Is there a thread about the LA fires?

[Lelophants]

I can’t see one anywhere. Scary stuff.

Yes a Mid West Red State. Proper fly over country.

This could in a way, shake up politics in time, I suspect too. Lots of very blue voters moving east.

How is it moving through urban areas, are the houses made of wood or something?

A lot of buildings are brick built, but many more are wooden than we are used to in the UK. Wood is also a good choice in earthquake zones because it's flexible so if you live somewhere with a lot of tremors, it's not a bad material to use. When we've had small quakes of around 3 on the Richter scale in the UK we've had damage to buildings, not much but imagine British buildings in Southern California where a 3 or 4 is pretty regular... Plus it's cheaper, easier to build with and they don't have to insulate from the cold so many reasons to build with it.

Given whole neighborhoods have been destroyed there's going to be a lot of people who no only lose their homes but also their jobs and also schools. This perhaps, will make the decision to move States a much easier one - there's much less tying you to one place. If you have to start over completely it's just as easy to do it somewhere else. And given the cost of Los Angeles and the shortage of spare housing that's going to arise, again that's going to be a pretty big incentive just to upsticks and go.

I personally don't feel so awful for the celebrities. They've lost personal stuff but should be able to start over much more easily by comparison. It's the people who own small businesses or are pretty ordinary mortgage payers or renting somewhere I feel for. Especially if they find out their insurance wasn't valid or they didn't have any. They really will have nothing.

But yes I do have a slight sense, that people have been starting to move out of California for a while for various reasons - job opportunities, cost of living, crime, home work life balance, ever present risk of disaster and this is only going to accelerate that.

This has been entirely predictable as a disaster, and I do think it's been only a matter of time. I think last time I was over there my friend talked about how he thought the Malibu area and up the coastal highway were particularly vulnerable and he didn't like it, because there's not many routes out of certain parts.

I also think being a Brit despite loving the weather, he could see that's not everything and was more open to the idea of living elsewhere. (He did complain the first couple of winters after he moved to the Mid West about the shitty winters though!). Now he has to worry about snow, tornadoes and guns but seemingly this is preferable to earthquakes and fires...

5 football fields a minute going according to a CNN report I saw online.

Surely it’s got to stop at one point! It won’t take the whole of North America! I guess rain will make a big difference.

😭 5 football fields a minute

Early European settlers in the US built from wood because it was readily available and inexpensive, so even the east coast and the midwest, with much colder climates, have lots of timber houses, including many that were built in the 1700s, so it's obviously fairly durable. It's also sustainable and renewable - bricks are durable but brickmaking isn't exactly environmentally friendly, and concrete is worse, if anything. It's also lends itself well to insulation while retaining breathability. It's faster and more economical to build from and requires less transport. That said, California, where many of the houses are what are known as Spanish or Santa Fe style does have a much higher percentage of non-timber houses than most states. American homebuilding lesson aside 😃

I would guess the state will create a reinsurance fund to keep insurers paying out, as they have done in Florida. Not sure how helpful the new administration will be, however, and I'm sure there are many who will inevitably fall between the cracks.

It's an absolute tragedy.

I was looking up the area on Google Earth and it's very eerie to see the nice looking buildings and streets that are now gone.
LA is a modern city if you think about it. 100 years ago it was a much smaller place and it has grown and grown spreading further and further covering more land.
But it doesn't seem a great place geography to have built a city.
Earthquake zone. Very hilly (so there are frequent landslides).
It was the American dream of sunshine and modern suburbs (Hollywood gets it's name from Hollywoodland - a 1930s housing complex) - but it's all gone so horribly wrong.
These fires are both terrifying and heartbreaking.
🙁

It's hard to get your head around the scale of it. Such an awful tragedy.

I have been fielding calls and messages from my friends and old community all day. My DD’s friends were evacuated from their school which has now burnt to the ground. It’s utterly devastating and the emotional trauma is going to be incredibly high

Really awful what is happening

I'm far less sorry for the very wealthy celebrities, some of whom are directly responsible for the mess we are in. I hope that the ones who use private jet are among those who have lost homes, although I doubt they will be.

100 mph winds have pushed the flames forward, consuming everything in their path. Sparks have been propelled miles from the fires. The intense heat of the inferno destroys everything - wood, bricks, whatever.

😞

It's horrendous. I have been watching some awful reports from news and first person videos on tiktok.

