Why California should consider Australia's 'Prepare, stay and defend' wildfire policy

SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO? No, it's not the Clash singing punk anthems...


Why California should consider Australia's 'Prepare, stay and defend' wildfire policy

By Sarah Yang, Media Relations | 26 February 2009

BERKELEY — Even as debate rages over the safety of Australia's "Prepare, stay and defend, or leave early" policy of wildfire defense, fire researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, and in Australia say that the strategy is worth consideration in California and other regions in the United States.

Questions about the policy, which encourages able residents to stay home and actively defend their property from wildfires, are being renewed in the wake of Australia's devastating fires, which began on Feb. 7 and killed 210 people, burned down 1,800 homes and scorched 1,500 square miles of land.

READ THE REST OF Sarah's OPINION PIECE BY CLICKING OUR HEADLINE!

Quest Is the Store For Flooring, Decking and Waterproofing Contractors...

Last week I was down in the OC working with a buddy doing some epoxy flooring at the Seal Beach navy facility.

We stopped by Quest on N Patt Street, he having rented a shot blaster and the requisite vac and generator from them and needed to pick it up.

Off we went and I did some shopping and browsing while the equipment was put in the truck.

I have to say that the place has what the contractor needs, at a cost way better than Home Depot does for the same things. Need chip brushes and rollers? Plenty of choices, types and sizes. Spiked rollers for rolling into wet epoxy to pop the bubbles that inevitably occur are hard to find, but not here.

Need some new spiked shoes to walk over wet epoxy of into a texture job that needs knocking down? $13.00 gets you a set your choice of spikes or blunted...

Rental equipment from Blastrac sits waiting for your floor prep needs, diamond blades and cups of all sizes, grinders and other hand prep tools, are all here for you under one roof.

Print the coupon and stop on by to say Hello to Dave Ratliff, a long time contractor who has plenty of "trowel time" under his belt, Dennis Chevrier and Erica Bagnall, who is carrying on the family deck coating and waterproofing tradition, she's the daughter of Jay Bagnall, formerly of Galahad. Erica's Uncle is one of the owner's of Pli-Dek. They will all help you out with advice, a hot coffee and a free T_Shirt with your coupon...tell 'em you found it here!

MIRACLE DECK COATING? MFG claims in letter that "structural instability in framing can be corrected with one of their metal lath deck coating products

The Deck Expert has obtained a copy of a letter sent by Poly-Tuff, regarding decks that are/were experiencing cracking issues on them in LA County.

The decks are cracked and some are leaking now...

But apparently, according to the sales manager who wrote the letter, Poly-Tuff's Flexideck P-ML (Metal Lath system can correct "structural instablity in the framing."

What? Is this guy serious? Poly-Tuff's Flexideck system can correct structural instability? If that's the case buddy, you got yourself the miracle decking system that can right many wrongs with little effort or removal of unstable structural framing.

ack...OK, sorry, I fell on the floor laughing to hard....I think I know what he meant to say, but what it says is what it says...


A lesson in the subtleties of proper English usage?

Some One Got Some BAD ACID... Staining job, that is...

Sorry, didn't mean to send you on a time warp back to 69 to that Pink Floyd concert with the bad acid trip you had...
today's bad acid trips for me are now acid staining jobs where someone didn't know what the crap they were doing...like this slab at a Shea home in Nipomo...

I was asked to look at it to see what could be done. Short of a skim coat of polymerized cement after prepping the slab, I guess they could pull the slab and do it over...

Watch out for Bad Acid!

FROM LAS VEGAS I-TEAM-MORE TROUBLE IN HOA PROBE

FROM LAS VEGAS I-TEAM TV Report...click on our headline to read the rest of the article...and
watch the news video,

With a taskforce of FBI Agents and Metro Detectives investigating an alleged scam that may have raked in hundreds of millions of dollars, you might think the chief suspects would lay low or get out of town. That is not the case regarding one very large homeowner association which, in just the past few weeks, saw the same suspects return for another bite of the apple.

Wanda Murray is amazed at the brazen return of the same outfit that has already taken millions of dollars out of the Vistana condo complex. In late December, she says the property manager informed her that $450,000 had disappeared from the homeowner association's bank account -- the last of an $8 million fund set aside to repair construction defects.

"They just went and did it," she said.

To understand who "they" are, think back to late September when a task force of FBI Agents and Metro Detectives fanned out across the valley to serve search warrants at several locations.

At the center of the probe is Silver Lining Construction, owned by Leon Benzer. His office was searched along with that of his close associate, attorney Nancy Quon. The offices of a homeowner association management company called Platinum were also searched.

Lawmen believe that Benzer and others initiated the takeover of homeowner association boards all over town, possibly through rigged elections. The Benzer-dominated boards then voted to file construction defects lawsuits, which often were handed to lawyer Quon who succeeded in landing huge settlements. The lucrative repair work then was given to Benzer's company.

In the case of Vistana, Murray and others say all five members of the board were tied to Benzer.

Funny Cartoon

Well yes, I borrowed this from cartoonist Wiley Miller, creator of "Non Sequitur" a daily cartoon that pokes fun at our foibles...

Click our headline to leave a comment at Wiley's website...