Plants and grass survived in this yard. House did not.
The Pacific Palisades Community Council will hold a Zoom special meeting at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, May 5, to discuss Governor Gavin Newsom’s simplistic approach to dealing with wildfires. (Pacipalicc.org) David Barrett of MySafeLA will present.
Governor Gavin Newsom issued an executive order on February 6 that the Board of Forestry and Fire Protection should consult with the State Fire Marshal to create an ember-resistant zone within O to 5 feet of a home.
The Forestry and Fire Protection Board was tasked with drafting a regulation that could go to the legislature to put into law, no later than December 31, 2025 click here.
Basically, a new home should have five feet of a gravel path around it, and the following would not be permitted within Zone 0 because it would likely be ignited by embers: grass (why didn’t the Riviera Golf Course burn or the Palisades Field of Dreams?), ornamental and native plants (including woody and non-woody plants), shrubs, branches fallen leaves and tree needles, weeds and combustible mulches (bark, woodchips – those did not burn in my yard).
The document says that an exception is allowed for potted plants with the following limitations: 1)The potted plants must not be next to or below windows, a potential weak point for home ignition, 2)The pots must be moveable, limitations on pot size, 3)The potted plants must limit fuels: pots must be non-combustible (terra cotta, cement, pottery); plant height is limited, dead or dying material on the plants must be removed. 4) the potted plants must be set apart from the building and from each other to limit continuity of fuel (well-watered green plants to not ignite easily).
These items will be prohibited: combustible boards, timbers, firewood, attached window boxes, synthetic lawn, trellises, and leaves and needles on the roof or rain gutters of a building or structure.
Vegetation was not the problem with the Palisades Fire. Flying embers, lack of water to put on homes, not enough fire-fighters, electricity and gas were not shut off, which caused arching and explosions and subsequent fires.
As Shawn Maestretti wrote in Studio Petrichor newsletter “While I appreciate the intent behind these regulations, the approach taken by Cal-Fire and other agencies overly simplifies a complex issue and risks exacerbating the very problem it aims to solve. . . .He notes that the goal of these new regulations is improve safety for firefighters defending a home, “that was not the determining factor in the Eaton Fire.” He describes what so many found in Pacific Palisades that it was homeowners who stayed to fight the fire.
Maestretti said, “Importantly, my home’s soil-building mulch and an 85-year-old Podocarpus tree, along with other native shrubs, played a critical role in slowing and blocking embers. Our home landscape did not set the house on fire—flammable structures and poorly designed urban layouts did.”
Look for more from Maestretti in an upcoming CTN story.
The strawberries were growing next to the garage. They survived. I dug them up and repotted them, before debris removal. The garage walls, stucco and fire resistant, collapsed into the structure.
The most important factor was the wind. It was simply a hurricane with fire instead of rain.
Obviously the Governor does not know much about plants or grass. My grass is still green and my plants surrounding the grass are beginning to grow and bloom because its spring. My cymbidium orchids in black vinyl containers were thirsty and needed only water and a little TLC and they are blooming beautifully.
I took them to a friends home to enjoy and keep them happy. The trees in the park way and close by were blooming and had blossoms for the bees to enjoy 2 months after the fire. Nature is strong – my home is completely gone, but its not because of the plants and grass.