Glendale Councilman Wants Existing Wood Shake Roofs Removed

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 on 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 Glendale Councilman Carl Raggio’s plan would go a step further by forcing homeowners to spend thousands of dollars to replace their 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.