. . . when Mother Nature comes calling the hard way! This video was apparently taken by a man getting out at the last possible moment from Anderson Springs in California last Saturday evening.
I think he was incredibly lucky to get out at all. He drove over one telephone pole in the road, as you've seen, and some of the other poles and trees that were on fire as he passed them must surely have fallen into the road a matter of minutes later. That would have blocked it, and kept him in the 'kill zone' of the fire.
Looking at all those burning houses, I can only wonder yet again why fire-resistant structures such as monolithic domes weren't more widely used in such a fire-prone area. As we noted just last month, they can be a life- and property-saver.
Peter
5 comments:
Re: monolithic domes. Inertia, mostly, and lack of builders qualified to manufacture them. It's a comparatively unknown building technology; people aren't just aware of it.
I believe it was the terrain that proved to be its undoing. Our fire, Butte, which began last Wednesday and is still not out, had a different terrain altogether, hills, valleys, creeks, etc. That area was burned in '93(?) during the Calaveras/Fricot City fire, meaning it took almost twenty years to regrow. I looked at Middletown/Anderson Springs area and they are more flat, and they built much more closely together. Thus, their awful losses. I am so sorry. We lost no lives, and a fraction of what Middletown lost.
Re. Monolithic domes, building codes?
I think the architects and construction firms will continue to use the most common and/or stylish and most familiar designs, the least-expensive materials along with the cheapest "contractor" labor they can find.
Style and economics over safety and practicality is always the rule it seems.
His upholstery's probably going to smell like smoke for a while.
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