More than anything else, it requires the concerted efforts ofhomeowners and occupants. This guide is designed to help owners, occupants, lawmakers, planners, architects, builders, bankers, insurers, and financiers meet that responsibility.
Southern California epitomizes the problem of protecting homes from recurring wildfires. Several conditions contribute to a fire protection problem that is as severe as to be found anywhere. Vegetation, ranging from heavy stands of grass to brush to hardwoods or conifers, thrives in the Mediterranean climate there. Other conditions contributing to the high fire hazard are the large population, mountainous topography, and an increasingly affluent, mobile society encroaching into wildlands.
These same conditions are found in other regions that enjoy the Mediterranean climate-parts of Europe, Australia, Chile, and South Africa. The vegetation produced and the resulting fire protection problem are not greatly different from those found in California.
Much has been written about what can be done to remedy the problem, but few recommendations have been implemented. Many studies merely duplicate work done previously. To bring all of the pertinent information together, I reviewed the extensive literature on fire protection, and made personal contacts to obtain or confirm sources or both.
This report summarizes information on procedures for reducing losses of residences and other structures from wildfires. It outlines the problem of protecting homes from such fires, and proposes recommendations and standards. The Proposed Standards are proposals for the technically best solutions. Worded in advisory language, these standards must be reworded into mandatory language when enacted into laws, ordinances, or other requirements.
The findings in this report apply not only to residences but to commercial, industrial, and recreational developments. Many building and fire codes now requirefire-resistant construction for such developments. Few codes, however, address the problem of winddriven fires crossing broad expanses ofwildland fuels.
Responsibility for fire protection cannot be relegated
to a single elementof society. It calls for the combined
efforts of government agencies and the private sector
(fig. 1).
More than anything else, it requires the concerted efforts ofhomeowners and occupants. This guide
is designed to help owners, occupants, lawmakers,
planners, architects, builders, bankers, insurers, and
financiers meet that responsibility.
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