Wildfire may disrupt operations at Vandenberg, including those of ULA & SpaceX

Grey Havoc

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And now JPL is under the gun

All dams need preservation—to prevent this:

Sigh…

Can we all agree that infrastructure is important?
 
I am starting to wonder if there is a pyromaniac firebug using drones…

No, just average California morons doing stupid things to post on social media.

The CL-215s have been very effective. The one that was damaged should be back in service Monday or Tuesday.
 
No, just average California morons doing stupid things to post on social media.

The CL-215s have been very effective. The one that was damaged should be back in service Monday or Tuesday.
Couple of small corrections that's a CL 415 . And apparently the guy the arrested in connection with the drone was free lance photographer .
 
Couple of small corrections that's a CL 415 . And apparently the guy the arrested in connection with the drone was free lance photographer .
Saw more than a few examples of people not seeing what the big deal was, "people want to see"... *facepalm so hard my grandparents up in heaven feel it*

I blasted one, starting with the potential crash of an aircraft, the physical damages to this aircraft, and oh, the total grounding of all aircraft while they tracked down the (expletives deleted) drone pilot... Hope said drone pilot gets stashed in Fulsom and has a cellmate whose granny lost her house in the fires...


and with this weeks devastating fires in LA, Vandenberg's fire dept is assisting in force according to their FB.
It's really, really bad when airport fire trucks leave the fence to work elsewhere...
 
I work at a hospital with a heliport attached
Under Canadian law it is illegal to to fly a drone within I believe 5 kilometers of an airport.
Security spent about 20 minutes explaining this to some idiot who'd been flying one off the roof of a parkade directly opposite the heliport.
His brilliant defence of his actions. " What could possibly go wrong ? "
Oh let me count the ways...
 
Security spent about 20 minutes explaining this to some idiot who'd been flying one off the roof of a parkade directly opposite the heliport.
His brilliant defence of his actions. " What could go wrong ? "

I hope that this brain-donor had his drone confiscated and that he was heavily fined.
 
Couple of small corrections that's a CL 415 . And apparently the guy the arrested in connection with the drone was free lance photographer .

As of right now the FBI is still investigating and has not identified a suspect. No one has been arrested.
 
As a tax paying Southern California resident, my best hope is that competent government authorities will manage to stay on top of the disasters that some of the most evil/vile/weak minded among us may have been complicit in actively creating, and prosecute any actual offenders to the fullest extent of the law.
 
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And now JPL is under the gun
A friend reports the house they lived in when they worked at JPL is probably gone, other friends report colleagues at Caltech have lost their homes - the fires don't need to directly hit the infrastructure to disrupt the work of major institutions.
 
Once again, it's great time the US start reforming their construction industry. The delta b/w added features and cost for owners and insurances following a disaster being so ridiculously marginal. Here is an example:


It's the same sharade with hurricanes.
 
Once again, it's great time the US start reforming their construction industry. The delta b/w added features and cost for owners and insurances following a disaster being so ridiculously marginal. Here is an example:


It's the same sharade with hurricanes.
It's worth noting that even with a replacement value clause in a homeowners policy, the insurer is obliged to pay for the reconstruction of a like value structure, right down to the original materials, not an exotic and far more expensive fireproof dwelling. If a stick built home was lost, the insurance company is paying for an exact replacement.
My guess is that rebuilding will be painfully slow and many of the original owners will sell the land to developers rather than rebuild. Expect updated building codes, very slow zoning approvals and labor shortages.
 
And fly-by-night crooks looking to exploit the elderly.

My Dad made the mistake of hiring some...who said they had some asphalt left over, and...

My Dad thought a few shovels full--give them $50.

Instead, they poured asphalt on mud--all the gravel was in a pile blocking my parents driveway--and they wanted $6,000.
 
Once again, it's great time the US start reforming their construction industry. The delta b/w added features and cost for owners and insurances following a disaster being so ridiculously marginal. Here is an example:


It's the same sharade with hurricanes.
Saw an article like that about a decade ago, maybe 15 years now.

All those fire-resistant features were not allowed by the HOA, the homeowners were being fined daily and in the middle of a nasty, nasty lawsuit. Fires roll through, leveling the entire HOA except for their house. TV news crew shows up at the only house standing. Husband is a contractor, his company name is visible on the side of the truck. Husband walks away from the news crew due to lawsuit restrictions. Wife gives no fucks, and just unloads on the HOA restrictions.


It's worth noting that even with a replacement value clause in a homeowners policy, the insurer is obliged to pay for the reconstruction of a like value structure, right down to the original materials, not an exotic and far more expensive fireproof dwelling. If a stick built home was lost, the insurance company is paying for an exact replacement.
My guess is that rebuilding will be painfully slow and many of the original owners will sell the land to developers rather than rebuild. Expect updated building codes, very slow zoning approvals and labor shortages.
Depends on how much more expensive those pieces are. IIRC, metal siding or other fire-resistant siding isn't any more expensive than vinyl. You can also argue "best practices to avoid having to pay out to rebuild this house again" but that doesn't always work.
 
