Sunday Strip

Assymetric Warfare

In sorting through countless videos of the LA fires aftermath even as they technically still burn the intact fireplaces on otherwise completely incinerated houses bothered me the most. I saw a few dozen examples of this. Of course rich people’s homes are much more likely to have fireplaces and one would assume based on its function that a fireplace would be very heat and flame resistant. That started me down a fascinating rabbit hole.

So what is the incineration point for fireplaces? A measly 1000 to 1200 degrees Fahrenheit! Some forest fires do get that hot and can, according to google’s rapidly changing results for the temperature of natural fires, reach from 1400 to 2000 F. Now even those hot fires are close to 1000 Fahrenheit under the melting point for porcelain which Sage Hana noted, yet I have not noticed any standing bathroom areas or commodes sitting out in the open.

Some metals including aluminum have a lowish 1400 F melting point. Aha! Some apologists may note. See metal like aluminum car wheels can melt from wildfires! Of course I have never seen so much as an aluminum beer can melt in our personal fires made nightly in Thailand. Now heavy plastic such as what modern trash cans are made out of as well as rubber will burn and it will burn hot if you put a persistent flame to it. One night in Thailand Ka put an entires shredded car tire in our fire out front. The flames must have leapt to 20 feet in the air and yes we were worried it was going to start a larger blaze, but it never did. All we were left with in the morning were the smoldering steel coils in the center of the tire.

Even melting aluminum seems to take a little more than a blowtorch and gasoline to make happen. When you get to some other metals including stainless steel and tungsten the melting point is much higher. And then there is the melting point of glass, which according to Google is between 2500 and 2900 F. I would assume that reinforced auto glass would be at the higher end of these ranges.

So obviously I need some welders to explain the special tools used on these jobs. But for all of you aspiring glassmakers at home here’s a handy dandy tutorial video of how you can melt glass at home!

I have other questions like regarding the number of Teslas and other EVs in LA. An electrical fire should never put out with water, especially salt water. I’m sad that my grandfather, who was a long time firefighter for the Cleveland Fire Department, is not still here to weigh in on this matter. What is the dousing procedure for these different materials? Surely they know, right?

When a band announces their world tour…

This painting is beautiful and haunting of all of those who departed who were not allowed to say goodbye during Covid. Attributed to Juan Lucina.

I have a few questions regarding this before and after walk through video of Pacific Palisades including when the before video was taken. The vegetation in the before video looks exceptionally green and lush as it would be perhaps after the heavy rains in February of 2024. Some certainly did burn off which is unsurprising. It is a lot easier to start a fire in dry SoCal underbrush but there would not be much if any in beautifully landscaped and watered city areas as is shown here.

There have been reports that due to looting the National Guard has been called in for checkpoint Charlies in the burn areas. Will these people ever be allowed back on their land? I have been checking in on friends who still live in the area. Nobody I know personally has had their own home burn down, though two were evacuated and one does not know if or when she will be able to return to her home due to excessive smoke in the area. Some of especially my former SRF choir members were all in Democratic boosted to the max virtue signalers during Covid con. I’m willing to put that behind me. Nobody voted for this.

It is blatantly obvious to me that the government is at war with the people. So what exactly can we do about it?

Buy me a ko-fi