Raggio Urges City to Force Replacement of Wood Shingles : Fire: In the wake of last week’s disastrous Glendale blaze, the councilman asked the city manager to conduct a feasibility study on such a law.

A city councilman whose son’s house was destroyed in Glendale’s worst fire wants the city to force hillside homeowners to replace their flammable wood shingle roofs.

Glendale, Los Angeles and other Southern California cities already prohibit wood shingles atop new houses and as replacement roofs because fire officials say the flammable material can quickly spread a blaze in a rugged brush area or even a crowded flatland neighborhood.

But Councilman Carl Raggio’s plan would go a step further by forcing homeowners to spend thousands of dollars to replace their present roofs. The council has not acted on the proposed ban, but Raggio has asked City Manager David Ramsay to report within a few weeks on the feasibility of such a law.

“I don’t think that in Southern California there’s a place anymore for these shake roofs,” he said. “Somewhere here, every year, we have an inferno.”

Replacing a roof could cost $10,000 or more, but Raggio said the city should try to persuade lenders and insurance companies to assist with financing to minimize their future losses.

In the wake of the Glendale blaze, the council also decided to reconsider its decision to cut 15 firefighters as a way to reduce city spending.

On June 26, one day before the brush fire destroyed 46 hillside houses and damaged 20 others, the City Council approved a 1990-91 budget that

eliminated a ladder truck company at Station 29 in Montrose.

The council voted Tuesday to re-examine its Fire Department cutback and review other spending cuts and city tax proposals at a public session beginning at 8 a.m. July 13.

Last week’s blaze caused some city officials to think twice about reducing the city’s firefighting force, but Raggio’s proposal represented a more controversial prevention tactic--at significant cost to homeowners. Because the rules for such a ban were still under discussion, it was not immediately clear how many houses or which areas would be affected.

But Glendale Fire Chief John M. Montenero said he supports Raggio’s plan because the safety of a neighborhood should supersede one owner’s decision to risk a house with a flammable roof.

“It isn’t just their loss,” he said. “Their house can be responsible for the start of a conflagration like the one we had. We have to look past individual rights and look at the impact on the whole community.”

But an industry spokesman said that if Glendale mandates the removal of existing wood-shingle roofs, it could face a tough court challenge.

“That would be a first,” said Michael Westfall, president of the Cedar Shake and Shingle Bureau. “There would be some very serious constitutional questions if they try to force something like that retroactively on a homeowner.”

He said his organization is already suing in federal court to overturn the Los Angeles ban on new shake roofs. He said that law is unfair because it excludes even wood-shingle roofs that are impregnated with a fire-retardant chemical.

Westfall claimed that politicians and fire officials unjustly blame wood roofs in the wake of devastating fires. He said his organization sent to the Glendale fire scene a consultant who found wood-shingled houses that suffered little damage. In other Glendale cases, fully destroyed houses had roofs made of materials other than wood, he said.

Raggio said his son had a fire-resistant asbestos roof. But he said the house was destroyed because a neighbor’s shake roof caught fire and that blaze spread up the hillside to ignite his son’s house.

Besides the roof law, the councilman said he wants to require hillside homeowners to plant fire-resistant vegetation near roadways in place of brush that can be easily ignited by an arsonist from a passing vehicle.

Finally, Raggio wants to require hillside homeowners to install rooftop sprinkling devices that can be activated by the resident, a neighbor or firefighters. “The embers land but are doused” if the roof is kept wet, he said.

Raggio must win the support of at least two other council members to enact the hillside fire protection measures, but the early reactions from his colleagues have been cautious. “I don’t think they have the same zeal as I do,” he conceded.

Mayor Larry Zarian said he wants hillside residents to replace their shake roofs but is concerned about the city forcing that cost on homeowners, some of whom are senior citizens with limited incomes.

“I want to know how people are going to pay for it,” Zarian said.

The mayor said he has asked Gov. George Deukmejian and Rep. Carlos J. Moorhead (R-Glendale) to support legislation that would provide financial incentives to homeowners who replace their flammable roofs.

At Tuesday’s council meeting, Zarian also publicly aired his second thoughts about cutting the Montrose fire crew from the budget last week.

Last month, Ramsay told the council that the truck company, staffed by three shifts of five firefighters, was rarely active because there are few high-rise buildings in that area. He said cutting that crew would reduce the budget by $974,000.

But at Tuesday’s council meeting, Ramsay said the immediate cost savings would not be as high as the council had originally believed.

The council had ordered that the 15 firefighters not be laid off but that their jobs be eliminated gradually through attrition. Because only a few firefighters are expected to resign in the coming months, the city would only save $194,000 this year, Ramsay said. The full $974,000 will not be saved for two to three years, he said.

The Glendale Firefighters Assn. issued a written protest, saying the cutback “could reduce the Fire Department’s ability to protect life and property.”

In an interview, Montenero said that beyond high-rise fires, the Montrose crew staffs a reserve fire engine and responds to brush fires, traffic accidents and hazardous material spills.

Zarian urged the council to hold a special meeting to discuss the fire crew, saying, “Maybe we did not have enough information on that truck company and its tactics.”

But Zarian and other council members warned that they will seek other reductions in city spending to lower the budget. Because the spending issues are tied to how much money the city takes in, the council delayed approval of new taxes and increases in water and electric rates until after its study session.

DISASTER INFORMATION

Federal, state and Glendale city officials are available to assist victims of the Glendale fire at an emergency services center at the Glendale Civic Auditorium, 1401 N. Verdugo Road. Applications and assistance are provided for all aspects of recovery including low-interest loans, debris cleanup, temporary housing and reconstruction. Messages also can be relayed to victims. The center was scheduled to remain open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. through Saturday.

Center phone numbers: (818) 545-4335, 545-4336, 545-4337, 545-4338.

Toll-free hot line: 1 (800) 525-0321

After Saturday, information will be available from the city Department of Community Development and Housing, (818) 548-3700.