LA Fires and Fire Resilient Design
The recent fires in Los Angeles are a reminder to me of the three years I spent living there. I regularly saw articles in the news highlighting concerns over fire safety in new developments. The state is fully built-out in all areas that are not at high risk of fire. As a result, as new developments are built they are more and more encroaching on wildland areas that are at great risk of wildfire. The more building that is completed, and the more contact humans have with the edges of wildland areas, the more wildfires there will be. This disaster has been devastating for everyone who has lost their homes, their neighbors, family, and friends. Some have lost their lives. It is my duty as an Architect to protect lives and livelihoods by building homes that are fire resistant and be constantly thinking about how to build homes better. This great tragedy highlights how important fire safety legislation is for the building of new homes.
In the affected areas of the current fires, some homes survived. In some cases this is down to pure luck, but for others the Architects took a proactive approach to fire safety as they recognized the risk and took measures in their designs to make the homes more resilient.
This disaster far exceeds the design standards adhered to under normally accepted circumstances by combining 100 mph winds with drought conditions that led to fires jumping between houses in single family communities. This method of zoning is normally considered fire resilient due to the use of setbacks, significant noncombustible surfaces per the roadways, CMU fencing, limited vegetation and xeriscaping. However, the winds proved enough to overcome these physical barriers as thousands of homes are now lost.
Standards such as WUI give us a variety of methods that can be implemented in our designs to combat the dangers posed and we see the effectiveness of these strategies in some of the homes that have survived. Matt Risinger on his YouTube channel, ‘The Build Show’ in his video ‘Lessons From Two Surviving LA Fire Homes’ gives an in depth analysis of some of the detailing that can save a home such as: actively managed defensible space, noncombustible fencing, noncombustible siding and roofing (look for Class A flame spread ratings), Fire rated wall assemblies, protected roof/deck overhangs and limited valleys, spark arrestors in any venting, tempered glass and metal frame windows, and also a hefty measure of luck.
This serves as a reminder of how serious the threat from fire is for those of us designing and building homes in the many mountain resort areas in Northern Utah where similar dry conditions and high winds regularly occur. Beyond ensuring that you comply with standards such as WUI 2006, it is worth having conversations about material and detailing choices that can lead to a home surviving where surrounding homes may not.
Matt runs a fantastic channel talking about building science, sustainability, and construction and you can watch his video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZe-TlYxm9g
Other useful resources are WUI 2006 (permanent link on my website): https://www.oxfordarchitectslc.com/learning
Or the PDF directly at:
https://ffsl.utah.gov/wp-content/uploads/06_Utah_Wildland_5thdnd.pdf
The National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA): https://www.nfpa.org/education-and-research/wildfire/firewise-usa/firewise-usa-resources
And this YouTube Video with Landscape Architect Mike Wonenberg where he and I talk about WUI standards (timestamp 21:21):