Why is it ignorant ? I would have thought by now, ALL areas would have some, reasonable building codes, basic stuff like a beam spanning 10' must be 3-2by10s, roof loads, exterior doors to be minimum of 34", bedrooms to have a minimum sized window, bedrooms below grade to have 'egress' windows. Stuff that relates to structures being solid and safe, should be minimum code . I do KNOW that in 'earthquake zones' you need a lot of 'brackets to tie roofs to walls ,walls to floors, floors to foundations' as I once built 'shaker tables' for earthquake analysis. Load up the data , stand on table, YOU got to feel what it was like.....
Gee, with respect to LA area....it's well known FIRES occour in those area (one CDN lady interviewed, said it didn't seem that bad, we get them all the time..have for decades ), BUT NOT permitted to have proper fire breaks, remove 'brush', fill reservoirs, homes built with wooden siding, bitumen roofs.
What's criminal is that 'building codes' weren't written or updates or enforced to address these 'issues', or 'renovations' have been done over the decades since they were originally built 50-60s. There was an interesting picture on the web, beachfront shot...all houses GONE except ONE, made of concrete or stucco . It'd be nice to pull the permits on those houses , see when they were built as it's odd that only ONE is still standing.
Meanwhile HUGE inferno up the coast in Monteray Bay, some lithium battery bank at the power plant. Locals protested, did not want it, got built anyway, it will probably be an inferno for days as you can't use water to put out lithium battery fires....
