Panel to Advise County on Overhauling Codes

With searing images of recent firestorms still fresh in mind, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to form a panel to recommend changes in fire and building codes to avoid the kind of destruction that swept through the region last week.

The 14-member panel will review such issues as building materials and construction design, landscaping, brush clearance, improvement of water supply delivery and the use of controlled burns.

Despite the concerns of some burned-out homeowners who attended the meeting, officials say that the goal of the panel is not to prevent rebuilding but to provide greater protection to residents who live in areas that are prone to wildfires.

“The aim is to try to evaluate what happened in this fire,” said Board of Supervisors Chairman Ed Edelman, who called for creation of the panel. “We can’t change the wind, we can’t change the humidity, but we can look at issues of the water supply and whether we need to upgrade that. It’s all aimed at helping people get better protection. We don’t want to penalize them.”

The panel will hold at least two public hearings in fire-damaged areas and was ordered to report in 90 days with recommendations.

But even as the supervisors moved to tighten safety laws, questions were being raised about the effectiveness of any new measures.

The appointment of panels and commissions to review safety issues are an almost inevitable feature of such fire disasters. But county officials insist that codes developed in response to previous fires have greatly improved safety in remote canyon areas.

A fire in the Santa Monica Mountains killed three people and consumed about 19,000 acres and 390 homes and other buildings on its march from Calabasas to the Pacific. County Fire Chief P. Michael Freeman told the supervisors that the perimeter of the fire area was 48 miles. Fire officials estimate that two weeks of devastating fires destroyed 1,100 structures and burned more than 200,000 acres throughout Southern California.

Tom Tidemanson, county director of public works, said building code improvements implemented over the last five years prevented greater destruction.

“They don’t guarantee that you get through a fire like this but they greatly enhanced the chances,” Tidemanson said.

Of particular importance were changes in 1988 that designated the Malibu district as a fire zone and prohibited untreated wood roofs. The code also requires that if 25% of a house is damaged or destroyed, the entire structure must be upgraded to meet current codes.

Code changes in 1991 outlawed wood shake or shingle roof construction in the Malibu area and required that exterior walls of all county structures be covered with fire-resistant materials, that the ends of tile roofs be fire-stopped, and that skylights and vents be fireproofed.

But Los Angeles County has balked on some important fire safety issues. It wasn’t until 1990 that the roofs of all residential structures were required to be treated with fire retardant. In 1961, then-Supervisor Kenneth Hahn introduced a motion that would have banned construction of homes with wood shingles. The county still has no such ordinance, even though the city of Los Angeles imposed such a restriction four years ago.

Even if some might question the creation of a panel to mount yet another study of fire safety issues, such reviews are beneficial, said Dave Walizer, assistant state fire marshal.

“Historically it’s done after every disaster of this type, but it’s a good thing to do,” Walizer said. “These kinds of issues should be addressed to see what is working and what is not working. The biggest problem is that any change takes many, many years to have an impact because these things can’t be made retroactive. There is always a tremendous amount of catch-up.”

In fact, the vast majority of the estimated 7,000 structures in Malibu and surrounding areas were built before passage of the strictest code requirements, county Fire Chief Freeman said.

In the final analysis, officials say, no list of codes will prevent nature from running its course.

“Asking public officials why we didn’t do anything to prevent the fire is assuming that we have anything to do with it,” Tidemanson said. “It’s like asking why did we let the earthquake happen. We live in an area that is prone to these events. Our job is to minimize the destruction as much as we can.”