Beating the Odds During Wildfire

by Anna Glendenning | More from this Blogger

26 Oct 2007 08:50 AM

I have family and friends living in several areas of Southern California. Memories of my past went up in flames during the disaster we have witnessed this week. I know people who have lost everything. My brother faced evacuation Wednesday night. My sister-in-law wasn't able to come home from work on Tuesday night, the main Interstate 15 was closed.

As a child my family lived near Lake Arrowhead. During the early 1980's my brother and ex-husband did a lot of the electrical construction work on hundreds of homes built in the new community of Rancho Bernardo. One day I hope to be able to retire in San Diego and if I make it big I have always had my dreams about Malibu.

I grew up in Southern California, my older children were born in San Diego, I started my insurance career in a suburb El Cajon. I love it there. The fires this week have been tragic and something most California's have has been concerned about for years. There has always been awareness and readiness reminders for the citizens of Southern California. Most of us understand the risks while living in Southern California.

Most of us never expect a disaster like this to happen to someone we know let alone to "us." The reason people in San Diego have followed the evacuation process and done so with their typical laid-back way of doing things is because they were ready. The drills are hard to miss, when you live everyday learning about the risks.

These fires have been the combination of arson, dry air, Santa Ana Winds, and lower rainfall. They hit fast, during wind's that were over 50 miles an hour, with gusts in the 90s. Some people had as few as three-minutes to grab what they needed and run. Wildfire is random, where one house is spared those around it may not have been.

If you listen to the firefighters and what they have to say about the decisions they're forced to make. When faced with five homes to defend the one most defendable will be easiest to protect. Not that it's a guarantee, but the odds are better when they won't trip over anything or don't see possible fuel stored around the property.

No matter where we build a home there is a risk of fire, and as we continue to build in the Wildland Urban interface more families face wild fire risks. Be sure to read my Blogs about Fire Safe Landscaping and Evacuation tips.

Related Blogs:

• Is Your Home In The Wildland-Urban Interface?
• Landscaping To Reduce Wild Fire Risks For Homeowners.
• Firewise Landscaping: Trees
• Evacuation Planning

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