January 11, 2025 • 31 mins
Dean talks more about FEMA and the impotance of calling your insurance company immediately to file a claim when dealing with a natural disaster. Dean explains payments from insurance companies and how to start a claim. He also discusses about fire windows and the differences between them and regular windows. Dean talks to a civil engineer that shares how residential water systems work during fires. Dean preview's part two of the show and continues to share the long-term temporary steps while rebuilding and redirecting after a disaster.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Am six forty live streaming in eighth D everywhere on
the iHeartRadio app. Dean Sharp the house Whisper live with
you this smoky Saturday morning here in Southern California, live
every Saturday and Sunday morning. Follow us on social media.
We only do the good kind, I promise, the uplifting, informative,
(00:30):
inspiring kind of social media. We're on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook x,
Home with Dean, same handle for all of them. While
you're there, follow us, look at a few videos, share
some around with your friends. And of course this very
program also the house Whisper podcast that you can listen
to anytime, anywhere on demand, hundreds of episodes, all searchable
(00:56):
by topic. It is your home improvement reference live library.
And if your home is in need of a more
personal house Whisper attention you. Yes, you can book an
in home design consult with me. Yes, me and the
tea here.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Just go to house Whisper dot Design for more information.
You can fill out our contact sheet there house Whisper
dot Design for an in home design consult for your
home all right, we are, yes, continuing our coverage here
at KFI of the California wildfires here in a Los
Angeles area. We're taking a particular perspective. I want to
(01:38):
talk to you about where we go from here? Where
do we go from here? So let me ask this
question or pose this thought as it were. Let me
pull up my note here. If you've lost your home
or business in these wildfires, what are the steps? Where
(02:00):
do you go? Okay? Well, obviously, as I said before
the break, the immediate concerns have to be addressed. You've
got to get out, you've got to get safe, you've
got to get to yourself temporary relocated. You need to
get fed, you need medical attention if necessary, and you
(02:23):
need to breathe and take a breath. And that's happening
all over the area right now. And that's what these
volunteer organizations and outposts, it's what the Red Cross, it's
what FEMA is here to help with. In the short term.
You need to be on the FEMA list. You need
to contact FEMA and make sure that they're aware of
(02:45):
you and your property, especially if it has been destroyed,
so know that you're a part of that and get
on that list next and they'll offer you some invaluable
advice as well. Next step got to call your insurance company. Now,
it doesn't have to be a long drawn out process
(03:06):
right now, it's going to be. It is going to be. Unfortunately.
We'll talk more on that, but for now, you need
to call your insurance company and you need to file
a claim. And that process is it's like I said,
it's going to be long and drawn out. But what
if I need relieve right now, Dean? What can I expect? Well,
(03:29):
here's the thing. If your house is has been completely
destroyed or radically affected by this, and what's the difference. Well,
you know you've heard some stories of people are like,
I can't believe my house survived. You know, it's the
only house standing in a two block radius, but my
house was, for whatever reason, untouched. There are some of
(03:51):
those stories dotted across you know, the great swath that
the fire has taken, or these fires have taken. But
that doesn't put them in an optimal situation either. If
the entire neighborhood is burned down around you, you shouldn't
be in that house. You're going to be surrounded by
toxic ash. And debris from not just you know, wildfire
(04:16):
burning is one thing. Homes burning with chemicals and being
released and now being exposed to the atmosphere around you.
Just because your house has been skipped by a fire
does not mean that house should be inhabited in most cases,
Also the local utilities, the infrastructure.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
Is there even water coming to the property?
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Is that water pottible at this point or does it
need to be boiled or is there just a no
boiled to just get out until we resolve it. As situations,
so just because a property survives and the other outlook
on that, by the way, is that okay? So your
house is still standing, smoke damage in that house, no doubt,
(05:04):
when every other house around you has burnt down. Also,
in the months to come, you're going to be in
a very lonely place. You're going to be surrounded by
a massive cleanup activity, and then you'll be surround you'll
find yourself in the middle of a massive reconstruction. So
the peace and quiet of your days is going to
(05:25):
be replaced with the rebuilding around you, if in fact,
there is rebuilding around you. So there are concerns across
the board. That is the lesson to take away whether
a house is standing or whether a house has been destroyed.
If your house, though, has been completely destroyed in the
event that resulted in a state of emergency being declared
(05:48):
in California, which these fires obviously have been, then your
insurance company here me Now, your insurance company is required
to immediately pay you a minimum of one third of
the estimated value of your personal belongings known as contents,
and a minimum of four months worth of rent for
(06:10):
the local area in which you live. This is the
most important immediate first step part of relief for you now,
since you are out of your home, and if your
home no longer is okay, the reason to file a
claim immediately is to take advantage of those factors so
(06:32):
that you can get yourself first priority, settled and relocated,
because I guarantee you there will even if the plan
is to rebuild, there will be no getting back to
that property for months and months ahead. Okay, that is
just simply the harsh reality of that. And so first
(06:55):
priority finding a place to settle in, to relocate, to breathe,
to rest, and then to take further steps. And we'll
talk about those further steps right on the other side.
KFI in charp the house whisper at your service.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Good Saturday morning to you.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
I hope it is a better Saturday morning for you
than for many who have been affected by these fires
in the greater Los Angeles area. Here we are here
covering that, of course, with the KFI twenty four hour
news room, Ailing Gonzalez is on hand, taking the tip
of the spear and reporting all of the updates as
(07:34):
we go, So for more information, stay tuned. We're the
place to be, We're the place to listen to it.
