[Cob] Fire Losses Amongst The Natural Building Community In Southern California

[b]

I was talking with a friend about the losses in the fires of the straw bale
buildings and had a thought.  From my long ago past life in the Army during
the cold (and a bit of the hot stuff too) war era,  I remember extensive
training on how to prepare to survive the introduction of tactical nuclear
weapons on the battlefield.  These were the 'small' stuff in the 1 kilo ton
range designed to do a lot of bad stuff in the 1-mile radius range.

One of the effects of these weapons is called 'thermal radiation'.  I
remember it was a major part right after the nuclear radiation and just
before the blast wave (chronologically anyway).  A lot of research went into
studying this thermal radiation at taxpayers expense.  This research is
still available and is readily available on the internet.

Perhaps those amongst us with the ability to understand it could apply some
of it to the current investigations on the failure modes of straw bale and
earthen construction houses that lost the battle to the intense heat
produced by the fires.

I understand this was not the all inclusive reason for the losses, but it is
one to consider when we study those failures where the builder had done all
the right things.

I also remember one of the ways to increase a soldiers chance of survival
was to place a 'lot' of mass between the blast the his body.  I say 'his'
because during those early days, his'es(hmmm is that a word?) were the only
gender allowed to put themselves in the vicinity of tactical nukes.

In a building situation and taken to the extreme, this would mean a massive
amount of dirt or concrete or something of the sort that would absorb the
thermal radiation and no openings to speak of.  Not a very inviting living
situation for the most of us.

Perhaps someone can, however apply some of these lessons learned to help in
designing a better type of living space for those building in high fire
danger zones.

These breaches of the structures can be amongst Earthen as well as Straw
Bale and other Non-Earthen construction.

Just a thought.

Please though, I am not doing a political thing here nor suggesting moving
into caves, just proposing another source of information that some may have
forgotten about.

:-)

Preston of the Mojave

Oh yeah, this message is cross-posted to several other natural building
lists as it applies to them as well, thanks

b




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