What Could Go Wrong -

When you build a world-class art museum on the crest of a hill in brush country?  Next to a freeway so busy that if often resembles a parking lot? No smokers among them!  No nut case arsonists.  No faulty tailpipes.  Nahhh!

I am referring, of course, to the Getty Museum, Los Angeles; entrance off of the 405 freeway.   Given the number of times Malibu has burned (or swallowed mudslides) it is surprising they didn't put the art there.

The Getty (as it's most commonly known) opened on December 16, 1997, at a cost of $1.3 billion.  It hosts  1.8 million visitors per year.  Then and now, museum management brags that it is "fireproof" (which is just asking for it in my opinion) with a grass helipad, a one million gallon underwater reservoir for the internal, continual hosing down of the grounds.

Speaking of the grounds, all of the chaparral was ruthlessly ripped out (it will burn like a bastard) and replaced with "poverty weed" instead.  Like the famed kudzu of the American South it is very quick to reproduce and it is believed to be more fireproof than the chaparral it replaced.

Herds of goats are brought in periodically to further clean the surrounding area of weeds.

In addition to double, concrete or stone walls, the many rooves are made of stone as an ember discourager.  There is an air system that blows smoke away and sucks in fresh air.  It sounds like a chemistry/dangerous viruses lock system.

Fire fighters were consulted and the roads to and from were designed to accommodate fire trucks.  A cousin, a fire chief, told me that speed bumps on our city streets are hated because at speed, the bumps rip out the axles.    

I read today, speaking of firemen, that for this fire, the Getty restaurants are used as a rest station and that they particularly like being up in the air to see and then direct where the fire is at that moment and which areas need attention.  The $1.3 billion fire rest.  And worth every penny of it if keeps a fireman safe.

Yes I know females are firefighters, too.  It's unnecessary to type firemen/women as we've all been brainwashed to be Politically Correct.