Hounded by Wildfires, Californians Rethink Their Willingness to Rebuild | Hacker News Reader

Hounded by Wildfires, Californians Rethink Their Willingness to Rebuild

nytimes.com

The Camp Fire in Paradise CA was incredibly scary. If you zoom around in satellite mode on google maps the rubble of so many burned down houses sits in piles next to houses which didn't get destroyed in the fire on the same street. https://www.google.com/maps/place/White+Springs+Rd,+Californ...

There were some incredibly well written long form articles about the fire in California Sunday https://story.californiasunday.com/gone-paradise-fire

and NY Times magazine: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/07/31/magazine/para...

Paradise Lost is a 60-minutes episode with in depth look at the cause and day of the fire: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/paradise-lost-inside-california...

I was there at my mom's house and evacuated that morning with the rest of the town 5 lanes out down Skyway. TBH, I wasn't scared because I've been through worse disasters, busy, and I had to get my semi-disabled mom out.

Her house was the only one left standing on either side of the street. She lost a large shed, fences, some trees, landscaping, a cord of wood, smoke damage, and charring of the roof. A wheelie bin melted and burned into the aggregate driveway. The cord of wood burned the aggregate concrete under it and changed the color of a retaining wall from gray/brown to red.

Many of her neighbors, good friends, decided not to rebuild and moved to Chico and out-of-state. Then the 2019 power outages (PSPSes) demanded buying a generator and 2020 wildfires smoke and more PSPSes. All of Camp Fire occurred because PG&E didn't want to spend the money to maintain crumbling 100-year-old bare wires in steep terrain.

Her homeowners insurance doubled My mom sold her house and moved to between San Antonio and Austin TX. I moved to Austin. Even though Texas has property taxes approaching 2%, overall, it's a better deal.

Furthermore, the newly-discovered risks of a repeat of the 1862 megafloods. And earthquakes.

Would building underground bunker homes be safer? With clay tile roofs?

Also.. from 2016..Bush fire resistant homes: https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2016/feb/09...

A while ago, YC was looking at New Cities. Projects like that should buy contiguous tracts like in paradise and rebuild safe terrain appropriate homes and rewild above ground.

It’s cheap right now and it’s a blank slate..infrastructure is already in place. It can be negotiated so it can unincorporate itself so Sacramento doesn’t exert too much influence. Just a thought.

A 100 acre area can be an actual self sustaining ‘village’. I want to say..anywhere between 250-600 people. Grazing animals above ground can be a good defense against wild fires as well as man made canals..there can also be above ground communal structures.

Not there. Zoning laws there are very specific. Tiny houses aren't allowed. Used prefabricated houses aren't allowed either. And try getting permits or insurance for anything unusual. I like underground blown concrete egg-shaped chambers, but there are few place where they are allowed in incorporated areas. Traditional building codes and removing fuel next to structures work. Also, the area has rising property, income, and sales taxes beside high homeowners insurance, failing local businesses, and a lack of critical population mass (taxes) to support essential services. In addition, they need another major exit road that they cannot afford. Also, the area is scarred and ugly from aggressively clearcutting large trees and awful, cheap manufactured homes that reduce property values. Many people left permanently as well rather than risk it again or go through the hassle of rebuilding. It's unsustainable.

Furthermore, she had to sell because my now ex-stepfather walked out on her suddenly because of her unexpected disability life event and forced them to sell. He's rich now after inheriting from his family and she gets a pittance less than Social Security when they planned to combine households and retire together permanently. Plus, there's nothing left around but a drug rehab halfway house, disgruntled, reclusive Trump supporters with guns, and some agro neighbors with psychosis. The odds of being robbed or violently attacked are pretty high, and there's black bear.

The move to Austin/Texas seems to be the best decision then...it’s for the best. California has become unliveable for many. Doesn’t have to be..but it is what it is..

Best wishes to your mom.

Thanks. She found an affordable new construction house, somewhat in the middle of nowhere though.

Yeah. If you don't have Prop 13, which was a one-time bandaid, or you're rich you're screwed.

For those curious about the fire-resistant plants mentioned in the article, here is a list: http://firesafesdcounty.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Compr...

Protection of homes from wildfire was worked out a long time ago by Jack Cohen. There is an excellent podcast out there called 'Built to Burn' at '99% Invisible'. That most media output has no mention of his work is puzzling and kinda interesting too..

It looks like there is an extreme mismatch between the type of housing that is built and the type of housing that is actually needed.

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