Things you could order over 50 years ago that you can't order now !

[ultrarunner]

I've wondered what can be done when the area has hundreds of thousands of acres of parkland open space?

The last few years the goat grazing program has really gone into high gear but the herd spends about half the time grazing through... it use to leave near bare but 24 hours now and onto the next.

Proximity to a fire hydrant was the key but now it's proximity to parkland... so the target criteria continues to move.

Have to imagine the new 6" plastic water main done my street with 185 psi and being 1 house away on both sides from brand new hydrants should factor?

That volume of water at that pressure can move mountains...

 

[ponytug]

Not to pick on an old scab, but I seem to recall that during the Oakland hills fire, many of the hydrants in the hills had zero psi due to demand, right?

I agree with you that hardening up a house seems like it should count for more, but if, as @jyoutz wrote above, all it does is convince the fire crew lead that this is a house worth trying to save, that is huge in my book. An engine and a couple of guys can mount a far better defense than I can, and for far longer. The last big fire had the incident command located 300' away, which was reassuring.

We had a long list of fire hardening improvements, and almost all of them, including some rather important ones, like removing large attic vents, changing the mesh on crawl space vents to be 1/16", having fire resistant siding, and a class A deck, weren't of interest to our insurer. CalFire inspected us and found no deficiencies, which was a nice note to find stuck to the front door one day. I didn't know that they were coming. I am under no illusions about the house being fire resistant to a big one. I sleep better knowing that I have done what was possible, even if the insurer doesn't care.

The scariest fire day for me, wasn't the last big fire, but one about a decade earlier. We had pieces of ash dribbling down on us and the house out of a clear blue sky. It was unnerving to think that all it would take was for one of those little fragments to be hot and we would have fire miles closer.

Until you have seen what 30-50mph flame speeds look like, they are hard to describe. "Poof" is pretty close. You can understand how firefighters get overrun.

All the best,

Peter

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Fels Naphtha bar soap and Boraxo in a metal can... Stuff is probably collectable today.

I have a bar of Fels Naphtha in my shower. It gets used when I have been wading through poison oak.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Apparently you can still order Fels Naptha.

The stores here carry it, but this is poison oak country. Everyone keeps it around. This is wild blackberry season, and this will be a primo year. It's about impossible to pick the berries without touching poison oak.

 

[ultrarunner]

Not to pick on an old scab, but I seem to recall that during the Oakland hills fire, many of the hydrants in the hills had zero psi due to demand, right?

I agree with you that hardening up a house seems like it should count for more, but if, as @jyoutz wrote above, all it does is convince the fire crew lead that this is a house worth trying to save, that is huge in my book. An engine and a couple of guys can mount a far better defense than I can, and for far longer. The last big fire had the incident command located 300' away, which was reassuring.

We had a long list of fire hardening improvements, and almost all of them, including some rather important ones, like removing large attic vents, changing the mesh on crawl space vents to be 1/16", having fire resistant siding, and a class A deck, weren't of interest to our insurer. CalFire inspected us and found no deficiencies, which was a nice note to find stuck to the front door one day. I didn't know that they were coming. I am under no illusions about the house being fire resistant to a big one. I sleep better knowing that I have done what was possible, even if the insurer doesn't care.

The scariest fire day for me, wasn't the last big fire, but one about a decade earlier. We had pieces of ash dribbling down on us and the house out of a clear blue sky. It was unnerving to think that all it would take was for one of those little fragments to be hot and we would have fire miles closer.

Until you have seen what 30-50mph flame speeds look like, they are hard to describe. "Poof" is pretty close. You can understand how firefighters get overrun.

All the best,

Peter

Numerous issues with Fire Storm where 3000 city homes lost…

Started with a transient camp fire which fire department “Extinguished” and left. (Several times I have called in smoldering underground embers after FD left scene.)

Near zero humidity, higher temps and very strong winds with the rest history.

Some area at high elevation ran out of water with elevation from sea level to almost 1800 feet in city.

I’m at 450’ and always have extreme water pressure so that water can reach higher elevations… For years pressure was 220 lbs.

The original 70 year old lines kept breaking so it was decided to be cost effective to start fresh with 100% new…

Being fully sprinkleted inside and outside should count for something as it costs thousands to maintain but insurance said Fire Sprinklers cause millions in damage each year… so it’s a wash?

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

Fire sprinklers are there for one purpose. To save people. They are not intended to save structures. In a big structure fire, the water from sprinkler systems (assuming they work) does more damage than the actual fire normally.

Don't forget they (sprinkler systems) have to be inspected annually.

 

[ultrarunner]

No residential ongoing inspection requirement at this time but wouldn't be surprised down the road.

Many residential use composite pipe but I am all hard pipe.

At Hospital fire sprinklers inspected monthly at a minimum for obstructions and static and flow water pressure and bi-annually for alarm signal and 5 year hydro etc...

My older buildings have threaded up to 8" hard pipe... some of those pipe elbows cost more than a $1000 each.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Springtime is the worst season: dry and windy. I enjoy the other 3 seasons.

I lived in Albuquerque for three years; about the only thing I enjoyed there was the climate. It was pleasant, even in the Winter, and my allergies were almost non existent...but for an Oklahoma country boy, the people and the semi desert terrain was almost too much. Enjoyed attending the University, but I couldn't go anywhere without losing my hubcaps, radio or spare tire. Missed the green trees and green grass.

 

[Oaktree]

We had a long list of fire hardening improvements, and almost all of them, including some rather important ones, like removing large attic vents, changing the mesh on crawl space vents to be 1/16",

What's the rationale for that? Smaller/fewer vents=less likely wind-blown embers will enter? What do you do now for attic ventilation?

 

[jyoutz]

I lived in Albuquerque for three years; about the only thing I enjoyed there was the climate. It was pleasant, even in the Winter, and my allergies were almost non existent...but for an Oklahoma country boy, the people and the semi desert terrain was almost too much. Enjoyed attending the University, but I couldn't go anywhere without losing my hubcaps, radio or spare tire. Missed the green trees and green grass.

I live on the other side of the mountains from ABQ at the edge of the Rocky Mountains and Great Plains in Santa Fe county. A rural area very different from the city at a much higher elevation (with trees and green grass). The city is nice to visit for conveniences, but I would never live there (or any large city).