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Developing the proper blackjack strategy will allow you to instantly dominate the blackjack tables in no time. The house won’t even know what hit them. In order to develop the proper black jack strategy to consistently beat the house, you need to study and make sure you have a 100% understanding of the blackjack rules. I don’t mean basic blackjack rules, I mean knowing when to stand, hit, double down, etc… there are some great blackjack charts out there that really give you a good strategy to consistently win. Even though you have this type of strategy to consistently win, it’s going to take more than that.

Developing a proper blackjack strategy and using your black jack strategy sheet, you should have no problem bringing down the house! You can use some of the winning black jack strategies out there to win consistently online and in person. In person you have the option to play on blackjack table felt which is extremely nice. There is nothing like playing in person, even though it isn’t quite as profitable as playing online. Playing online blackjack allows you to see many more blackjack hands an hour. You can play 5 casinos at one time! Imagine developing an extremely profitable strategy that consistently wins you $50.00 or more an hour. That is $104,000 a year! Don’t believe blackjack can make you that much a year? Oh it can…I am living proof. When I started out playing blackjack I was losing horribly. I tried card counting strategies and card counting systems that just caused me to lose. I focused too much on counting cards rather than spending time truly learning every aspect of the game. One of the first mistakes many players make is they jump right into a blackjack game online or in person without even knowing and understanding how to properly play. Blackjack is more difficult than knowing 21 is the winning hand. It involves skill, a little bit of luck, and a strategy. Once you master these 3 things you should have no problem killing the house. Right now with no blackjack basic strategy guide, the house has roughly a 5% edge on you each hand. That is 55% house, 50% you. The reason being, the house gets to act last. The house has plenty of chances to win even before they see another card. The worst thing you can do is BUST. You automatically lose!

I have been consistently winning at blackjack for decades all thanks to a system I invented. It has proven to win time and time again with little to know effort. With a blackjack strategy chart and my system, you are guaranteed to win at blackjack. The house will never know what hit them. I have won so much a casino tried to accuse me of cheating! No one could believe how well my system works, until they try it themselves. In whatever blackjack system you try and use to make profit playing blackjack, I wish you the best of luck!

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When playing an online blackjack game, there are some great blackjack tips that will turn you into a successful blackjack player overnight. Below are free blackjack tips guaranteed to make you successful:

If you have: – You should:

9 or lower – hit

10 or 11 – double down if your cards add up to more than the dealer’s card showing. If not, HIT right away.

12 thru 16 – hit when dealer’s card showing is 7 or higher; stand otherwise.

17 or higher – Stand

With Soft hands (any points count for a blackjack hand that uses an ace counting as 11 points instead of 1 point), things change a bit. A soft hand includes any hand that uses an Ace as an 11 instead of a 1, such as a “Soft 17”, which includes and ace and a 6.

13 thru 18 – Double down when dealer’s card showing is 5 or 6

17 or lower – HIT

18 – Hit when dealer’s card is six or less; stand when dealer’s card is seven or more

19 or higher – stand

Now if you have Pairs here is what you do:

Always split Aces and EIGHTS.

Never split 10s, 4s or 5s

Split all other pairs when dealer’s card showing is 6 or less

Using these blackjack tips along with a proven winning blackjack strategy I developed a few years ago, I have consistently been winning at blackjack ever since. I wouldn’t be where I am today without using these proven winning strategies. The house never knows what hits them every time I sit down at the blackjack table. Winning at blackjack isn’t easy, but with the proper online blackjack guide and other winning techniques, you will be dominating blackjack in no time. You can go from a person with no knowledge of blackjack and doesn’t even know the blackjack rules, into making $1000 a week constantly. A proper black jack strategy engine or blackjack strategy card game will allow you to without a doubt become one of the top blackjack players in the world.

Blackjack is a game that involves skill, strategy, and a little bit of luck. The worst thing you could ever do is not play blackjack at all. It is without a doubt the most profitable game of all online gambling games out there. You can play it right in the comfort of your own home, easily, safely, and hassle free. When playing online blackjack, you don’t have to tip the dealer! You’re saving hundreds of dollars right there. The house naturally has an advantage over you without the proper strategy. Now that you have the proper strategy you will easily have an advantage over the house. Please don’t waste your money on card counting software or card counting strategies.

These systems have proven to fail time and time again. I wish you best of luck down your blackjack career path. I gave up my accounting job to peruse my professional blackjack career. I now make over 100K a year playing the game I love. It has been my dream since my college days.

