Jerry you are correct about wind blown fires like this, they learned back in the '93 Malibu fire that against a high winds pushed fire thru undergrowth like these current fires, you can have every piece of fire fighting equipement and every fire fighter in the world, and still not stop it.
Et al, my comments about the taxs in San Diego were based on radio interview discussions (NPR) with fire experts about the after effects of the Cedar fire and the current situation. To me, if the current taxs do not stretch far enough to cover improving the basics like fire and police service you have to either cut sevices somewhere or raise taxes, and if they cannot convince the taxpayers of the benifit of a special tax they are going to have to live with the results, either cut services elsewhere or do without. SD taxpayers have been “very stingy with their nickels” as one commentator pointed out, fire trucks are not cheap, a single new firetruck is about $500K to $1M, so do the tax payers expect the county to cut other services like road paving or water service maintanence to pay for them? Who’s willing then will make those decisions about where and who gets the cuts? “You get what your willing to pay for” as one commentator one the radio said, he added “we’re seeing some of that again here”
I remember the discussions during the elections afterwords and how in shock people were that after all the destruction, voters still voted down making improvements.
I live in LA county where in the past, voters in the past had approved tax increases specificaly to pay for improved fire equipment. The result, during the Cedar fire event, was that SD county burned uncontrollably, and while the fires that were burning in LA county at the same time were bad, we had an enormous amount of fire fighting resources to throw at them compared to SD county, and that did limit the amout of damage that was done.
Now going back to the current fire situation, these same commentators went on to say that THESE fire events are very different, the Cedar catastrophy was a result of poor communication, lack of equipement and coordination, allowing a bad situation to get out of control, the CURRENT situation, they knew the extreme winds were coming, had air tankers ready, fire crews ready, and much improved communications all expecting a blaze.
What NO ONE expected, was unprecidented 90+mph winds blowing so hard the aircraft were grounded, and the fires exploding across the landscape as if it was coated in Napalm! This fire exploded across the terrain according to one fire dept witness, with flames over 120 feet long and throwing embers like a flamethrower 100s feet ahead of the fire itself, all this happened so fast the fire crews were completely overwhelmed and could only save themselves. All they can do now is try to get ahead of the fire and do there best to try and fight it.
Personally as an architect I dont think anyone should be allowed to build in these high danger areas unless they build out of concrete and steel, no flammable materials at all, including using metal roofing. Tiles are bunk! unless they are very carefully installed with no or very small joints or mortered like in the old days, embers can get blown in under them and at eaves and valleys and can set the building tarpaper undernieth alight. Same with windows, fire shutters should be manditory as should sprinklers. Current homes are all stucco clad but the heat from the fire breaks the glass and sets the insides alight. So use either fire rated glass, (very very expensive) or install fire shutters that will close off windows and protect the openings. Cost too much? Well how about build a 4000 square ft McMansion instead of a 6000 sq ft McMonster…or just keep averything status quo and risk a burned house, sorry but anything built of wood will eventually burn, stucco doesnt prevent windows shattering, and poorly installed tile roofs are no protection from blowing embers. If the heat does set of a fire inside, sprinklers would help control it from spreading