Column: Horner On Palisades Restoration

February 2, 2025 | 0 Comments

[Column written by Patrice Horner]

The damage from the fire in the Palisades goes deep, which is not all obvious at first. A lot of wealth was lost was lost when computers were burned when there crypto was in blockchain stored on the hard drives. Also, the underground utility pipes even melted. It was those buildings with metal roof saved the structures as cinders would lodge in the rafters. Planning regulations will need to be revised to minimize such fire exposures in the future, by using different building materials and to intersperse with green space in a mosaic affect.

There is going to be the need for temporary structures in the area for transition planning as well as lodging. Each FEMA Trailor costs $150,000 according to Stan Stalnaker of Hub Culture. There maybe others. There is their ‘Iconic’ structure as setup in Davos. The overseas manufacturers could bring in units for $50,000 each according to his estimation. It is a fully portable structure made of fire-resistant wood which can be configured in many ways. It could be assembled into a multi room residences.

There is going to be the need for emotional support. The counselling company Calm could be part of a contingent to the Palisades region in California to provide emotional support. The question is who is in control of the response, FEMA, the State, Los Angeles or the local authority. According to a participant, Bechel reached out to deploy temporary hospitals, but no one responded. Clean up is going to be a fundamental issue, as many of the building materials and the fire retardants are especially toxic.

Being close to Hollywood, there maybe a star quality to the reparation. The Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation has a ‘mission to protect the Earth’s remaining wild places and find solutions for a more harmonious relationship between humanity and nature’, after filming Titanic and filming in other natural environments.

Not all efforts work right in the first attempt. Actor Brad Pitt created The Make It Right Foundation a non-profit foundation to rebuild houses in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans in an environmentally friendly way after Hurricane Katrina. There were manufacturing defects which had to be fixed.

Julia Jackson, a second-generation proprietor of Jackson Family Wines in Sonoma California, has dedicated her life to the environment on a global scale. She has founded Grounded and has noted that areas need to be rebuilt to absorb water to avoid landslides and flooding. Julia points out how fire damaged forests regrow smaller trees which are at risk from further fires. Planning need restore the essential role of fire in nature, by adopting practices that recognize its historic part in regenerating land. Fires are part of natural cycle, but we are at extremes.

- Patrice Horner

Palisades Patrice Horner Bermuda Jan 2025 (1)

The Hub Culture ICON in Davos for WEF.

Palisades Patrice Horner Bermuda Jan 2025 (2)

Temporary structures after hurricane Katrina that were falling apart and remediated after a lawsuit.

Palisades Patrice Horner Bermuda Jan 2025 (3)

Palisades Patrice Horner Bermuda Jan 2025 (4)

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