Citywide Ban Proposed on New Shake, Shingle Roofs

The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday moved toward a citywide ban on the use of all wood shake or shingle roofs on new construction.

The council amended an ordinance proposed by Councilman Hal Bernson, who represents the north San Fernando Valley, that called for banning wood shingle roofs only in mountainous and hillside areas, as well as in windy regions, in the north and West Valley.

“Roof fires can start in the flatland of south L.A. and the floor of the San Fernando Valley,” said Councilman Marvin Braude, who urged the council to extend the ban.

The council agreed and voted 10 to 4 to order the city attorney to draft a new ordinance to apply the ban citywide. The new measure must go to the council for final approval.

Bernson proposed the less restrictive ban after last December’s Porter Ranch fire, which destroyed 13 homes and severely damaged 23 others.

In 1982, the city passed an ordinance requiring that all new wood shingle roofs be fire-retardant. But Fire Chief Donald O. Manning said Tuesday that the law should be strengthened in sunbaked and wind-swept Los Angeles.

“We have no idea how long the wood shingles will be safe,” Manning said. “I cannot recommend or say to you now that the product is a safe product for the life of the roof.”

Fire officials said that the wood roof industry’s guarantee of fire-retardant roofs extends to seven years and that controlled methods of testing the materials do not reflect the harsher, hotter Los Angeles weather patterns.

“My experience has been that when a fire roars up into our communities, it doesn’t know the difference between a treated roof and a non-treated roof,” said Fire Marshal Craig Drummond.

Spokesmen for the $30-million-a-year wood shingle roofing industry said they will sustain major losses if the ban is approved.

Cynthia M. Ryan, an attorney representing the Cedar, Shake and Shingle Bureau, said the Fire Department has no proof that treated roofs are inadequate. She said the industry will present additional data showing the safety of the treated shingles when the new ordinance is presented.