What am I doing on the show today, specifically in
regards to these fires today and tomorrow, I'm trying to
address some of the larger questions, none of the politics,
none of the criticisms. I'm talking about you and your home,
(07:57):
and for those of you who have not fortunately been
affected by these fires, we will be discussing again how
to fire harden your home, what are the best short
term and long term things to do. But I'm also
speaking to those who have been affected by a natural disaster,
and if you're listening to us nationwide, these principles apply
(08:21):
regardless of the nature of the natural disaster, but specifically
here in southern California. The fires that affect have affected
very much the last week and are going to affect
many many lives for months and years to come as
a result. Now, I was just saying this, and I
(08:43):
want to finish this thought and then we're going to
go to the phones because we've got some calls that
I want to take related to the fire. I had
mentioned to you that after you're safe, after you're out
of the zone, after health, immediate can concerns are taken
care of, you know, food, shelter and clothing, that kind
(09:05):
of stuff. Getting resettled is going to be really, really
key because it's a long road ahead to rebuild. If
your house I'm going to repeat this has been completely
destroyed in an event that is a State of California
emergency declaration event like this one is, then your insurance
(09:25):
company is required to immediately pay you a minimum of
a third of the estimated value of your personal belongings
also known as your contents, and a minimum of four
months worth of rent for the local area in which
you live. And yeah, those payments are required of the
insurance company whether an adjuster has inspected the home or not.
(09:50):
And so don't be sitting there thinking in ignorance. Well, okay,
that's great, but what do I do now, because no
one's allowed in the neighborhood where house burned out, So
an insurance adjuster can't get in there and inspect it
and start my claim. No, no, you start your claim
with the insurance company, and if your home has been
destroyed in this event, then you are entitled to that
(10:14):
whether or not an adjuster has inspected your home at
the moment. You can also ask your insurance provider for
cash advances for living expenses such as renting furniture, and
if you didn't know, there are companies that can come
to your temporary home furnish it right down to the
towels and sheets and kitchen utensils if necessary. There is
(10:40):
next steps, but our next step right now is to
see if we can take a couple of calls. I
want to talk to Jeannette. Hey, Jeannette, welcome home.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
Hi Dean.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
I live in the foothills in North Fantana. Santa Anna's
beautiful hill. But now I look at it and I
see fuel. A month or so ago, you were talking
about fire windows. I'm wondering if you can give a
list or put on your on your website a list
of reputable companies that I can get estimates from because
they are expensive, but I'm looking at it as an
(11:17):
investment to protect the house.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
Okay, So let me respond to that, and I'm not
I won't publish a list. And the reason is Jeannette,
because every major window manufacturer makes fire windows. But let
me explain what this is, okay, A fire rated window. Okay,
So when you say, when you come to a window
(11:41):
manufacturer and say I need fire windows because I live
in a wildlife urban interface and I'm you know, required
or I'm volunteering to do this for my home.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
So what this is.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
Essentially, the difference between a fire rated window and a
standard window is the glass.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
The lass is a tempered glass in a fire rated
window versus standard annealed glass. It's not about the frame,
it's not about the sashes, it's not about it's not
about anything else. It is about the glass. A large
proportion of property damage that occurs in a house, as
(12:21):
far as the way a fire enters a home, the
primary the two primary methods by which a fire enters
a home are embers. As we've talked about exhaustively, and
will continue to here on the program. Embers getting into
attics through vents and so on. But window openings, the
(12:42):
penetrations in our home, the holes in our walls, essentially
is the next primary way that a fire enters. Now
that's not embers. What that is is when the fire
line itself, when the fire actually reaches the the you know,
the the foot of our walls. Here is what happens.
Annealed glass. And I won't get into the process by
(13:05):
which glass is made, but annealed glass is standard window glass.
It's great, it's super and it does what it's supposed
to do. But annealed glass is manufactured at a relatively
in terms of glass low temperature. And as a result,
(13:26):
what happens is if you were to take annealed glass
and warm it up uniformly from all sides, then annealed
glass can actually put up with a tremendous amount of heat. Okay,
but that's not what happens. The fire licks up against
your house and suddenly the temperatures on the outside of
(13:48):
that pane of glass are over one thousand degrees and
the temperature on the inside of that pane of glass
is you know, a cool seventy two degrees inside conditioned home.
It is that differential which causes that pane of glass
to expand unevenly on the outside and not expand on
(14:10):
the inside surface and therefore shatter and crack. Once that
cracks and shatters, then all of a sudden, the flames
have an open doorway to actually enter the home. So
fire rated windows are standard windows. They look no different
than any other window or door in the house. Nobody
(14:31):
has to worry about, well, how is that going to
mess up the look of my house? There is no difference.
It is an additional expense. And the additional expense is
that the glass in a fire rated window is tempered glass.
Tempered glass has been heated and manufactured at thousands a
plural of degree, you know, about five thousand degrees. Tempered
(14:55):
glass can handle the temperature differential between the coolness of
the inside of your home and the extreme heat from
fire on the outside of your home and will not
shatter and therefore will not open a doorway into or
you know, literally a window into your home.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
If you have a sliding glass door, a sliding glass.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Door is tempered glass by code because every fenestration, every
window that dips lower that has glass below in California.
