House Fires

Few things are more devastating than standing by helplessly while all your memories, keepsakes, and valuables go up in flames.  I can tell you from personal experience that its something that changes your life.  There are many different causes of house fires, from cooking mishaps to candles to natural causes like lightning, wildfires, tornadoes, and earthquakes.

Prevention methods are often simple, but the effects can be amazing.  This article illustrates some of the benefits of simple brush clearing.

By Jessica Gresko
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

July 17, 2005

Don Crocker’s home in Rolling Hills burned to the ground on a windy summer day in 1973.

So when another fire raced up the same coastal hillside last week, his wife worriedly packed the car.

But this fire turned out to be much different. While it swept up the canyon, firefighters were able to stop the blaze before it reached the first row of ocean-view houses below Crocker’s.

“I was thinking — it’s so much different this time than last time,” he said.

The 1973 fire, which burned about a dozen homes in Rolling Hills and Rancho Palos Verdes, marked the beginnings of a fire-preparedness revolution in the two communities and the rest of Los Angeles County.

The two communities became among the first in the region to aggressively enforce brush-clearing regulations, a model later copied by the county Fire Department.

Firefighters credit brush clearance with preventing a major loss of homes during Wednesday’s blaze, which at one point threatened 400 residences and burned more than 200 acres. No houses were damaged.

“Everything was basically the same as it was in ‘73 when we showed up,” said county fire Battalion Chief Al Schriver, who, as a Rolling Hills firefighter, battled that blaze and who coordinated efforts Wednesday. “I think it’s a lesson to people. It could have had the same results. It’s very stark evidence that what we’re doing works.”

Firefighters said the Palos Verdes Peninsula blaze offers an example to the rest of Southern California as the summer fire season unfolds. Some officials are predicting a potentially dangerous season because the near-record rainfall this winter produced extensive plant growth.

Although most brush fires start on remote or undeveloped hillsides, brush clearance is considered a crucial barrier when flames reach developed areas.

A Times analysis of the 2003 wildfires in San Diego County — which destroyed more than 2,300 structures — found that brush clearance was the single biggest factor in whether a home burned or survived. Many of the destroyed houses had flammable vegetation within 30 feet, the analysis found.

“Every time we have one of these fires, the first thing out of the public information officer’s mouth is that brush clearance helped,” said Assistant Fire Chief John Todd of the Los Angeles County Fire Department’s Forestry Division. “I think it’s sunk in with people. They’ve seen the results.”

Other prevention methods include paint additives and  other types of coatings that can greatly reduce the flammability of a home’s exterior.  Internal sprinkler systems, fire extinguishers, smoke detectors and other products can also help prevent fires and minimize damage once they start.

It is also important to know how to turn off the electricity to your home and how to turn off any gas lines that you might have coming into your home as well.  During natural disasters like flooding, hurricanes, tornadoes, and earthquakes you might not even consider a house fire happening, but these are exactly the types of situations where rogue electrical wires  and ruptured natural gas lines can start major fires at times when emergency workers are already working at full force.

Your home can be replaced, but your loved ones can not.  Make sure everyone knows how to get out of the house and where to meet at once they do.  This is especially important for children.  There are many in depth documents and videos on how to do this properly.

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