To the editor: I’ve lived in Los Angeles for 50 years. I began collaborating in evacuations in 1961 (“‘Herd immunity’: Pushing a coastal group to turn out to be fireproof after the Palisades fireplace,” Nov. 12). Bel-Air within the ‘60s, Malibu within the ‘70s, Sunland within the ‘80s, Pacific Palisades within the ‘90s. All skilled giant wildfires.
I knew loads of good, cussed engineers and that is what I discovered from their efforts: Constructing homes that may’t burn doesn’t do something good for the occupant. Except you beautify like a jail, with concrete and chrome steel, and hold no possessions, every part inside melts, cooks and contaminates. Home equipment, plastic pipes — principally, you’re engineering a poisonous shell that prices some huge cash to get rid of.
Daniel Eisenberg, Los Angeles
