LA wildfires

If you want see how many fires rage across the world year after year click link and press play on the world map

https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/global-maps/MOD14A1_M_FIRE

The typical roof being asphalt shingle and presumably good use of soffit and ridge venting along with embers following air currents means there’s a strong likelihood that smouldering embers will easily be carried into lost spaces and hot spots start quickly then run away as they begin to be fueled by the oil in the roof material.

Thanks for that BlackBear, certainly a more informative answer than the sarcastic retort some members felt like giving.

It kind of explains why some houses were left unburnt and surrounded by greenery.

Spacial separation calculations are done here in BC at least based on the unprotected openings (glass) as once a window blows out, even without these winds, established interior fire spreads sideways. If they’ve a window close enough, they’ll get Burnet too.

Windows are definitely the weak point.
Our building code demands specific glass but we also have fire rated screens.

Also there’s not allowed to be a gap more than 2mm around the whole exterior to prevent ingress.

However the problem with codes is they apply to new houses and renovations, most of the housing stock here and no doubt in LA if they have similar will pre-date the code.

Good stuff from C5 as usual..

Even the ones who can’t will benefit from living in a country which routinely provides direct support from the govt in response to natural disasters. If I was going to be affected by a natural disaster like this, I’d want to have lots of money and/or live in a country with a govt which will support me to rebuild my life.

You obviously don’t remember Katrina.

How much support do you really think people will get?

Thanks for that BlackBear, certainly a more informative answer than the sarcastic retort some members felt like giving.

Ah, irony.

Yeah, that was an interesting read, thanks.

Update on current situation, or as current as possible…

Mapped: Wildfires in Los Angeles, and the Current Situation

Looters dressed as fire fighters are looting the homes of the rich and famous apparently.

Well that sounds like an unnecessary requirement to carry a 300 inch flat screen TV out of an abandoned home. Where are they getting their hands on fire fighters uniforms?

Is it definitely not fire fighters doing the looting?

Where are they getting their hands on fire fighters uniforms?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/FEESHOW-Firefighter-Boyshorts-Jumpsuit-Fireman/dp/B0DFY9DC55/?th=1

Where are they getting their hands on fire fighters uniforms?

Same places you can buy other sorts of PPE, along with eBay.

Is it definitely not fire fighters doing the looting?

That is really a stupid, ridiculous statement! There are barely enough fire fighters to deal with containing the fires, have you not looked at the containment figures?

Same places you can buy other sorts of PPE, along with eBay.

Well it’s good to see looters putting a bit of preplanning before looting the homes of the rich and famous of their valuable goods, and first of all going on eBay to purchase some PPE.

But tell me, wouldn’t the looters be drawing attention to themselves by dressing up as fire fighters? I mean you don’t often see a fire fighter coming out of a house carrying a large flat screen telly and walking down the road with it, do you?

spekkie

Free Member

Looters dressed as fire fighters are looting the homes of the rich and famous apparently.

Do you REALLY believe this and do you REALLY think it’s good idea to spread such shite? No wonder social media is such a cesspit…

One hopes that maybe, just maybe, such publicity of “natural disasters” so close to home may cause Trump-voting, climate change denying f++kwits to think twice about which type of leadership they want in their country.

For the rest of the worlds sake, I hope so but I’m not optimistic…

It’s an area that voted democrat. For both Trump and his supporters that’ll be the main cause of the fire – it’s just a bit of justifiable retribution. God will have done it to teach them a lesson.

Having said that, I’m struggling to get too piqued by it – it’s a country with the political and financial influence to have prevented (or slowed) climate change if it’d wanted to, and has the financial capacity to put things right now. Devastation to natural habitat and death of wildlife is bloomin sad though.

Meanwhile….an evening with neighbours that work for MSF, specifically on the issues in Sudan currently, brings into the sharp relief the huge bias in our news reporting and focus and probably a better idea of where I should currently be giving my ****.

But tell me, wouldn’t the looters be drawing attention to themselves by dressing up as fire fighters? I mean you don’t often see a fire fighter coming out of a house carrying a large flat screen telly and walking down the road with it, do you?

