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they are the same people blaming phone company for down towers and not getting the message
sorry, if they are that close to the fire, they should be gone already. there is no reason to think your house is going to be safe when the rest burns down
its like those people stuck on the road trying to flee the hurricane, they knew it was coming but choose not to act until it was too late
There was no fire when most of these people went to sleep. The high winds knocked down power poles which sparked the fire in the middle of the night.
I don't think people comprehend what occurred. If it makes you feel better to think you would have been 1) in a better built house 2) had a BOB 3)evacuated before the fires started () you are fooling yourselfs
This was a firestorm, no warning. Moving at an incredible speed at 1500 degrees.
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My sister and family lost their house and escaped with barely anything. Why? Because it was 1:30 in the morning (there were no fire warnings yet), the dog woke them up, they grabbed what they could and the house was on fire while they were leaving.
The fire was moving 1 football field every three seconds. There were category 1 hurricane force winds.
Coffee Park which was one of the first areas hit was leveled. The fact that they escaped with their lives is a miracle.
Do you really think a bag with tampons and fresh underwear would make this situation better in anyway?
Yes. In any major disaster, the shelters may be full, and supplies may be short. Things are miserable enough without being stinky and having menstrual blood running down your legs. I assume the bag also had $500 in cash. Money talks.
The other thing is "they grabbed what they could." When you are in a panic you don't make good decisions. When you undergo a major loss, it can be overwhelming. Sometimes it's better just to have a toothbrush and clean underwear. You can always go back and get the stuff out of the fire safe later.
Yes. In any major disaster, the shelters may be full, and supplies may be short. Things are miserable enough without being stinky and having menstrual blood running down your legs. I assume the bag also had $500 in cash. Money talks.
The other thing is "they grabbed what they could." When you are in a panic you don't make good decisions. When you undergo a major loss, it can be overwhelming. Sometimes it's better just to have a toothbrush and clean underwear. You can always go back and get the stuff out of the fire safe later.
You still don't get it. You actually think something was left from a firestorm of 1500 degrees?!
Do you know what was left? A shell of a truck, and a couple metal lawn ornaments. The motorcycles were barely recognizable, wth? where did the fridge go? Nothing. It is a level lot, it used to be a 2 story home. Good decisions? The decision was to flee a burning building with their lives and their pets. That they chose a few other items is a miracle.
Toothbrushes, food, clothes and all that stuff was being given out everywhere. Cash could be convenient, but credit cards were still accepted at almost EVERY store. There is no money talks situation there. If it ever gets to a point where "money talks" then they have deteriorated to a point where money no longer matters. There are a bunch of people helping each other out. Whole Foods had to close in two locations, and gave away all their perishables, despite spotty service FB was filled with offers of free meals, places to charge your electronics, places to shower and people who had barns who would take in anyone who needed refuge.
There is no harm in having a BOB, it can't hurt. But the incredulous statements of some here just shows their ignorance. It's like if these people had a few things packed their lives would be okay. Not. Even. Close. It's those things that go into a BOB that are the easiest to replace.
I'm all for self preparedness, I have water cases in the garage, MREs, and months worth of food.
But these people who think they would have done so much better? They don't even have their facts straight.
Most here don't even sound like they have been through a major disasters. It's just a hobby for them to speculate.
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Here is what you do need in your BOB in the event that something wipes your home from the face of the earth:
Complete home inventory (pictures or receipts) for insurance purposes
All you original IDs (birth certificate, passport etc) to help you apply for aid
Cash if you do not have credit or money in the bank, but if you don't have that, you probably won't be able to have cash sitting around for a 1 in a million event
Irreplaceable items (so I guess you will throw in your grandmas broach, and the antique comic books you have or whatever)
All your memories and data, back of pics (if not in the cloud) back up of taxes and all that other pain in the okole stuff
But of course what goes into that bag is going to vary with your asset level. So neither of our lists are a one size fits all.
