Long Beach Fire. My parents are fine.

[kcontheroad]

I realize that several of you know my parents or know of them. I've made some references to the fire, but I haven't posted it here so everyone can know they're OK. My parents live in the same tower as the unit where the fire was. Their place is directly below it on the 11th floor. They have a second one two floors below that that they currently

Comments

[kcontheroad]

Did you watch the first video? You have to see an advert before the video proper begins. Some shots of the area where they live. Anyway, you can see that the fire became very fierce and some one stranded on the balcony had no hope to escape.

Firetruck ladders don't reach that high, of course. When the building was built, it included stand pipes that go all the way to the top, so the firefighters were able to access water once they made it up there. I don't envy them carrying all that equipment up 18 flights of stairs, but they did it and managed to keep the threat to people and property to a minimum.

[kcontheroad]

The building was built to exceed fire code at the time it was constructed in the 1960s. Each of the units has only one way to get to the central tower, which is where the two stairwells and the two elevators are.

[kcontheroad]

I would expect that any house that is only a couple of storeys high has better fire escape provision than that. After all, any window would be a potential escape route as a fall from 20 feet is likely survivable. I expect they weren't making high-rises in 1874.