California wildfires: Future safety for L.A.

Looking to a safer Los Angeles

This article is an examination on how moving forward, wildfires in California can be managed and hopefully avoided.

Santa Ana Winds

The Santa Ana winds, occasionally referred to as the devil winds, are strong, extremely dry katabatic winds that originate inland and affect coastal Southern California and northern Baja California. They originate from cool, dry high-pressure air masses in the Great Basin.

Meteorology: The Santa Anas are katabatic winds (Greek for “flowing downhill”) arising in higher altitudes and blowing down towards sea level.

The National Weather Service defines Santa Ana winds as “a weather condition [in southern California] in which strong, hot, dust-bearing winds descend to the Pacific Coast around Los Angeles from inland desert regions”.

IDEAS: Mountain passes which channel these winds include the Soledad Pass, the Cajon Pass, and the San Gorgonio Pass, all well known for increasing Santa Anas as they are funneled through.

This increase in speed, often to near-gale force or above is due to the Venturi effect of the passes.

Addressing the venturi effect in these passes might be a starting point to taming the “increasing speed condition” of the winds.

Physical barriers, wind diverters that push back on them selves. You might think it’s too big an area, well look at the Hoover dam, the Golden Gate Bridge etc….serving communities for generations.

Greening California: Heavily foresting the pass areas with redwoods and creating artificial wetland areas could help humidify the winds while disrupting flow patterns.

Supplying water to be backed up by the evaporation desalination method reduces the environmental impact of traditional membrane desalination.

Placing dense wind farms in these passes “may” also have a dual effect of capturing energy for electricity to be used to power water pumping or desalination plants as well as powering homes.

The wind farms would also slow and disrupt mass air flows. Possibly not the most efficient placement for them, but it’s other benefits add up.

Physical Diversion Barriers: While the sheer scale of the mountain range and geological formations that create the Santa Ana Winds might seem a futile aspect to address, it’s certainly possible.

Modern science and technology advancements can offer options that may help redirect the air flows and regulate wind patterns.

Significant architecturally appealing diversion and interruption barriers may assist in limiting or even redirecting the wind flow directions so pressure differentials can be equalized.

Having designs the redirect the wind elsewhere or even back on itself “may” be possible. Other options include addressing pressure differentials possibly with wind tunnels.

Natural Diversions and Barriers: Creating green wetland areas plays a major part in changing the environmental landscape thus affecting weather patterns.

Such things as forests with tall redwoods, pines and similar vegetation in the primary path of the winds with a man-made wetlands base included is a long term addition to an overall plan.

Simply rebuilding will end in failure

Infrastructure is the key: Having systems in place before any planning and building can take place is an asset worth investing in.

Fire Safe Housing Construction: It has been proven across the world and even in these devastating fires houses can be built fireproof. Building out of fire safe materials in specific ways should be mandatory for any new construction in the region.

Insurance should offer special condition policies to houses built to such standards benefiting insurers and the insured. The California building codes need overhauling, particularly in fire danger areas.

Every new construction could incorporate standardized roof sprinkler systems with on-site water storage enough to run them for a set amount of hours.

The water storage can be underground tanks if space is of a premium. The sprinkler system should be government approved and fire proof including pump and piping.

Street Level Sprinkler Systems: A series of fire proof concrete power poles strategically placed around neighborhoods as part of the overall plan.

Within each pole is a pipe made of high temperature resistant material which transfers pumped water to an elevated high flow 360 degree sprinkler/water disbursement device.

Fire Retardants: There are a full variety of fire prevention retardants available internationally. These are available as private sales, commercial sales and government contract sales.

Some retardants are seen as red liquids currently being dropped on bush fires. There are so many options that I will leave it up to individuals to Google more details.

Elide Fire Balls: This type of forward thinking deserves more recognition. Ideas like this save lives, as simple as that. Some US fire departments now carry them as standard equipment on their fire fighting vehicles.

While more specific to residential fires, a simple, affordable way to stop a fire was the driving force – and it’s completely automatic. Can you think of an idea that will help?

Probably not practical but, could you imaging a military cargo plane packed full of these flying over bush fire hot-spots and dumping it’s load? Maybe it would buy time for fire fighters or water bombers as a part of a complete plan?

Fire Retardant Gel: This stuff has been around for a while now and proven itself as a valuable resource. Usually used in movie sets to protect actors and stunt people in fiery scenes.

Typically they are clear gels but can vary in color. They are available for home owners to spray internally or externally on houses to protect from encroaching fires.

Barricade Fire Gel is one example of some of the many companies that supply such products.

