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What Experienced People are SayingThe Committee for Fire safe Dwellings would like you to know what those with experience are saying about combustible roofing and exterior building products and systems. The following quotes and comments are from articles and reports concerning the contributing impact of building materials on the severity and spread of fire.
Magazines
"Make sure your roofs made of fire-retardant materials - wood shingle roofs, treated or not, are only minimally fire-retardant."
Cynthia Schramm, PG&E Progress
"The wood shingles, unlike other roof coverings, can be easily ignited by small sparks from chimney or brush fire. When burning, the shingles give off flying brands that are picked up by air currents and carried to other nearby shingle roofs, igniting them in turn".
Percy Bugbee, Fire journal, Nov. 1992
Newspapers
"If we had to pick out one significant major factor (in fire risk) . . . . it is wood roofs."
Jim Graue, Deputy Chief, Spokane #8
Incident Commander, Hangman Hills Conflagration
Seattle Times, 1988
"We don’t have a shake roof," Peggy Albright said of the new home built to replace the one with a wood roof she and her husband lost in the Hangman Hills Conflagration.
Seattle Times, 1988
"Shake roofs of cedar, or other wood, are especially susceptible to catching flying brands, burning pieces that fall onto them from overhead trees or blow over from fires on neighboring houses, and happened in Orinda . . . . Spray on fire retardant solutions do not work, according to Randy Roxon, coordinator of the regulatory unit of the California State Fire Marshal’s Office Sacramento."
Editorial, San Francisco Chronicle, Sep.8, 1988
In regard to wood roofing, "You literally have a lumber yard stuck up in the air."
Roy Gann, Fire Marshal
Firehouse Magazine, Jun. 1980
"We were here. Your roof & us saved your home. E-1113 Fallbrook Fire"
(a note left for the homeowner by a fire fighting crew). It was the only home on a cul-de-sac to survive a ravaging wildfire that ripped through a La Costa neighborhood . . . six homes on one side and three on the other side were reduced to rubble. The homeowner of the saved house, Mr. Denereaux, stated that the seven destroyed homes had wood shake or shingle roofs, his home had a tile roof.
Catherine Kolonko
The Oceanside North County Times (California),
Oct. 24, 1996
Pamphlets
"The roof is the most vulnerable part of a building during a fire. Because of its horizontal component, a roof can catch and hold the flying firebrands almost invariably associated with strong winds and convection columns characterizing wildland/urban wildfires. Unlike ground fires, these firebrands soar beyond any typical type of firebreaks, natural or artificial, and thus endanger structures as far as far away as a mile from the fire."
Michael R. Dannenburg, Master of Forestry
University of Montana
"Although the CDF (California Department of Forestry) has found that more than twenty factors have statistically significant effect on how well structures withstand fires, the Defensible Space Factor Study indicates that a combination of only four factors largely determines a structure’s chance of survival: fire intensity, vegetation clearance, roof type, and whether people take defensive action."
The Wildland/Urban fire Hazard
ISO Insurance Issues Series
Insurance Services Office, Inc., New York,
NY
"Fire protection should be built into your home. Roofs and exteriors of buildings should be of fire resistant materials . . . "
Forest Homes, Guide to Fire Safety
Province of British Columbia, Canada
Research Reports
"Cities should adopt more stringent requirements (Class A) for areas identified as High Hazard. Wood roof covering materials thus would not be allowed in areas designated as high hazard or greater . . . The last three major fire declarations (FEMA 739, 8215, and 872 in California) have shown that combustible roofing materials is one of the major reasons for loss of structures."
Hazard Mitigation Report
Oakland-Berkeley Hills
Oct. 22, 1991 by FEMA
"Airborne flaming materials spread the fire across Highway 24, an eight-lane freeway. Both brush and combustible roof coverings on the south side of Highway 24 were ignited. The airborne observer reported 50 or more roofs in Upper Rockridge ignited one after the other, much like lights coming on in rooms as someone races down the hallway flipping on the switches."
East Bay Hills Fire Report, Oct. 1991
California Office of Emergency Services
"Of the 584 buildings totally destroyed, 540 (92.5%) had roof coverings of wood shingles. Of all the factors entering into the rapid spread of the conflagration, not excluding the high wind and weak water system, this was the greatest weight. Had roofs been covered with fire-resistive materials, the conflagration would never have attained serious proportions."
Berkeley, California Conflagration Report,
Sep. 17, 1923
National Board of Fire Underwriters
"The findings indicate that no wood shake, treated or not, can be relied upon to provide adequate fire-retardant capabilities in major wildfires or other conflagration-type situations."
Ed Hayman, Division Chief
San Miguel Consolidated Fire Protection District
Spring Valley, CA
Research Project for the National Fire Academy,
Aug. 1992
"Evidence from the recent series of fires and other major fire storms in the state leads us to conclude that a majority of structure fires in the high-risk fire zones
are ignited by embers landing on combustible roofs. Even though some manufacturers have developed a Class A rated wood roof assembly through chemical and other treatments, we believe there is not enough evidence available on weatherability and endurance of these highly specialized materials to allow them to be successfully employed in high-risk fire zone areas with a long-term performance guarantee."
Report to the Los Angeles County Board of
Supervisors
by the Wild fire Safety Panel, Nov.1993
"Nine million dollars, four dozen homes, horrendous devastation and emotional trauma might have been saved if these roofs had not been made of wood. The implications are more severe: Wood roofs enabled the fire to continue on its destructive path, damaging structures (and the lives of the people within them) that might have escaped unscathed. As one firefighter wryly remarked, having a wood shake roof is like covering your home with kindling." Of the 54 homes completely destroyed by the firestorm, only four had tile roofs. A fire loss of $11.8 million to homes.
Out of Harmony
A report by the Carlsbad Fire Department,
Oct. 1996
DISCLAIMER: The committee for Firesafe Dwellings assumes no liability for the use or misuse of this information, which is intended to provide guidelines for consumers in their selection of building materials and fire protection systems for their homes