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When playing in any online blackjack tournament, you will need to have winning blackjack tools to make you successful in order to win. You obviously can’t just jump right into a blackjack tournament and start winning. You need to do your research to find a winning blackjack strategy guide and play free blackjack online. By playing free blackjack online, you can get an understanding of the blackjack rules and learn what it takes to consistently beat the house. When playing blackjack online, you will never run into single deck blackjack. Single deck blackjack is nearly obsolete and never played for real money in casinos. When playing in an online casino you will see on average a 4 deck blackjack game.

The only way to become an expert blackjack player is to gain experience and practice winning strategies. The great thing about learning blackjack is that you can play it for free until you master beating the house. Poker on the other hand requires you to play for real money before you can learn how to REALLY play. Poker players play differently when fake money is involved. The only way you can get a real grasp of playing poker is depositing and playing for real money. Now with blackjack, you can play against the house for FREE all day, until your strategy that you use works. Then you can jump into real money situations. Playing for real money can be EXTREMELY profitable if you follow the winning ways.

I started playing blackjack over 20 years ago and I have recently retired last year. After 5 years of constant blackjack play, I was winning over $100,000 a year. How did I do it? I used a proven blackjack strategy I developed throughout the years. It has taken me over $30,000 in losses and 20 years of experience to come up with the type of system I invented. It doesn’t involve card counting, so please leave your card counting strategy at the door. I think card counting is a bunch of nonsense. It doesn’t take a genius to figure it out especially nowadays the minimum amount of decks used in any blackjack game is 4. Card counting would work if it still involved single deck blackjack. All the hype and all the money people have wasted with card counting software is ridiculous. Many companies are trying to create this type of software to pull fast ones on blackjack newbies just starting out. Don’t fall victim. There are plenty of FREE blackjack strategies out there. It’s worth paying for a winning blackjack strategy, but why not just use one that is absolutely FREE and guaranteed to make you a winner? In whatever blackjack strategy you decide to use I wish you the best of luck. There is no greater feeling in the world than consistently beating the house to earn you a stable income. I haven’t worked a real job in 20 years thanks to blackjack online and in person! If I can do it, I know you can also!

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Blackjack is a game where you play against the dealer with other people around you sitting at the same table playing against the dealer also. You are NOT playing against the other people sitting around you. The object of blackjack is to try and get as close as you can to 21 or 21 without going over. Blackjack rules will be critical to your success so you will need to learn as many as you can. There are different variations to blackjack such as strip blackjack, samsung blackjack ii, samsung blackjack, etc… The only profitable blackjack game you can play is the standard blackjack games that are in every single casino and online.

To be a successful blackjack player you need to develop a winning blackjack strategy and stick to that strategy forever. Some people use card counting as a blackjack strategy such as the card counting mit group. I am not a big card counting fan, I think that should be for roulette systems. In blackjack before they implanted using multiple card decks, card counting definitely worked. The only time card counting will work is single deck blackjack games. These are usually played in the comfort of your own home amongst friends. You can’t really find one of these games in a casino. Most casinos only allow 4 decks or more blackjack games with automatic shufflers making card counting pretty much impossible. So if you bought some kind of card counting strategies, I am sorry but you definitely wasted your time and your money. The only proven blackjack strategies are ones using the blackjack strategy chart along mixed in with a winning system. How to play blackjack is a burning question many advent blackjack players want to know. More especially they want to know how to play blackjack and make a CONSISTENT WINNING playing. Again, the best blackjack tips I could ever give you is to stay clear of card counting strategies and pick up a copy of a free blackjack strategy guaranteed to dominate the house. You will be bringing down the house in no time. Eventually you will be winning so much casinos will think you are cheating! Sounds a little farfetched but it happened to me back in 1992. The casino was keeping a close eye on me at the blackjack table and even took me into a small room and questioned me. They told me they have never seen anyone win as much as I was doing. At one point I won 24 hands in a row, setting a record at that time which is still held today by me in that same casino. It is an amazing feeling constantly beating the house. The house is designed to have a 5% better chance than you winning EVERY SINGLE TIME. I don’t know about you, but that’s not fair. Using proven strategies you will eliminate the houses edge and you will actually have a 95% to 5% chance of crushing the HOUSE consistently! I wish you the best in your blackjack career!

