<
https://www.npr.org/2023/09/15/1198325664/preparing-homes-for-wildfires-is-big-business-thats-only-getting-started>
'As the Blue Ridge Fire blazed across California's Orange County in 2020, O.P.
Almaraz stared at the menacing glow on the horizon and evacuated his family to
a hotel. The next morning, he walked out of his room into a jam-packed,
buzzing, chaotic lobby.
"I thought, holy smokes, everyone is wondering if their house is going to make
it, and there's so much uncertainty," he says. "And that's when I'm like, okay,
I've got to commit to figuring out how can homes survive, so we're not just
praying that our homes make it."
Almaraz — a longtime home-restoration expert whose crews clean and renovate
homes
after a disaster — is now part of a nascent but fast-growing industry
of wildfire preparedness and mitigation that includes everything from home
retrofits to AI-powered smoke detectors.
Why only now? Experts point to advances in technology and drastic calls by home
insurers, who are hiking rates or quitting risky areas altogether. And, of
course, the growing threat of climate-related weather disasters.'
Via Kenny Chaffin.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
