Supervisors seek stronger mobile home fire regulations

L.A. County Supervisors today approved the motion by Zev Yaroslavsky to consider new regulations to better protect mobile homes from wildfires.

The board ordered the Los Angeles County Fire Department to come back with "recommendations for changes in the building codes for mobile homes and mobile home parks in high fire hazard areas that would reduce their vulnerability."

The proposal came in the wake of the fire that destroyed more than 500 mobile homes in Sylmar.

"There were some heroic efforts," Supervisor Don Knabe said. "A lot of damage, a lot of tragedy out there."

The board also directed staff to return with a plan to restore the fire-damaged Olive View Medical Center, which was surrounded by flames Saturday morning and lost power.

-- Garrett Therolf

Comments

[Cesar]

The problem is located on the brushes and similar things around homes. A house could be saved from a fire if it is fireproof or if we can avoid getting it to the house. Since all we can get is fire retardant materials then we should focus on what surounds homes and what it is inside homes.

I have seen news of fires every year, but I have not seen a solution to that. I have only known of many acres burning, but no preventive solutions. I know the areas are pretty large, but at least the areas near homes should be kept safe from fires. I wonder if there is a solution to those fires such as placing separators of some kind (such as pretty wide non combustible areas) so that fires do not spread as much. The separators should be near homes and roads. The separators would have around them spaces free of thinks that could burn.

Cesar

[Patti]

Jesse, you've never really seen a mobile home park, have you? They're called "mobile" homes, yes, but mobile they are not, at least not in the sense that you could quickly get them out. Most of them are up on blocks, need tractor-trailers to haul them (especially if they're big, aka "double-wide") and are hooked up to gas, electricity, etc. which would all have to be disconnected. You really cannot just up and leave with a mobile home in a park designed to make permanent homes (yes, they are permanent homes for these people) out of basically super-sized trailers. You really ought to look at some pictures and see what these places look like...they have decks built around them and everything.

[nmoore6676]

I believe the Jesse may be the victim of a misnomer regarding mobile homes. The homes in the park in question are more correctly termed "modular homes". They are not RVs that can be driven off and most of them are towed in two or more pieces and assembled on site so once they are in place they can not be easily moved. In fact if i recall this same park was wiped out in the '94 Northridge quake so they were likely due to changes made in the codes then even less 'mobile". Older types called 'house trailers' were in fact on wheels though often parked in place and are not seen much except in older communities or rural settijngs. They often had the wheels and axles removed and were placed on blocks or jacks. These would be the type most vulnerable to earhtquakes.

[Sal B]

Jesse, you're thinking of RVs, "Recreational Vehicles," not mobile homes, which, once they are towed into place on concrete slabs, are hooked up to water, gas, electricity, the wheels removed, and almost *never* get moved again. Think "trailer parks."

[Roy]

Jesse,

These aren't RV's. You don't just turn on the key and drive mobile homes out of the park.

And Raul, what better time to bring this up than now?

[John]

I originally came out here from the mid-west (Missouri) and ever since I was a kid I remember mobile homes being more vulnerable to all of nature's calamities than any other form of housing. In the mid-west they are suseptible to floods, tornados, snow storms, etc. In Calif. they are the first to go in earthquakes,
mudslides, and last but not least, brush fires.... One should think long and hard before investing in one of these "matchboxes".

[John]

I originally came out here from the mid-west (Missouri) and ever since I was a kid I remember mobile homes being more vulnerable to all of nature's calamities than any other form of housing. In the mid-west they are suseptible to floods, tornados, snow storms, etc. In Calif. they are the first to go in earthquakes,
mudslides, and last but not least, brush fires.... One should think long and hard before investing in one of these "matchboxes".

[Neal Christmas]

This fire was a tragedy that should have been averted; consequently, a complete failure from our supervisors and state officials, who are a day late and a dollar short. In our society, we always wait until some tragedy happens before we realize—oh, we need stricter rules to safeguard our citizens. The county and state should have used their heads prior to this fire.

Our officials should have provided money to remove brush, in the vicinity of homes. If that was not possible, they should have evaluated homes adjacent to fire zones, and then provide funding to pay for retardant materials and or mandate building code requirements for mobile homes. Since our tax money pay the salaries of these lethargic officials, we should replace them with proactive officials, who will actively find problems, and then implement solutions to these problems. We should never allow a fire on this magnitude to happen again.

[Jesse]

I find it a little funny and strange that so many "mobile" homes where destroyed. Then after the fire the subject of making stronger mobile home regulations arises. I figured mobile homes would be the least worried from the fires because there mobile. A mobile home is mobile because it can move and isn't permanently stationary. Just turn on the ignition key or hook it up to a tow hitch and goodbye.

[Radical Raul]

Stupid knuckleheads, they have gall to politicize this, what can one really do when a mobile home park is engulfed in a firestorm?