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To win blackjack consistently you need more than the understanding of blackjack rules, you need a black strategy that will show you how to completely dominate the house on a regular basis. Without the proper blackjack strategies in place you will be setting yourself up for a disaster. In order to consistently beat casino after casino, you need to have a blackjack cheat sheet. A blackjack sheet will show you win to HIT, STAND, DOUBLE DOWN, etc… based on what the dealer is showing and the value in your hand. If you don’t know the black jack rules, they are very simple. The basic blackjack strategy and rules to follow is getting yourself as close as you can to 21 without busting or going over and beating the dealer’s hand. The dealer has a natural advantage over other players at the blackjack table because they get to see if you as a player BUSTS or not. If you bust the house automatically wins and you lose. It’s the worst feeling in the world busting and allowing the dealer to win the hand without them having to take another card!

If you follow a great blackjack system, there should be no reason why you are busting that often. There is a blackjack cheat sheet in place for these types of situations where it could go as a hold, stand, or hit. If you follow these simple black jack rules you should have no reason making a stable income playing blackjack online or in person. Before you nose dive into playing online blackjack or live casino blackjack, you need to play free blackjack. You can find blackjack for free just about everywhere you turn on the internet. A simple google search will find you plenty of free casino sites to play blackjack on. The great thing about blackjack is that you can gain experience over the house playing for FREE. This is the only type of gambling game that lets you gain as much experience as you need completely free. Once you find a blackjack system that works for you than at that point in time you can move into playing blackjack online or in person for real money. Blackjack is the only gambling game where you can gain as much experience as you want completely free, unlike online poker where you HAVE to play for real money to gain experience. You can’t play online poker for free because the poker players at play money games will go all in with any hand that they see. With blackjack you are playing against the house as you would for real money. There is no difference in the type of game or competition based on money. Consistently earning a stable income playing blackjack online is one of the best feelings in the world. I have quit my day job and only play blackjack online to earn a stable income. Recently I just broke the 100k a year mark and you can too!

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Today, many pre-war die cast cars are considered rare and collectible items. The earliest die cast items and vehicles were made of ZAMAK alloy that didn’t stand the test of time particularly well. There was a tendency for these miniatures produced in the early 1900s to form cracks and break. The alloy is zinc-based with aluminum and other metals not known for durability. Consequently, pre-war cars in excellent condition command precious prices at auction.

Chicago – From Metal Type to Die Cast

In America, the road to die cast model cars was paved by Charles Dowst who saw an amazing new technology displayed at the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The Line-O-Type machine was targeted at publishers and captured Dowd’s attention since his family was in the business. Simply – the Line-O-Type made it possible for metal letters to be molded, set in lines of type, inked and printed for newspapers and magazines.

But Dowst, being an innovator, imagined other uses for the technology. In 1904 his plant is Chicago, renamed “Dowst Metal Novelties,” began to produce other miniature items such as small animals and whistles, rings and toys that were used as prizes in the popular “Cracker Jacks” boxes. By 1906, Dowst noticed how fascinated children were with the appearance of horseless carriages on the city streets and soon toy cars were rolling off the assembly line. By 1910, the company was producing a line of Model T Ford replicas that were very detailed, yet affordable.

An early catalog from the Dowst firm pictured a variety of items from pins and cuff links to tiny trains, boats and horse-drawn fire engines. Experts say the first real die cast automobile made its debut in the catalog in 1911 – a diminutive limousine with a closed in top and extended hood characteristic of cars from that period.

In 1922, Dowst made yet another mark in history when he expanded the company’s line of toys and named them “Tootsie Toys” in honor of his granddaughter. The Tootsie Toy brand continued to produce a variety of die cast models that were characterized by high quality during the years leading up to WWII. This era marked the birth of the die cast industry in America and other companies soon jumped on the bandwagon.

England Innovator Launches Dinky Die Cast

At about the same time, die cast models were being introduced “on the other side of the pond,” in Liverpool, England. There, in 1901, a clerk named Frank Hornby created a technology he called “Mechanics Made Easy” – which soon morphed into Meccano. The company’s first successful products were 00 gauge model railway systems. But Hornby took railway cars and engines further, producing entire die cast scenes to create a railway station. There were workers, passengers, track, stations and other accessories that proved extremely popular. So popular that, by 1910 the sets were being exported all over the world and led to expansion of the company to France and Germany. By 1922, the Meccano opened a branch in Elizabeth, New Jersey.

