62 replies to this topic

[mickey thumbs]

Pappy, as an Ohio native, I left the winter after our water meters in Cincinnati froze and the city ran out of replacements and had to put in straight pipes to restore service to homes.

 

North Carolina has been great for me for 40 years until Helene came through my neighborhood last fall.

[Pappy]

Just like I have never once had to shovel sunshine... LOL.

 

Hey Cheater, did you get your white sunshine shoveled? 

[Cheater]

Hard to shovel half an inch...

[Bill from NH]

Half an inch, you just sweep it with a broom. 

[old & gray]

I woke up to four and a half inches of snow. I cleared it with a shovel, ten miles south my coworker had the half inch and cleared it with a leaf blower.

[Pappy]

Hard to shovel half an inch...

 

If you think it's hard to shovel half an inch of snow maybe it's better that you do live in Atlanta.   

[Dave Crevie]

We get some snow in Chicago;

 

 

 

[Bill from NH]

New Orleans has more snow on the ground then we do in southern NH.

[Phil Hackett]

This video is from 1962-3 and is extremely relevant to the Pacific Palisades fire. The situation is the same except Bel Air wasn't as developed then as now. Same with Pacific Palisades. The current fire threatened to cross the 405, San Diego Freeway, in the Sepulveda Pass. If the fire would have done that, it would have been in Bel Air in a matter of minutes.

 

Some things haven't changed in 63 years.

 

This video is narrated by William Conrad. Some might remember him best as Cannon in the '60-70s detective series "Cannon"...

 

[Dave Crevie]

Dam good video, Phil. It emphasizes how long this has been going on. Amid my feelings of sorrow for those residents, I also wonder why they stay, and why they don't make some provisions to lessen/fight the almost annual situation. Maybe due to the laid-back lifestyle, where they just lay out on their chaise lounges next to their in-ground pools, and soak up the sun. With no thought of this ever happening again.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but some years ago, during one of these conflagrations, I saw a report that said 80 percent of the stormwater run-off from this area runs into the Pacific. In an area that is short on rainfall, I would think that some of the California engineering brain trust would come up with a solution. If nothing else, they could build pumping stations along the coast, tied into a fire hydrant system. Salt water will put out a fire just as well as fresh water. After all, the drinking water for my town comes all the way from Lake Michigan, 20 miles away.  

[Phil Hackett]

*Of course it's raining*... and the heaviest rain is supposed to fall tonight into Monday...

 

There's another Bel AIr fire video with the "survivors"... One fire chief correctly states the brush on the hillside contains lots of "oil" that makes it burn even better. They also explain the how and why canyon fires move so fast.

[Dave Crevie]

I hope none of the new fires are anywhere near you, Phil. What amazes me, is that when they say the fire is so much percentage controlled, that only means they have knocked it back some. Even if the fire is 100% controlled, that doesn't mean that it is out. Just that it isn't spreading. It is false security.

 

The area my cousin is in is under a "voluntary evacuation" order, but I think that is more for the air quality then  because the fire is getting closer to him. It's still at least 10 miles away.

[Phil Hackett]

This is a bit of an update: Adam Corolla returns to his condo in Malibu and surveys the burnt homes (some of which were valued in the 10s of millions of dollars... location, location, location), checks on his condo and then (about 11:30 in the video) discusses the red-tape and building code updates that the homeowners face in rebuilding. When Malibu became an incorporated city there was a big controversy over septic systems and whether the city would start requiring sewer systems. He addresses the problem as it is now.

 

The houses on the west side (the ocean side) of PCH will probably take 15+ years to get rebuilt because of the reasons AC says. The California Coastal Commission will probably take this "opportunity" to "take back" the beach and effectively ban those houses ever getting rebuilt. The people with the money and power will rebuild but many of those older homes were "generational" homes which have been passed down and those will never be rebuilt...