Supervisors Refuse to Urge Ban on Wood Roofs

A divided Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday refused to support a ban on new wood roofs, despite claims that such a ban could have dramatically reduced losses from recent Southern California fires.

The 3-2 vote was strictly along ideological lines, with the board’s conservative majority opposing liberal Supervisor Kenneth Hahn’s call for state legislation banning new wood roofs throughout California.

Hahn has proposed a ban after every major fire for more than a quarter of a century. Each time he has been rebuffed by his colleagues who side with the roof industry in contending that wood roofs treated with a fire retardant provide adequate protection.

This time, Hahn cited recent fires in Glendale, Santa Barbara and Chino Hills that destroyed more than 500 homes--most with wood roofs.

“If you watch television, you could see the embers go from one wood shake roof to another,” Hahn said. “How many fire tragedies must occur before we take steps to ban these dangerous roofs?”

In Santa Barbara County, where 435 homes were destroyed, officials plan to recommend that their Board of Supervisors outlaw all new wood or replacement wood roofs, building official Frank Breckenridge said Tuesday.

In Glendale, where the City Council banned all new wood roofs a year ago, the majority of the 66 homes damaged or destroyed in last week’s fire had wood roofs, Glendale Fire Marshal Chris Gray said.

Hahn argued that a statewide ban would save the county money. “Look at all the fire trucks we had to send” to help fight the Glendale and Santa Barbara fires, he said.

But conservative Supervisor Mike Antonovich said that the type of roof installed on homes is an issue of “freedom of choice” best left to property owners.

Antonovich, who lives in Glendale but outside the fire zone, pointed out that during the recent fires, some homes with slate and tile roofs were destroyed, while others with wood roofs survived.

Supervisor Deane Dana said he replaced the wood roof on his Palos Verdes home with a fire-resistant one because “I live in an area where there is a possible danger.” But he said he opposes a statewide ban as unnecessary and too costly for homeowners.

Supervisor Pete Schabarum also voted against Hahn’s proposal, while Supervisor Ed Edelman supported it.

A ban on new wood roofs in the city of Los Angeles, approved last year by the mayor and City Council, is being challenged in court by the wood roof industry. Wood roofs are also banned in fire-prone Malibu.

Last year, supervisors extended to all unincorporated areas under their jurisdiction a requirement that new and replacement wood roofs be treated with a fire retardant.

State legislation banning wood roofs has been introduced in recent years, but has always been defeated amid heavy lobbying from the wood roof industry.

Sen. Diane Watson (D-Los Angeles) is now sponsoring a bill that would reinforce the authority of local government to adopt tougher roofing restrictions than the state, an aide said.

Industry officials estimate that about 30% of all homes in Los Angeles have wood roofs, and fire officials have long blamed them for boosting the damage toll of periodic brush fires.

Mike Westfall, president of the Cedar Shake and Shingle Bureau in Bellevue, Wash., accused Hahn of a “knee-jerk reaction.” Westfall said his trade organization has sent teams to Southern California to assess the damage from the fires and found that some homes with tile roofs were destroyed, while neighborhood homes with wood roofs suffered no damage.

Breckenridge of Santa Barbara County said that homes without wood roofs had a “significantly” better survival rate in the recent fire than those with wood roofs.