Well, I’ve seen news footage of looters stealing all kinds of stuff, including tellies, computers etc, during spates of rioting and looting, but I don’t think anyone has said these looters are stealing stuff from millionaires, the police have said there has been looting, probably from the homes of ordinary Angelinos, and don’t you understand the concept of camouflage? As in, wearing fire fighters clothing that matches the actual fire fighters? Also, they’re looting from active fire areas, wearing highly inflammable synthetics is stupid, even the BBC reporter on scene is wearing very similar equipment, she looks not dissimilar to fire fighters, apart from a helmet, she’s been wearing a full face mask and goggles, all things that would allow someone to blend in from a distance, and as the fires have now been burning for some days, there’s plenty of time to obtain kit from a huge city like LA.

Do you REALLY believe this and do you REALLY think it’s good idea to spread such shite? No wonder social media is such a cesspit…

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-01-12/burglars-dressed-as-firefighters-arrested-in-l-a-fire-zone-officials-said

https://www.itv.com/news/2025-01-12/la-wildfires-at-least-16-people-dead-as-race-to-contain-blaze-continues

I don’t think anyone has said these looters are stealing stuff from millionaires,

Well my comment was responding to this claim :

Looters dressed as fire fighters are looting the homes of the rich and famous apparently.

Also, they’re looting from active fire areas, wearing highly inflammable synthetics is stupid

I totally agree, it would of course be stupid. It does indeed make sense for the looters to take health and safety considerations seriously. I am just a tad surprised that they chosen to be fully kitted out with fire fighters PPE from eBay.

I am also a tad surprised that online orders are currently still getting delivered in Southern California.

Couldn’t get the link to the bluesky post to work. So here’s a photograph of a child’s bicycle that was left on a driveway during the fire. Aluminium frame gone, steel parts still there. 

I am just a tad surprised that they chosen to be fully kitted out with fire fighters PPE from eBay.

Perhaps you could contact the LA Sheriff who was on BBC 6 o’clock News a little while ago, who actually stopped and spoke to a fully kitted out firefighter sitting by the side of the road, he asked the bloke if he was ok, and needed any help, water or anything, then realised the bloke was sitting in handcuffs, he was a looter who’d been apprehended and arrested, the Sheriff said he looked just like all the other fire fighters.

Are you still going to argue the toss with a senior law enforcement officer with first hand knowledge? Seriously?

Perhaps you could contact the LA Sheriff who was on BBC 6 o’clock News a little while ago

Why, how is he going to make me less surprised?

FWIW firefighter kit is readily available to buy by the public in the US – many firefighters are volunteers for fire departments in rural areas and they like to purchase their own kit, particularly the latest fabrics/better protection. Consequently, there’s a healthy market in used stuff too. Lots of volunteer firefighters are coming from across the Pacific Northwest to help, so wearing a Hicksville, OR fire dept jacket isn’t going to look suspicious. I spent a number of years in the fire and industrial safety sector.

It’s an area that voted democrat.

During his last administration Trump intended to withhold federal aid to California after Hurricane Helene on account of state being democrat – and therefore  people who didn’t vote of him. The National Security Council had to look up figures, area by area, and demonstrate to the president  how many Trump voters were amongst the victims in each ‘democrat’ county – they had to explain to him there were more Trump voters in Orange County alone – just that one county –  than in the the whole of the state of IOWA. There are almost as many Trump voters in California as there are in Texas or Florida. It was only on that basis that he was persuaded to sanction aid.

I don’t think it was Hurricane Helene, that was last year in Florida. There was another Helene in the late 50s.

FWIW firefighter kit is readily available to buy by the public in the US – many firefighters are volunteers for fire departments in rural areas and they like to purchase their own kit, particularly the latest fabrics/better protection.

Weirdly enough I have two friends in California. Both live in Orange County now.

One of them grew up in Bel Air, about 5km east of the Pallisades fire eastern edge. She actually runs a workwear company specialising in fireproof workwear (mainly for linesman i think). Ironically her previous warehouse burnt down!

Meanwhile Mr Luna, the county sheriff, said there had so far been approximately 29 arrests amid the fires, including a man posing as a firefighter to burgle a home.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz0l4pkrrm9o

So as Countzero says some truth in it, although no reports they were carrying an 80″ flat screen telly at the time

This is a very interesting article in the LA Times

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-01-11/fire-experts-asses-los-angeles-blazes-amid-changing-times

I don’t think it was Hurricane Helene, that was last year in Florida. There was another Helene in the late 50s.

Sorry – mixing up my biblical plagues.