It was in 1934 that Meccano adopted the name which it still bears today, “Meccano Dinky Toys.” This came with the release of a set of die cast cars in the 1:43 scale. At a cost of 4 shillings, a youngster could own a sports car, a truck, delivery van, tractor or tank. Other models followed and the company grew more faithful to reproducing accurate detail in its model cars.

But, many Dinky die cast cars suffered from lack of quality in the metal used in casting during this prewar period. Consequently, models from this era in excellent condition are highly prized and sought after. In 1994, for example, a Dinky delivery van produced in 1937 sold at auction for $19,355. A post war 1952 Dinky Foden lorry fetched 12,000£ in 2003 – or about $19,560 at the 2003 exchange rate.

For many collectors, die cast cars from this era offer a few important enticements. They are rare and, therefore, may be a decent investment. Secondly, they are brimming with nostalgia for another, perhaps simpler time and place. These Tootsies and Dinky cars are not modern reproductions of historic vehicles, but die cast models that survived the hands of children and the test of time.

Visit us to see our complete line of model cars and diecast model cars including BMW Diecast Model Cars

My book, RETURN TO THE MIDDLE KINGDOM: One Family, Three Revolutionaries, and the Birth of Modern China, is non-fiction, but in order to bring the history alive, I had to bring the characters and places alive. I’ve given some idea of how I wrote three-dimensional characters previously, and now I want to say how important it is to know the places the protagonists had been to.

According to the family lore, Eugene undid what the Allied Powers, led by Woodrow Wilson, had done to China at the Versailles Peace Conference in 1919. They agreed to transfer the defeated Germany’s colonial interests in China’s Shandong to Japan and forced China to accept the Peace Treaty they had drafted, although China had fought with them and so was, also, a victor in the war. This was a true-life story of David versus Goliath, but if I could not find solid documentation, readers might suspect it was family adulation.

From Jack and his siblings, I learned that Eugene, as the legal adviser to the Chinese delegation to Versailles, got hold of a copy of the secret pact signed by Wilson’s Secretary of State, Robert Lansing, and the Japanese diplomat, Baron Ishii. But who gave it to him? Something happened in Paris. What? Jack told me that the two cities Eugene loved most were Peking (Beijing) and Paris. The City of Light, according to Eugene, was lit by Prometheus himself.

I journeyed to Paris. When I walked in the halls of the Versailles Palace, I could not help trembling with awe, as the grandeur overwhelmed the tiny mortal me. Versailles, in 1919, was the Olympus of its time, where the gods gathered to decide the fate of nations, but Eugene wanted to steal their thunder and he did. In the evening I returned to my humble room in a small hotel. I opened the window and looked out. I saw what Eugene had seen, according to what Jack once had told me. “There was a unique light bathing the whole city … it even made magic out of some not-too-attractive streets, lanes, and corners.”

Paris inspired me as it had inspired Eugene. I came home, determined to find out the truth. I found it in John Powell’s MY TWENTY-FIVE YEARS IN CHINA (Da Capo Press, 1976). The exposure of the secret pact in both American and Chinese Press stirred up such a furor that for the first time the Chinese diplomats refused to sign an unequal treaty since China had been defeated in the Opium War by Britain in 1840s. The exposure also gave the Republican Senator, William Borah, added ammunition to discredit the Versailles Peace Treaty and Wilson’s pet project, the League of Nations Covenant, and to contribute to the defeat of Democrats in the election year.

Equally important, the exposure ignited the passion that swept China in the May 4th Movement, which the American scholar, John Dewey, lecturing in Peking in 1919, had seen first-hand and wrote: “We are witnessing the birth of a nation and birth always comes hard.”

Yuan-tsung was born in China, and immigrated to USA in 1972. Her first book, THE DRAGON’S VILLAGE, (was published by Pantheon, and) its Penguin paperback sells an average of 3,000 copies per year since 1981. Her latest book (nonfiction), RETURN TO THE MIDDLE KINGDOM, is now available through the Union Square Press of Sterling Publishing. Visit Yuan-tsung Chen.