Actually this is I believe the National Building goes. Any
glass that comes closer to the floor than eighteen inches
(15:39):
okay below eighteen inches or the floor has to be
whether no matter what fire zone you live, and has
to be tempered because now it's in it's not fire
that we're worried about, but it's in the kickzone, right,
it's in a place where somebody can go through it.
So it has to be super strong tempered glass. So
fire windows, Jeanette, it's such a good question. I'm so
(16:01):
glad you asked it. Fire windows are windows with tempered glass,
not the anneal glass. That's the additional expense. Every major manufacturer,
you know, Anderson, Marvin mill Guard, I mean, just Pella.
You just go down the list, every major manufacturer of windows,
of reputable, high quality windows will make you a tempered
(16:24):
glass version of the window that you need, and that
is by definition, a fire rated window.
Speaker 4 (16:31):
Okay. So I'll just look at the ones that I'm
comfortable with, you know, national name brands, and come and
have them, come give me estimates and choose some of them,
and then I'll be fine. Exactly exactly, Okay, awesome, Thank
you so much. Thank you, thank you listen to you
every week. Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Oh, thank you so much, Jeanette for your support and
thanks for that great question. You just helped a lot
a lot of people understand what they need to do
in order to help fire harden their homes. All right,
more when we return your Home with Dean Sharp, the
House Whisper on a very fire smoky weekend here in
(17:08):
southern California.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
CAMFI AM six forty live streaming, and HD everywhere on
the iHeart Radio app. You are Home with Dean Sharp,
the House Whisper. We are continuing kfi's coverage of these
fires this morning. Specifically, I am talking to you about
things related to you, your home, your displacement if your
(17:41):
home was destroyed or radically affected by the fires. Of course,
from my expert perspective in terms of home design and
home building and the entire process. Tomorrow's show, I Will
let you know, will be very very much focused on
again reviewing what it takes to fire hard and a home,
(18:03):
but also what are these next steps in terms of
insurance claims? And the rebuilding process. When an entire neighborhood
and a regional infrastructure has been affected, you're not going
to want to miss that. And of course we will
be giving you ongoing live updates as we do with
Eileen Gonzalez at the tip of the spear here in
(18:25):
the twenty four hour newsroom here at KFI. I want
to take at least another call if we can. I
don't have a lot of time. I've been playing a
little fast and loose with our segment times here just
in order to get all the information you need to you.
But let's talk to Richard. Hey, Richard, welcome home, Good morning,
(18:46):
Good morning sir.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
How can I help Youah?
Speaker 3 (18:52):
I called in just to see if you needed any
background on how resident for fire systems are designed and
why they come up shorts.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Okay, well yeah, give us a quick overview.
Speaker 3 (19:08):
Well, essentially, we design our systems to put out a
large fire on a single commercial building or a few
residential buildings, and we size the pipes to bring the
fireflows to that location at a certain velocity, and then
(19:30):
when we look at the reservoir sizing, we look at
how long we're going to be pulling water at a
fireflow rate, and it's typically for a very large building
about four hours. So the reservoirs are sized for the
four hour fireflow plus some capacity for every day demands
(19:56):
of the water system. So we have so we have
a limited amount of reservoir water available based on the
current state of.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
Design, right, which has obviously been tested and brought to
its knees by these fires, specifically like the Palisades Fire.
Of course, there was already issues about low water pressure
during some of those fights, and it was really just
(20:33):
literally the perfect storm. The speed of the fire, the
rate of the fire, the amount of structures that had
to be defended and that were on fire, broken pipelines,
compromised lines, all at the same time, too much water
being pulled out of the system to fight too many
(20:54):
fronts at in too many locations, just literally a perfect
storm in which water became a very very limited resource
during that fight. In your opinion, now you're a civil engineer, Richard, yes, sir,
in your opinion, is this something that we need to
(21:14):
take a serious look at upgrading. It's not like it's
going to be a quick fix overnight. I mean we're
talking about I would imagine hundreds of millions of dollars
of infrastructure upgrade all across the Southland. If if we
were to take this seriously, is that something that's likely
to happen, and should it happens.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
There's more to it than that. I mean, the system
that does well for what it's designed to do, and
when we have a wildfire and several homes are involved,
the expectation is that we're going to put air assets
in the up to fight the wildfire, right and so
when we're not able to do that, then there's obviously
(21:57):
some problems. But the real where you could really make
an impact is what you're going to be talking about tomorrow,
where you make the homes defendable by using the windows
that are appropriate, moving flammables away from the house, you know,
(22:19):
getting rid of landscaping that is inducive to starting a fire,
and and there's something else, but I've.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
Forgotten it, Richard.
Speaker 3 (22:31):
I think you're going to talk about it tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
Yeah, absolutely, my friend, and I really appreciate.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
I appreciate the call, and I appreciate the insight and
the support as well. So from a civil engineering perspective
and from a a water systems designs perspective you know,
you heard it right there, and something to consider everyone.
The fact of the matter is that, you know, we
(22:57):
could approach this from two different directions. You could build
every house out of tissue paper and then as a result,
pay billions of dollars to introduce a fire deterrent system
in order to fast respond with you know, millions of
(23:19):
gallons of water every time a tissue paper house gets ignited.
