As California continues to deal with the aftermath of one of the most destructive fires in U.S. history, it remains an open debate about whether builders and homeowners can construct homes that can withstand these types of devastating events.
There are a few examples of success, including the Getty Villa in Pacific Palisades and the expansive Getty Center in Brentwood. But can homeowners with limited resources prepare their properties for these types of events?
That is where the Institute for Business & Home Safety comes in. The nonprofit is a research and communications organization created by the property-casualty insurance industry in 1979. Since 2010, the institute has been known for its cutting-edge research into how structures can withstand natural disasters, such as fire and hurricanes.
At its 90-acre center in Chester County, South Carolina, the institute tests the efficacy of fire- and wind-resistant building materials. The center includes a cavernous building in which full-scale structures are tested against wind, rain, hail and wildfires.
“You can harden homes a lot, but at a certain point, with hundred-mile-an-hour winds carrying embers many miles ahead, the situation is really not surmountable.”
Stephanie Pincetl
founder, California Center for Sustainable Communities
Through this research, the institute has developed a variety of housing upgrades to help a property withstand natural disasters, such as fires. They include installing roofs that are made of fire-resistant substances, such as asphalt shingles, clay tiles, slate or metal. Another upgrade is using fire-resistant siding made of concrete-fiber board, stucco, brick or stone veneer.
“We want homeowners to take away that you don’t have to have some concrete fortress in order to make your home resilient to wildfire,” said Sarah Dillingham, senior meteorologist and senior director of product design at the institute. “We have to treat wildfire a little bit differently than other perils because in a wildfire scenario, what you and your neighbors are doing from a mitigation perspective can have an impact on both of you.”
One crucial step that property owners may not have thought about is enclosing the underside of eaves by installing soffits made of noncombustible siding material, or 2-inch — or thicker — lumber. That will help stop fire from entering attic spaces. Other possible upgrades include: making eave vents ember-resistant by including fine wire mesh over the openings; covering gutters with noncombustible materials such as metal guards; moving sheds, pergolas, playsets and any other outbuildings at least 30 feet from the home; and clearing vegetation to a distance of at least five feet from around the exterior of the home.
The institute also advises homeowners to replace exterior doors with models made of metal, fiberglass or solid hardwood. All exterior windows should be made with tempered, multipaned glass or fire-resistant glass blocks. Build decks out of lightweight concrete, aluminum or fire-rated composite deck materials.
The list of improvements includes tips on fencing, making wildfire- resistant yards, improving your firefighting capabilities and working with neighbors and the community to better prepare for fires.
There is a crucial aspect of fire control, however, that homeowners don’t really have much of a say over: the distance their homes are from their neighbors. When you get to 20 feet or closer to another structure, there is an increasing chance of a fire spreading, Dillingham says.
“We see structure density being a huge factor with these types of conflagrations or community-scale wildfire events,” Dillingham said, referring to the damage experienced in places such as Pacific Palisades, California.
Even the most fire-resistant materials have their limits. Those kinds of limits are what worries Stephanie Pincetl, a professor at UCLA and founding director of the California Center for Sustainable Communities. Pincetl is skeptical of the idea of creating fire-resistant communities in places like Pacific Palisades.
She said people need to understand that there is no real escape from the types of fires that have ravaged Southern California and killed at least 29 people. With the rise of climate change and other issues, there may have to be a limit where builders can construct homes.
Pincetl said some of the conditions facing Southern California can’t really be mitigated, such as the region experiencing two years of heavy precipitation in which the undergrowth on the hills above Pacific Palisades flourished. Then came a year of drought, making the vegetation tinder dry. The result was the buildup of fuels just waiting to be ignited. And, she adds, these fires are almost always started by people in one way or another.
She also emphasizes that California building codes to prevent fires are already among the most stringent in the country. The problem is that the Los Angeles area has many older homes that would be very costly to upgrade and retrofit.
“You can harden homes a lot, but at a certain point, with hundred-mile-an-hour winds carrying embers many miles ahead, the situation is really not surmountable,” Pincetl said. “We should give up on thinking that we can master nature in all circumstances.”
The Los Angeles conflagration is going to cost every homeowner across the country higher insurance bills, Pincetl said. She wonders if it’s defensible for U.S. homeowners to pay higher insurance rates to defend a land development that makes no sense in the first place.
“So, I think we have to be willing to accept that maybe we ought not to build in places like the Palisades,” Pincetl said. “The truth of the matter is humans cannot engineer their way out of everything all the time.”
