Beating the Fires With Adobe Homes
The article “A Dream House Beats the Flames,” Nov. 21, tells of a woman’s concrete house surviving the fire in the Old Topanga area. But where’s the discussion about adobe houses--building out of clay?
Look what didn’t burn in the fire: the brick fireplaces. Clay is all around us, beneath us and used by those who lived here years before us. And building with a local material utilizing local builders and native wisdom has more possibilities it seems than using concrete and steel reinforcements.
At least it’s an idea to look at before people rebuild their homes out of inappropriate materials, let alone recognize the “fire ecology” issues associated with living in the hills.
We all pay for their ignorance in the form of fire protection, possible insurance readjustments and their very presence in a sensitive ecological area.
Paul Herzog
Thousand Oaks
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