Or or on the individual home level, you could simply
fire harden a home that makes it more difficult for
homes to burn and easier for fire services and the
existing infrastructure to defend. There's probably some give in both directions,
(23:45):
but absolutely in regards to our listeners and what we're
here to talk about on an ongoing basis, You're absolutely right, Richard.
Tomorrow we will continue to talk about how to fire
harden your home, all right, when we come back. Thank you,
Richard for the call. I so appreciate it. When we
come back for our final segment here, I want to
(24:05):
follow up something on Janette's call earlier about fire windows,
something that I did not discuss with her. We answered
her question thoroughly, but a lot of you are in
situations where you're like you have an older home now
and now, of course it's code code requirement that if
(24:26):
you build new or you do a major remodel in
a wildlife urban interface, if you're in a high fire
risk zone, then at least the side of the house
that faces the interface needs fire rated windows are they're
required by code on new builds, major remodels and so on.
(24:47):
But there is not a regulation that is twisting arms
for people with existing homes who do not have fire
rated windows pushed up against open spaces to have to
do anything. And if you're like Jeannette and you're made
the decision like I want to do this now, Jeannette
is she's stepping up and doing you know, she's gonna
(25:08):
get bids and she's going to change out her windows.
Well that's great. What if you don't have the budget
to do that, Well, I want to talk to you
about what your options are and we'll do it right
on the other side of the news in Sharp House
with her welcome home. Thanks for spending this time with
me this morning. It is a privilege. As always, I
(25:29):
am glad that you are here. I'm literally glad that
you are still here. If you live in southern California,
UH and have been affected, which all of us have
to some degree or another, by these wildfires that are still
raging here. Hopefully in the next few hours and a
couple of days before the wind events return, we can
(25:51):
get a stronger handle on these fires, get them under control.
Fingers crossed, and our thoughts and prayers go out to
all of the firefighters out there who are helping us
stay safe and who are giving their all to see
it happen. Here on the program we have today and
we will again tomorrow, be talking about fire hardening your
(26:13):
home and also something that we have not talked a
lot about in the past, and that is when everything
is lost, where do you go from there? What are
the next steps in terms of literally who to call
and what to expect. Now, all so far I've shared
with you FEMA Red Cross, these are first steps. These
(26:35):
are immediate emergency first steps to get you and your
family safe, get them fed, get them warm, and get
you in a at least a temporary shelter. After that
comes long term temporary, long term temporary meaning that you're
(26:57):
not going to be going back to that home or
thathborhood anytime soon. We've got to find you a place
to be so life can go on for you while
you are rebuilding or redirecting, or deciding where to go
from there. Filing an insurance claim is crucial asap because
of the emergency funds that are available, because of the
(27:20):
funds that will be available for you for temporary housing
and so on. And the only thing I'm going to
add to that for today, and we'll go further tomorrow.
The only thing I want to add for that today
is start documenting everything soon as you get your feet
under you, as so, as soon as you've taken a
few breaths and gotten a decent night's sleep. Know this,
(27:44):
Who in the family is the accountant, Who in the
family is the court reporter? Who is the documentarian in
the family. In my family, that would be this buddy
sitting across the table from me if we were in
this situation. It is critical start documenting everything. Start a
recovery diary, okay. Take detailed notes on who you talk
(28:08):
to and when, what was their number, what are the
numbers that you called, what was said? Keep your paperwork organized,
Take photos, keep receipts, hotel bills, pet boarding receipts, so
that you can have these things easily accessible. If there
is a moment in human history in which that cell
(28:33):
phone in your pocket is of value to you, of
digital photography is value to you, then this is it. Okay,
keep your receipts, but also just take photos of everything
so you have got access to it, quick access to
it when you need it. More on exactly why and
(28:54):
how that all plays in into tomorrow's show as we
talk about the insurance game and the insurance process and
what that's going to mean to your home. So I
hope that is a value to you. Also, I want
to just tack on I promised before the break follow
up to Janette's call about fire rated windows. What if
you want to protect your home better but you can't
(29:18):
afford fire rated windows right now on the backside of
your house. Well, it's very simple. I want you to
look into fire rated window films. Fire rated window films
like you know, like the kind of film that you
put on a window, not a movie, a film like
window tinting. Okay, Now they don't need to be tinted.
(29:38):
They can be they can be reflected, they can be darkening,
but they don't. They could be perfectly clear, but three M,
as a perfect example, makes a whole series what we
call class aided class A rated fire films, which means
they can hold back fire for more than an hour. Okay,
(29:59):
and fire line move very fast. That's about all you need.
But the whole point is this, Like I was explaining
to Jeanette, the problem with a window in a fire
standard and ealed glass is that the imbalance of cool
on the inside and heat on the outside will cause
the glass to shatter and therefore the flames now of
a direct path into the house. A fire rated film
(30:20):
will not keep the glass from breaking. It will, but
the fire rated film will hold those shattered pieces of
glass together instead of having them fall out of the opening,
and it'll keep the opening sealed up. And that's the
key that as yet it's not as good as tempered glass,
(30:41):
but a fire rated film can save your house far
far less expensive.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
Three M makes a whole slew.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
Of them, and there are a lot of places in
southern California where you can have them ordered and installed
for you very quickly, at much less expense than replacing windows.
Consider that, pond that and join me right back here
tomorrow morning at nine o'clock as we continue our discussion
about what next when it comes to wildfire devastation. Until then,
(31:10):
my friend, stay safe and get out there and get
busy building yourself a beautiful life.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
We'll see you tomorrow morning.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
This has been Home with Dean Sharp, the House Whisper.
