As wildfires become more frequent and destructive, architects and builders are turning to innovative techniques and materials to make homes more resilient. This article explores the strategies used to enhance fire resistance in homes, focusing on roofing, walls, windows, and landscaping. It also discusses the role of building codes in mitigating wildfire risk and the importance of homeowner awareness.
A home with a metal roof and little to no eaves survives the Palisades fire in Pacific Palisades, as seen on Friday, Jan. 17, 2025. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Long Beach Press-Telegram/SCNG)next to those left standing have been flying back and forth among architects, builders and fire safety specialists around the world. For many homeowners, like Enrique Balcazar, the sometimes scattershot nature of the carnage can seem like random chance.
Balcazar, a real estate agent, posted video that showed little more than chimneys remaining of most homes on his block after fire leapt through hisHomes along Pacific Coast Highway sit in ruins after being burned by the Palisades Fire in Malibu on Friday, Jan. 17, 2025. Miraculously, some homes survived the firestorm. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)“It’s an older house and it still has the old wood sidings,” Balcazar said. “To me there’s nothing explainable in logical or scientific reason of why my house would not have burned.” Many experts say luck does play a part. After all, wind can shift 180 degrees in a split second, pushing fire away from your house and towards a neighbor’s. But they also say there are many ways that homes can be made less vulnerable to fire.FILE – A home stands among residences destroyed by the Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Jan. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Noah Berger, File) “Because there are, say, 50 ways a fire can burn your house,” said Greg Faulkner of Faulkner Architects in California, who has focused on less combustible home exteriors for more than a decade. “If you eliminate half of those, or three-quarters of them, that’s not luck, that’s increasing your odds.” The Altadena home of David and Peggy Blue survived the huge Eaton fire while many nearby houses did not. (Photo courtesy of Peggy Blue) People in fire country generally know that trees, landscaping and wood fences near homes can be a fire risk. Architects and contractors are going beyond that, using newer materials and techniques in roofing, walls and windows to keep buildings standing. The measures do add cost to the homes — around 3% to 6%, Faulkner said, or as much as 10% for the most robust protection.Many of these experts no longer use wood siding. Where it is used, or still allowed, it needs to have a fire-resistant barrier underneath, often made of gypsum, the same material used to make drywall. That way if the wood catches fire, it takes longer for the heat to reach inside the home But even with that, you’re still putting a combustible material on the building, said Richard Schuh, with Nielsen : Schuh Architects. “So that would be something we would avoid. Use of fire-resistant materials is critical.” FILE – Devastation from the Palisades Fire is visible on Jan. 16, 2025, in Malibu, Calif. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File) Stucco, a cement material, is a common exterior for Southern California houses and it’s fire-resistant. Reviewing AP photographs showing buildings still standing, Arnold Tarling, who has four decades experience in fire protection and building inspection in Britain, said houses with stucco walls appeared to survive the Los Angeles fires better. Yet if more of them had had a layer of gypsum beneath the stucco, it would have given more protection from the heat, he said.Windows are a huge factor in whether a home burns down, because so much heat is transmitted through them. Double-pane windows significantly slow heat coming from the burning building next door. Thousands of structures sit in ruins in Altadena on Sunday, Jan. 19, 2025, after the Eaton Fire, fueled by intense Santa Ana Winds, ripped through the area beginning on the evening of Jan. 7. Some homes in the fire areas managed to survived the onslaught of fire. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG) “The outside layer protects the inside layer until it fails,” said Schuh. Codes in many places require one of the two panes to be tempered, which is much more resistant to heat than conventional glass, he said. Tarling noted one intact Malibu beachfront home, surrounded by gutted buildings. He speculated that the fact that no windows faced a neighbor helped protect it because radiated heat couldn’t penetrate as easily.Then there’s the roof — a convenient landing pad for fire embers. Simpler roof lines can allow red-hot embers to slide off. Spanish Mission, for example, is an iconic Los Angeles style — part of what says “Hollywood” in movies about the city, for example, as well as a reminder of its Mexican and Spanish history. That style doesn’t always have simple roof lines — the knee walls that are common on Mission-style roofs create corners.Many roofs in the U.S. are covered in asphalt. Areas that are designated as wildfire-prone in California – an ever-growing area – are required to use roofing that delays the transfer of heat to the inside of the building, called one-hour or Class A. Still, asphalt is a petroleum produc
WILDFIRES BUILDING CODES FIRE RESISTANCE HOME CONSTRUCTION ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN LANDSCAPE MANAGEMENT CALIFORNIA
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