Are the fires still raging? I know the wind has died down but will it pick up again? Those poor people.

Federal aid will arrive (as announced by President Biden).

The American Red Cross will spring into action, along with the Salvation Army. The resources of the state of California will also be mobilized - Dept of Human Services, maybe the CA National Guard.

I don't know if other states, or counties in California, have contributed firefighters and equipment - most likely they have.

Plus it will be much worse in overpopulated countries. Cities like London with lots of poverty. Dystopian

America gets tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, fires. We do hear more about them because we're friends across the pond. It has been a bad few years for them.

once the fires have finished and everything is cleared away and they can rebuild are residents given the same piece of land to rebuild on where they owned their last home? (Imagining they can afford to do so) what happens to those who have no insurance? My heart is breaking for LA

also does anyone know of any go fund me style pages that are genuine?
id love to donate to help but im in the UK so not sure what pages are genuine.

such a sad situation and my thoughts and prayers are with all affected

It's absolutely horrific isn't it?! Just been watching it on News At Ten. Truly horrific. One side of the country has deep and severe snow, and the other side is on fire. Quite a contrast. I am praying for L.A. Awful.

Of course, if they want to and can afford to rebuild - homeowners own the lot the house was built on, and surveyors can still identify property boundaries with their equipment.

Donate to the American Red Cross if you wish. There may be a link via the British Red Cross.

The Salvation Army might also have some way of channeling funds to California as they operate there too.

@RedToothBrush

I know several California transplants in my neck of the midwest woods. Some moved west from here but then moved back. Some were CA natives and were left gasping at the winter weather but stuck it out because of the many advantages of the midwest. Some left CA during covid in search of cheaper housing, more space, and less danger from earthquakes, fires, landslides and other environmental elements. The wfh experiment caught on with a lot of companies, meaning employees could work from anywhere. One of my DCs works almost 100% from home and has colleagues all over the country.

@icelolly12

Let's be real, this is getting a lot more news coverage than a lot of disasters around the world because it is a celebrity enclave,

Are you joking? The LA fires right now have more coverage than other parts of the world have had???

Every single night on the news for the past year and a half (virtually,) we have had news bulletins and film footage about the Israel/Palestine war. Sometimes 15-20 minute bulletins. Previously it was Syria. Again, 20 minute bulletins some nights, but it was always mentioned. And before that, (and during that,) conflict from other middle eastern countries. One after another, year after year. ALWAYS featured on the news.

Many things going on all over the world, disaster, war, and famine, but we are always fed news from the Middle East. They always show us Middle East unrest. It has more coverage than anything.

I don't think it matters that we are seeing coverage from somewhere else for a change (Los Angeles!) And this is huge devastating news. Are we supposed to not see it/have the news covered because some people there are wealthy and privileged? Many people losing everything are not wealthy and privileged you know!

Your comments are insensitive, inaccurate, and thoughtless.

.

Bloody hell

Having watched one clip apparently some hydrants didn’t have water which impacted the response. I know there have been issues for quite a few years about water supply in general and wonder if this is one of the outcomes.

I visited LA for a day (cruise) and did a tour into the hills with a lookout point. I hadn’t appreciated just how vast LA is. Visualising that now and the loss of so many homes is devastating for everyone. I just hope the number of fatalities is small.

I have to confess to writing out my emergency list of what I would take if I had to evacuate quickly.

It's winter. It isn't the traditional fire season. That's part of why it's so terrifying. The strength and direction of the winds means these fires are impossible to contain or control. Terrifying levels of destruction.

It's also scary as, apart from water running out there now, usually the USA and Australia share major firefighting resources. But Australia is currently in their own actual fire season.

As one of those impacted by the Fort McMurray wildfire in 2016, please don’t donate to the Red Cross - try and identify a local charity and donate directly to them. Not all of the RC funds raised made it to the community.

Canadian firefighters are already on the ground in LA and providing assistance.

From my experience, builders from other areas will swarm in and capitalise on everyone’s vulnerability and keenness to get a home rebuilt. Sadly, a few will be cowboys.

My advice to you all - check the value of your contents policy. It was terrible to see so many of my friends adding up their possessions and realising their insurance was a long way short of what they needed to replace everything. And as many PPs have mentioned, many things cannot be replaced. Oh, and during many hours of sustained heat - many “fireproof” safes are not fireproof.