Fireproof Water Supplies: This relates directly to where water is sourced to fight fires by air and ground. These supplies need to be constantly available and unaffected by fire or natural disaster situations.

Water storage, water pumping, water generation and water transport is not only critical to life, but also survival from wild fires. There should be an uninterrupted chain from source to end use with fail safes in place.

All water storage devices must be fire rated. Every water transport mechanisms must be fire rated. All water purification or generation facilities should be fire rated.

Water Pumping Stations: Multiple fail-safe pump stations should be a priority as we have seen, if a single primary pump is affected, there is no water to put out the fires.

This in particular should have a “10 fold plus” back up where if one fails, another takes over and so on. When pumped water is both the primary and main suppression asset, it should be supported as so.

These would be protected fireproof, earthquake resistant stations with independent power supplies and back-up batteries, independent water sourcing, and independent water distribution.

Increased water storage station atop of mountain peaks would contribute to fail-safe gravity fed water supplies as a last resort.

Water storage would be in fire safe construction made to last and not rush or fail. All water piping should be able to withstand incredible amounts of heat along with flexible points should heat expansion or earthquakes interfere.

A huge investment, maybe, but certainly cheaper than what this has cost California in lost properties and lives. Add to this the irreplaceable loss of history, buildings, structures, keepsakes, collectables, precious metals, and also the pollution the work will suffer from burning, toxic materials.

Air Raid Style Sirens: Critical situations should have both manual and automated warning systems with fire proof infrastructure and back up facilities should the initial systems fail.

Forestry Stations Asset Protection: Expanded fire towers with automated sensors and live feed 360 degree cameras including thermal imaging. Cleared helicopter access for personnel pick-up and drop-off.

Full and independent self powered communications access with each having an in-ground fireproof bunker capable of 7 day total isolation for up to 10 persons should be a minimum.

These stations could also be water storage facilities with 10,000 gallon tanks and fire fighting and suppression fit-outs. Primarily they could be placed around important assets such as water access, evacuation routes and fire fighting access points.

Trailer Parks, tourist hot spots, and other social gathering areas: All should have compulsory fire plans displayed to the public with evacuation points and fire suppression equipment on-site. Mandated for any area that has a set density of persons per square ft (to be determined).

Irrigation: The entire California water distribution and control system needs a major overhaul to put human lives and natural disaster suppression at the forefront of all considerations, financial, legal and political.

What is a single human life worth? When there is a high probability of avoiding death or loss of property by better planning, shouldn’t this be the primary consideration. As we can see, this fire is close approaching one trillion US dollars.

If one trillion dollars had been invested in some of these ideas, it is possible, even likely, we would have avoided such a horrific outcome.

Now governments and insurance companies are stretched beyond simply looking after the public day-to-day and having to make their own sacrifices with never ending knock-on effects.

Nature Calls: AI Overview; “effect of creating wetland areas on weather patterns”

Wetlands can help with climate change adaptation by reducing the impact of storms, flooding, and droughts. They can also help to capture carbon from the atmosphere.

AI: Man-made wetlands, also known as constructed wetlands, are artificial ponds that treat water and improve biodiversity. They are designed to mimic the function of natural wetlands.

Wikipedia: A constructed wetland is an engineered sequence of water bodies designed to treat wastewater or storm water runoff. Vegetation in a wetland provides a substrate (roots, stems, and leaves) upon which microorganisms can grow as they break down organic materials.

Storm protection

Coastal wetlands
Mangroves, sea-grass beds, and coral reefs can reduce the impact of storms by slowing down winds and waves, and stabilizing the soil.

Floodplains
Floodplains can spread out flood water, reducing the impact on downstream areas.

Urban wetlands
Urban wetlands can absorb excess rainfall, protecting cities from storms and surges.

Drought protection
Wetlands store water: Wetlands can store water, which can provide a buffer against droughts.

Carbon capture
Wetlands store carbon: Wetlands capture carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere, making them a natural solution to climate change.

Fire protection
Creating wetlands can act as a natural barrier: Wetlands can regulate the frequency and magnitude of fire events.

Other benefits
Wetlands can also support fisheries, agriculture, and livestock.

Issues requiring further considerations are effects of rain and ground stabilization from mud slides. These issues will need to be incorporated as a part of a complete land rehabilitation package.

California’s unique mix of geology and placement on tectonic plates would require in-depth analysis with planned stabilization through both natural and man-made measures.

The loss of primary vegetation is critical to maintaining a stable terrain, so secondary measures need to be implemented in anticipation of potential dangers of land slides.