To the editor: Whereas there’s a have to improve the constructing codes to extra fire-resistant practices, the form of tilt-up concrete buildings suggested by one letter writer shouldn’t be essentially the reply. These buildings are extra inflexible and would possibly undergo extra from earthquakes.
After the Northridge earthquake in 1994, the Seismic Addendum was added to the American Welding Society’s Structural Welding Code to deal with the rigidity of steel-frame buildings that fractured within the quake. Wooden-frame buildings can transfer to a level for survivability.
There are practices accessible to cut back the probabilities of embers getting into constructions and inflicting ignition. These can be suggested as a solution to cut back a hearth’s severity.
Alan Johnson, Seal Seaside
The author is a retired licensed welding inspector and a former member of the American Welding Society’s committee on structural welding.
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To the editor: It’s not a matter of “if,” however fairly of “when” — and it’s solely predictable.
In the event you reside in a fire-prone space, you’ll be able to take all the hearth precautions accessible — brush clearance 100 toes from a construction, irrigation and planting fire-retarding crops, for instance. However “when” continues to be attainable at any time.
Why an insurance coverage firm would ever promote insurance policies for these areas is complicated. Why town or county of Los Angeles or some other comparable areas enable properties to be inbuilt these areas is outrageous.
Wooden burns and metal melts, and should you’re fortunate sufficient to have a concrete residence with a tile roof, even that sort of construction will final solely so lengthy in an inferno.
Dave Simon, North Hollywood
The author is a panorama architect.
