Posted on 01/11/2025 2:13:29 PM PST by ifinnegan
This 1962 documentary film produced by the Los Angeles Fire Department, describes the historic Bel Air / Brentwood wildfire that started on November 5, 1961 in the Bel Air community of Los Angeles. Over the course of three days, the wind-driven fire destroyed 484 homes, damaged 190 others, and burned over 16,000 acres. Amazingly, there was no loss of life attributable to the blaze.
The then $30 million disaster led to new laws in the City of Los Angeles to eliminate wood shingle roofs, and to clear dry brush away from homes. The film is narrated by actor William Conrad.
The seriousness and professionalism of the past contrasting to now is striking.
The recent fires in the Santa Rosa, Kalifornia had the same history. In 1964 in Santa Rosa, the people alive then recall the ‘64 fire burning in the exact same canyons and hills. Back in ‘64 there were no homes or businesses in those areas.
While that was a good idea, it obviously was nowhere near sufficient.
Building codes need to be radically revised for fire safety. A good place to start is this article in Fine Homebuilding from almost 30 years ago, Fire-Resistant Details. The design techniques and details described in the article are what made this "miracle house" survive the October 1993 Laguna Beach firestorm.
The burned out houses in the Laguna Beach neighborhood look just like what we are seeing today in Pacific Palisades and surrounding areas. The fire-safe methods and details in the article work and do not add that much to construction costs.
There's an interesting narration at 12:48: "some have no water, others have."
Great conflagrations always draw down the water resources and lead to low or no pressure.
We live in a 1952 ranch house on the San Francisco Peninsula. It looks identical to many of those going up in flames in this video.
At 16:08, the narrator says the fire is moving into Mandeville Canyon. That’s exactly where the Palisades Fire is right now.
The narrator says it is “in its path lies the long, deep, richness of Mandeville Canyon, one of the most heavily populated, most exclusive, most hazardous canyons in the Santa Monica range.”
Yep.
63 years to prepare.
"...but even in such attempts to save individual homes firemen are further thwarted by the loss of water. How can a modern water system properly designed to meet emergency fire conditions fail to function? Let's look at this simplified diagram of houses on a hill being supplied by a water tank above. When thousands of outlets are open below the hill water pressure is lost in the overtaxed mains, regardless of the amount of water above the houses. Where the water supply comes from a distant location and supply pipes dead end on the hill unnecessary use of too many outlets below the fire area simply drains the water out of the upper system."
narrated by actor William Conrad.
On the radio show Gunsmoke he was Marshall Dillon
"In 1959, experts from the National Fire Protection Association surveyed portions of Los Angeles. They found a mountain range within the city, combustible roofed houses closely spaced in brush covered canyons, and ridges serviced by narrow roads. They called it a “Design for Disaster.” They predicted the Bel Air fire plus others which are sure to come unless citizens and city officials worked together on a definite plan of fire defense. The prediction was nothing new to firemen. They have their own ideas about people who don't like water pumping stations or fire stations in their neighborhood because they feel that they're unsightly or homeowners who refuse to cut brush away from homes because it mars the natural beauty of the hill and those groups who maintain to the last glowing ember that combustible roofs are not hazardous in fire areas despite the fact that over 600 cities have outlawed them.
Only 484 homes were destroyed. Over 10,000 homes have been destroyed by these fires. Proof positive that global warming exists!
Bkmrk for reference.
When a house burns the solder in the sweated joints and CPVC pipe will melt.
Water will pour out.
If enough houses burn, water pressure will be lost.
If threaded connections were made to a fire temperature shut-off valve, the water line for a house would stop losing water if the house burns down.
The Maui fire should have made that clear.
In the old days there were threaded iron pipes, not copper piping connected using low temperature melting solder.
484 homes —> over 10,000 homes destroyed. LOL — “Proof positive that global warming exists!”
Don’t the pipes have to be empty for the solder to melt of CPVC to burn? Or does the water in the pipes boil and the resulting pressure increase burst the pipes?
I have an earthquake shutoff valve on my house. It’s a simple gadget — an earthquake knocks a ball off its perch and it falls onto the pipe outlet, blocking the flow. It sounds like a temperature activated water shutoff valve should be used in residential houses.
Somebody yesterday pointed out that the natural gas pipes to the burned out houses had fire jets coming out. Sounds like a thermal cutoff is also required for natural gas pipes.
TECO® SRL (Italy) developed the FireBag®, an automatic and reliable thermal shutoff, based on extensive experience in Germany, where thermal gas shutoff devices have been required in homes since the ’90’s. The FireBag currently protects millions of homes throughout Europe and Asia.This simple, inexpensive device protects lives and property. The Firebag provides passive gas safety by automatically stopping the gas supply when fire occurs, which prevents gas from feeding a fire, averting large scale incidents. Significant safety is achieved without the need for expensive actuators, electrical power, heat detectors, or fire detectors.
Open:
Closed:
mainly:
double pane windows, especially on fire-risk side
no eave overhand
no vents at soffit level
coat exterior wood with one inch of cementous stuff (or burn protection stuff)
~one-inch-thick exterior stucco
Nice comments. Appreciated.
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