Tune into the live broadcast on KFI AM six forty
every Saturday morning from six to eight Pacific time, and
every Sunday morning from nine to noon Pacific time, or
anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Am six forty live streaming in eighth D everywhere on
the iHeartRadio app. Dean Sharp the house Whisper live with
you this smoky Saturday morning here in Southern California, live
every Saturday and Sunday morning. Follow us on social media.
We only do the good kind, I promise, the uplifting, informative,
(00:30):
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program also the house Whisper podcast that you can listen
to anytime, anywhere on demand, hundreds of episodes, all searchable
(00:56):
by topic. It is your home improvement reference live library.
And if your home is in need of a more
personal house Whisper attention you. Yes, you can book an
in home design consult with me. Yes, me and the
tea here.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Just go to house Whisper dot Design for more information.
You can fill out our contact sheet there house Whisper
dot Design for an in home design consult for your
home all right, we are, yes, continuing our coverage here
at KFI of the California wildfires here in a Los
Angeles area. We're taking a particular perspective. I want to
(01:38):
talk to you about where we go from here? Where
do we go from here? So let me ask this
question or pose this thought as it were. Let me
pull up my note here. If you've lost your home
or business in these wildfires, what are the steps? Where
(02:00):
do you go? Okay? Well, obviously, as I said before
the break, the immediate concerns have to be addressed. You've
got to get out, you've got to get safe, you've
got to get to yourself temporary relocated. You need to
get fed, you need medical attention if necessary, and you
(02:23):
need to breathe and take a breath. And that's happening
all over the area right now. And that's what these
volunteer organizations and outposts, it's what the Red Cross, it's
what FEMA is here to help with. In the short term.
You need to be on the FEMA list. You need
to contact FEMA and make sure that they're aware of
(02:45):
you and your property, especially if it has been destroyed,
so know that you're a part of that and get
on that list next and they'll offer you some invaluable
advice as well. Next step got to call your insurance company. Now,
it doesn't have to be a long drawn out process
(03:06):
right now, it's going to be. It is going to be. Unfortunately.
We'll talk more on that, but for now, you need
to call your insurance company and you need to file
a claim. And that process is it's like I said,
it's going to be long and drawn out. But what
if I need relieve right now, Dean? What can I expect? Well,
(03:29):
here's the thing. If your house is has been completely
destroyed or radically affected by this, and what's the difference. Well,
you know you've heard some stories of people are like,
I can't believe my house survived. You know, it's the
only house standing in a two block radius, but my
house was, for whatever reason, untouched. There are some of
(03:51):
those stories dotted across you know, the great swath that
the fire has taken, or these fires have taken. But
that doesn't put them in an optimal situation either. If
the entire neighborhood is burned down around you, you shouldn't
be in that house. You're going to be surrounded by
toxic ash. And debris from not just you know, wildfire
(04:16):
burning is one thing. Homes burning with chemicals and being
released and now being exposed to the atmosphere around you.
Just because your house has been skipped by a fire
does not mean that house should be inhabited in most cases,
Also the local utilities, the infrastructure.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
Is there even water coming to the property?
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Is that water pottible at this point or does it
need to be boiled or is there just a no
boiled to just get out until we resolve it. As situations,
so just because a property survives and the other outlook
on that, by the way, is that okay? So your
house is still standing, smoke damage in that house, no doubt,
(05:04):
when every other house around you has burnt down. Also,
in the months to come, you're going to be in
a very lonely place. You're going to be surrounded by
a massive cleanup activity, and then you'll be surround you'll
find yourself in the middle of a massive reconstruction. So
the peace and quiet of your days is going to
(05:25):
be replaced with the rebuilding around you, if in fact,
there is rebuilding around you. So there are concerns across
the board. That is the lesson to take away whether
a house is standing or whether a house has been destroyed.
If your house, though, has been completely destroyed in the
event that resulted in a state of emergency being declared
(05:48):
in California, which these fires obviously have been, then your
insurance company here me Now, your insurance company is required
to immediately pay you a minimum of one third of
the estimated value of your personal belongings known as contents,
and a minimum of four months worth of rent for
(06:10):
the local area in which you live. This is the
most important immediate first step part of relief for you now,
since you are out of your home, and if your
home no longer is okay, the reason to file a
claim immediately is to take advantage of those factors so
(06:32):
that you can get yourself first priority, settled and relocated,
because I guarantee you there will even if the plan
is to rebuild, there will be no getting back to
that property for months and months ahead. Okay, that is
just simply the harsh reality of that. And so first
(06:55):
priority finding a place to settle in, to relocate, to breathe,
to rest, and then to take further steps. And we'll
talk about those further steps right on the other side.
KFI in charp the house whisper at your service.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Good Saturday morning to you.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
I hope it is a better Saturday morning for you
than for many who have been affected by these fires
in the greater Los Angeles area. Here we are here
covering that, of course, with the KFI twenty four hour
news room, Ailing Gonzalez is on hand, taking the tip
of the spear and reporting all of the updates as
(07:34):
we go, So for more information, stay tuned. We're the
place to be, We're the place to listen to it.
