October 23, 2007: The Fire this time: the view from the Pajamas office

Here in not-so-scenic El Segundo CA, I often look with envy up the coast at Malibu CA. (There's a clear shot through our office window.) But not today. Looking NW, the direction of Malibu, is like looking into Vietnam after a bombing run, Apocalypse Now.

I used to live in Malibu, during the mid-Eighties, on a street called Rambla Vista. I left as my marriage was coming apart. We sold the house. The house itself came apart the following year in one of those periodic Malibu fires. It was burned to the ground. Someone else built a bigger house in its place. Now that one is threatened. So it goes in the 'bu. The exact same canyons burn over and over again.

A commenter on Pajamas Media complained that we on the Left Coast are privileged. We go our merry ways rebuilding in fire zones while casting aspersions on Easterners who rebuild in the wake of hurricanes. He has a point.

Comments

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"We go our merry ways rebuilding in fire zones..."

Is this occurring because the nation's tax payers are providing ridiculously low insurance coverage? I have no idea if that is indeed the case regarding the California properties now in harm's way. But it sure is a major reason for many lakefront homes sliding into the ocean.

Posted by: David Thomson at October 23, 2007 7:29 PM

Maybe it's because the whole area is a desert and most of the desert is taken up by homes so new building goes out into what is called the fire area???

We live here because, we enjoy living in SoCal. Yeah, I do. Since I'm in the Barrio of Van Nuys, my only concern is the TV jumping into bed with me during another earthquake.

If I had the money, yeah, I'd take it and move to the 'bu, NOT.

Roger, I've lived here 50 years and never heard it called the 'bu, but then again I don't hang with the crowd that would.

Posted by: promoguy at October 23, 2007 9:19 PM

Good to hear you are not in the line of fire.

Posted by: Lem at October 24, 2007 6:28 AM

I'll take the snow in upstate NY anyday.

I hope everybody comes out of this OK, but how about building some firebreaks and enacting more fire resistance into the building code before the next time?

I'm struggling for the proper word, but it seems we aren't learning much when we keep repeating the same mistakes.

Posted by: MarkD at October 24, 2007 6:41 AM

I've lived near the Santa Monica Mountains for years, now, and I've never understood why anyone builds up in the canyons. Sure, it's scenic. But every couple of years you get burned out.

Home insurance rates must be a killer for people up there.

Posted by: Anthony (Los Angeles) at October 24, 2007 8:26 AM

Not-so-scenic El Segundo? There's plenty of scenery! From the Standard Refinery in the south, LAX to the north and all the defense contractor buildings to the east (one of which I work in) there is plenty to see! Oh yea, there's some body of water to the west, next to the sewage treatment plant... can't remember the name of it though...

Posted by: lplimac at October 24, 2007 10:08 AM

I very strongly recommend John McPhee's book "The Control of Nature". It is in three sections:
1. Atchafalaya: about the history and current (1989) situation in the lower Mississippi.
2. Cooling the Lava: attempts in Iceland and Hawaii to prevent destruction from volcanic action
3. Los Angeles Against the Mountains: about the repeated cycles of fire and flood (debris flows) in SoCal and in particular in the San Gabriel area.

Another good work on western US water issues, including LA, is "Cadillac Desert" by Marc Reisner.

Posted by: Fred the Fourth at October 24, 2007 2:21 PM

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