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Comment on When people die in wildfires, is it that the fire spread too fast for people to mobilise escape? Or more that people were delayed leaving?

taiyang@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

I know the recent-ish Palisades fire near me was an issue of both fast fires and limited exits, but even then most of it was property damage. What worked was early warnings of evacuation that people took seriously.

The part that struck me was they started calling it a conflagration because the structure fires were so much hotter than the bush fires that things were straight up melting, causing cars to stop working and so on. If you were still there when the houses were full burning, you were likely toast.

The best way to avoid deaths, therefore, is early evacuation and careful neighborhood design. There were some houses that survived the blaze because of factors like walls and gaps that helped reduce the spread, although I’m not sure if they cracked the code on that yet.

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CapuccinoCoretto@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
You can build essentially fireproof houses using non-combustible materials. (Concrete, rockwool, steel framing, aluminum window frames, metal roofing etc…) and you can further protect by keeping the area around the home free of fuel.

If the fire gets close enough, the windows may break from heat, you still have smoke to deal with, and even a fireproof home can still slowly become an oven. Indoor temperatures can easily become unsurvivable.

Evacuation is always proscribed, followed by non-combustible construction coupled with strict control of fuel.

firesmartcanada.ca/…/the-home-ignition-zone/

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- scutiger@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  
  Evacuation is always proscribed
  
  Proscribed means it’s banned
  
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  - CapuccinoCoretto@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    I am a dumbass.
    
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LadyButterfly@piefed.blahaj.zone ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Ahhhhh of course. Layout can save you or fuck you up

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corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
The code is concrete.

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- taiyang@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Yeah, I think that’s well established but what was interesting was the way concrete walls funneled hot air certain ways but not others. But it’s been a while since I heard the interview, the main discussion was on the heat of a conflagration vs a normal fire.
  
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