What am I doing on the show today, specifically in
regards to these fires today and tomorrow, I'm trying to
address some of the larger questions, none of the politics,
none of the criticisms. I'm talking about you and your home,
(07:57):
and for those of you who have not fortunately been
affected by these fires, we will be discussing again how
to fire harden your home, what are the best short
term and long term things to do. But I'm also
speaking to those who have been affected by a natural disaster,
and if you're listening to us nationwide, these principles apply
(08:21):
regardless of the nature of the natural disaster, but specifically
here in southern California. The fires that affect have affected
very much the last week and are going to affect
many many lives for months and years to come as
a result. Now, I was just saying this, and I
(08:43):
want to finish this thought and then we're going to
go to the phones because we've got some calls that
I want to take related to the fire. I had
mentioned to you that after you're safe, after you're out
of the zone, after health, immediate can concerns are taken
care of, you know, food, shelter and clothing, that kind
(09:05):
of stuff. Getting resettled is going to be really, really
key because it's a long road ahead to rebuild. If
your house I'm going to repeat this has been completely
destroyed in an event that is a State of California
emergency declaration event like this one is, then your insurance
(09:25):
company is required to immediately pay you a minimum of
a third of the estimated value of your personal belongings
also known as your contents, and a minimum of four
months worth of rent for the local area in which
you live. And yeah, those payments are required of the
insurance company whether an adjuster has inspected the home or not.
(09:50):
And so don't be sitting there thinking in ignorance. Well, okay,
that's great, but what do I do now, because no
one's allowed in the neighborhood where house burned out, So
an insurance adjuster can't get in there and inspect it
and start my claim. No, no, you start your claim
with the insurance company, and if your home has been
destroyed in this event, then you are entitled to that
(10:14):
whether or not an adjuster has inspected your home at
the moment. You can also ask your insurance provider for
cash advances for living expenses such as renting furniture, and
if you didn't know, there are companies that can come
to your temporary home furnish it right down to the
towels and sheets and kitchen utensils if necessary. There is
(10:40):
next steps, but our next step right now is to
see if we can take a couple of calls. I
want to talk to Jeannette. Hey, Jeannette, welcome home.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
Hi Dean.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
I live in the foothills in North Fantana. Santa Anna's
beautiful hill. But now I look at it and I
see fuel. A month or so ago, you were talking
about fire windows. I'm wondering if you can give a
list or put on your on your website a list
of reputable companies that I can get estimates from because
they are expensive, but I'm looking at it as an
(11:17):
investment to protect the house.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
Okay, So let me respond to that, and I'm not
I won't publish a list. And the reason is Jeannette,
because every major window manufacturer makes fire windows. But let
me explain what this is, okay, A fire rated window. Okay,
So when you say, when you come to a window
(11:41):
manufacturer and say I need fire windows because I live
in a wildlife urban interface and I'm you know, required
or I'm volunteering to do this for my home.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
So what this is.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
Essentially, the difference between a fire rated window and a
standard window is the glass.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
The lass is a tempered glass in a fire rated
window versus standard annealed glass. It's not about the frame,
it's not about the sashes, it's not about it's not
about anything else. It is about the glass. A large
proportion of property damage that occurs in a house, as
(12:21):
far as the way a fire enters a home, the
primary the two primary methods by which a fire enters
a home are embers. As we've talked about exhaustively, and
will continue to here on the program. Embers getting into
attics through vents and so on. But window openings, the
(12:42):
penetrations in our home, the holes in our walls, essentially
is the next primary way that a fire enters. Now
that's not embers. What that is is when the fire
line itself, when the fire actually reaches the the you know,
the the foot of our walls. Here is what happens.
Annealed glass. And I won't get into the process by
(13:05):
which glass is made, but annealed glass is standard window glass.
It's great, it's super and it does what it's supposed
to do. But annealed glass is manufactured at a relatively
in terms of glass low temperature. And as a result,
(13:26):
what happens is if you were to take annealed glass
and warm it up uniformly from all sides, then annealed
glass can actually put up with a tremendous amount of heat. Okay,
but that's not what happens. The fire licks up against
your house and suddenly the temperatures on the outside of
(13:48):
that pane of glass are over one thousand degrees and
the temperature on the inside of that pane of glass
is you know, a cool seventy two degrees inside conditioned home.
It is that differential which causes that pane of glass
to expand unevenly on the outside and not expand on
(14:10):
the inside surface and therefore shatter and crack. Once that
cracks and shatters, then all of a sudden, the flames
have an open doorway to actually enter the home. So
fire rated windows are standard windows. They look no different
than any other window or door in the house. Nobody
(14:31):
has to worry about, well, how is that going to
mess up the look of my house? There is no difference.
It is an additional expense. And the additional expense is
that the glass in a fire rated window is tempered glass.
Tempered glass has been heated and manufactured at thousands a
plural of degree, you know, about five thousand degrees. Tempered
(14:55):
glass can handle the temperature differential between the coolness of
the inside of your home and the extreme heat from
fire on the outside of your home and will not
shatter and therefore will not open a doorway into or
you know, literally a window into your home.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
If you have a sliding glass door, a sliding glass.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Door is tempered glass by code because every fenestration, every
window that dips lower that has glass below in California.
Actually this is I believe the National Building goes. Any
glass that comes closer to the floor than eighteen inches
(15:39):
okay below eighteen inches or the floor has to be
whether no matter what fire zone you live, and has
to be tempered because now it's in it's not fire
that we're worried about, but it's in the kickzone, right,
it's in a place where somebody can go through it.
