To the editor: The neighborhoods in Los Angeles that noticed huge fires endured disaster for a easy purpose: They have been constructed with lumber.
Few international locations in the remainder of the developed world construct houses with wooden. As a substitute, they use concrete blocks or masonry, which don’t catch hearth.
The USA ranks low in hearth security worldwide. Deaths are frequent yearly. When neighborhoods like those within the Los Angeles space burn down, few discover that flammable lumber in development is the primary supply of flames — and of deaths.
Put up-fire photographs present wholesome bushes, whereas lumber is clearly the supply of the flames. Why are these info ignored?
I personal houses on different continents. The specs name for concrete block or gentle gauge metal framing. Many international locations hardly ever use lumber — and it’s due to hearth hazard, not as a result of they don’t have sufficient bushes.
Mike Roddy, Alameda, Calif.
