Can They Save Us from Climate Change?
Is this even the right question?
Maybe not. However, it is one that many municipalities in California will be grappling with one day, if they aren’t already.
The legislature is pushing for more laws that promote suburban infill, and the promotion of affordable housing. Thirty-two new bills were recently signed into law in California addressing various aspects of the state’s housing crisis. Several dealt with easing restrictions on suburban infill. That can be seen as a good thing, while at the same time being a bad land-use policy for a state with recurring, intense wildfires.
What are the alternatives to the construction of new homes built too close to areas where wildfires are increasingly possible?
Creative home design that incorporates fire-resistant building materials is one response. Newer building materials like insulated concrete forms (ICFs) are designed to be far less flammable than wooden structures. ICFs are made with flame-retardant additives to prevent the forms from burning by themselves. They can be used for residential, commercial and institutional buildings like schools and community centers. Since we insist on rebuilding in risky areas within the wildland-urban interface, designing and building structures that effectively resist fire is seen as a viable alternative.
Unfortunately, it remains a great idea that isn’t moving forward quickly, given that change is resisted on so many levels. The adoption of any new technology can take time before it is accepted by mainstream channels. Up until now, most communities continue looking at ways to increase defensible space around homes and businesses. After all, the USDA Forest Service has used it as a mitigating factor for over a century.
Evacuate or Shelter in Place?
Currently, the advice you would receive universally is evacuate as soon as possible. But what happened in the case of Paradise residents fleeing the Camp Fire? They were trapped in gridlock traffic and lost their lives. Yet, a full decade earlier a happier outcome occurred when embers flew in the Montecito hills above Santa Barbara, California, on November 13, 2008. An article in MIT Technology Review details how students and staff at the Westmont College were told by the administration to gather in the fire-resistant gym. There was not time to evacuate 1,000 people. Stoked by sundowner winds, the Tea Fire quickly ravaged the vegetation-dense canyon and hillsides, devouring nine structures, but the gym with everyone safe inside was left standing. They’d planned for fire when they built that gym.
They proved that using fire-resistant materials, like ICFs, could mean that rather than evacuating from dangerous areas, where wildfires move so quickly and escape routes are impassable, people could shelter in place. That concept has yielded little promise, so far. But when so many lives are lost because they can’t escape, and communities insist on rebuilding in high-risk areas, that alternative may prove a viable option.
According to the USDA Forest Service, “The wildland-urban interface (WUI) is the area where structures and other human development intermingle with wildland vegetation or where housing is in the vicinity of large areas of wildland vegetation.”
Several sources, including an article in MIT Technology Review, suggest that the wildland-urban interface is the fastest-growing land-use area in the US.” They also warn, “With climate change bringing more communities under wildfire threat across the world, adaptation may require more social change than materials engineering.”
Social change can be impacted in a variety of ways, but the messaging coming from different sources is often confusing. As mentioned, consider the push with more affordable housing legislation. It is encouraging local municipalities to consider less safe land-use options for expanding their communities into wildland-urban interface areas. That is true in Marin County, Sonoma and Napa Counties.
Yet, while this is happening, insurance companies like Farmers, State Farm and Allstate are doing their best to influence social change by refusing to renew or write new policies in areas their risk managers have deemed dangerous.
Before embarking on any building project that falls within a wildland-urban interface area, whether it is multi-unit homes, single-family units or commercial/institutional structures, consider the necessity of fire-resistant building materials. Saving lives should be a top priority as we experience more incidents of severe weather due to climate change.