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My documents are all scanned into this tablet on which I am typing (except the tax returns, of which one can get copies from the IRS and the state tax dept), as well as archived in my e-mail (in case something happens to the tablet). Same with photo memories. The tablet lives in my handbag. Cash I can obtain from an ATM machine, no point in carrying a huge bunch of it around. In addition to the ATM card, the wallet obviously also contains the driver's license, credit card and health insurance card. Silk or microfiber underwear can be washed in a sink and dried immediately, so no need for lugging around extras. Don't people always also carry the phone, a sweater, umbrella. small hairbrush and tampons (unless they are postmenopausal or male) anyway?
My condo building had a fire several years ago - in that situation, you can't really think about valuables and memorabilia, the only valuable is life. I think any woman will instinctively grab her handbag (with the above contents, which are in the bag on any regular day anyway, because they are regularly used), guys usually carry the phone and wallet in the pocket of their pants. That's about all you can count on managing in case of fire.
Harvey was simply outside of anyone's experience. Yes, meteorologists were forecasting 3' of rain, but nobody understood what that meant. The hurricane pasted Rockport, but had pretty much blown itself out by the time it reached Houston. Then it sat there and rained for days. It wasn't wind damage, it wasn't storm surge, it was just...rain.
The Santa Rosa fire was not outside anyone's experience. The Oakland fire in 1991 burned over 3000 homes and apartments. For a few years people paid a lot of attention to the urban-wildland interface. The Colorado Springs fire in 2012 only burned 350 homes, but 32,000 people had to evacuate. Colorado Springs is probably still riding herd on the wildland interface, but California lost interest after a couple decades.
Harvey was indeed outside anyone's experience. I actually studied climatology in college, so I was very interested to follow Harvey's development and eventual landfall at Port Aransas and Corpus Christi. I live at least 1500 miles away from Corpus Christi in a high mountain desert, yet thanks to the Internet, I was able to watch the hurricane strike the Texas Gulf in real time. The Weather Channel had 24/7 coverage of the storm and continually repeated the warning that 3 feet or more of rain was expected to fall in a 24 hour period or less. The same up to the minute reporting and warnings went for Houston, as well. If someone as far away in the interior of the country as I am could be well aware of what was coming, the Texas folks should have been even more aware, but many were not - tragic.
Both PBS and NPR reported today that the current fires in California were the worst in the state's history. I'd say that this puts the northern California fires out of anyone's experience.
Colorado Springs is my hometown and you are giving that city along with El Paso County where the Springs is located way too much credit. I guess you don't know about the second fire in the Black Forest area of Colorado Springs which occurred a year after the first fire in 2012 (Waldo Canyon). The Black Forest Fire ignited east of the city and burned more than 15,000 acres, 486 homes and killed two people. Colorado Springs does not exactly stand out as a shining example of "riding herd on the wildland interface."
The residents of the Black Forest region had been warned for years of the danger of fire by the Colorado State Forest service. People refused to thin the trees on their property and as a result, the so-called "Black Forest" was filled with spindly half dead pine trees and plenty of fallen brush. It is considered by many to be a desirable part of the county to live in, but as a native Coloradan, I knew better. When I had occasion to drive around in that part of town I would always cringe at the condition of the trees and all the dead brush everywhere. The residents of Black Forest stubbornly refused to heed all warnings and even the Waldo Canyon fire apparently gave them no cause for alarm. The county lacks both the will and the laws to regulate fire prone residential areas and all the newcomers to the area seem unable to truly adapt to their new surroundings - arid, prone to drought, pine beetle infesting many trees and the ease of which a forest fire can break out.
Wildfire Today, the professional fire fighter's web site, gives a scathing review of how both the Waldo Canyon and the Black Forest fires were fought and the lack of will on both the part of the county and the city to do anything about wildfire prevention. Conservative Colorado Springs refuses to tax itself to set up any kind of enforcement of fire prevention measures and the city's mantra is "Grow baby, GROW!" And never ever hinder the so-called "free market" with even the mildest of regulations.
From Wildfire Today:
Unlike the city of Colorado Springs, which heavily regulates building in wildfire zones, the county has no universal fire code standard. Instead, it has a patchwork of fire codes and land use regulations that vary between more than 26 fire districts. New subdivisions in wildfire zones must meet special wildfire criteria, but individual homes do not have to be built with fire resistant material or have mitigated properties. County master plans for development, while offering guidelines, are years and in some cases decades out of date and make no mention of wildfire.
