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95 Comments
- sidewinderaim9x, on 11/14/2008, -3/+36Ignoring the college dorm (since this applies before it burned down), I can't stand it when news channels cover fires when wealthy homes are involved. For example, during a huge firestorm that engulfed So Cal, half the time the news was talking about Malibu residents. It's just like how they (e.g. Nancy Grace) talk about young white girls being abducted for months on end but ignore boys or minorities.
- AmyVernon, on 11/14/2008, -1/+25Wow. Didn't realize a college dorm also was burned down. These are really bad fires...
- Someguy101, on 02/19/2009, -2/+22As I sit here right now smoke is burning my eyes and I've been smelling it all day long. Several people that work in my office were evacuated last night including my boss who is still not sure if he still has a home or not. California is no stranger to fires but this one is particularly nasty. Hundreds of homes have already burned, many of them belong to people I know. It's pretty sad. I think depending on what happens I may end up spending this weekend doing what little I can to help salvage what they can.
My house burned down when I was a kid and I know the feeling of losing everything it's a terrible feeling. - MCA2142, on 11/15/2008, -4/+20I read the word "Enclave" and immediately started thinking about Capital Wasteland...
- WordsnCollision, on 11/14/2008, -3/+19I'm sure they have fire insurance... if not, they shouldn't be living in an area prone to wildfires.
- Bith8654, on 11/14/2008, -0/+14One word: Ratings. It sucks but it's reality.
- ohnoerino, on 11/14/2008, -1/+14I feel fortunate that we don't have to deal with this in Chicago (just pretty much everything else that mother nature could possibly throw out there).
- burningmanstan, on 11/14/2008, -5/+18When the hills of los angeles are burning
Palm trees are candles in the murder wind
So many lives are on the breeze
Even the stars are ill at ease
And los angeles is burning
This is not a test
Of the emergency broadcast system
Where malibu fires and radio towers
Conspire to dance again
And I cannot believe the media Mecca
They're only trying to peddle reality,
Catch it on prime time, story at nine
The whole world is going insane - OtterStratton, on 11/14/2008, -0/+12Westmont college lost more than a dorm, it's lost several campus buildings as well. I go to UCSB just down the freeway, but we are safe.
- algaeturd, on 11/15/2008, -1/+13As someone who survived a house fire, let me assure you that your financial well being is the last thing on your mind when you lose a lifetime of photos, letters, cards, artwork, etc. Not to mention pets, etc.
Yes, it's nice to have. And Yes, you HAVE to have it if you have a mortgaged home but believe me, that's the last thing on your mind when you learn that your home has burned down. - oneredeye, on 11/15/2008, -1/+12"Rich Fatcats' Homes Burn Down, Federal Bailout Rewritten to Include Rich Fatcats"
/cynicism - acmaurer, on 11/14/2008, -2/+11That's so scary - I know many of those homes cost millions of dollars, but I still hope the families are OK!
- BeShirtHappy, on 11/14/2008, -1/+8That's the most important thing... that no one gets hurt.
- rsHoratio, on 11/15/2008, -0/+7Ya lets not forget the Chicago Fire...
- asgardshill, on 11/15/2008, -2/+8I've always wondered why somebody who goes to the expense and trouble of building a multi-million dollar home in a fire-prone area doesn't automatically put in some sort of fire suppression technology like a huge cistern full of water with an exterior whole-house sprinkler system. It would only have to keep the outside of the house and maybe 50 feet of the grounds wet for a few minutes as the fire passed through the area, just enough to keep the fire from consumng the structure. Tie it in with your lawn sprinkler system if necessary.
Seems like such a system would pay for itself during the first Santa Ana winds. - blademanx, on 11/15/2008, -1/+7Watching the fires last night while waiting for the James Bond opening was definitely interesting. Sort of a mix of worry and schadenfreude, as people were having to be evacuated...from an area that I will never ever be able to afford.
- dsa205, on 11/15/2008, -6/+10HAHAHAHAHA!
- martalli, on 11/15/2008, -0/+4Insurance or no insurance, the communities involved should reconsider where they allow development.
- renatoc8, on 11/15/2008, -0/+4Thanks, now you got the damn song stuck in my head and I have to go listen to it...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxoD9zWY9Rg if anyone cares. - inactive, on 11/15/2008, -5/+8''Celebrity'' OMFGWTFBBQ1111!!!!1111!
Who really cares. - aumgrown, on 11/15/2008, -0/+3My Mother-in-law's house just burned down up there with her 2 dogs inside. They wouldn't let her go in to get them. It is easy to write off the tragedy of others without really considering what is lost in one of these disasters, but I must admit your comment sure does sound "smart".
- secrity, on 11/15/2008, -0/+3And these ***** still build and rebuild firetraps like this. They don't seem to se the connection.
- inactive, on 11/15/2008, -0/+3Especially, but not limited to, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, and volcanic eruptions.
- dkapuchino, on 11/15/2008, -0/+3Tsunamis also. Don't forget the Chicago Tsunami.
- Mujokan, on 11/15/2008, -0/+3Sorry that that happened to you.
