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From : Lila Hayes
Sent : August 31, 2005
Subject : OFRG weekly update
Meeting
Reminder
We had a great time at our second fire survivor
social. We hope you can join us for our next social on September 25
(location to be announced).
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Index
1. Construction Loan Opportunity
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In The News
1.
Canine infuses spark in man's job, Aug 28, 2005 San Bernardino Sun
2. Insurers Brace for Katrina's Bill, Aug 30, 2005, LA Times
3. Cramer's 'Mad Money' Recap: Make the Most of the Weather, Aug 26,
2005, By TheStreet.com Staff
4. A fresh calamity?, Aug 28, 2005, LA Times
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On The Web
1.California Fire Alliance
2. Global Fire Monitoring
Center (GFMC)
3. The history of redevelopment in San
Bernardino
4. Understanding Broad-Scale Wildfire Risks
in a Human-Dominated Landscape
5. Preparing a Firewise Plant List for
Wildland-Urban Interface Residents
1.
Construction Loan Opportunity
---
Home Works
Inc, formerly known as Neighborhood Housing Services of the Inland
Empire
offers construction loans to low to moderate income homeowners. Please
contact them at 909.884.6891.
---
In The News (some links
might require free registration)
---
1. Canine infuses spark in man's
job
08/28/2005 San Bernardino Sun
[clip]
In January, the Fire Department
received a scholarship from State Farm Insurance that paid for the [arson
detecting] dog and an intensive five-week course at the Maine Criminal Justice
Academy.
--
2. Insurers Brace for Katrina's
Bill
By Kathy M. Kristof, LA
Times Staff Writer
8:47 AM PDT, August 30, 2005
Insurers today were assessing the
cost of cleaning up from Hurricane Katrina, which appeared likely to become the
second-most-costly storm to hit the United States.
Initial estimates of
the damage were as high as $30 billion, but the figure dropped as Katrina veered
away from New Orleans. By today, insurers were looking at a bill of between $9
billion and $26 billion.
Editorial by Lila: This
will give them a good excuse to increase their insurance premiums, won't
it? I heard somewhere that last years hurricanes ate up the major
insurer's 3rd quarter earnings. Of course they still had the other three
quarters to squeak by on so I think they're still doing okay. This is why
I included the next article. I heard him on the radio suggesting that now
was a good time to buy certain insurance stocks since they were
dropping.
--
3. Cramer's 'Mad
Money' Recap: Make the Most of the Weather
By TheStreet.com Staff
8/26/2005 7:25 PM
EDT
"Hurricanes can't make you money. That trade never
works," Jim Cramer said Friday on his "Mad Money" TV show.
"But, you can always make money off of people
acting stupidly. You've got to own Montpelier Re Holdings (MRH:NYSE - news - research - Cramer's Take) because
people always sell good insurance companies during bad weather. It's just the
kind of knee-jerk stupid stuff that happens every September, every August, right
around now," said Cramer.
Braving the Storms
Cramer said insurance companies always have to pay
out during hurricane season, and they manage for that. "That's what they
do. They're in the insurance business!" An expected hurricane shouldn't
have any effect on their earnings forecasts, he said.
[more HERE]
emphasis added
--
4. A fresh
calamity?
First a
landslide, now a safety net rips. New bankruptcy laws won't let owners
walk.
August 28, 2005
LA Times
WHEN the drafters of the new federal bankruptcy law set out to crack down
on America's deadbeats, they probably didn't have folks like Todd MacCullum in
mind.
The Laguna Beach resident hasn't maxed out his credit cards on lavish
purchases. Nor has he made some outrageously irresponsible investment decision.
Yet he finds himself caught in the crosshairs of the new regulations, which take
effect Oct. 17.
MacCullum's offense: His home happened to sit in the
path of a June 1 landslide.
Now, as he juggles a million-dollar mortgage
on a house that will be unlivable for at least a year, paying rent on temporary
shelter for his family and working with the city to rebuild the hillside that
collapsed onto his residence, MacCullum is left wondering if what he sees as the
worst possible outcome of all — a bankruptcy — is going to get even worse come
October.
[more
HERE]
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On The Web
---
1.California Fire
Alliance
Mission
The Alliance is a cooperative membership dedicated
to the support of pre-fire principles and activities ensuring that pre-fire
management provides for public and community safety, minimizes costs and loses,
and maintains and improves the quality of the environment. The Alliance
constitutes an interagency forum for coordinating member agencies' efforts in an
integrated fashion.
--
2. Global Fire Monitoring
Center (GFMC)
The GFMC is an Activity of the UN
International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR)
--
3. The history of redevelopment in San
Bernardino
Although not related to disaster recovery, I found
this to be an interesting paper which compares San Bernardino to Pasadena
because of their "...apparent similarities... in terms of age, early history, and
population levels...." (page 2)
--
4. Understanding Broad-Scale Wildfire Risks
in a Human-Dominated Landscape
Forest Service scientists in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina
(Southern Research Station 4851) have modeled the statistical links between
forest wildfire and vegetation management, human land use, and climatic factors
in Florida counties. Broad-scale statistical evaluations of wildfire incidence
can answer policy relevant questions about the effectiveness of micro-level
vegetation management and can identify subjects needing further study.
To
learn more about this research visit the website at:
http://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/pubs/ja/ja_prestemon008.pdf (Adobe
Acrobat required)
--
5. Preparing a Firewise Plant List for Wildland-Urban
InterfaceResidents
This extension publication is a guide to making a firewise plant list to
assist local homeowners with firewise landscaping. It includes a step-by-step
method for determining whether or not a particular plant species is appropriate
for firewise landscaping.
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