, prepared to be mobile when needed.

Fortunately or unfortunately - depending on your view - there are zoning laws, so you might not be able to park an RV on the property or at least not without a house also on the property. Don't get me wrong, I like your idea. :)

They probably have those but they are going to have to let in those trailers the feds bring in for disasters.  12,000 structures and still burning.  Individuals can't even clean up that mess.  Can they even live on that land any time soon?

There's a few stories here that fire insurance in the US seems to max out at 3 million. Covers most, but I'm guessing for some in LA that probably isn't enough. Seems like a risky life for rich folk in LA given the constant fires

If the City of L.A. does not suspend the permitting process (for home/building and recovery) immediately, there is not help for the peeps!

Looks like at the municipal, county, and state level, there's already movement to suspend, or at least waive, a lot of those zoning laws to allow for "approved temporary shelters" to be staged on those properties.  RVs would mostly likely be at the top of that list, but so would some of the FEMA shelters they could erect quickly.

This is pretty common in natural disasters.  Florida does this pretty regularly. So do a lot of the tornado belt states. It allows the displaced to be on site for clean up of their site and not be "homeless"/displaced for quite as long....which is really of benefit to everyone.  City inspection has to occur to make sure the site is safe/suitable, and that may be the wait out, but they're also not going to have enough enforcement (both in manpower or in willpower) to matter much for awhile.

True.

That being said, rebuild cost is not the same as property value.  You can typically rebuild in CA for a LOT less than your property value becuase the property, itself, is actually higher value than the building ON it.  That 3 million should suffice for like 90%+ of the people who lost homes because, while a 1900 sq ft home may have a property value of 1.3 million....the cost to rebuild it is a LOT less than 1.3 million.  The big mansions may end up less big, though.  Or their owner will have to kick in the difference.

The problem is going to be demand driving up labor/contractor costs (and probably materials, short term...though I think Newsome is doing some work on gouging executive orders to minimize that impact).  There is going to be a pretty good sized construction boom coming out of this, and I suspect you'll see that industry grow and attract surrounding area skilled labor, and it will balance out.  But we will see.

I also suspect we're going to see a similar insurance exodus from CA (similar to what we've seen in Florida) which is going to be a bigger issue NEXT TIME this happens.  CA may well end up propping up a state funded/sponsored homeowners insurance fund to cover the gap.  If any state would do it, it's them (and they have the means if they have the will).

Could do some real out of the box thinking.  There is an ocean right there.  How about cruise ship living?  Floating apartment  complex.  Could become a permanent thing and a long term solution to housing problems.  An all inclusive life, how cool would that be?  I want a room with a balcony!

Correct, I was initially responding to a post in which the person said they would permanently set up shop in an RV on their property. I know in most communities, if your house burns down, you can't just clean it up and move an RV onto the land and live in it. Residential zoning laws and be super prohibitive. In regards to temporarily lifting it for an emergency - yes, I can see that. And who knows how long "temporary" will be. It could be a long time.

Again, using some of the previous instances in Florida and some of the tornado belt states, the "dispensation" is often 18 to 24 months from the time it passes.  I don't know what Cali will do, but I expect someting similar.  They also could pass it open ended with a 6 month "phase out" at the end.  We've seen that before, too (in/around New Orleans, for example).

They also overrule HOA rules in Florida (where they are ubiquitous pretty much everywhere) so the HOA can't start levying fines for 36 months or longer in "disrupted" areas.  Not quite of much of an issue in California, but I'd expect similar treatment.

The FEMA trailers and shelters will probably start arriving in the next few weeks.  I have a friend who does tech reviews on youtube who lost his entire house. He has been told he can start site clean up around the 28th of January, pending any more fires/incidents.  They mention "temporary shelter allowances" in his alert messaging, but no specifics yet on the how/what/when that's allowed.  I'd guess that relates to RVs, trailers, and FEMA shelters but we'll see.