<story><title>Building a modern home in the woods</title><url>https://johnnyrodgers.is/building-a-modern-home</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>cols</author><text>Beautiful house and there was a day I would have been extremely jealous but...&lt;p&gt;I live in Oregon and in 2020 chose to (was not officially in an evac zone but the smoke was awful) evacuate when the horrible Beachie Creek and Lionshead [0] fires ripped through the Santiam Canyon. Houses that my wife and I had looked at possibly purchasing were torched, as well as some of the most pristine ancient forest I&amp;#x27;ve seen [1].&lt;p&gt;My outlook about living in the forest drastically changed after these events. The Beachie Creek fire reached 130,000 acres overnight at a growth rate of 2.77 acres per SECOND. [2].&lt;p&gt;You couldn&amp;#x27;t pay me enough money to live in a forest at this point. It&amp;#x27;s just too damn dangerous. Also, the flat roof seems problematic. Everyone I know in the PNW who has owned a flat roof has had issues with it due to pooling water. That far north, I imagine snow accumulation would also be a really big problem in terms of stress on the roof.&lt;p&gt;[0] - &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Santiam_Fire&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Santiam_Fire&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[1] - &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.opb.org&amp;#x2F;article&amp;#x2F;2021&amp;#x2F;09&amp;#x2F;02&amp;#x2F;oregon-field-guide-opal-creek-after-beachie-creek-fire&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.opb.org&amp;#x2F;article&amp;#x2F;2021&amp;#x2F;09&amp;#x2F;02&amp;#x2F;oregon-field-guide-op...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[2] - &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;inciweb.nwcg.gov&amp;#x2F;incident&amp;#x2F;7001&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;inciweb.nwcg.gov&amp;#x2F;incident&amp;#x2F;7001&amp;#x2F;&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>willidiots</author><text>I live in the forest in rural norcal and everything you say rings true. We had a huge fire come within 3 miles of us last year. This year&amp;#x27;s obviously going to be just as bad given the prolonged dry winter. The neighborhood is aggressively managing the fire risk, yet it seems it&amp;#x27;ll never be enough.&lt;p&gt;It can happen anywhere though. I have immediate family who lost their home to a fire last year - they lived in a town of 20,000 people, among grasslands in the suburbs.&lt;p&gt;IMHO California and PNW homes need to be rethought, starting now - much like how we stopped using unreinforced bricks due to earthquakes. Stop building houses out of flammable materials. Use intumescent coatings. Intentionally fireproof your landscaping. I was hoping that was the focus of this article but.. nope.</text></comment>
<story><title>Building a modern home in the woods</title><url>https://johnnyrodgers.is/building-a-modern-home</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>cols</author><text>Beautiful house and there was a day I would have been extremely jealous but...&lt;p&gt;I live in Oregon and in 2020 chose to (was not officially in an evac zone but the smoke was awful) evacuate when the horrible Beachie Creek and Lionshead [0] fires ripped through the Santiam Canyon. Houses that my wife and I had looked at possibly purchasing were torched, as well as some of the most pristine ancient forest I&amp;#x27;ve seen [1].&lt;p&gt;My outlook about living in the forest drastically changed after these events. The Beachie Creek fire reached 130,000 acres overnight at a growth rate of 2.77 acres per SECOND. [2].&lt;p&gt;You couldn&amp;#x27;t pay me enough money to live in a forest at this point. It&amp;#x27;s just too damn dangerous. Also, the flat roof seems problematic. Everyone I know in the PNW who has owned a flat roof has had issues with it due to pooling water. That far north, I imagine snow accumulation would also be a really big problem in terms of stress on the roof.&lt;p&gt;[0] - &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Santiam_Fire&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Santiam_Fire&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[1] - &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.opb.org&amp;#x2F;article&amp;#x2F;2021&amp;#x2F;09&amp;#x2F;02&amp;#x2F;oregon-field-guide-opal-creek-after-beachie-creek-fire&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.opb.org&amp;#x2F;article&amp;#x2F;2021&amp;#x2F;09&amp;#x2F;02&amp;#x2F;oregon-field-guide-op...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[2] - &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;inciweb.nwcg.gov&amp;#x2F;incident&amp;#x2F;7001&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;inciweb.nwcg.gov&amp;#x2F;incident&amp;#x2F;7001&amp;#x2F;&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>rootusrootus</author><text>Funny, I&amp;#x27;ve actually considered buying property in that area now that it&amp;#x27;s been cleared of houses.  With a bit of planning, it should be possible to make it more resistant to another wildfire roaring through.  I&amp;#x27;d still build myself a couple of contingency plans anyway, of course, and buy good insurance.</text></comment>