California DU-ers......have questions about the fires

[rufus dog]

23. they are correct

We had a very wet winter so a great deal of growth. Then we have our typically dry summer and this year a bit hotter and longer than normal. Then, in SoCal, we have winds pick up in October. The winds blow from the mountains to the Pacific, basically North to Southwest, thus the standard winds from the Pacific are interrupted by the dry winds from the North. The current SoCal fire was at an interchange, it caught fire a few weeks ago and then on Monday the opposite side caught. In both of these instances it could have been a spark, cigarette, or potentially arson.

Scary thing is that same area went up about 10 years ago without any loss of structure, this time some houses were destroyed. So what is different, I don't know. These houses are stucco with tile roofs so it takes a bit of work to catch the houses, fire fighters basically stand in backyard (small, sometimes 10 to 15 feet from the structure) and knock down the fire. This time they just didn't have the time to set up a defense.

My theory is that these houses are about 30 years old. Twenty years ago, fire hits, no growth of trees around the houses, easy to save houses. Ten years ago, minor growth of trees around the houses, Palms and other trees about 15 to 20 feet, easy to manage and trim, easy to save houses. Now at 30 years the trees are 30 feet plus, palms can't be maintained by home owners so professional tree trimmers required, some homes have dead fronds, etc. So we get embers flying, trees catching near homes, then a house catches, then a domino effect.