It was during the aftermath of Helene that the story came to light – Trump was accusing Biden of not aiding red states, doing his usual projection thing – thats when members of NSC revealed Trumps actions when  in office – it was the 2018 wild fires in California that Trump was withholding aid for.

Given that California’s GDP makes it the 5th or 6th biggest economy in the world I find this a bit strange

https://variety.com/2025/music/news/live-nation-fire-aid-benefit-concert-intuit-dome-1236272085/

Also, the earlier comments about people who have lost everything might be okay as they are in the US, Trump’s politicisation of this will no doubt limit any federal aid for California (even though they should be able to pay for the recovery themselves).

It’s awful

I find this a bit strange

Don’t forget the arts, and an event like this especially, aren’t just about money. It can also about people coming together. It can be about reflection on what has been lost. It can be a celebration of what still is. It can help people gain perspective, and hope.

 it’s a country with the political and financial influence to have prevented (or slowed) climate change if it’d wanted to, and has the financial capacity to put things right now.

Nah, the USA is not like that.  It’s a juggernaut that’s out of control.  Just because it has a government doesn’t mean anyone’s in control of the country as a whole.

I’ve just read something about the extent of the fires so far, and done a quick comparison with somewhere I know that isn’t too far away, and it rather puts this into perspective:

LA fires – extent so far – 62 sq mi / 160 sq km

Eaton + Palisades fires 59 sq mi / 153 sq km

Bristol city and county 40 sq mi / 110 sq km

Just trying to imagine the whole of the city and county completely destroyed!

Christ, it’s a great area than Manchester – 45 sq mi / 116 sq km

Not bigger than Greater London. Yet.

Yup staggering ………a total of 121 sq miles, that is 77,440 acres !

Imagine though nearly nearly half a million acres going up in smoke:

“Since the start of September, over 180,000 hectares ( 444,789 acres) of dry forest and savannah have gone up in smoke around Cerro Chovoreca, a protected reserve near the border with Bolivia.”

‘The Earth is crying out for help’: as fires decimate South America, smoke shrouds its skies

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/oct/02/south-america-wildfire-smoke-deforestation-drought

Edit : Sorry my figure may have been somewhat misleading, the total area destroyed by fire in South America last year was over 212 million acres, although I don’t think that the fires have all been extinguished yet.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_South_American_wildfires

Wow, you should probably start a thread about that!

UK ~24million hectares

Australian fires 2019/20 ~24 million hectares

South American fires 2024 ~86 million hectares!

LA fires ~16,000 hectares (currently) – but probably lots more humans directly impacted.

I think this is possibly the latest update from yesterday…

https://www.northernsentinel.com/world-news/death-count-hits-24-in-la-wildfires-fierce-winds-in-the-forecast-7755332?utm_source=flipboard&utm_content=BlackPressMedia/magazine/Kitimat

This bit caught my eye:

Crews from California and nine other states are part of the ongoing response that includes nearly 1,400 fire engines, 84 aircraft and more than 14,000 personnel, including newly arrived firefighters from Mexico.

It’s not obvious from footage and photos just how many aircraft are operating within LA airspace, 84 is astonishing. Then all the other emergency teams.

but probably lots more humans directly impacted.

I’m not sure about that. I think the difference is more that unlike Hollywood which everyone knows about most people probably haven’t heard of Porto Velho

For Porto Velho’s 500,000 residents the blazes have been suffocating. “We’re breathing in so much detritus,” said its health secretary, Marilene Penati, a pediatrician.

And hopefully the L.A. fires won’t exceed the 148 confirmed dead in the South American fires.

Sounds serious, maybe you should start a thread if you want people to hear about it.

Nah, it’s not very important. Just an observation about the size because a comparison was made with Bristol.

My wifes cousin live in Altadena, we have been getting regular updates from him. He can account for 42 of their friends who have lost houses.

He is saying that there is incredible energy and optimism to re-build and, in some cases, insurance companies have already been wiring money through. That is all lovely but how on earth do you cut through regulations, find trades people and building materials to reconstruct a minimum of 10k properties in just that one town? And, even if you do re-build, who on earth is going to be able to afford the future insurance premiums? A huge amount of businesses have also stopped trading and unemployment is going to be a big issue. Not everyone in the area are super rich celebrities.

Good time to be a carpenter, plumber or sparkie…..!