I no longer live in Colorado Springs and have no desire to return there. That city will have another major fire and another still. The city of Colorado Springs has some regulations, but they are not enforced. The city sprawls endlessly in all directions with plenty of new housing developments being built in fire prone areas - especially in the foothills. Please don't hold it up as some great example when nothing could be further from the truth.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mikala43
You still don't get it. You actually think something was left from a firestorm of 1500 degrees?!
Do you know what was left? A shell of a truck, and a couple metal lawn ornaments. The motorcycles were barely recognizable, wth? where did the fridge go? Nothing. It is a level lot, it used to be a 2 story home. Good decisions? The decision was to flee a burning building with their lives and their pets. That they chose a few other items is a miracle.
Toothbrushes, food, clothes and all that stuff was being given out everywhere. Cash could be convenient, but credit cards were still accepted at almost EVERY store. There is no money talks situation there. If it ever gets to a point where "money talks" then they have deteriorated to a point where money no longer matters. There are a bunch of people helping each other out. Whole Foods had to close in two locations, and gave away all their perishables, despite spotty service FB was filled with offers of free meals, places to charge your electronics, places to shower and people who had barns who would take in anyone who needed refuge.
There is no harm in having a BOB, it can't hurt. But the incredulous statements of some here just shows their ignorance. It's like if these people had a few things packed their lives would be okay. Not. Even. Close. It's those things that go into a BOB that are the easiest to replace.
I'm all for self preparedness, I have water cases in the garage, MREs, and months worth of food.
But these people who think they would have done so much better? They don't even have their facts straight.
Most here don't even sound like they have been through a major disasters. It's just a hobby for them to speculate.
Thank you for this and your other posts in this thread. I have never experienced a fire storm although I have experienced other types of forest fires. What you describe is truly horrific. I have been reading more about the Cali fires since I made my first post in this thread, and I am truly stunned.
I have had the experience of losing my home and almost everything in it with literally only 15 minutes warning. Thank heavens I was prepared enough that I was able to be out the door with suitcase packed, my meds, and my cat in his carrier. I got into my truck which as I mentioned, I already had my camping gear stowed away in. A friend loaned me a couple of hundred bucks and I was off to spend the summer camped out in one of Colorado's more remote mountain ranges with only my cat for company. That experience really changed my outlook, needless to say. I am a much more aware person these days and I always try to have a contingency plan. It was a hard lesson to learn, and I wouldn't wish the sudden loss of your home and everything you own in a mere 15 minutes on anybody. My prayers go out to those in California.
Last edited by Colorado Rambler; 10-17-2017 at 01:54 AM..
Hurricanes paths are seldom very accurate until a few days out. Evacuating a week early isn't really practical because the exact path still isn't clear. Even if everyone left it wouldn't change the amount of water that causes the flooding.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nor'Eastah
I live way the heck east in Maine, and even I was well aware that there were fires burning and spreading in northern Kalifornica! And for many days now, too! What were these people thinking?? Sounds like the folks in the gulf states who are warned a week ahead of time that a hurricane is on its way...yep, it's comin' all right...but at the last minute, everybody's caught by surprise, and they get flooded out.
I just give up on such people. They not only won't listen to your advice about BOBs, they apparently won't listen to the news or weather, either! They have their heads up their axes, and there ain't no prescription medications for THAT!
Colorado Springs is my hometown and you are giving that city along with El Paso County where the Springs is located way too much credit. I guess you don't know about the second fire in the Black Forest area of Colorado Springs which occurred a year after the first fire in 2012 (Waldo Canyon). The Black Forest Fire ignited east of the city and burned more than 15,000 acres, 486 homes and killed two people. Colorado Springs does not exactly stand out as a shining example of "riding herd on the wildland interface."
