Letters to the Editor: ‘Zone zero’ won’t stop dangerous winds when a wildfire breaks out

To the editor: My wife and I lived in a 120-year-old farmhouse in Altadena that had been landscaped with fire prevention in mind. We maintained a pea gravel buffer around the raised foundation as is now being recommended.

One thing that this article and the study referenced do not address is the fact that the weekend prior to the fire had been windy, depositing into our yard tree branches and dried leaves from the native oaks and palm fronds from neighbors’ yards (“Early adopters of ‘zone zero’ fared better in L.A. County fires, insurance-backed investigation finds,” Dec. 10). Despite our work in cleaning all of that up, we still lost our house to the conflagration.

As we all know, much stronger winds returned on Jan. 7, which brought even more dry branches, leaves and palm fronds. As we drove away the night of the fire, with the ominous red glow looming on the horizon, my heart sank at the sight of all the new debris that had been deposited along the side of the house and garage. There was nothing we or our neighbors could have done in the dark and in the midst of the horrific windstorm that would have made a difference.

“Zone zero” sounds good on paper, but you had to be there to know that it’s really out of touch with the conditions on the ground, and therefore little more than an academic exercise. Perhaps the authors of the study should go back to the drawing board.

Tom Reilly, Altadena