This story from The Blaze is one where one guy, foreseeing what things could go wrong, prepared for a risk he judged rightly that came to be (emphasis mine, reformatted):
As wildfires blaze throughout Washington state, one man simply sat in his living room safe and sound as flames reaching up to 20 feet surrounded his home. That’s because John Belles built his house, a concrete dome, specifically to withstand anything and everything nature could throw his way in Okanogan County. According to KPTV-TV, the house hadn’t yet been tested by wildfire. But after the flames passed, the survivalist said there was no damage whatsoever to his home.
I take exception to the “survivalist” innuendo, for isn’t it a fact that anyone alive generally wants to continue to live (er, “survive”)? But it looked like he properly gauged his risk and got it right. He goes on with his recounting:
“I didn’t know how it was going to work out, but I figured I was safe inside the building,” Belles said. “It was cool and well-protected with the concrete and everything.” Belles said he didn’t have much time before the flames from the wildfire that’s now more than 227,000 acres in size were already on his property. The flames were raging about 30 yards away from his property before he decided to take shelter in his home. He said he knew that moving into the valley would be risky, given the weather and fire risk, and he also knew that police might not always be able to help out right away. He didn’t want to have to depend on anyone, so he built the concrete house.
“It’s a perfect example of the authorities being spread thin and not being able to take care of everybody,” Belles said. “You know, you can’t depend on that you have to prepare.”
So, what risks do you see on the horizon – and what are you doing about it? How prepared are you?
