A Wildfire Risk Watchword - "Grandfathered"
I’ll be posting more here soon on the Los Angeles-area firestorms and the implications of this continuing catastrophe for countless other communities. The firsthand accounts of those who’ve lost everything are intensely wrenching. They recall those I reported on in other such catastrophes. Do a Google search for the phrase “lost everything” and Palisades Fire…
In the meantime, here’s a quick #Watchwords post on the word “grandfathered.” You may have tracked my series on words and phrases in climate and sustainability debates that confuse, divide or distract more than inform. But I now realize I have to include words that are LEFT OUT of such discussions and need more emphasis. Grandfathered is one.
This post builds on my X thread on a huge issue driving the ferocity and extent of such fires in California - the number of homes exempted from (grandfathered out of) the state’s building codes for wildfire resistant construction:
California has fine building codes for #wildfire risk reduction. osfm.fire.ca.gov/what-we-do/cod…. But in most communities, huge numbers of homes and other buildings are exempt because they were built before the new codes went into force. That's where the word #grandfathered comes in.
The thorough “after action” review of the horrific 2019 Woolsey Fire that devastated Malibu noted that “most structures, at present, are not hardened to resist ember intrusion during a wildfire, and some structures will be more expensive than others to retrofit.”
I talked yesterday with Kimiko Barrett, a wildfire policy expert at Headwaters Economics I’ve relied on for years. She said this reality is pervasive throughout California. And ember vulnerability is just one factor. Once unnimproved homes catch fire, they greatly boost the wider community danger (think of vaccination).
Read the full thread on Threadreader here.
In such infernos, climate change is almost assuredly involved, but it’s complicated, as I noted on Jan. 8. What’s vividly clear is this: houses that don’t meet code contribute to cascading house-to-house destruction like that seen in the Palisades Fire and elsewhere. Recall my coverage of Boulder County, Colorado’s devastating Marshall Fire, where towns on the flats were exempted from the county’s stricter wildfire building code - as if fire would never cross the grasslands in strong winds.
Palms are pretty ember bombs
Another local contributor is non-native plants. Think of how many flaming palms you’ve seen over the last several days. Here’s a much-shared clip of plalm tree ember bombs from Stuart Palley on Instagram; follow him for stunning imagery and reliable context.
I keep thinking of an interview I once did with a California fire expert who bemoaned an instance where an incinerated community was rebuilt and fuel-rich palms were replanted.
Other insights
Climate scientist Patrick Brown posted a great thread on the mix of factors, including climate change, contributing to such firestorms.
Noah Smith’s piece (paywalled) is great on the insurance crisis, social media storm around the firestorms
But I had some issues:
Good post (especially on the insurance and regulatory tangle, and social media storm) but some issues. 1. Rising burned area is not a relevant stat to your argument about the climate change contribution to community risk because it's mostly in rural areas that are overdue to burn because of generations of suppression. 2. You discuss rebuilding but not retrofitting (unless that's what you mean?). A huge source of loss in such spillover fires (from wild to urban) is the vast majority of homes in these areas were built before California updated its building codes for wildfire-resistance and are grandfathered out. https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1877454447699165215.html 2. Also worth noting the role of all the vegetation in those urban neighborhoods that burned, including palm tree ember bombs (palms are not native to California). https://x.com/Revkin/status/1877328020253310999
More anon.
I’m visiting a son we haven’t seen in 1.5 years in Nashville and trying (and failing) not to work.
I appreciate your bringing up the "grandfathered" reality in communities. As Southern California seeks to find sustainable ways to adapt to living in those canyons and hillsides, and even the businesses and religious edifices and schools, the materials and the designs and landscaping must be compatible with the surroundings. The Cal-Earth Institute in Hesperia has posted their willingness to help with their knowledge and expertise in using SuperAdobe and archway construction. https://calearth.org/ The future needs to be constructed differently from the past as we choose to live in the paths of fire and flood and tornadoes and hurricanes and sea level rise.
Grandfathered or not why, other than regulation would insurance companies not require "hardening" in return for lower rates? Yes, these will rise as climate change increases risks, lowering property values in more risky (in the new circumstances) places. There is not way to grandfather against climate change.