Thousands of people were affected by the Palisades Fire that took place in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles and parts of Malibu, Calif., on Jan. 7, and went on for 24 days until it was fully contained. Now it poses a question if this community should rebuild.
Rebuilding the Palisades community is recovering life long memories of people who have built a foundation of their lives there. Naturally, when someone establishes a home they may start to collect many things, from dishes, to knick knacks, to even plants in a garden. Everything they have owned may be in that house. Many people were forced to leave behind not only valuables and memories but also had everything ripped away from them.
Laurel Wood, who lost her home in the fire said “that almost everything from furniture to clothes to kitchen appliances had been vaporized,” according to Denison Forum.
Rebuilding also gives the community a fresh start. They get to start from a blank canvas and rebuild in a way that will prevent something as tragic as this from happening again. Houses and businesses can take precautionary measures and build with fire resistant materials.
According to Lindsay Frankel, in the article Fire Resistant Siding Offers Protection For Your Home, fiber cement siding, metal siding, brick or stone siding and stucco all have high fire resistance.
No one likely would’ve predicted a tragedy like this when the community was first built. Rebuilding is not only homes and businesses, but it is rebuilding the beautiful nature that was taken away from us. Now it’s no surprise that the fire spread the way it did because of the lack of rain we receive throughout the year resulting in dead vegetation which is considered “fuel,” but there are measures that we can take while rebuilding to prevent this big of a spread.
“One way to lessen the spread and intensity of fires is to reduce the amount of flammable vegetation- often called “fuel”- through prescribed burns, cutting back shrubs and allowing animals to graze. Forest trails can give authorities access for fuel management, provide a break in vegetation that slows fires down,” said Matt Reynolds in the article Los Angeles Needs to Fireproof Communities, Not Just Houses.
The Pacific Palisades was home to many, their whole lives revolved around this community and to just be taken away from them in a split second is devastating. To the people on the outside it may be easy to say no to a rebuild but to be the one who lost absolutely everything rebuilding is the only thing that can bring them back to normalcy and remember the good that the Palisades has brought to them.
