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Nickolas Rhodes
Nancy Wright
CO150
August 5, 2018
Fire Risk Reduction Through Retrofitting Homes in the Wildland Urban Interface
The wildfire called the “Camp Fire” swept through Paradise, California and surrounding towns
of Butte County in November 2018. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the wildfire killed
over 80 people and burned over 14,000 homes. The fire was the deadliest and most destructive in
California’s history, with an estimated cost in damages of over 16 billion and a cost of at least 3
billion to clear debris. Insured losses alone are estimated to be at least 8.3 billion.
The town of Paradise is situated in the wildland-urban interface (WUI). The Sacramento Metro
Fire District describes the WUI as the meeting point between wildland vegetation or fuels and
structures. It is where the risk for wildfires is at its highest. Over the last few decades the amount
of people living in the WUI has grown. For this reason, potential wildfires could be deadly.
Therefore, homeowners need to learn how to protect their homes while in the wildland-urban
interface.
As the number of people living in the WUI has increased, the cost of fighting wildfires has risen
dramatically. It has become more expensive because fire fighters are protecting properties rather
than saving forests. The United States is spending billions of dollars every year protecting homes
and communities.
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Jonathan Cox, a division chief with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection
notes that since 1991 California building codes require a home to be built with non-combustible
materials, protecting them from wildfire in the most vulnerable areas. However, Zillow claims
that the average home in California was built in the 1950’s, so the regulations don’t apply to
most existing homes. Updating older homes to be more in line with nmodern building codes is of
the upmost importance. Wildfire behavior shows that once fires reach homes, it’s the structures,
rather than the trees, that fuel the spread of fire to other buildings. Over 50 percent of homes in
Paradise that were built after 2008, remained standing after the 2018 Camp Fire. More than 80
percent of older homes were damaged or destroyed.
As the process for the rebuilding of Paradise continues, community members in surrounding
wildland-urban interface areas need to focus on hardening their homes, or making the structure
more resistant to ignition, to prevent them from future wildfires. A. Carlos Fernandez-Pello from
the University of California, Berkeley describes that when a wildfire starts it can spread rapidly
through embers that are carried downwind to nearby homes. According to The National
Interagency Fire Center, to prevent embers from catching a home on fire, flame resistant roofs
are essential as well as proper screening of exterior vents and debris free gutters. They also
suggest non-flammable landscaping within 5 feet of a structure. Helping individuals understand
how to protect their homes will help reduce the risks that wildfires present, as well as the cost.
In a New York Times article by Kendra Pierre-Louis and Jeremy White, they state that there are
more people living in the WUI than ever before and for people to safely live in these areas, their
homes need to withstand wildfires. This article also argues that other national disasters like
earthquakes and floods have public funding and retrofit programs for mitigation, but there isn’t
any of that for wildfires. For example, California has implemented earthquake programs that
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have retrofitted 7,000 homes across the state. City officials need to find a way to financially
assist in the protection of people’s homes against fires just like what has been done to combat
earthquakes.
One way to do this is for the Butte County Board of Supervisors to advocate for the creation of a
tax that will help pay for homeowners to retrofit their homes. This will reduce the likelihood of
homes burning down without being a financial burden to the homeowner.
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Works Citied
Alexander, Kurtis. “Reclaiming Paradise.” San Francisco Chronicle, 3 May 2019, https://
projects.sfchronicle.com/2019/rebuilding-paradise.
California, Butte County Board of Supervisors, Butte County California, Aug. 2019, http://www.
buttecounty.net/boardofsupervisors.
Earthquake Brace + Bolt. “EBB Surpasses 7,000 Retrofits Statewide.” Youtube, 30 Nov. 2018,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xiHJ7UyLvM.
Fernandez-Pello, A. Carlos. “Wildland Fire Spot Ignition by Sparks and Firebrands.” Fire Safety
Journal, vol. 91, July 2017, pp. 2-10. Abstract. Academic Search Premier, doi:
10.1016/j.firesaf.2017.04.040.
National Interagency Fire Center. “Harden Your Home.” Youtube, 2 Mar. 2018,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5sVqcSa_9E.
Pierre-Louis, Kendra, and Jeremy White. “Americans Are Moving Closer to Nature, and to Fire
Danger.” The New York Times, 15 Nov. 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/15/
climate/california-fires-wildland-urban-interface.html.
Sacramento, Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District, Community Wildfire Protection Plan.
Sacramento Metropolitan Fire, June 2014, https://metrofire.ca.gov/phocadownloadpap
/CWPP/appacwpp.pdf.