Wildfires

[jpendle]

This is an interesting article on the why's of American house building.

https://engines.egr.uh.edu/episode/779

But to put it simply, wood is cheap over here and you don't need skilled craftspeople to build a house.

Regards,

John P

[cmason]

This is an interesting article on the why's of American house building.

https://engines.egr.uh.edu/episode/779

But to put it simply, wood is cheap over here and you don't need skilled craftspeople to build a house.

Regards,

John P

First, I am so very glad that forum members in LA are safe.

Living in a country where everyone knows that many types of disaster can strike at any time, no matter how much one physically prepares, when it does happen it is very distressing and so my heart reaches out.

Turning to @jpendle 's link. Very interesting back story.

Here in the land of Wa fire has always been a major concern (to be seen in the significant size of the professional and neighbourhood volunteer fire services). Its up there along with the earthquakes, tsunami and typhoons. Especially in this winter dry season. Traditional wooden houses are like tinder boxes and have historically been very closely packed together.
 
We sadly see the results, especially after earthquakes. Images from visiting a fire site in Kobe after the 1995 earthquake still stick in my mind.

And its not just earthquakes but also regular kitchen fires that can cause a major fire - especially where restaurants in tightly packed old neighborhoods cook using large wok type pans on big open gas burners. Of course there is an element that wants to rebuild in traditional style however in recent times things have changed - unlike after past earthquakes ( such as the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 ) or the multiple firestorms of WWII, rebuilding is no longer "more of the same".

Nowadays houses are now largely constructed from kits of parts prefabricated in factories, delivered as a kit and hung on a frame built on a good solid concrete base. They are not necessarily built to last more than a lifetime (the norm here when buying a house is still to buy for the land value, clear the house that is there and build a new one ) however they are much safer in terms or both the ability to flex in an earthquake and resistance to fire.

Also, although gas is still widely used for heating water and cooking, the use of plug in gas stoves at the end of flexible rubber pipes (they plug into a gas socket on the wall using a bayonet plug - like an advanced version of the gas taps of many years ago that were often found beside the fireplace in UK houses of a certain age ) and paraffin stoves which I think is what the US calls white gas, though although still used, especially in the countryside, has greatly declined. This has reduced the monoxide risk as well as the fire risk (not so good for the business of the guys who used to deliver top up jerry cans of paraffin door to door).

Further, wide deployment of gas meters with earthquake detectors (these are now nationwide but were not deployed in Kansai in 1995) and more and more highly sophisticated/computerised gas cookers (they can tell, for example, when a pan sitting on a ring is about to burn ) means things are steadily getting much safer than they were.

One unfortunate result, especially in high density living areas, is an ongoing growth in a homogeny of concrete and plastic paneled buildings that pretty much all look the same ( even though different parts can be order to make the "kit" ). However no matter how much people may hanker for the nicer looking classical style buildings of the past in place of the modern ones, the situation is preferable to the potentially disastrous alternatives. And of course, especially in tourist areas, with money the skin of older buildings can be kept and be fitted with an inner steel and concrete frame which also has 21st century rather than 19th century amenities. 

Anyway, what is happening in LA just drives home the importance of the drills and the readiness - these days we live on the 16th floor of a modern 23 storey building which is properly equipped to handle things, but we still get annual evacuation drills, lectures, visits from the fire department and regular inspections of the equipment inside our apartment as well as in the common areas. Having lived in some older buildings here in the past I do appreciate where we live now from a safety aspect.

Still, returning to the start of the conversation, these fires are horrific so the people of LA are very much in my thoughts,

Colin.


 
 

[Webbo]

Here in Canberra in 2003, we had a catastrophic bushfire (= wildfire in North American parlance) that destroyed in a single afternoon over 500 houses and killed 4. Needless to say in a city of 300,000, this was a very big deal. A couple of the destroyed houses were only about 200m from where I lived and still live. You think you are safe in suburbia, well think again! Bad stuff can happen very quickly like in a few hours.

Virtually all houses here are either totally brick or more commonly what they call brick veneer (an outside of brick on a wooden frame) which you would think is a cladding relatively impervious to being easily set alight. However, what investigators surmised afterwards is that fire got into houses sometimes via the eaves filled with dry combustible leaves perhaps or by radiant heat through the windows that basically caused houses to burn from the inside out.

We did not lose our house, but a lot of people around here did. What's happening to many in L.A. is truly horrible.

Webbo