The aftermath beyond the destruction.

California & Hawaii Hotlist Questions and Discussion
#103

@bootstrap well state farm saw the risk and folded their hand. Smart move, and many have left california not only because of the risk but also the rules. They need to make money and if the regulations dont allow them to offset risk with rate increases then its a financial decision to leave.

@modcamo you nailed it. The onus is on the private property owner/community. One google street view drive is all ya need and like @pyrogeography said 99.9999% it is a beautiful place to live.

My hope on the insurance industry is that they can get to some science based rates. My letter this year from AAA says my rate went up 20%, Im in a wildfire zone that is dictated by my zipcode and that there is NOTHING I can do to reduce my rate, threat profile. THAT IS INSANITY.

I dont live in the WUI for a reason but because I am adjacent I am punished for it. I thought I might have a little cabin in the mountains knowing the risks but on a 5 acre property where I could avoid structure to structure ignition and have a lot more control but I dont think the insurance company is even going to look at that anymore. They will paint with a broad brush. I think its just time to get an RV.

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#104

I think one solution would be if the insurance industry hired a small army of consultants to help folks integrate adequate defensible space with structures hardened to resist ignition by embers. I’ve been (among other things) a defensible space contractor in Southern Humboldt County for 37 years. Even around here, most folks have a concept of ds, but can’t seem to make it happen for themselves. But almost no one has even heard of hardened homes. Clients spent thousands for us to clean up their brush, but not only do they not upgrade their vents to 1/8" mesh (how cheap and easy is that?), they still leave all sorts of human derived fuels around their buildings despite my exhortations that the fire does not discern between natural and human derived fuels. Think of all the $ the companies would save if they didn’t have to pay out all those claims. We know these mitigations work: Researchers document the effect of pre-fire mitigation on structure losses during 2017 Thomas Fire - Wildfire Today . And we know what the issues are, especially in chaparral vegetation types that don’t lend themselves to shaded fuel breaks: https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2315797120 . I know that Ventura County and some counties in Colorado are hiring such consultants. You could argue over whether they should be hired by government or private. But everybody would save $ and benefit hugely.

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#105

California man pleads guilty after his drone collides with aircraft fighting Palisades Fire

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#106

Drone detection so easy with ATAK and using some accessory hardware. Now this is for Remote ID compliant UAS so basically probably like this guy a hobbyist. Like gun laws they apply to law abiding citizens to this app does not address people that remove RID, the uas is small enough to not require it, custom drones that break the law and dont put it on etc. But using TAK and this is a great step for understanding what is occuring and sending law enforcement to the ground control station and apprehend them, If we are in TAK this makes it easy.

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#107
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#108
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#109
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#110
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#111

I’m glad to see this getting widespread publicity. It showed up in Techcrunch, for example, and in several other publications I’ve seen. The self-centered stupidity of the guy’s behavior is way too common, and notice of the consequences may help deter a few folks from exhibiting similar lack of judgement and intelligence.

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#112
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#113

Bring back M.I.R.P.S🤣

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#114

The enforcement on LRA for zone 0 is going to be interesting on existing structures.

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#115

Cal Fire has had it for a few years. Not enough forced inspections by engine crews or follow up enforcement. The Defensible space inspector is a seasonal
Position.

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#116

@Flames56 yeah speaking on the LRA side of things. Look at the google street view of palisades stuff bordering the angeles foothills, what should that look like if we dont want an urban conflagration? Take a look at the footprint of the Tunnel fire in oakland 34 years later.

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#117

@Flames56 - I had a buddy who did that job for a few years. He told me there was no enforcement; they just focus on education. But they also had a policy of showing up unannounced. So they ran into a lot of locked gates. They would just hang a brochure on the gate and not follow up. Doesn’t sound very effective to me.

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#118

@ajohansson - https://anrcatalog.ucanr.edu/pdf/8393.pdf

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#119

The Line fire went directly from the city of Highland to BDF

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#120

@firekindler yup my point exactly! This form of education been around for decades and the needle never moves so are we going to enforce?

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#121

CF has ramped up their LE-100s in the past few years, but I’d be really interested in seeing statistics on how many citations have been issued. The only places I am really seeing people motivate to cut brush is in places where the insurance companies are threatening to drop service unless the work gets done. This is actually having a major impact in many communities.

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#122

Interesting - AAA tells me your wildfire risk is based on zipcode and nothing you can do to change your risk profile, what we charge you. Others are telling customers, make a change or your gone. State Farm looked at Palisades 2 years ago and was like we need to exit this is a disaster waiting to happen.

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