So it has to be super strong tempered glass. So
fire windows, Jeanette, it's such a good question. I'm so
(16:01):
glad you asked it. Fire windows are windows with tempered glass,
not the anneal glass. That's the additional expense. Every major manufacturer,
you know, Anderson, Marvin mill Guard, I mean, just Pella.
You just go down the list, every major manufacturer of windows,
of reputable, high quality windows will make you a tempered
(16:24):
glass version of the window that you need, and that
is by definition, a fire rated window.
Speaker 4 (16:31):
Okay. So I'll just look at the ones that I'm
comfortable with, you know, national name brands, and come and
have them, come give me estimates and choose some of them,
and then I'll be fine. Exactly exactly, Okay, awesome, Thank
you so much. Thank you, thank you listen to you
every week. Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Oh, thank you so much, Jeanette for your support and
thanks for that great question. You just helped a lot
a lot of people understand what they need to do
in order to help fire harden their homes. All right,
more when we return your Home with Dean Sharp, the
House Whisper on a very fire smoky weekend here in
(17:08):
southern California.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
CAMFI AM six forty live streaming, and HD everywhere on
the iHeart Radio app. You are Home with Dean Sharp,
the House Whisper. We are continuing kfi's coverage of these
fires this morning. Specifically, I am talking to you about
things related to you, your home, your displacement if your
(17:41):
home was destroyed or radically affected by the fires. Of course,
from my expert perspective in terms of home design and
home building and the entire process. Tomorrow's show, I Will
let you know, will be very very much focused on
again reviewing what it takes to fire hard and a home,
(18:03):
but also what are these next steps in terms of
insurance claims? And the rebuilding process. When an entire neighborhood
and a regional infrastructure has been affected, you're not going
to want to miss that. And of course we will
be giving you ongoing live updates as we do with
Eileen Gonzalez at the tip of the spear here in
(18:25):
the twenty four hour newsroom here at KFI. I want
to take at least another call if we can. I
don't have a lot of time. I've been playing a
little fast and loose with our segment times here just
in order to get all the information you need to you.
But let's talk to Richard. Hey, Richard, welcome home, Good morning,
(18:46):
Good morning sir.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
How can I help Youah?
Speaker 3 (18:52):
I called in just to see if you needed any
background on how resident for fire systems are designed and
why they come up shorts.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Okay, well yeah, give us a quick overview.
Speaker 3 (19:08):
Well, essentially, we design our systems to put out a
large fire on a single commercial building or a few
residential buildings, and we size the pipes to bring the
fireflows to that location at a certain velocity, and then
(19:30):
when we look at the reservoir sizing, we look at
how long we're going to be pulling water at a
fireflow rate, and it's typically for a very large building
about four hours. So the reservoirs are sized for the
four hour fireflow plus some capacity for every day demands
(19:56):
of the water system. So we have so we have
a limited amount of reservoir water available based on the
current state of.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
Design, right, which has obviously been tested and brought to
its knees by these fires, specifically like the Palisades Fire.
Of course, there was already issues about low water pressure
during some of those fights, and it was really just
(20:33):
literally the perfect storm. The speed of the fire, the
rate of the fire, the amount of structures that had
to be defended and that were on fire, broken pipelines,
compromised lines, all at the same time, too much water
being pulled out of the system to fight too many
(20:54):
fronts at in too many locations, just literally a perfect
storm in which water became a very very limited resource
during that fight. In your opinion, now you're a civil engineer, Richard, yes, sir,
in your opinion, is this something that we need to
(21:14):
take a serious look at upgrading. It's not like it's
going to be a quick fix overnight. I mean we're
talking about I would imagine hundreds of millions of dollars
of infrastructure upgrade all across the Southland. If if we
were to take this seriously, is that something that's likely
to happen, and should it happens.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
There's more to it than that. I mean, the system
that does well for what it's designed to do, and
when we have a wildfire and several homes are involved,
the expectation is that we're going to put air assets
in the up to fight the wildfire, right and so
when we're not able to do that, then there's obviously
(21:57):
some problems. But the real where you could really make
an impact is what you're going to be talking about tomorrow,
where you make the homes defendable by using the windows
that are appropriate, moving flammables away from the house, you know,
(22:19):
getting rid of landscaping that is inducive to starting a fire,
and and there's something else, but I've.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
Forgotten it, Richard.
Speaker 3 (22:31):
I think you're going to talk about it tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
Yeah, absolutely, my friend, and I really appreciate.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
I appreciate the call, and I appreciate the insight and
the support as well. So from a civil engineering perspective
and from a a water systems designs perspective you know,
you heard it right there, and something to consider everyone.
The fact of the matter is that, you know, we
(22:57):
could approach this from two different directions. You could build
every house out of tissue paper and then as a result,
pay billions of dollars to introduce a fire deterrent system
in order to fast respond with you know, millions of
(23:19):
gallons of water every time a tissue paper house gets ignited.
Or or on the individual home level, you could simply
fire harden a home that makes it more difficult for
homes to burn and easier for fire services and the
existing infrastructure to defend. There's probably some give in both directions,
(23:45):
but absolutely in regards to our listeners and what we're
here to talk about on an ongoing basis, You're absolutely right, Richard.
