Fires in Southern California

</immature schadenfreude>

the latest news report said oneof the fires started near LA defnitely WAS the work of arsonists!!

"Haha, oh me? I'm doing fine, aside from owing the rest of my income to the state for life."

Also, thankfully I haven't heard of any big fires in South/Central TX this year. Usually we get a few of them a year, but because we've received so much rainfall this year we've not been in any real danger yet, thankfully.

Good article in the LA Times today with interview bits from Mr. City of Quartz himself, Mike Davis:

No Way Out When Home Is in 'Firebelt'
Steve Lopez

October 28, 2003

With half of Southern California ablaze in a spectacular series of killer infernos, and no end in sight, it's only natural to
want the arsonists tracked down and tied to the nearest tree.

But arson, suspected in at least two fires, isn't the only culprit in all this death and destruction. In part, we're witnessing the
inevitable consequence of insane land management, and generations of public officials rolling over for developers despite
past lessons.

"We keep putting tens of thousands of homes in harm's way," said author Mike Davis.

The UC Irvine history professor's scorching books have assailed Southern California as an apocalyptic theme park,
always courting disaster. In "Ecology of Fear," Chapter 3 is called "The Case for Letting Malibu Burn." It's a history of
California's failure to conduct preventive burns, despite the growth of "firebelt suburb populations" on the edge of
combustible vegetation.

Homeowner groups resist preventive burns because they're risky and leave scars, but then scream for help when fire
rages out of control, Davis argues. The public cost is huge; so is the risk to firefighters.

Davis, of San Diego, watched distraught Scripps Ranch residents await firetrucks as flames approached their
multimillion-dollar homes. This was a huge base of support for smaller government, and for Arnold Schwarzenegger,
Davis said.

"Now all that stands between them and an ash pile is the car tax," which Schwarzenegger promised to cut back, even
though it helps pays for fire protection. . . .

Davis thinks this could grow into California's fire of the century, which he predicted in 1998. "The exponential growth of
housing in foothill firebelts," he wrote in "Ecology of Fear," "increases the likelihood of several simultaneous
conflagrations."

On Monday, Davis said friends had been burned out and relatives were preparing to evacuate, and it's remarkable there
hasn't been more death. He captured the horror and madness in a single sentence:

"We're building homes in places where there's no fire escape at all."

Does Davis really want to be known throughout CA history as the guy that foresaw CA's total destruction? The tone of the article almost makes him sound smug. Almost.

"Oh I'm so happy. I'm not much on speeches but it gives me joy to...leave you in the filth you created. You're screwed, bye."

Slight x-post with Gygax here:

There seems to be some confusion here -- Davis has made a deserved and notable name for himself over the past fifteen years with a series of books, articles and presentations about the poor state of urban and suburban affairs when it comes to any number of issues in Southern California and Los Angeles in particular. This includes land management, which he has suitably and understandably attacked on many fronts given its current (mis)use. While I cannot claim complete familiarity with all his conclusions I would be very surprised if he did not offer up some general suggestions or at the least pointed out what the problem areas were that needed work. He is a researcher and academic, he is not a politician by trade, and he uses his academic standing to advance his conclusions and beliefs in much the same way that Edward Said, for instance, was able to do in turn with regard to Palestinian issues. I am not trying to say he's a perfect person -- there's a reason I made the Ibsen reference, though others would be able to speak on that point more than I could -- but I am confused as to your immediate and specific annoyance with him given his background and well known public statements.

It's not truly annoyance, though it may come out sounding like that. What I said was more a reaction to the tone of the article---than to the individual, himself. (That was why I'd asked the question about useful suggestions.) As I'm not obviously a CA resident, I'd have no way to know about Davis' high standing and expertise, beforehand.

Can't we all just get along?

Davis quite rightly points out a the class differences in civic services that occurred during the 1993 Malibu fire when the fire trucks rolled to protect the multi-million dollar homes, but did nothing to protect the poorer areas. Obviously there's only so many resources to go around, and you can't protect everything but still...

Lastly developers STILL build houses with wood shake shingle roofs out here which is just fucking insane. My mom's place has always had a rock roof and we were very meticulous about keeping the brush around our house clear and planting ice plant on the hillside below. Not to get all smug about it, but when the 1993 firestorm came through Laguna, we were fine while half of the houses on our street burned to the foundations.

I'd say! Do the developers consider that to be more cost effective? If so, I can't see how....

My mom's place has always had a rock roof and we were very meticulous about keeping the brush around our house clear and planting ice plant on the hillside below. Not to get all smug about it, but when the 1993 firestorm came through Laguna, we were fine while half of the houses on our street burned to the foundations.

Yeah, those pics of yours spoke volumes. Afterward, did the neighbors rebuild with rock roofs?

at 12 pm i went home for lunch and the smoke had rolled in so thick that you could stare straight at the sun - our visibility was down to maybe 500m. everything looks like you're looking through brown-tinted sunglasses. you park your car and when you come back it's covered in fine white ash. the air is so bad it makes your head spin just walking around in it.

and i live a mile from the beach, about twenty miles west of the fires.

It just makes me sad to think of the flames enveloping my city...sigh

http://www.impawards.com/1989/posters/miracle_mile.jpg

http://abclocal.go.com/images/102803_Satellite_View_map.jpg

Crazy stuff.

(x-post)

an argument in favor of high density living. it's okay to hear your neighbors before you get to know them or after you know them. or have fewer possessions and move around a lot. jess's ideal city - anonymity.

http://i.cnn.net/cnn/interactive/space/0310/gallery.fires.space/4.nasa.seawifs.jpg

Yeesh.