Wildfire Protections for Homes

By Amy Murre 

“Prevent fires from the house out, rather than the wildland in.” These words from The California Chaparral Institute capture the shift that is needed in the state’s approach to wildfire management and prevention.  California’s wildfires are a dire concern. Also concerning, however, is the ongoing effort to address these wildfires by removing vegetation rather than making buildings less vulnerable to fire.

Current wildfire prevention in California focuses almost entirely on vegetation: thinning forests, removing dead trees, clearing forest lands, removing chaparral, and denuding vegetation to create firebreaks. Vegetation treatments allow firefighters much needed access and reduce fuel load.  However, even when firebreaks do their job and allow firefighters access to battle the blaze and prevent its spread, they have proven to do little to stop destruction of homes, as these often are ignited by flying embers and the spread of fire from one building to the next. 

The problem lies in focusing state efforts and funds only on the clearing of land, rather than changes to existing buildings, the creation of development requirements, and the effective distribution of well-studied evacuation plans. In many of these fire-prone areas, wildfires are inevitable. Rather than attempt to prevent all fires, the focus should be preventing losses from those fires – particularly the loss of human lives – in the areas where wildland and urban land intersect.

Government officials are being urged to create action plans and find funding to support the retrofitting of existing homes. One such method is the installation external sprinklers on homes and other structures. According to CalFire, for many years fire sprinkler systems have only been required in office buildings and multi-family dwellings (i.e. apartments). These sprinkler systems have proven to save lives and extinguish fires in wildfire-prone regions of Australia and Canada. 

If such systems were encouraged, funded, or even required in high fire risk areas, losses would be reduced. Other elements of fire-resistant homes, missing in the majority of the worst-hit communities, include fire-safe siding and roofing, ember-resistant vents, glass rather than plastic skylights, and similar building features that can reduce the chance of a structure burning, and slow the spread of fire between buildings in a community.

The planning of communities also must be addressed. While the intensity and frequency of fires is driven by climate change as well as seasonal weather, the higher level of destruction and greater loss of lives is in many cases due to the increase in population. As NPR reports, in recent decades “cabins, vacation homes and increasingly whole towns and even cities are spreading into forests and wildlands. There are some 2 million homes considered to be at direct risk of wildfires.” Development of housing has been allowed into areas that had already been determined to be at high risk of fire, and some of the greatest losses of property and human life have been in such zones. Going forward, greater restrictions on where developments can be made, and safety-focused requirements for any developments that are allowed in risk areas, would be beneficial.  

Fire experts and citizens call for a greater focus on building and retrofitting homes and communities to be less vulnerable to fire and less attention to clearing forest land. Many voices are joining the chorus to point out that sole focus on removing vegetation has failed California. As The Chaparral Institute states, “It is critical to spend as much planning time and commit as much financial support to addressing the actual cause of home loss during wildfires (structure flammability) as devoted to vegetation management. Otherwise, we will continue to lose homes and lives during fires that do all the damage – wind-driven fires that cannot be controlled by vegetation treatments.” 

Founded in 2003, The California Chaparral Institute is focused on protecting California’s native habitats and provides extensive research to support fire mitigation efforts. You can find details of their mission, research, and fire-prevention proposals here.

Amy Murre is a volunteer for the Stop Clearcutting CA Campaign