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Comment by Bob on October 25, 2007 at 1:45am

If your building in forest especially in the "olden" days (20+ years) long ago you used what they sold down at the lumber yard and that was redwood yep actual redwood timbers and Cedar shakes for roof and siding , In fact the hills of Oakland used to be a beautiful redwood forest but the wood was cut down during the gold rush. Redwood resist all rot, termites, and is Fire resistant ...those days are gone though now redwood hard to come by and expensive now only about ten years ago it was all we used out here for a fence post, or garden wood, decking anything outside....Bottom line it is about clearance 100' and at 100' Redwood is not going to burn and the Firefighters have a chance to defend your property...Editor Cal Fire news http://calfire.blogspot.com

Comment by Lawrence W on October 24, 2007 at 10:01pm

There should be some kind of required course on personal safety as related to fire and code enforcement taught at the high school level as a requirement for graduation. Unfortunately, many of these decisions are made without all the necessary information. People think it looks nice, it's convenient, or it's cheap and they go with it, not thinking of the long term implications.

The same thing happens in the corporate world. Priorities change and other things take the front seat, until the worst happens. Then we are back to the forefront and can have anything we need.

Unfortunately, fire protection too often takes a reactive stance when it comes to establishing and implementing fire protection precautions. Prevention too often is not the route taken and the reaction of the parties involved is often too late.

Comment by lemaireB on October 24, 2007 at 1:15pm

My grand parents have a home in Truckee,CA. This area is in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. it is prone to forest fires, tho not as often as southern ca. their home owners association for the area that they live in only allow certain roofing materials to be used, one of them being "dark brown toned wooden shingles." it is a classic case of people knowing nothing about fire protection making homeowners do something that has a great potential of danger. I believe the same has happened down in San Diego, Ignorance leads to the loss of life and property.

Comment by katcraw on October 24, 2007 at 11:44am

I agree with you on why people do things that can become hazardous to emergency crews down the line. I was perturned yesterday when I saw the woman crying and she said "THERE ARE NO FIRE ENGINES!!", and then the news slipped into Entertainment Tonight which focused in on celebrity homes and how THEY were faring (who the !@#$ cares??). At any rate, it's not like the 11,000+ fire personnel aren't there aren't doing the best they can; we should be lauding their achievements on these fires, not griping about what they CAN'T do!
/end rant