How to Survive the Next Urban Firestorm
Fire experts suggest more training, home hardening and early evacuations in advance of future urban wildfire disasters.
Firefighters work to contain the the Palisades Fire in the Mandeville Canyon on Jan. 12.
Photographer: Kyle Grillot/BloombergThe out-of-control wildfires that are decimating Los Angeles demand cities rethink how to fight urban conflagrations, according to fire experts.
Fast-moving wildfires have ravaged rural California for years, but this speed and scale in an urban environment is new. The hurricane-force winds that have driven the Los Angeles firestorms would have overwhelmed any fire-fighting force, said Joe Ten Eyck, the wildfire interface programs coordinator for the International Association of Fire Fighters, a labor union. But he said the LA fires have underscored the need to train urban firefighters accustomed to extinguishing building fires how to combat multiple fast-moving wildfires that suddenly erupt in a city.