Hidden Hills Fire Reignites Talk of Ban on Wood Roofs

A brush fire burned to the edges of back yards of $2-million estates in Hidden Hills on Thursday, renewing talk of banning wood shingle roofs in the private enclave of ranch-style homes.

The 15-acre blaze in the gate-guarded city just west of Woodland Hills was controlled in about two hours by 200 Los Angeles County firefighters. None of the rustic-looking residences were damaged.

Flames that rushed down a ridge on the western edge of the city threatened the wooden-roofed home of Hidden Hills’ former mayor before a water-dropping helicopter snuffed them out.

City Councilwoman Kathy Bartizal said she was too busy to talk as she vainly tried to activate her back-yard lawn sprinklers while her son John and his friend Ken Kaplan frantically hosed down her shingle roof.

Two doors away on Jim Bridger Road, Dena Bauch helped a baby-sitter evacuate another neighbor’s children as she warily watched her own wooden roof. “Ours is treated, but you wonder how long the fireproofing lasts,” Bauch said, clutching 2 1/2-year-old Wesley Castellon’s hand.

Ready to Flee

Nearby, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Hugh Wahler was consoling baby-sitter Candy Lara, who held 14-month-old Teagan Castellon. He urged the two women to be ready to flee if the fire reached the Castellon and Bauch residences.

Dr. Brian Herdeg, a Hidden Hills city councilman who is mayor pro tem, watched the fire advance on the homes. He said the city’s wood shingle policy is something “that’s under constant evaluation” by the council and the powerful Hidden Hills Homeowners Assn.

The homeowners group controls deed restrictions that specify what type of building materials can be used within the city limits. Both the association and the City Council can ban wooden shingles, said Herdeg, a physician.

Paul Gilbert, president of the homeowners association, said smoke from the 2 p.m. blaze drifted across the 2 1/2-mile-wide city and reminded everyone of the danger that brush fires pose to the equestrian-oriented community.

“I think everybody’s sensitive,” he said. And in light of Los Angeles’ newly approved law against wood shingles of any type, “I’m sure everybody here will think about it anew,” he added.

The association’s architectural guidelines state that “the preferred roofing material shall have the appearance of heavy shakes” with rough surfaces and a natural gray or brown color. Spanish-style tile is also permitted and is popular on newer homes.

The guidelines call for shakes or shingles to be fire-retardant, as defined by the Uniform Building Code.

“The technical argument isn’t over wood shingles, but whether fire-retardant shingles retain their retardant qualities,” Herdeg said.

But many older homes have untreated shingles because “shake roofs were the only type of roof in the old days that could look like ranch houses,” he said.

Gilbert, who regularly attends his association’s architectural review committee meetings, said developers of new homes that are selling for more than $2.25 million are voluntarily installing imitation shakes that do not burn.

Thursday’s fire apparently started in a grassy area between Hidden Hills’ western border and a new luxury home development on the north side of the Calabasas Grade. A county Fire Department spokesman said the cause was under investigation.

The fire burned beneath dozens of centuries-old oaks as light winds pushed it toward Hidden Hills and the Ventura Freeway. The trees, which have survived numerous similar fires in their lifetimes, were undamaged.

The flames burned around an illegally built polo field that has prompted a Los Angeles County investigation and reached the playground at Round Meadow Elementary School before it was stopped by firefighters.