The residents of the Black Forest region had been warned for years of the danger of fire by the Colorado State Forest service. People refused to thin the trees on their property and as a result, the so-called "Black Forest" was filled with spindly half dead pine trees and plenty of fallen brush. It is considered by many to be a desirable part of the county to live in, but as a native Coloradan, I knew better. When I had occasion to drive around in that part of town I would always cringe at the condition of the trees and all the dead brush everywhere. The residents of Black Forest stubbornly refused to heed all warnings and even the Waldo Canyon fire apparently gave them no cause for alarm. The county lacks both the will and the laws to regulate fire prone residential areas and all the newcomers to the area seem unable to truly adapt to their new surroundings - arid, prone to drought, pine beetle infesting many trees and the ease of which a forest fire can break out.
...
...
I guess one thing that needs to be learned is that
mitigating hazards and preparing to deal with disasters
needs to begin years in advance, and and then
continually reevaluated and maintained.
But people are too busy, or too interested in the here
and now, to consider the eventual, even if the eventual
is almost an assured disaster.
My sister and family lost their house and escaped with barely anything. Why? Because it was 1:30 in the morning (there were no fire warnings yet), the dog woke them up, they grabbed what they could and the house was on fire while they were leaving.
The fire was moving 1 football field every three seconds. There were category 1 hurricane force winds.
Do you really think a bag with tampons and fresh underwear would make this situation better in anyway?
Sorry for your sister's loss. It must really suck to lose everything in a flash.
The fast moving fire is something that stuns me, no doubt there is no time to grab anything!
Would a BOB help? Sure in some instances. Would it have made a difference to your sister, nope....
You still don't get it. You actually think something was left from a firestorm of 1500 degrees?!
Do you know what was left? A shell of a truck, and a couple metal lawn ornaments. The motorcycles were barely recognizable, wth? where did the fridge go? Nothing. It is a level lot, it used to be a 2 story home. Good decisions? The decision was to flee a burning building with their lives and their pets. That they chose a few other items is a miracle.
Toothbrushes, food, clothes and all that stuff was being given out everywhere. Cash could be convenient, but credit cards were still accepted at almost EVERY store. There is no money talks situation there. If it ever gets to a point where "money talks" then they have deteriorated to a point where money no longer matters. There are a bunch of people helping each other out. Whole Foods had to close in two locations, and gave away all their perishables, despite spotty service FB was filled with offers of free meals, places to charge your electronics, places to shower and people who had barns who would take in anyone who needed refuge.
There is no harm in having a BOB, it can't hurt. But the incredulous statements of some here just shows their ignorance. It's like if these people had a few things packed their lives would be okay. Not. Even. Close. It's those things that go into a BOB that are the easiest to replace.
I'm all for self preparedness, I have water cases in the garage, MREs, and months worth of food.
But these people who think they would have done so much better? They don't even have their facts straight.
Most here don't even sound like they have been through a major disasters. It's just a hobby for them to speculate.
You still don't get it. You can't predict the future. If you want to go live in somebody's barn, feel free, but don't count on getting money out of an ATM. There is no guarantee any disaster will leave the power untouched, and if the lights are out, that ATM is just a brick on the corner. I live in a wildfire area, and know that world, as you apparently don't.
Living in a wildfire area is a picture of defense in depth. You start with a 100' defensible perimeter around hour home. You remove all ladder fuels and low hanging branches from trees. You store enough fire fighting water that the fire department doesn't have to run tanker trucks for water, and have a gasoline powered water pump because the power will probably go out. You keep your gutters clean, because that is where houses normally catch on fire; embers land in the gutter and set the duff on fire, which burns up under the roofing and torches the eaves.
Then you realize that sometimes all you can do is run. I have planned to run in depth too. If I have plenty of time, I can back up to the travel trailer and take shelter with me. If I don't have time, all I can do is grab the BOB and go.
Your opposition to simple self-sufficiency borders on insanity. All of the measures I have detailed are well publicized by local officials at the beginning of every fire season.
The West Coast is subject to ample rainfall every winter, followed by annual drought that lasts for months. This results in a huge amount of dry fuel buildup. Fire survival tactics should be familiar to everyone who lives here. People who live elsewhere don't get a vote.
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) you are fooling yourselfs
