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Some California neighborhoods destroyed by wildfire being rebuilt without fire-safe standards

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , 7 Comments on Some California neighborhoods destroyed by wildfire being rebuilt without fire-safe standards

Homes in Paradise, California built to fire-safe codes had a much higher survival rate in the Camp Fire

Camp Fire satellite photo 10:45 am Nov. 8, 2018. Zeke Lunder
Camp Fire, as it began to burn into Paradise, Calif. LANDSAT 8 image at 10:45 a.m. PT, Nov. 8, 2018. Processed by Zeke Lunder, Deer Creek Resources, Chico, Calif.

Analysts studying the aftermath of the Camp Fire which destroyed much of Paradise, California found that homes built to fire-safe standards had a much higher survival rate than those that were not.

Beginning in 2008 new construction in the city was required to follow a standard, known as the 7A Code, designed for the state’s areas at high risk from wildfire, requiring fire-resistant roofs, siding and other safeguards. Fifty-one percent of the homes built under the 7A code survived, while only eighteen percent of those built before 2008 did.

While this would seem like an easy lesson to learn, some areas in the state are reluctant to apply the fire-safe standard.

Below is an excerpt from an editorial at the Sacramento Bee:

“…As many as 3 million homes stand in what the state calls “very high fire hazard severity zones,” according to Cal Fire. These areas, where the climate and the presence of combustible foliage can lead to tinderbox conditions, are destined to burn. The data on which homes survived the Camp Fire should be a call to action for every city in the danger zones.

“Unfortunately, short-term thinking can triumph over common sense. Cities facing severe fire risks can avoid compliance with the fire-resistant building codes, or choose to avoid their obvious advantages, despite the fact that “a new home built to wildfire-resistant codes can be constructed for roughly the same cost as a typical home,” according to a report by Headwaters Economics.

“Take Santa Rosa’s Coffey Park neighborhood, where the Tubbs Fire killed five people and destroyed 1,321 homes in 2017. The neighborhood wasn’t considered a fire hazard zone, unlike some other areas of Santa Rosa. The Tubbs Fire proved otherwise, but Coffey Park still isn’t designated as a “very high fire hazard zone” by Cal Fire.

“ ‘City officials are OK with that,” according to The Bee. “Although developers rebuilding Coffey Park are being urged to consider fire-resistant materials, city spokeswoman Adriane Mertens said the city doesn’t see any reason to impose the 7A code in the neighborhood.’ “

Good Samaritan makes citizen’s arrest of arson suspect

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , 1 Comment on Good Samaritan makes citizen’s arrest of arson suspect

From KTLA:

A suspected arsonist accused of setting a series of fires in the Sepulveda Pass near the Getty Center [in Los Angeles] was taken into custody on Monday after a Good Samaritan said he saw the man lighting the fires and stepped in.

That Good Samaritan sprang into action and tackled the man.

arsonist caughtThe suspect was arrested after Richard Lazenby took him down to the ground and held him there until officers arrived. Part of that confrontation was caught on camera.

“I yell at him, like, ‘what are you doing?” Lazenby said. “And he says, ‘I’m destroying everything.'”

Lazenby was driving home from Easter Sunday church service with his family when he saw brush fires burning along Sepulveda Boulevard. He then saw the suspect lighting another fire, and blocked the man with his vehicle.

“So I get out of the car, and my goal was to take him down at that point,” Lazenby said.

Wearing his Sunday best, Lazenby took the suspect to the ground and pinned him.

“Wrestled with him in the street, tumbled over into the weeds, got on top of him, pinned him down with his arms,” Lazenby said.

Lazenby’s wife was recording as their children looked on, at first with fear, then with pride.

Two students ordered to pay $15 million each for starting wildfire in Italy

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags
wildfire lake Como Italy
Firefighters suppress a wildfire at Lake Como on Monte Berlinghera. Varese News

Two 22-year old students accused of accidentally starting a wildfire have each been fined €13,500,000 ($15,200,000). The fire burned about 1,000 hectares (2,470 acres) near Lake Como in Italy, ignited, investigators determined, by embers from the barbecue at a home owned by the grandfather of one of the two men.

Firefighters battled the blaze for about a week on Monte Berlinghera after it started on December 30, 2018 during dry conditions when a nearby weather station recorded wind gusts up to 62 mph.

In addition to the fine the men could face civil suits from property owners  affected by the fire.

Below is an excerpt from an article at BBC:

La Stampa reports that the regulation calls for a fine of €118–€593 per square metre. The damage the two men were liable for was calculated at some 6,840 square metres, the newspaper said – resulting in a fine of between €8m and €40m.

A lawyer for one of the students told the newspaper that any sentence should be meaningful and have a point.

“What is the sense to impose an administrative sanction… already knowing that the two boys, still students, cannot pay it?” she said.

However, the prosecutor told local news outlet Il Giorno Como that the fine was “a signal that we need to push people to greater responsibility in protecting the environment”.

wildfire lake Como Italy

Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Mike. Typos or errors, report them HERE.

Satellite photos of wildfires in Siberia

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags

wildfires Siberia satellite photoThese photos taken by the European Union’s Copernicus satellite show large wildfires that have been burning in grasslands (steppe) in southern Siberia for about a week. A State of Emergency has been declared in the Transbaikal region where about 1,200 personnel are battling the blazes. The province of Khabarovsk is also affected.

The photo below shows interesting burn patterns.

wildfires Siberia satellite photo

wildfires Siberia satellite photo

At least one large fire has burned from Russia into China.


wildfires Siberia satellite photo

Analysis of 865 fatalities on wildfires in Southern Europe

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , ,

fatalities wildfires southern Europe

A paper published in January describes an analysis of 865  civilian and firefighter fatalities in Spain, Portugal, Greece, and Sardinia (Italy) from 1945 through 2016. They found that 77 percent of the fatalities occurred in the months of July, August, and September, and that Sardinia (a large Italian island in the Mediterranean Sea) had the highest rate of fatalities based on their population, 10.01 per million inhabitants.

The leading cause of death was burns and suffocation, followed by health problems including heart attacks, physical trauma, respiratory problems, and exhaustion. Next was aviation accidents and then terrestrial accidents.

All of the images shown here are from the research paper.

fatalities wildfires southern Europe

 

fatalities wildfires southern Europe

A surprisingly high number of fatalities were the result of aviation accidents. Here is an excerpt from the document:

Aircraft-crew fatalities are not negligible, particularly in Spain, where 72 out of the total 96 fatalities reported occurred. This is alarming, although it can be explained to some extent by the heavy use of aerial-firefighting resources in Spain when compared, for example, to Portugal. Aerial firefighting is also heavily applied in Greece, although fatalities in this country are not just the result of the number of flying hours, but also of a host of other parameters still to be investigated and described by specialists. Indeed, an evaluation and a comparison between countries of these other parameters and operational protocols are needed.

 

fatalities wildfires southern Europe

 

fatalities wildfires southern Europe

Authors of the paper: Domingo M. Molina-Terre´n, Gavriil Xanthopoulos, Michalis Diakakis, Luis Ribeiro, David Caballero, Giuseppe M. Delogu, Domingos X. Viegas, Carlos A. Silva, and Adria´n Cardil.