Anybody affected? Wow! These are the worst ever. I hope any of our members or tenants here are OK,

I was behind the fire line during the big Laguna Beach fire in 1993 when I worked for the newspaper. It was horrible and only about 350 homes were burned. In No Cal over 5,700 homes burned. Unimaginable. What I noticed in this event is how close these homes were built to each other. No way to stop the fire unless trucks are right there, especially with blowing wind.

In Laguna I saw houses burn two ways. From the top down, or the inside out. Burning embers get under shingles, even under tile - where they ignite the tar paper, or just catch the wood. Another difference was most were very expensive multi million dollar homes, so there was distance between the homes (unlike the images I see from these fires) but too much vegetation next to the homes.

The other way is a nearby building or vegetation burns and heats window coverings right through the glass. The drapes catch fire, the extra heat bursts the window glass, fresh air pours in and within a minute or two the house in gone! If you are ever near a house or brush fire, rip the window covers off immediately. Wood siding won't last as well as stucco. Vinyl will melt but not burn if you can stop the heat from nearby flames.

In Laguna ONE house survived in a neighborhood called "top of the world." As I recall it was stuccoed block, with sealed soffits and tile roof, AND a fire break around the house, so the heat was kept at bay.

Another big fire was in the mountains near Lake Arrowhead, CA about 10 years ago. One house there was in the news, they used a relatively new material (at the time) called "Green Slime" and saved the house. There are now a number of retardant products available now. But few people invest in them. Generally they are applied right before flames arrive. They create a flame retardant barrier than can deflect flames for 1/2 hour or more. They work on the principal of soaking up the heat.

Anyone with property in vulnerable areas might want to look into these products. The fire dept will often give priority to homes they think they can save. Having "slime" can be all the difference. A pool or water tank (5,000 gal min) that the fire dept can "draft" from and or a high pressure fire pump can also make a big difference. Remember a 2 1/2" fire hose can "burn through" 600 gallons a minute.

When the entire neighborhood around you is on fire, and the wind is blowing, its hard to expect that fire retardant applied to your house and/or a fire hose drawing from your pool will save your house, especially once you have evacuated.

Remember that when the whole neighborhood is on fire, there wont be electric service and the water pressure will be down to almost zero. So, you will need your own generator to power a pump to boost your water pressure, and you will need to leave them all on while you evacuate to elsewhere. So its not only a matter of spending a few thousand dollars.

Unfortunately, thats the problem with living in a wooded area like Marin County, beautiful and peaceful as it is. My best to all who have suffered.

LTD and Moishe, our sympathies are with all the people in the fires path.In Connecticut here we are taxed to death,due to mismanagement of the states finances, but we never seem to have the problem of water or fires,so we'll just ha e to put up with the irresponsible behavior of the politicians much as it disappoints us .Back in Ireland no fires the rain takes care of that,nice green fields.what makes people buy in an area like that ,my cousin and family lived in Hermosa Beach,now moved to South Carolina.Don't have too much communication with them.except at Christmas,Had constant contact when his mother was alive.Such is life.Charlie..........

I grew up in Santa Barbara county in the 1960s-1970s. Our house backed up to the "canyon" and every summer was fire season. Fire breaks were bulldozed across the raw land behind our housing development. The procedure, when a fire started (which it did every 2-3 years) was to call the fire department and then start hosing down the roof of the house. We never lost houses in our development due to wild fires.

I am so sad about this. The wine country sounded so beautiful and it was a jewel in our country's crown to be able to win competitions against French wine. I am not convinced that this is not terror or industrial sabotage.

We have seen stories on tv about a woman who stayed with her fifty plus horses and gathered them together in a space away from the fire but they injured one another. Fortunately her horse refuge did not catch fire.

We saw the account of the hundred year old high school sweethearts who would not leave their home in time and the people who had five minutes and escaped with four dogs in a car and made the video of driving through flames.

Earlier, the Weather Channel meteorologists said there must be a way to warn people ahead of time of conditions that would cause fires so they can evacuate before it becomes impossible to get out.

I live near enough to the fires that the smoke made my eyes sting and my lungs burn. It's still pretty smoky here and large fires are still burning, although they have made progress in surrounding them with fire breaks.

When the wind is as strong as it was the night those fires broke out, there's nothing you can do to stop them. Embers and burning wood fly from one house to the next, lighting new fires as they go. There was one guy on the local news who wrapped the paraplegic woman he lives with (he's her caretaker) in a wet blanket and carried her across the street to a large grassy park. They managed to survive the night there, but the wind was so strong that it lifted an entire burning car from its parking spot about 100 yards away and flung it down onto the park grass near where they were sheltering.

Building with fire-resistant materials like insulated concrete forms or rammed earth might help. Keeping a cleared area of 100 feet around the house also helps, but that's impossible in city neighborhoods.

LTD, thank you so much for having started this thread, and your post and those of others are extremely kind and very informative too. I too feel bad for everyone who's affected and wish much strength to any member(s) on this forum who too are suffering.

Indeed, the experiences and stories are harrowing and unimaginable, people and animals fleeing the fire with not much notice and losing homes so quickly. Others are taking in those who otherwise would be in shelters. Smoke is an issue from the North Bay Counties near Oregon to even the ends of Monterey County.

Oh my, I never knew that Laguna had a fire and remember the awful one in Santa Barbara, both being some of the most beautiful and oppulent areas in CA.

Thanks again for the posts and all to best to everyone.