I’m a celebrity personal assistant. People often ask me, “What’s a typical day look like in the life of a personal assistant?” The answer is emphatically, without question, a definite, positive: there is no typical day! Each and every day is unique to itself. For example, one day you can be setting up a photo shoot for your celebrity, arranging for stylist, hair and makeup people, and the photographer all to converge at a certain time and place. The next day you can be calling the Oprah Winfrey show to explain that the private jet carrying your star will not be landing in Chicago due to a tornado warning but your celebrity will be at the taping of the show on time no matter what. Or you may just spend a day waiting for the telephone company to repair a television at the star’s summer home. I remember the time line I was once given from AT&T was: we’ll be there sometime between 8:00 am and 8:00 pm. Are they serious?

But being a celebrity personal assistant obviously has its perks too. I’ve ridden in more limousines and planes than I can count. I’ve hobnobbed with other famous people at lunches, dinners and events because they were hobnobbing with my famous person. I’ve been to the Academy Awards (that’s where the little golden statue called The Oscar is bestowed on a chosen few). I’ll never forget my husband at the time calling a friend to find out where to rent a tuxedo. “We’re going to the Academy Awards,” he said. His friend replied, “What do you need a tux for if you’ll just be sitting on the bleachers outside?” “We’re going inside,” he gloated.

And the hand-me-downs are often quite wonderful too. Many assistants I know have been given designer clothes, shoes, handbags, nice gifts they’ve received and didn’t want to keep like candles and holders, paperweights, picture frames, silk wall hangings, etc. I often take beautiful bouquets of flowers home to enjoy because my boss will out of town and not there to appreciate them.

But being a celebrity personal assistant isn’t all roses and Chanel sunglasses. The job has its hazards and roadblocks to maneuver around too. Insert name of derailed celebrity here, such as, oh I don’t know, let’s say Britney Spears?

The key to finding success in this job is to understand the job title. Celebrity. Okay this is pretty straight forward. Anyone who is recognized in their field as a household name is a celebrity. Assistant. Most agree that this describes a helper, supporter and often a secretary. Personal. Ah. This is where the job title gets tricky. Personal means working in the celebrity’s home. Interacting with everyone in their world on a day to day, personal level. Being the confidante to the celebrity. Being one of the few people in the world to see the good, the bad, and the ugly side of a person. Being in a relationship with the celebrity, almost like a marriage, for better or worse.

Being a celebrity personal assistant is both exhilarating and sometimes exhausting. Most don’t receive phone calls in the middle of the night or on weekends from their boss. Most people don’t go home every night having just dealt with their employer’s goofy friends, stressed out relatives, hyper children, and neurotic pets, all the while handling the celebrity’s needs and desires for the day, and maybe getting some real work done in the process.

Most people aren’t as crazy as I am. Take it or leave it, I’m a celebrity personal assistant, and I love it.

Shelley G. Anderson is the personal assistant to self-help author Louise L. Hay, and writes the column Dear Miss Know It All. She is the author of Dealing With Divas: A Survivor’s Kit for the Celebrity Personal Assistant (or Anyone with a Pushy Boss). To learn more about her, visit Dealing with Divas.

It seems we have Paris Hilton to thank for something beyond arrogant socialite self-indulgence. She has also spawned the trend of “purse dogs.” Purse dogs are any teacup-sized breed which can be carried around in purse like a living accessory. These dogs are often dressed in $100 outfits and taken just about anywhere the owner frequents including restaurants, grocery stores and doctor offices. Those of us with larger dogs are supposed to keep them out of public places, but purse dogs are to be forgiven just because they’re small.

Recently, I was talking with my vet about the purse dog trend. What she said she sees in her practice is that owners who have paid upwards to $1,500 to $2,000 to obtain one of these teacup puppies were unwilling to pay for even the most routine health care. Confronted with a treatment estimate, they would either let the dog suffer, turn it into a shelter or in the most irresponsible cases, even ask that the dog be put down.

Whether a dog is large or small, ownership comes with some inherent responsibilities. All dogs need to be exercised daily. That means they need to be walked, not toted around like so much luggage. They need room to stretch and play, not confined to a purse with limited mobility. They need to be kept safe from many household items that may be toxic to them. What happens if your purse dog ingests something you’ve left in your purse like an earring or chocolate? Trust me, after that, you’ll probably want to throw that purse out.

Most important, when you adopt a dog, you promise to take care of him and that means you will provide routine and sometimes emergency veterinarian care throughout his life. You should also understand that just because you pay a lot for a dog, it does not guarantee the dog will be healthy all of its life.