Once again, it's great time the US start reforming their construction industry. The delta b/w added features and cost for owners and insurances following a disaster being so ridiculously marginal. Here is an example:


It's the same sharade with hurricanes.

Hanging out at my house when the monthly firestorm rolls through (someone threw a cigarette butt on the ground and forgot to carry their emergency 5 gallon water bucket) and throws flaming cats and dogs at my triple baffle alumina windows at 120 mph. Drinking wine from the box and fighting ennui by binging anime on Netflix. Eucalyptus trees exploding outside and sending flaming seedpods of dandelions into all the door dashers' car windows, making my avocado sushi order 18 minutes late. Open the airlock that has replaced my porch, to get my sandwich and let a dogsitter and three poodles stay inside while the firestorm passes (they forgot their mylar silversuits and umbrellas), despite their unruly singed hair and half melted smoke masks on.

Just another lazy Sunday in the IE.

It would be cool if HOAs and insurance firms required these things and would be willing to work with local, state, and Federal govts to subsidize it. Alas...
 
Hanging out at my house when the firestorm rolls through and throws flaming cats and dogs at my triple baffle alumina windows at 120 mph. Eucalyptus trees exploding outside and sending flaming seedpods of dandelions into all the door dashers' car windows. Drinking wine from the box and fighting ennui by binging anime on Netflix.

Just another lazy Sunday in the IE.

It would be cool if HOAs and insurance firms required these things and would be willing to work with local, state, and Federal govts to subsidize it. Alas...
Unfortunately, most HOAs actively prohibit such as "looking ugly and therefore lowering property values"
 
Once again, it's great time the US start reforming their construction industry. The delta b/w added features and cost for owners and insurances following a disaster being so ridiculously marginal. Here is an example:


It's the same sharade with hurricanes.
Just start building brick and mortar houses already like the rest of the civilized first world (AKA Europe)! For a country that came up with the "The Three Little Pigs" story, and as a European resident alien with am engineering degree in in California, I am absolutely horrified and dumbfounded by the way houses are "constructed" here. I still vividly remember watching what I recall to be the first installment of the Lethal Weapon franchise where near the end there a was a neighborhood wood frame development being burned down and I thought "OMG - they're just torching some movie facades like those in "Gone with the Wind" - what a cheap stunt!". Imagine my horror when I found out that that was the actual practice...
 
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Do not also sideline the safety hazard of all the phenolic resin compounds that are rejected
slowly from wood laminates products inside a new house that owners can't urge but not to settle in.
If you build your own house across several months, years, that won't be much a factor but today entrepreneurs can set a house in a matter of days. You can expect that to be the norm here in LA as temporarily relocation has prove to be so much expensive for most.
 
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Just start building brick and mortar houses already like the rest of the civilized first world (AKA Europe)! For a country that came up with the "The Three Little Pigs" story, and as a European resident alien with am engineering degree in in California, I am absolutely horrified and dumbfounded by the way houses are "constructed" here. I still vividly remember watching what I recall to be the first installment of the Lethal Weapon franchise where near the end there a was a neighborhood wood frame development being burned down and I thought "OMG - they're just torching some movie facades like those in "Gone with the Wind" - what a cheap stunt!". Imagine my horror when I found out that that was the actual practice...
Here in New Zealand houses pretty much have to be wood framed due to the earthquake risks. My house is wooden framed, but clad in brick and with a tile roof so it feels like a house. Some houses here are tin roof and wood - to a Brit, thats a garden shed.
 
Just start building brick and mortar houses already like the rest of the civilized first world (AKA Europe)! For a country that came up with the "The Three Little Pigs" story, and as a European resident alien with am engineering degree in in California, I am absolutely horrified and dumbfounded by the way houses are "constructed" here. I still vividly remember watching what I recall to be the first installment of the Lethal Weapon franchise where near the end there a was a neighborhood wood frame development being burned down and I thought "OMG - they're just torching some movie facades like those in "Gone with the Wind" - what a cheap stunt!". Imagine my horror when I found out that that was the actual practice...
Brick is not good due to earthquake risks.
 
Just start building brick and mortar houses already like the rest of the civilized first world (AKA Europe)! For a country that came up with the "The Three Little Pigs" story, and as a European resident alien with am engineering degree in in California, I am absolutely horrified and dumbfounded by the way houses are "constructed" here. I still vividly remember watching what I recall to be the first installment of the Lethal Weapon franchise where near the end there a was a neighborhood wood frame development being burned down and I thought "OMG - they're just torching some movie facades like those in "Gone with the Wind" - what a cheap stunt!". Imagine my horror when I found out that that was the actual practice...

Brick and rock houses were popular until the 1950s when California had a real estate rush IIRC. People didn't like their houses falling down.
 
You have now new products and assembly techniques for brick houses.

In other cases, external walls can also be made out of non combustible panels, with (refractant) liners that looks good and are economical. Then the structure can be set for earthquake proofing.

Continuous concrete pouring, also named 3D printing, can come very cheap with innovative shape that would sustain the most severe winds.

I think California should take the opportunity to rebuild better.
 
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