Member family escapes fire in California

[juliann]

On 11/10/2018 at 7:45 PM, rodheadlee said:

 everyone should have have non flammable roofing material

Yes. But it still doesn’t help if embers get into the house. Even the most fire proof roofs still have entry points. Lots of tile roofed homes burned. 

*Just heard a former fire fighter who stayed to defend his home say that 90% of these house fires were caused by embers coming through roof vents. He had sealed off his vents but said he will be in the attic to protect the house,

Edited November 13, 2018 by juliann

[Garden Girl]

I posted in the other thread that when it was time for my husband and me to retire, we looked at several areas, including the lovely town in the pines of Paradise, CA... we finally decided on the Oregon coast in the Pacific Northwest...

GG

[gopher]

Over here on the other coast we've heard all the sad reports of celebrities losing their homes to the fire.  There hasn't been any reporting about non celebrities affected by the fire, so that's a good thing.

[Tacenda]

I am astounded that so many of these neighborhoods in California get swooped up in these fires. Wasn't it several months ago that there was another fire that took neighborhoods as well in California? Does anyone know what could have been done better besides not building in the mountains, or having wood shingles. Has anyone said what started the fires?

[AdultConvert]

My grandparents retired to Paradise in early 1950s.  So did my Gradma's sister and husband.  They had houses on the same street about 25 houses apart.  Grandpa died within a couple of years.  But as kids, my family spent many happy visits (except for poisin oak) during summers in Paradise.  The two homes were sold in the 1980s so no relatives remained in Paradise.  I was very emotional when I saw pics of both homes totally destroyed, only some foundation and chimneys left.  More devasting are the counts of human remains found (now over 60 and notice they don't call them bodies) and the number of residents unaccounted for (1000+).  If you go to google maps you will see pre-fire pics of various streets.  Most homes are surrounded by dense trees.  Provided shade but also fuel for raging fire.  I have posted google pic of Central Park Drive, my Great Aunt's home from google, and pic of home after fire. 

[AdultConvert]

On 11/15/2018 at 5:38 AM, gopher said:

Over here on the other coast we've heard all the sad reports of celebrities losing their homes to the fire.  There hasn't been any reporting about non celebrities affected by the fire, so that's a good thing.

Actually there have several news stories of regular, noncelebrity families who lost homes.  Not all of Malibu are mansions.  There are many streets of regular 1950s ranch-style homes.  These homes also burned but news prefer to show celebrities. 

[MustardSeed]

adult, this is very sad,  what a tremendous loss for your family and future family. 

[bsjkki]

9 hours ago, AdultConvert said:

My grandparents retired to Paradise in early 1950s.  So did my Gradma's sister and husband.  They had houses on the same street about 25 houses apart.  Grandpa died within a couple of years.  But as kids, my family spent many happy visits (except for poisin oak) during summers in Paradise.  The two homes were sold in the 1980s so no relatives remained in Paradise.  I was very emotional when I saw pics of both homes totally destroyed, only some foundation and chimneys left.  More devasting are the counts of human remains found (now over 60 and notice they don't call them bodies) and the number of residents unaccounted for (1000+).  If you go to google maps you will see pre-fire pics of various streets.  Most homes are surrounded by dense trees.  Provided shade but also fuel for raging fire.  I have posted google pic of Central Park Drive, my Great Aunt's home from google, and pic of home after fire. 

It is such a tragedy. It is so sad. 😢 

[AdultConvert]

On 11/16/2018 at 10:30 PM, Tacenda said:

Has anyone said what started the fires?

There is a strong evidence that Camp Fire in NorCal was caused by PG&E power.  They had one high voltage line downed by high winds.  Station noted a break in flow at main station so sent out employees immediately to inspect.  They found a 10 acre fire with downed power line in the thick of it.  The time the high voltage wire was detected as down was 10 minutes before small fire was discovered. The fire was totally inaccessible down in a deep ravine.  With high winds, this little 10 acre fire became the conflagration that destroyed entire town of Paradise and two small neighboring unincorporated towns. 

