I am just guessing here, but with wind gusts up to 70 mph, burning branches can be carried several hundred feet. They can lodge anywhere on the roof or against any wall, which makes very fireproof construction necessary.

Here is an interesting article about San Diego fire readiness: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-lopez...mp;ctrack=3&cset=true
It probably requires a login.
Lawrence

I have been using Rough&Tumble to follow California news since 2000: http://www.rtumble.com/

Here is an interesting article about San Diego fire readiness: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-lopez...mp;ctrack=3&cset=true
It probably requires a login. I am set on all the major CA papers, so I never notice.

Lawrence

Added: Fire-resistant homes: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-saved...mp;ctrack=4&cset=true
I am suspicious about tile roofs in earthquake zones, unlike the reporter.

When he isn't growing Malbec and Cabernet Franc grapes on the 1-acre vineyard in front of his retreat, Bowman works as a consultant to fire departments and municipalities. With 16 years as chief in Anaheim and four in San Diego before quitting over staffing and resource issues, he's got strong opinions on San Diego's long, proud culture of skimping on services to keep taxes low.

There's no way to adequately staff for fires of this magnitude, Bowman says, and he doesn't want to turn so much scorched earth and misery into an I-told-you-so speech. But as we drive to get his mother, he can't help but go over some of the facts.

Although the city of San Diego has a fire department, the county doesn't, leaving many suburban and rural areas to rely on volunteer departments. The city has but one firefighting helicopter and just 975 firefighters for 330 square miles and 1.3 million residents.

Compare that, he says, with San Francisco, which has 1,600 firefighters for 60 square miles and 850,000 people.

"San Diego practices the biggest don't-tax-me campaign I've seen," says Bowman, a proud, lifelong Republican. Fine, he says, don't raise taxes. But reevaluate how money is spent and redistribute it to public safety.

A number of San Diego suburbs have the same resource problems, he says, and are more inclined to invest in evacuation technology than fire prevention and suppression.

"It's a lot cheaper," he says. "I've had the hardest time with the culture of 'We can do more with less.' "

Well it looks like they are finally getting some relief from the high winds and hopefully they will be able to get the fires under control.