In a very short time frame, the area that I live and work in has suffered not one but three major fire events that did millions of dollars in damage and claimed both lives and property for many. One of the key lessons learned from the Sylmar Fire last week was how mobile homes are constructed. In one swoop, 500 mobile homes were devastated. LACO firefighters were true hero's that day because they had to contend with performing rescues for non-ambulatory residents and also do what they could do to verify that everyone was out. The only thing that the Battalion Chief could present to group of impacted trailer residents was a damaged United States of America flag, singed on one of the ends. Watch what happens through legislation with mobile home construction and fireproofing. As we all know, once these trailers starts, it's almost impossible to get them out. The glues and synthetic materials, once they start to combust offgas vapors that cause flashover situations.
I have witnessed several homes that did survive the recent Tea Fire but note that as usual, the fire behaved indiscriminately, burning down one or two homes here but not the one in the middle... It was clear that embers traveling from the fires caught roofs or adjacent vegetation or combustibles on fire that eventually communicated with the interior of the structure, and homes were lost, lot's of them... and what blew everyone away was that there was little or no warning for many. Many were simply sitting down watching TV for the evening and then...
The next morning, this is what we saw...
Considering that this is an international forum, I thought perhaps we could get some input here with photos showing examples of things we can suggest to homeowners and contractors as far as improving on how homes are designed and built.
I know there are extremes to how a home can be built with safeguards, but it's still pretty cool to hear how someone came up with their idea of how to Fire Proof their house. Here's a great example that survived the recent fires...
Santa Barbara, CA - One homeowner desgined and had his house built on a turntable. He can actually rotate the house to where there are not exposed windows or access points for fire to communicate with the interior of the structure. In addition to using all fireproof materials, the entire perimeter of the houses exterior covered decking has roll down shutters that are fireproof up to a billion degrees or some such thing...
In the interest of fire and life safety, SB Mike : )