Fire resistant construction -- not needing repair

[Stormin Mormon]

About two or three decades ago, long before the Internet. My Dad showed me a photo (full page spread) in a magazine. It may have been Smithsonian. I don't remember the city, but the story tells of a fellow who had a house built from the ground. He knew he was in a fire prone area, and so he did some research. Found out what made houses fire resistant, and built all the various fire resistant features.

Types of shingles, double pane glass, and exterior construction, etc.

Sure enough, a couple years later, they had a forest fire. The house he built was intact, and looked virtually untouched. And around him was a sea of rubble, char, and destruction.

Talking about ant surrounded by grasshoppers!

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

.

[Pete C.]

It's not that difficult really, as long as you keep trees cleared back far enough to eliminate the threat of a burning tree falling directly onto the house, the remaining threat is from small blowing embers and materials that won't ignite from such short lived threats are readily available.

That said, it is also relatively easy to stay and fight off a fire, with good odds of success as long as those trees are kept clear. There was a story a few years back of CA wildfires where some folks refused to evacuate and instead stayed to fight, quickly dousing any embers that landed on the roof and whatnot with hoses. The pictures later showed a sea of charred rubble, with two completely undamaged houses in the middle, the folks who stayed and the home of elderly neighbors which they had also managed to protect.

The key thing if you do stay to fight is to ensure that you have repiratory protection from the smoke, a *reliable* water source to fight the fire with, and an all else fails hole in the ground to retreat into if you are loosing.

[larry moe 'n curly]

It's not always a due to the home being clear of brush. There have been fire resistant homes (masonry, no roof overhang, asphalt shingles, steel shutters over the windows) that survived where all the surrounding houses burned to the ground. IOW the house had been through a firestorm and had been completely engulfed in flames.

But even after a forest fire burned down all the homes in an area, HOAs have opposed allowing anything but traditional wood construction, even masonry made to look exactly like log cabins.

[Stormin Mormon]

Well, for once, I have the proper music for the moment:

"forest fire" for bomb.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

.

But even after a forest fire burned down all the homes in an area, HOAs have opposed allowing anything but traditional wood construction, even masonry made to look exactly like log cabins.

[bob haller]

[e-mail]...

given the new global weather perhaps all new homes should be built to fire resistant and super insulated standards?

[Stormin Mormon]

So true! And with the ozone layer being depeted by cow farts, we also need to rub SPF-50 cream all over our houses.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

.

given the new global weather perhaps all new homes should be built to fire resistant and super insulated standards?

[krw]

messagenews: [e-mail]...

LOL! I haven't heard one that funny in ages! . You're too funny!

Fire resistant may be a good idea but the expense isn't justified. Super-insulation has severe problems, too. Super-insulation isn't of a lot of use without sealing the house tighter than it should be or adding a *lot* of expense.