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[Lord Shonus]

That is what I said. The fire codes are about making sure that safety defects don't set the house on fire, and ensuring that you can get out if a fire starts.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

In keeping with the way this conversation always goes, I'll just hit the major points:

- Most homes in the US are made of wood.

- It's because wood is plentiful and easier to work with than stone.

- The wall is full of stuff, it's not just some wood paneling and thick wood is as strong as stone.

- Any serious disaster will obliterate a wood and stone house just the same, and wood has better flexibility.

[sluissa]

The flexibility is good in earthquake prone areas like California. Where a stone house might crack or crumble, a wood house will sway a bit and while there might be some damage, it's unlikely to take the whole thing down.

There's also usually some covering that's not wood on the outside. Often a plastic or aluminum covering, but also often some sort of concrete or plaster. External wood covering is rare these days.

There was a report a while back where it showed that it often doesn't matter what a house is made from, it's the clutter around the house, like tools and kids toys and garden equipment that rests right up against the house that traps burning embers and ignites the building. Now that doesn't say anything about a wall of fire sweeping across the area. But for the flying sparks and such, they're not too dangerous as long as you keep your yard and building surroundings clean.

[martinuzz]

Ah yes, earthquakes. That makes sense. We don't have major earthquakes over here in the Netherlands, except the recent ones caused by decades of draining gas fields below the north, which sometimes get to about 5 magnitude. Those will end though, as gas extraction has been mostly shut down after the earthquakes and subsequent property value loss sparked a political shitstorm. We're at a safe distance from tectonic faults, so our construction safety laws worry about fire a whole lot more than about earthquakes.

[EnigmaticHat]

When I moved out to LA, there was a trailer playing in theaters about the San Andreas Faultline splitting the whole city in half.  That did not help my nerves about moving into a new place, let me tell you.

[RedKing]

Given the way things have been trending, California's real problem will be earthquakes which belch killer bees who are also on fire, and wielding assault rifles.

[EnigmaticHat]

Wildfires gain sentience and begin violent Avacado raids.

[Dunamisdeos]

More likely would be wine grapes that claim sentience and campaign for equal human rights.

[Starver]

Ah yes, earthquakes. That makes sense. We don't have major earthquakes over here in the Netherlands, except the recent ones caused by decades of draining gas fields below the north, which sometimes get to about 5 magnitude. Those will end though, as gas extraction has been mostly shut down after the earthquakes and subsequent property value loss sparked a political shitstorm. We're at a safe distance from tectonic faults, so our construction safety laws worry about fire a whole lot more than about earthquakes.

The only two earthquakes I've felt in the UK were in (I think) 1990, atop a prefabbily-constructed multistorey building that seemed to give us the sensation of movement that ground-dwellers in the area (well away frommthe epicentre) lacked, and one in 2008 that was apparently felt in the Netherlands. (I was awake at the time, on the first floor of my house. It was sleepable-through, probably, but I was doing much as I am now, coincidentally.)

Both were (longterm inactive and ancient) fault-slips, and I've never felt any mining, well-drilling or fracking tremors of any kind, despite having spent time in susceptible areas of the UK.

This has little to do with US politics, but I thought I'd share, and also share that I've never lived in any building (in the UK) for more than a week at a time that wasn't brick-built (or concrete-framed and brick-faced, I suppose, in one location). I've only seen one case of actual (otherwise fairly sound) building damage from UK storm-force winds. Not the famous 1987 Fish stkrm, but (probably) the 1990 Burns' Day one, which toppled a stone chimney stack (of a probably Victorian era building, so may have really needed regrouting) as I was walking nearby. I don't think I'd trust the kind of building that seems to be built predominently in suburban Tornado Alley. This is what a F4 sorry, maybe that should be T4 (to 5) tornado did here in the UK (one of the worst events, but with tornados surprisingly likely), but note that it's mostly rooves and household debris. Even where the brickwork was dangerously toppled, there was already plenty of more numerous 'lighter' debris likely to cause injury.


Ahem. Rambling on. Ignore me.

[Flying Dice]

More likely would be wine grapes that claim sentience and campaign for equal human rights.

"Wine is a liberal conspiracy! #BeerLivesMatter"

also RE Cali fires

[Dunamisdeos]

More likely would be wine grapes that claim sentience and campaign for equal human rights.

"Wine is a liberal conspiracy! #BeerLivesMatter"

also RE Cali fires

Without sarcasm that is the actual things that would be said, absolutely.

[EnigmaticHat]

I mean wine is a conspiracy to get money out of people.  Or expensive wines at least.  From what I've heard cheap wines are fine in terms of cost:value ratio.  Don't drink myself, just know there have been studies where wine tasters failed to distinguish between wines if they didn't know in advance what they were drinking.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

I saw a video where a wine taster who did see the labels and boxes didn't rate anything below a B-. So I guess it's more of the upper side that's the lie.

[Paxiecrunchle]

Damn, those fires in California are turning out to be as big a distaster as the hurricanes. Just saw some videos on dutch national 8 oçlock news, looks like some villages or towns were completely burned to the ground there. Horrible. Stay safe, Californian forumites.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/10/11/killer-wildfires-continue-to-scorch-californias-wine-country-with-21-dead-and-hundreds-missing/

EDIT: what does amaze me, is that judging by the debris, a lot of houses in the area are built of wood, with no to barely any stones used.
Were those all old houses, or does the US not have fire safety regulations for residential construction?

Luckily I have managed to avoid such fires entirely, is their an interactive updated map I can look at thoug?

[Max™]

I don't think I'd trust the kind of building that seems to be built predominently in suburban Tornado Alley. This is what a F4 sorry, maybe that should be T4 (to 5) tornado did here in the UK (one of the worst events, but with tornados surprisingly likely), but note that it's mostly rooves and household debris. Even where the brickwork was dangerously toppled, there was already plenty of more numerous 'lighter' debris likely to cause injury.

Lived in Tornado Alley for roughly 2/3rds of my life, from that picture I could tell it was between EF2 and EF3, which is about what a Torro 4~5 scale would be. An EF4 is T8~T9 and is basically anything short of "scoured foundations" while EF5 gets to fun stuff like "part of the foundation was lifted half a meter and displaced a dozen cm or so laterally" so you are building to be redone easily, you don't realistically build single family housing to withstand those.