I lived in a dorm where a girl set off all the sprinklers by leaving a cigarette in her trash, without being high. If they weren't smoking weed they would probably have been drunk. Stupidity and bad luck are the main culprits here. - martalli, on 11/15/2008, -0/+3I have relatives from truly northern California (Yreka). Many of the folks up there are in CalFire. They put their lives on the line to fight these fires. I often wonder what they think when they are putting their own lives on the line for these multimillion dollar houses that are built in tinderboxes right in the face of the Santa Anna winds.
- cheesypizza, on 07/22/2009, -1/+4lol, one per center thats good.
- cheesypizza, on 07/22/2009, -0/+3Um the guy is THERE right now. What great wisdom does living a half hour away give you?
- secrity, on 11/15/2008, -0/+3As long as my cats and family get out safely, I don't really care that much to lose everything. The physical ***** is insured and my data is stored off-site.
- ObrokenO, on 11/15/2008, -0/+2I would be so upset to lose my house to a fire. Its already bad enough I won't have this place probably by next year, but to lose everything in one night is just to dramatic. I would have a nervous breakdown or kill myself.
- Pacotheparrot, on 11/15/2008, -2/+4"Hundreds of homes"? I live no more than 30 miles from these fires and I can safely say that the number is less than 150. Not to say that the destruction isn't terrible but lets make sure we don't let the media exaggerate this more than they do.
- pandawho1212, on 11/15/2008, -4/+6i witnessed mass hysteria in the unpowered streets and 1/3 of this article is about poor rob lowe's house? man suck a dick i hope he loses everything
- Spoomeister, on 11/15/2008, -1/+3Wake me up when celebrities are huddling in a stadium with no food, no insurance and no help.
- Chicken001, on 11/15/2008, -1/+3Enclave? Fallout 3!?
- martalli, on 11/15/2008, -0/+2The connection is that our home insurance is paying to constantly rebuild these homes.
- iatethecake, on 11/15/2008, -0/+2its all part of the good fight
- pandawho1212, on 11/15/2008, -0/+2dude getting out of SBCC when the power was out was hell
- adiggityam, on 11/15/2008, -0/+2If a fire asks if it can bum a celebrity enclave, just say no.
- mwmccullough, on 11/15/2008, -0/+2I think this is where Pat Robertson says "God sent these fires to punish the sinful celebrities, who opposed Prop 8."
- StnkDtktor, on 11/17/2008, -0/+2E V E R Y F R I G G ' N Y E A R there are fires in California. What don't those people understand about fire prevention? I feel sorry that there are so many ignorant people living in one state. Hey, you know what? I'm not ignorant, I'm smart. I'm so smart I can predict that there's going to be wildfires in California next year too! Man, I must be some kind of Jeane Dixon or Nostradamus prodigy.
- Sil369, on 11/15/2008, -0/+2tomatoes?
- xkleenexk, on 11/15/2008, -0/+2wow, celebrity enclave? i go to UCSB and this is hardly a threat to only wealthy homes....We also had fires here over summer that endangered plenty of residential neighborhoods
- teloro, on 11/15/2008, -0/+2Over 100 homes are confirmed to have burned to the ground in the Santa Barbara / Montecito area. That's not "a few houses". I've lived in Santa Barbara, and I have family and friends there. Most are directly affected by this terrible fire, some still cannot return to their homes. These aren't actors whose homes burned up, most are regular people who've been fortunate enough to make it to Santa Barbara.
I agree that most of the news coverage for these fires is borderline insulting for its large focus on the handful of celebrities impacted. However, for those of you offering up smart-ass comments just because you're safely behind the anonymous curtain of the intarwebz, don't be such dicks. I appeal to you to show some compassion for the regular people affected by this or, better yet, simply don't say anything. - dudefaceguyman, on 11/15/2008, -0/+2We do you stupid *****. Everything is dry as hell, not just a few parts. EVERYWHERE is high risk to fires. You can toss a match anywhere in this goddamn state and start one.
Unless you live here, shut the ***** up. - secrity, on 11/15/2008, -0/+2Build and maintain the house and grounds to help prevent fire spread; have good insurance; back up and properly store important pictures, documents, and data; have evacuation plans that includes the cats; keep copies of prescriptions and spare eyeglasses in your car(s), keep the phone numbers of area hotels in your car(s); and remember that the house and the contents can be replaced.
- secrity, on 11/15/2008, -0/+2Keeping the brush and ***** cleared would go a long ways. How many of these houses have cedar roofs and siding? How many of these people have juniper and pine planted around their house?
- secrity, on 11/15/2008, -1/+3And that is one reason that they don't have to worry about fire. Why haven't Californians learned about fire prevention like Chicagoans have?
- dannybull, on 11/15/2008, -0/+2Its a good thought, but in a Santa Ana firestorm situation a house covered in foscheck (the red stuff bombers drop) might not even survive. The heat is so much that things will burst into flames inside your house before the flames eat through the plaster even if it was completely soaked. Hundred foot flames bent sideways by 70 mph winds will tear through a house no matter what precautions are taken.
- spriggig, on 11/15/2008, -6/+8There's enough money there to build houses that could withstand fire. Firefighters should not risk one hair to save these structures, people yes, but buildings no.
- inactive, on 11/17/2008, -0/+1Reinforced concrete homes would be good. Maybe partially in earth. But pull your heads out of your asses and clear away the fire hazards. Morons.
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