NFPA Journal - July/August 2019 - 22

Wildfire by Michele Steinberg

THE VIEW
FROM NFPA'S
WILDFIRE DIVISION

Same As It Ever Was
WE'VE KNOWN FOR YEARS THAT WILDFIRE-RESISTANT BUILDING STANDARDS WORK.
SO WHY DO SO MANY COMMUNITIES INSIST ON IGNORING THEM?

s someone who works in

The larger story here is that, every day,
the wildfire preparedness
local leaders across California and dozens
field, I've grown to loathe
of other states make the same choice. As a
the word "unprecedented."
result, thousands of new homes are being
It seems that whenever a
built in places where wildfire risks are
government official or media outlet uses
high, all without the protection offered
that label, it's a sign that they either havby fire-resistant building practices. This
en't bothered to look at the many previous
is nothing less than an abdication of local
examples of wildfire incidents or that they
government's responsibility for public
don't believe it could happen again. Not
safety-especially because we know that
only is it inaccurate, it's a tired excuse to
these codes work.
go right back to doing the same things
In April, the Sacramento Bee pubthat led to the disaster in the first place.
lished an article analyzing Cal Fire data
I found the latest example of this cycle
showing how well the state's building
It's up to local
on a recent trip to Santa Rosa, California.
standards, which require fire-resistant
governments to adopt
I visited the Coffey Park subdivision to
roofs, siding, and other safeguards, minand enforce wildfire
see how the neighborhood was recovimized the wildfire threat during last
building codes.
ering from the complete destruction
year's devastating Camp Fire. The newsit experienced in the 2017 Tubbs Fire.
paper compared the fates of homes built
Standing among a row of recently built
after California's 2008 wildfire building
homes, I was amazed to see wooden
standards-and therefore more likely to
fences skirting each dwelling. The sites
have the safety features-to those built
were landscaped with deep layers of combustible wood mulch, before the standards were developed. About 51 percent of the
which functionally serves as an uninterrupted fuel bed to easily homes in the Camp Fire's path built after 2008 were undamcarry fire to the fences and right up to the siding of the new aged, whereas only 18 percent of the homes built prior to 2008
homes. When I asked the lead contractor why more effort emerged unscathed.
hadn't been paid to ignition-resistance for these homes, which
The results are hardly surprising. When these building stanhad literally risen from the ashes of a neighborhood that had dards were developed, the California Office of the State Fire
been destroyed by wildfire, I again heard that dreaded word. Marshal plainly asserted that "use of ignition-resistant mateThe Tubbs event was "unprecedented," he said. In other words, rials and design ... will prove to be the most prudent effort
why use fire-safe materials if this is never going to happen California has made to try and mitigate the losses resulting
again? My jaw hung open in dismay.
from our repeating cycle of interface fire disasters."
This thinking is extremely frustrating, especially in CaliforWe knew then and know now that wildfire-resistant buildnia. The state is home to some of the nation's most destructive ing standards work. They were developed using decades of
wildfires, but also to the world's most detailed and well-devel- observation and research, and with a clear acknowledgement
oped set of building standards precisely aimed at resisting the that wildfire is part of California's reality. Opting out of using
wildfire threat. While applying these wildfire building codes these standards with excuses that wildfire is "unprecedented"
could greatly diminish the destruction we see year after year, in California communities is disingenuous at best. At worst, it's
it's up to local governments to adopt and enforce them. I'm a shortsighted recipe that will lead residents of Coffey Park and
sorry to report that in Santa Rosa, city leaders have chosen to elsewhere to needlessly suffer the same fate again.
mostly disregard the state's suggested building standards in the
name of replacing the burnt structures as quickly as possible. MICHELE STEINBERG is director of the wildfire division at NFPA.

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MICHAEL HOEWELER

NFPA Journal - July/August 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NFPA Journal - July/August 2019