to the editor: The reason fire zone regulations are overdue is that they are a simplistic attempt to solve a seriously complex problem (“How Ground Zero, designed to protect California homes from wildfires, became plagued by controversy and delays” November 3). Take, for example, the probation against storing firewood within the 30-foot-wide Zone One. While my neighbor may not like the description, from my perspective, his house is a woodpile and building codes will generally place it 10 to 12 feet from mine.
In both the Eaton and Palisades fires, radiant heat of a burning house would set fire to its neighbor and so on until the end of the block or a vacant lot interrupted the process. Embers from an entire block of burning homes combined with gale force winds to ignite downwind homes and the process was repeated over and over again.
A structure's vulnerability to fire is a changing combination of climate, topography, building codes, materials, design, maintenance, flora, fauna, and especially human activity. Removing all flammable materials within Ground Zero isn't going to solve our problems, but stacking firewood against the house under the eaves isn't a good idea either. What we need is education and monitoring.
John Sherwood, Topanga