PG&E has a policy to shut down all power in high wind situations.  They sent out 22 alerts in the preceeding 24 hours to all customers warning them power may be cut to prevent downed power lines.  (Customers really hate having power cut for day or two.)  So despite 22 warnings, PG&E never flipped the switch.  The devastation could have been prevented if PG&E had followed their policy. 

 

PG&E are already on the hook for billions from fire earlier this year in Santa Rosa.  They reported to SEC the day after fire destroyed Paradise that they did not have resources to cover additional claims from Camp Fire. 

 

The Wooley Fire in SoCal was also likely caused by downed PG&E power line. 

PG&E has been implicated in 5 major wildfires in past two years. 

[Tacenda]

10 hours ago, AdultConvert said:

There is a strong evidence that Camp Fire in NorCal was caused by PG&E power.  They had one high voltage line downed by high winds.  Station noted a break in flow at main station so sent out employees immediately to inspect.  They found a 10 acre fire with downed power line in the thick of it.  The time the high voltage wire was detected as down was 10 minutes before small fire was discovered. The fire was totally inaccessible down in a deep ravine.  With high winds, this little 10 acre fire became the conflagration that destroyed entire town of Paradise and two small neighboring unincorporated towns. 

PG&E has a policy to shut down all power in high wind situations.  They sent out 22 alerts in the preceeding 24 hours to all customers warning them power may be cut to prevent downed power lines.  (Customers really hate having power cut for day or two.)  So despite 22 warnings, PG&E never flipped the switch.  The devastation could have been prevented if PG&E had followed their policy. 

 

PG&E are already on the hook for billions from fire earlier this year in Santa Rosa.  They reported to SEC the day after fire destroyed Paradise that they did not have resources to cover additional claims from Camp Fire. 

 

The Wooley Fire in SoCal was also likely caused by downed PG&E power line. 

PG&E has been implicated in 5 major wildfires in past two years. 

Thank you for the info on the fires. I hope something happens quick to prevent more devastation. I just watched a youtube of a conversation with Jeff Bridges and Jimmy Kimmel, he lost a home in California a little bit ago stemming from another fire, his house was overtaken by a mudslide. He produced a documentary about climate change and says it's happening faster than people realize. I don't understand the denial by people, especially our president! Here is a preview of the documentary called: "Living in the Future's Past".

 

[mfbukowski]

On 11/15/2018 at 3:38 AM, gopher said:

Over here on the other coast we've heard all the sad reports of celebrities losing their homes to the fire.  There hasn't been any reporting about non celebrities affected by the fire, so that's a good thing.

Virtually all we see on TV here in LA are stories about destroyed neighborhoods, graphically photographed.

Trust me- it's not only celebrities.  Of course the MEDIAN price of a home in LA county is now $615,000 and that averages in the absolutely worst neighborhoods with the best.  So I suppose someone might think that "only rich people" live in the county but of course that is far from correct.  Our house has appreciated 600% in the last 30 years.  Very modest 3 BR 2 BA homes less than 2000 sq ft can easily be valued at 2 million dollars or more.  (Westwood area)

Most of the homes lost were those of "normal people" who bought in the right area for appreciation a number of years ago- but many of the fires were so bad that many homes in areas thought to be "safe" were lost.

Thousand Oaks and Westlake Village  for example were always seen as "safe" areas but not this year!

 

[Stargazer]

As some may or may not remember, I've mentioned occasionally that some of my ancestors were on hand to greet the Europeans when they arrived in Northern California.  My tribe, of Maidu stock, was the Koyom'kawi (aka Konkow), and tney lived in the area of Paradise, CA.  And still do, those who have survived -- I am afraid that some of my distant cousins may have perished in the fire.  Don't know yet. I know some have lost everything, because many lived in Paradise.

Well, as for the complaints about forest management, I can relate.  My Amerindian ancestors relied upon acorns from oak trees as their primary foodstuff. In order to ensure good harvests every year, they used fire as a management technique.  In the oak forests they made sure to burn off most of the underbrush every year.  This removed a great deal of the major fire risk by removing the primary fuel.  The mature oaks were not negatively affected by the fires because they were very brief.  But once my people were no longer there to manage the underbrush, the risk of major conflagration was increased.  And the Europeans made things worse by attempting to prevent all fires and stop all that did start.  So the fuel piled up and you see what we got.