Crazy fires in Los Angeles

or some facts california seemed to have 'class A roofs post 2019'

www.construction-physics.com

Wood Construction and The Risk of Fire

Whenever the topic of wildfires comes up, someone always mentions [1] that US homes are built almost entirely made from wood, that it’s senselessly risky to build homes out of a material that burns, and homes should be built from some non-combustible material like steel or concrete like they do...
www.construction-physics.com www.construction-physics.com
The design requirements for a wildfire resistant building are distinct from normal fire resistant construction, and there’s a variety of building codes and design guides for construction in wildfire prone areas. The ICC has the WUI building code, which California adopted as chapter 7A in their residential construction code. Colorado and Montana (and perhaps other states) have standards based on the “Ignition Resistant Construction Guide”. FEMA has a Homebuilders Guide to Construction in Wildfire Zones. NFPA has Standard 1144, Standard for Reducing Structure Ignition Hazards From Wildfire.

Unlike normal building codes (which focus on evacuation), these codes are much more focused on preventing the buildings from catching fire in the first place. They all make relatively similar recommendations:

Fire-resistant (Class A) Roofs: The roof is the most vulnerable portion of the house in a wildfire, and the roofing should be an assembly that will resist the spread of flame. This can be materials like tile, concrete, or metal, but asphalt or even wood shingles can be made class A as well. Anything combustible should be either fire-retardant treated or protected with a layer of gypsum.

Non-combustible or fire resistant exterior elements: Things like exterior siding, windows, doors, and decks should all be of noncombustible construction, and designed to be fire resistant. Brick or cement siding instead of cedar siding, double-paned windows, etc. If there’s a deck, it should be either noncombustible or covered with protective gypboard or fire retardant
....
  • For wildfires specifically, we see something similar - construction details such as fire protected eaves and class A roofs, along with things like community density, matter far more than whether your home is wood or steel.
Click to expand...
 
b0rn2sk8 said:
A brick house will have still burnt out….
Click to expand...

Exactly.

I have seen probably 10 house fires in my time alive.

Every single one has ended up either demolished to be rebuilt or significantly demolished if the fire didn't affect the whole property.

Jono8 said:
This. A lot seems to be made about houses made of timber being more of a fire risk, but let's face it, a brick house with timber stud work and a timber framed roof is still going to be almost as ****** if engulfed by a wildfire.
Click to expand...

Plus all the stuff in it. Most of the items in a house as furnishings, flooring etc are flammable.
 
They've deployed the national guard and announced a curfew, no one allowed to be in the affected areas during curfew, national guard is patrolling the streets
 
JonRGV250 said:
Me posting this has nothing to to with skin colour, its what she says.
Click to expand...
God I hate this pretentious douche nugget.
Literally grifts on misery.

How is what she is saying in any way an issue. Lets think about it for just a second.
Most Americans are well overweight, most people wouldn't be able to carry them
and yeh if your in a fire, your in the wrong place!
 
Last edited:
They're now estimating $20 billion in losses for insurance companies due to claims. It would have been even worse if insurance companies didn't cancel fire insurance for 500k policies in LA two years ago.

Estimates of total damage, which includes loss of property and loss of economic productivity has now reached $152 billion
 
A2Z said:
"One day you're sitting by the pool, the next day it's all gone" I saw quoted.

Yea, zero sympathy for all these overpaid 'celebrities' who have lost their millionaire mansions.
Click to expand...

Easy to hate on them I guess?.... Some of them have lived there for decades and raised families and hoped to live out their lives in their dream homes etc. That is now all gone just like everyone else's but **** em eh? :rolleyes:

Although I disagree when they appear to be getting more airtime than "normal" people, I still have some empathy towards what they are going through.
 
Last edited:
Richie said:
Easy to hate on them I guess?.... Some of them have lived there for decades and raised families and hoped to live out their lives in their dream homes etc. That is now all gone just like everyone else's but **** em eh? :rolleyes:

Although I disagree when they appear to be getting more airtime than "normal" people, I still have some empathy towards what they are going through.
Click to expand...

They're in a much better position than most to be able to cope short term and rebuild long term. Additionally, let's face it, they have a huge climate impact compared to you or I.
 
Raymond Lin said:
I wonder how many hardware bitcoin wallets was lost in the fire…or people writing down their keys on a piece of paper because they don’t trust online storage…
Click to expand...

I always take my hardware wallets with me when I travel so they would 100% be coming with me in any sort of emergency.
 
Devil’s advocat…

I guess out of anyone in the world, the likelihood of the residents who are affected have the means to rebuild either with insurance or own funds. Like Billy Crystal’s house being burnt down. It’s absolutely horrible, I’m sure he has lots a lot of unreplacable and priceless possessions than you and I but Bully Crystal will be okay. He still owns the land it’s on, he can afford to rebuild or the next job will pay him enough to pay for the house.

That’s comforting in a way, horrible way to think about it but compare to if the fire were in the poor neighbourhood in Brazil.

Billy Crystal is probably in another friend’s spare room with a clean double bed and a pool or in a nice room in a hotel. Not living on the street with a shopping cart of his Oscars.
 
I was shocked to see even left wing media criticising Gavin Newsome over his comments about "The locals will have to figure it out" referring to the lack of water and that nobody cleared the highly combustible brush from the hills. The other issue they have there is red tape. Houses that burned down 3 years ago have yet to have permits approved to rebuild them.

As for the fires themselves, there have been numerous reports of fires starting in parking lots and abandoned buildings, but of course its not homeless or reckless people, its climate change :rolleyes:
 
Raymond Lin said:
Billy Crystal is probably in another friend’s spare room with a clean double bed and a pool or in a nice room in a hotel. Not living on the street with a shopping cart of his Oscars.
Click to expand...
More likely scenario, most of the "Stars" that have lost their homes will be in one of their other properties somewhere else. There has been a lot of talk about all these "Stars" that have lost their homes/possesions etc however they are the most likely to either have multiple houses they can stay in and can rebuild with just a bit of inconvenience. The people i feel sorry for are the normies that have lost everything with very little hope of ever recovering.
 
Last edited:
Trump appears to be loving this chance to keep attacking Biden and the Democrats.... He's as much a sore winner as he is a sore loser it seems. It will be good to see what he does in 10 days time as I don't see this being fully controlled for another few days and then the recovery begins.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom