What will happen to cities that are completely burned out in California this week
The main dilemma created by the California forest fires is whether to rebuild houses destroyed by fire so that the next natural disaster could destroy them again, or... This “or” is now being pondered by everyone, from the authorities of burned cities to celebrities whose mansions were burned to the ground.
Paul Bancroft has dealt with fires in Southern California before, but none as bad as the one that nearly burned down his home last week. The fire was burning “right next to the fence, my bushes were on fire,” he said. “I built my house and I didn’t want to leave,” quotes USA Today.
The Woolsey Fire, which destroyed more than 400 homes and other structures, killed two people (in total, 40 have died in California fires) and reduced more than 360 square kilometers of land from Calabasas to Malibu to ashes, has many homeowners wondering whether it is worth rebuilding it all again ?
Some experts are beginning to argue that there is no point in rebuilding in unstable areas that have been repeatedly exposed to forest fires.
As if an atomic bomb had exploded.#CampFire #CaliforniaFires pic.twitter.com/Gvg9NBV6XK
- ®️Red Investment ✞ (@Pharol_OI) November 10, 2018
In Malibu alone, since 1929, on average, two large fires have swept through magnificent hills every ten years, the local Malibu Times reported. Each subsequent flame absorbed more and more homes and territories: 100 in 1956, 103 in 1970, 230 in 1978, and 268 in 1993.
After each fire, the city and surrounding area—the homes of celebrities from Miley Cyrus to Will Smith—were completely rebuilt, usually even more spectacular and chic than before.
In addition to the threat of life, all this is also the cost for taxpayers, requiring tremendous efforts and means to fight fires.
The average cost of protecting a home that is in a possible forest fire is about 82 000 dollars, says Ray Rasker, executive director of the organization Headwaters Economics, which is working on strategies to reduce the risk of forest fires. In one fire, the average cost was 683 000 US dollars per property.
“People want to live where there’s a national forest in their backyard,” Rasker says, and as a result, “they’re building in the path of harm.”
Given the costs of society and the danger to residents, some believe that the time has come to break the cycle of regular combustion and restoration of residential buildings.
“Sometimes this can mean that in an area that has been burned and repeatedly destroyed by fire, homes will not be rebuilt,” said Alice Hill, a fellow at a Stanford University think tank that helped craft climate change policies under Obama. “The community can let residents know and agree in advance that if this whole thing catches fire again, development will not be allowed.”
“It’s not just the homeowners who are at risk, it’s the firefighters as well,” she said. “There are a number of reasons not to build in the same area.”
According to Hill, in areas prone to forest fires, at least, much more stringent building codes are needed, including the ability to revise the rules, which would force homeowners to make houses more fire resistant. More stringent rules must be supported by strict adherence.
Relocation of residents from the burned blocks would not be a precedent. Entire quarters in Kinston, North Carolina, were moved to a higher territory after three out of four houses were damaged or flooded by three hurricanes in the 1990s, according to a report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
But in Malibu, where one mansion overlooking the ocean can get into real estate listings for 6 million dollars, purchasing housing and moving people will be a difficult problem.
“Malibu is a completely different part of the planet,” said Charles Miller, a professor of environmental analysis and history at Pomona College in Claremont, California. “The problems that come from this are too costly.”
The community could, for example, buy up rights for subsequent development in those places that have yet to burn down, the expert believes. Or, quite possible and more practical, complete clearing of areas within 200 feet of brush and a ban on wooden decks and decks.
No matter what course a city chooses, it must take action, Miller says. As climate changes, forest fires become more intense. It's time to act.
“It’s safe to say that nature has sent us enough warning lights,” he said.
Read also on ForumDaily:
More 40 dead, more 200 missing: California continues to burn
A family of Ukrainians from California fell into a fire trap on the highway. VIDEO
Fires in California: 31 dead, more than 200 missing
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