What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

All of these homes burned up today.

ScreenHunter_121 Jun. 13 22.08

ScreenHunter_122 Jun. 13 22.11

ScreenHunter_123 Jun. 13 22.13

They were doomed from the day they were built. Pine forests burn every dozen years or so – it is an essential part of the forest cycle.

About Tony Heller

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15 Responses to What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

  1. Brian G Valentine says:

    The homeowners can sue the US Government for not doing enough to stop “climate change.”

    Obama admin can pay their attorneys.

  2. Jason Calley says:

    The idiots are just the same here in Florida. They build houses right on the beach. They build houses next to rivers that flood every few years. They get (somehow!) permits and insurance to do this — but if I want to keep three hens in a coop in my half acre back yard the police will come to get me. Sigh…

  3. Andy Oz says:

    Same here in Oz. People build in beautiful eucalypt forests and wonder why bush fires are so destructive. The Australian bush has evolved to burn and regenerate. Fire is required for gum trees to germinate new saplings. The more we build in the bush, the more houses will regularly be destroyed. On top of that, 90% of bush fires in Oz are deliberately lit, according to the cops and FESA. So to reduce fire destruction, lock up the firebugs! Global warming has little to do with how many crazy fire bugs there are.

    • Olaf Koenders says:

      But.. but.. Hansen said “..you know what happens to crime when the heat goes up”!

      After Black Saturday in Kinglake, survivors started to build above and below ground fire bunkers. Then greedy local councils got involved saying they couldn’t do this on their own properties and wanted to fine them, completely ignoring the 66.39% that voted against their continuance of power in the Federal Referendum of 1988.

      Australian local councils aren’t recognised under our Constitution and have no lawful power.

  4. B.C. says:

    Apparently these people have never heard of http://www.firewise.org/ . It’s not 100% kosher, according to some people I’ve worked with, but their message is pretty straight-forward and simple… to paraphrase it: “Create a defensive space if you’re going to build in the wildland/urban interface!”

    If you look at the number of houses (preventably) lost each year, due to natural disasters, I’d wager that, on average, wildfires cause a much larger number than do hurricanes. (I’m sure the numbers are out there somewhere on some insurance company’s computers, but I’m too lazy to bother going looking for them.)

    Keep up the good fight, Steven. You’re doing yeoman’s work and the world will someday give you the props you deserve.

  5. John B., M.D. says:

    Why not build these homes out of stone and put slate or ceramic tiles on the roof?

  6. Pathway says:

    And the rest of us will pay higher insurance premiums because these dolts won’t cut down a tree. I have no sympathy for them.

  7. Pathway says:

    There should be no more than 4 trees per acre for ponderosa pine. The density in the picture is probably 10 times that amount.

  8. phodges says:

    Looks just like the town where I live 🙁

    But we have been here for awhile: our bar has the oldest issued liquor license in California, fmovie stars hanging out in the 20’s and 30’s, and a ski lift by 1940.

    We have started an aggressive defensive space program, both on Federal Land and in town, and as training officer on the Fire Department I have really stepped up training for WUI (Wildland/Urban Interface) incidents. Our only saving grace is weather prevails from the SW, where it 4000ft straight up to the Sierra Crest, (literally across the street from my house) so there is not much space for large fires to develop; most of our vegetation fires are in the sage and douglas on the other side of town, in open country. However all it takes is one bad windy day.

    Sounds like you are in a similar rural environment, Steve?

    • B.C. says:

      There’s a lot of “red rocks”* just in that small aerial photo. There’s no way any crew boss worth his salt would even attempt to save those houses from a raging headfire and put his/her crew’s safety in jeapordy. In other words “Move along, guys, there’s nothing more that we can do here.”

      *Note: Yes, I know that “Red rock/Green Rock” is no longer used in wildland/urban interface triage, but anyone who has been around wildland fire long enough will know what I’m talking about. 😉

      Good luck on your defensive space endeavors, especially on those Fed lands. That’s got to be like pulling pubes with a puma to get the permits to do that.

  9. gator69 says:

    I keep a very green and short lawn around the house, and the wild areas are back far enough that flames will not reach the structure, or threaten it. I added a metal roof, and last time my neighbor to the west set his ground on fire, it stopped at the edge of my very green lawn. I wasn’t even home and found out about the fire the next morning. Living in the woods is great, if you are a deer.

  10. terrence says:

    I don’t recall where in Canada it was (BC, I think) and it happened a few years ago. Anyways, a river regularly flooded every 10 or 15 years, so flood dikes (levees) were built – some of these were quite a way from the river (in some cases, 50 feet, maybe). Some native Indian people decided that they wanted to be close to the river for fishing and for a nice view, so they built their house BETWEEN the river and the dikes. They were “surprised” when a flood destroyed each and every house.

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