Tomorrow we will continue to talk about how to fire
harden your home, all right, when we come back. Thank you,
Richard for the call. I so appreciate it. When we
come back for our final segment here, I want to
(24:05):
follow up something on Janette's call earlier about fire windows,
something that I did not discuss with her. We answered
her question thoroughly, but a lot of you are in
situations where you're like you have an older home now
and now, of course it's code code requirement that if
(24:26):
you build new or you do a major remodel in
a wildlife urban interface, if you're in a high fire
risk zone, then at least the side of the house
that faces the interface needs fire rated windows are they're
required by code on new builds, major remodels and so on.
(24:47):
But there is not a regulation that is twisting arms
for people with existing homes who do not have fire
rated windows pushed up against open spaces to have to
do anything. And if you're like Jeannette and you're made
the decision like I want to do this now, Jeannette
is she's stepping up and doing you know, she's gonna
(25:08):
get bids and she's going to change out her windows.
Well that's great. What if you don't have the budget
to do that, Well, I want to talk to you
about what your options are and we'll do it right
on the other side of the news in Sharp House
with her welcome home. Thanks for spending this time with
me this morning. It is a privilege. As always, I
(25:29):
am glad that you are here. I'm literally glad that
you are still here. If you live in southern California,
UH and have been affected, which all of us have
to some degree or another, by these wildfires that are still
raging here. Hopefully in the next few hours and a
couple of days before the wind events return, we can
(25:51):
get a stronger handle on these fires, get them under control.
Fingers crossed, and our thoughts and prayers go out to
all of the firefighters out there who are helping us
stay safe and who are giving their all to see
it happen. Here on the program we have today and
we will again tomorrow, be talking about fire hardening your
(26:13):
home and also something that we have not talked a
lot about in the past, and that is when everything
is lost, where do you go from there? What are
the next steps in terms of literally who to call
and what to expect. Now, all so far I've shared
with you FEMA Red Cross, these are first steps. These
(26:35):
are immediate emergency first steps to get you and your
family safe, get them fed, get them warm, and get
you in a at least a temporary shelter. After that
comes long term temporary, long term temporary meaning that you're
(26:57):
not going to be going back to that home or
thathborhood anytime soon. We've got to find you a place
to be so life can go on for you while
you are rebuilding or redirecting, or deciding where to go
from there. Filing an insurance claim is crucial asap because
of the emergency funds that are available, because of the
(27:20):
funds that will be available for you for temporary housing
and so on. And the only thing I'm going to
add to that for today, and we'll go further tomorrow.
The only thing I want to add for that today
is start documenting everything soon as you get your feet
under you, as so, as soon as you've taken a
few breaths and gotten a decent night's sleep. Know this,
(27:44):
Who in the family is the accountant, Who in the
family is the court reporter? Who is the documentarian in
the family. In my family, that would be this buddy
sitting across the table from me if we were in
this situation. It is critical start documenting everything. Start a
recovery diary, okay. Take detailed notes on who you talk
(28:08):
to and when, what was their number, what are the
numbers that you called, what was said? Keep your paperwork organized,
Take photos, keep receipts, hotel bills, pet boarding receipts, so
that you can have these things easily accessible. If there
is a moment in human history in which that cell
(28:33):
phone in your pocket is of value to you, of
digital photography is value to you, then this is it. Okay,
keep your receipts, but also just take photos of everything
so you have got access to it, quick access to
it when you need it. More on exactly why and
(28:54):
how that all plays in into tomorrow's show as we
talk about the insurance game and the insurance process and
what that's going to mean to your home. So I
hope that is a value to you. Also, I want
to just tack on I promised before the break follow
up to Janette's call about fire rated windows. What if
you want to protect your home better but you can't
(29:18):
afford fire rated windows right now on the backside of
your house. Well, it's very simple. I want you to
look into fire rated window films. Fire rated window films
like you know, like the kind of film that you
put on a window, not a movie, a film like
window tinting. Okay, Now they don't need to be tinted.
(29:38):
They can be they can be reflected, they can be darkening,
but they don't. They could be perfectly clear, but three M,
as a perfect example, makes a whole series what we
call class aided class A rated fire films, which means
they can hold back fire for more than an hour. Okay,
(29:59):
and fire line move very fast. That's about all you need.
But the whole point is this, Like I was explaining
to Jeanette, the problem with a window in a fire
standard and ealed glass is that the imbalance of cool
on the inside and heat on the outside will cause
the glass to shatter and therefore the flames now of
a direct path into the house. A fire rated film
(30:20):
will not keep the glass from breaking. It will, but
the fire rated film will hold those shattered pieces of
glass together instead of having them fall out of the opening,
and it'll keep the opening sealed up. And that's the
key that as yet it's not as good as tempered glass,
(30:41):
but a fire rated film can save your house far
far less expensive.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
Three M makes a whole slew.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
Of them, and there are a lot of places in
southern California where you can have them ordered and installed
for you very quickly, at much less expense than replacing windows.
Consider that, pond that and join me right back here
tomorrow morning at nine o'clock as we continue our discussion
about what next when it comes to wildfire devastation. Until then,
(31:10):
my friend, stay safe and get out there and get
busy building yourself a beautiful life.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
We'll see you tomorrow morning.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
This has been Home with Dean Sharp, the House Whisper.
Tune into the live broadcast on KFI AM six forty
every Saturday morning from six to eight Pacific time, and
every Sunday morning from nine to noon Pacific time, or
anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app
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