Some thoughts on Fire Safety in our communities. Please share yours.

[orbops]

we are in a typical Phoenix track home community with home after home close to each other with plants and trees planted right next to the houses. We have had almost no rain this winter and its been very dry even for the desert...

There was a recent article in the AZ Republic, the Republican legislature wants to protect utilities from lawsuits if their equipment starts a fire.

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/legislature/2025/02/05/az-republicans-push-bill-protecting-utilities-over-wildfire/78209826007/

 

[indiajust]

i live in soggy NH, where you cannot escape the sound of running water. it drips, it freezes, it cracks it oozes. nothing could possibly burn here, outside of a good fireplace and dry pellets/firewood/LP assist.

 

[Koolau]

i live in soggy NH, where you cannot escape the sound of running water. it drips, it freezes, it cracks it oozes. nothing could possibly burn here, outside of a good fireplace and dry pellets/firewood/LP assist.

That's what I would have thought when I first moved to Hawaii. But I found out, for all the rain we were getting on the Windward side, the leeward side can be desert.

 

[JohnnyPHX]

Reviving this thread to add a documentary our local PBS has been running. It's kind of a update on the LA fires and good overview of the issues we are facing as we get more extreme weather changes in some areas. It's a good reminder (self included) we should probably be more aware of the areas around us and strive to make them safer.

For those that prefer a summary. When we have extreme winds and fires (usually started by some human activity) these fast moving fires are almost impossible to be stopped by firefighters efforts. The high winds make dumping water by air ineffective and too dangerous to keep flying. When homes burn their pipes can burst and you can loose water pressure on a grand scale when all the homes are burning. Firefighters are very good at putting out individual home fires but it takes a team. When the whole neighborhood is on fire there is simply not enough manpower and their efforts turn to search and rescue. Lives over buildings.....
Only reasonable effort on our parts to firesafe our homes and neighborhoods seems to be the solution. These kind of efforts could help turn the tide on ever increasing insurance rates.

 

[frank05]

i live in soggy NH, where you cannot escape the sound of running water. it drips, it freezes, it cracks it oozes. nothing could possibly burn here, outside of a good fireplace and dry pellets/firewood/LP assist.

Chimney fires are a big risk in any area with wood fireplaces. Saw one once when driving to ski in Vermont, looked like an inverted rocket.

 

[folivier]

For chimney fires you should have one of the chemical fire extinguishers such as Chimfex. https://www.amazon.com/Original-Chimfex-Chimney-Suppressent-3412/dp/B002RRIKT2
These work well and are inexpensive. Also you should use one of the creosote chemicals occasionally. https://www.amazon.com/s?k=fireplac...ef=nb_sb_ss_fb_1_15_p13n-expert-pd-ops-ranker
Not sure how well those work but Chimfex could save your house.

 

[old medic]

Our problem here is all the fuel now on the ground after Helene... It also has created an accessibility issue. We have a dozen pines down in the acre between the 2 houses.

 

[TrvlBug]

We live in a moderate fire risk area and with the last fire were 2 blocks from the mandatory evacuation zone. We've had the fire dept out to inspect our vegetation and have removed that too close to the house as well as some (think acacia) that are extremely flammable.

We now need a new roof and have decided on a standing seam metal roof (thank you SkyKing for the recommendation) rather than an asphalt roof. Additionally, we will upgrade all of our vents, eaves and crawlspace to the Vulcan Vent. I think that's about all we can do for now!

 

[joejetski]

Reviving this thread to add a documentary our local PBS has been running. It's kind of a update on the LA fires and good overview of the issues we are facing as we get more extreme weather changes in some areas. It's a good reminder (self included) we should probably be more aware of the areas around us and strive to make them safer.

For those that prefer a summary. When we have extreme winds and fires (usually started by some human activity) these fast moving fires are almost impossible to be stopped by firefighters efforts. The high winds make dumping water by air ineffective and too dangerous to keep flying. When homes burn their pipes can burst and you can loose water pressure on a grand scale when all the homes are burning. Firefighters are very good at putting out individual home fires but it takes a team. When the whole neighborhood is on fire there is simply not enough manpower and their efforts turn to search and rescue. Lives over buildings.....
Only reasonable effort on our parts to firesafe our homes and neighborhoods seems to be the solution. These kind of efforts could help turn the tide on ever increasing insurance rates.

Not buying their PC BS. Your reservoir was dry. You could not maintain water pressure for firefighting at scale with or without residential pipes bursting. The root cause was insufficient water resources on site. Homes survived for three reasons. Homeowner had removed or was able to remove vegetation proximal to the house (apparently illegal under CA law) and/or they had a water source (pool) and a generator that kept flames at bay and/or they had enough pressure in their system to run sprinklers/hoses on the house to protect it from igniting, and/or dumb luck combined with one or more of the above. Everyone else burned.

 

[engineernerd]

I saw the news footage (during the L.A. fires) of someone's mansion with a roof sprinkler system that seemed to be operating on its own. Pretty great idea, if you can make it work. I'd guess having your own water source like a swimming pool or cistern would be important.

I'd also seen news reports of men who stayed behind to protect their and some of their neighbors' homes, and always thought wow, that's not for the faint of heart.

A system that works without you having to be there (in danger of burning to death!) is SO COOL.

 

[Koolau]

Without wanting to create our own "firestorm" here, it seems pretty clear that the majority of wildfires that we've seen of late (including Lahaina Maui) were due to overall mismanagement (before, during and after). I hope "we" have learned our lesson(s) - but I doubt it.

I'm wondering if the insurance industry needs to be more involved BEFORE a fire than after? Any decent insurance fire expert could have taken a cursory look at Lahaina and told them they were a disaster waiting to happen (actually, the powers-that-be already knew - and were willing to hope that they'd dodge a bullet again). But if Insurance People had been partners, the whole thing could have been avoided with a couple of judicious moves during the critical phase before the fire started.

 

[JohnnyPHX]

I saw the news footage (during the L.A. fires) of someone's mansion with a roof sprinkler system that seemed to be operating on its own. Pretty great idea, if you can make it work. I'd guess having your own water source like a swimming pool or cistern would be important.

I'd also seen news reports of men who stayed behind to protect their and some of their neighbors' homes, and always thought wow, that's not for the faint of heart.

A system that works without you having to be there (in danger of burning to death!) is SO COOL.

That's something I am thinking about for our neighbors here in Phoenix who 75 percent probably have pools in their backyards.
Could be a potential business opportunity for someone to offer a pool conversion kit or something. I guess the liability insurance for such a company would be pretty expensive though.

 

[JohnnyPHX]

Without wanting to create our own "firestorm" here, it seems pretty clear that the majority of wildfires that we've seen of late (including Lahaina Maui) were due to overall mismanagement (before, during and after). I hope "we" have learned our lesson(s) - but I doubt it.

I'm wondering if the insurance industry needs to be more involved BEFORE a fire than after? Any decent insurance fire expert could have taken a cursory look at Lahaina and told them they were a disaster waiting to happen (actually, the powers-that-be already knew - and were willing to hope that they'd dodge a bullet again). But if Insurance People had been partners, the whole thing could have been avoided with a couple of judicious moves during the critical phase before the fire started.

I do know a few people here in Phoenix who received letters from their insurance company about trees or branches being to close or touching their house and they needed to fix the situation. So some insurance companies are being more proactive. Perhaps if they all adopted minimal requirements from home owners and home builders we could all be a little bit safer and help prevent these issues. It is discussed briefly towards the end of the new video I linked.