Bernie, our first Airedale Terrier, was the sweetest, smartest and most lovable dog, but she was also the sickest. She had allergies, low thyroid and at 5, she contracted Valley Fever, a common fungal infection that comes from spores in the soil in the desert regions of the United States. At the time, it was not uncommon for both dogs and people to die of the infection and treatment was very expensive. Bernie needed two pills a day and 10 pills cost about $150 in the US. Some people might have given up at this point, but when our vet told us that we could get the medicine in Mexico for about a third of the price, we started making the more than 350 mile trek every three months for more than a year to get the medicine Bernie needed. This was not something we expected and at times, it was frustrating and inconvenient, but it was also our responsibility to care for her.

Bernie eventually recovered from the Valley Fever and lived a relatively healthy life for the remainder of her time. We were not heroes; we were just ordinary owners who knew our dog depended upon us for her care. So before you buy that adorable little teacup Yorkie or any other dog, be honest. Are you really willing to invest the time, energy and money it takes to care for a dog? To me, you’re an accessory to a crime if you just expect to treat your dog as some superfluous bauble. And we’ll always have Paris for that.

Robin Reynolds is an award-winning writer who has more than 25 years of experience writing in a variety of formats. An Airedale Terrier lover since youth, Robin lives in Tempe, AZ with her husband, teenage son, and two Airedales. Visit Nice Creative and Life to Max.

House preparation and brush clearance.

When I moved to Malibu a few years ago, one of the first things I thought about after I purchased a house was FIRE! Not only did I purchase a wood house, but it was surrounded by overhanging trees and brush.

After doing some research, I decided to repaint my house using a fire retardant paint additive. I chose a product called Flame-Stop III. There are other products on the market as well. Your State Fire Marshall’s Office will have a list of products, which they rate and certify. Remember this is for outdoor paint use, not for treating wood for new construction.

The Flame-Stop retardant is added directly to the paint. Within the overall cost of approximately $15,000 for painting of my house, the Flame-Stop cost approximately $600. It had no effect on the color, viscosity or application of the paint.

In 2007, a wind-driven fire from downed power lines swept through Malibu. My closest neighbor’s house burned to the ground. A church and two homes in the next block were also destroyed. In my front yard, the shrubbery, fence and my sliding driveway gate were destroyed. At the back of my property more than 20 Pepper, Olive, Pine and Coral trees were destroyed. My house survived, untouched. After hosing it down to remove ash and soot, it looked like new.

I was lucky, a fire crew was near my house, but I have to believe the retardant played some role in the miracle. Nothing will protect a structure from a direct hit from wind driven fire, but fire retardant paint can be helpful where embers lodge in the eaves or radiant heat threatens to cause combustion. If the painted wood actually catches on fire, it will not burn as readily.

As wildfires continue to consume whole neighborhoods and parts of cities – in October 2007 over 2,000 homes burned in Southern California – fire protection systems for homes are becoming more sophisticated. Today, there are additives which can be used on wood and other materials during the construction of new homes. It addition, self-contained external fire retardant systems are available. These systems can automatically cover a house and even douse a property line with a fire retardant gel or foam. One of these systems is offered by Firebreak Spray Systems. Further, certain home insurers (AIG –Private Client Group) offer private firefighting services to their clients, but now we are getting into mega-dollar expenditures.

In addition to painting with the retardant additive, I took the brush clearance seriously. The idea is to create a “defensible zone” around your house. A friend who is a wildland fire captain walked me around my house and showed me what to cut down or rip out.

People tend to ignore trees near their houses. Flames can reach 50 -100 feet, certainly high enough to ignite an entire tree. If it happens to be hanging near, or over, your roof, you can bet you are going to have burning branches coming down on your house. (A forty-foot high Pine tree at the end of my property was completely burned.) Yes, the trees are old and beautiful, but yes, they will burn. I cut down seven trees.

Further, follow your fire department’s recommendations about brush clearance. You cannot just eyeball the brush and say, “Well, the fire can’t get from there to here.” Radiant heat is the problem. If your home is close enough to something which is burning, it may spontaneously burst into flames from radiated heat. You cannot eyeball that.

Finally, clear out your roof gutters, and don’t store firewood or other flammable items next to your house. Remember, the idea is a “defensible space.”

Kurt Kamm writes novels about fires and firefighters. A resident of Malibu, he has lived through several wildland fires. He is a regular visitor at the fire camps, stations and training academies of L.A. County Fire Department and CalFire. To learn more about his novels, One Foot in the Black, and Red Flag Warning, visit Kurt Kamm.