But getting Californians to retrofit homes built before 2008 is an enormous task. The state requires property owners in fire zones who replace at least half their roof to install “fire-retardant” materials on the entire roof. Other than that, however, there’s nothing forcing Californians to safeguard their existing homes against fire hazards.
There are signs, however, that the state is beginning to get more serious about retrofitting homes for fire safety. The fund might not be nearly enough to go around — not with hundreds of thousands of homes in need of retrofits, and a new roof alone costing $10,000 or more. “The $1 billion, indeed, that’s not enough to rehab every home,” said the Building Industry Association’s Raymer. But he said it’s “an absolutely excellent way to kick things off.”
Based on factors such as terrain, vegetation and weather patterns, the zones represent Cal Fire’s attempt to predict the probability of a fire starting and the likelihood that it could become significant, said Cal Fire’s Sapsis. Enforcement of the building code carries a few wrinkles. In the mainly rural areas where Cal Fire is in charge of fire protection, the Chapter 7A code is automatically enforced in any region that Cal Fire has designated as a “severity zone” — moderate, high or very high.
Unlike some areas of Santa Rosa, the neighborhood hasn’t been designated a “very high fire hazard” zone by Cal Fire. City officials are OK with that. Although developers rebuilding Coffey Park are being urged to consider fire-resistant materials, city spokeswoman Adriane Mertens said the city doesn’t see any reason to impose the 7A code in the neighborhood.
Now the suburb is building a development called Folsom Ranch, eventually to be home to 25,000 people, on a parcel south of Highway 50.SHARESee drone video of construction progress at the Folsom Plan Area, a 3,600 acre development south of Highway 50 in Folsom, Wednesday, March 28, 2019.How did that happen? Years ago, the land was outside Folsom’s city limits and Cal Fire was responsible for its safety.
Paradise provided a grim reminder of that problem. The Camp Fire destroyed more than 80 percent of the 4,100 mobile homes in its path, whether they were built to the new code or not, according to McClatchy’s data analysis. That isn’t surprising, Sapsis said, given that many of Paradise’s mobile homes were jammed alongside one another in mobile home parks.Sapsis and others say the lesson is that strong building codes aren’t enough.
How about don’t build in wildfire areas, oh that’s right common sense which no one has any more. Stupid is what stupid does.
Is this the same McClatchy that got a lot of the trump stuff wrong?
Everbody needs to start raking.
That's a load of HS. Crapifornia let those fires happen because they misused the government funds allocated for 'forest cleanup'. Then they cried emergency for more money to the tune of 800mil.
Or the truth that the govt of Calif actually started the fires.
FakeNewsMedia is the EnemyOfThePeople
The weakest link is PGE equipment AND forest NOT BEING MANAGED!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING ABOUT THAT?
Or... Truth: DEW's directed energy weapons
But sure eliminating 'burdensome regulations' makes sense. DirtyDon DontheCon DimwitDon
did you just say regulation? reeeeeeeeeeee
'...which houses go up in flames can come down to something as simple as the year it’s built..' -otherwise known as 'The Flammable Construction Era'
Or which kind of meter they're connected to. Or who they know.
Instead of using taxpayer money to defend illegal aliens breaking our law 10 million dollars you might want to use that money to cut some of that old dying wood that catches fire easily.
McClatchy..... ROTFLMAO