Building Code Tightening Restrictions on Roofing

Each time a Southern California neighborhood is ravaged by a wildfire, state and local building departments go to work, reviewing and tweaking codes that govern what kinds of roofs can be built atop homes.

A new model building code now being developed demands that new homes and reroofing projects in fire-prone neighborhoods use roofing materials rated Class A--the highest fire resistance grade given to materials, those deemed “not readily flammable.”

The latest model code was shaped with observations made by safety officials who toured neighborhoods devastated in 1993 by wildfires in Laguna Beach and Malibu.

Building officials hasten to caution that, while no roof can be classified as fireproof, it is possible to dramatically reduce the likelihood of losing a home to a fire sparked by red-hot embers carried by Santa Ana winds.

New codes, inspectors say, will focus heavily on neighborhoods where wildfires are an obvious threat.

“We’re developing regulations for what fire officials call ‘special fire protection areas,’ ” said Darryl Adams, chief of building permits for Orange County. “The new codes will require higher fire-rating classifications on roofs in areas that, according to fire officials, are very close to wild lands.”

The model building code that probably will be adopted by the county and many Orange County municipalities also requires that new homes in areas not designated as fire protection areas be topped with at least a Class B roof--one made of materials that, according to Underwriters Laboratories, is “effective against moderate fire exposure.”

The model code would allow homeowners in relatively safe neighborhoods to reroof their homes with wood shingles that have been treated with fire-retardant materials. But ordinary, untreated wood-shake shingles--designated as Class C in most building codes--largely have been prohibited by most building and fire departments.

“Codes have been stepped up several times over a long period of years,” Adams said. “Several years ago, it was pretty much decided to eliminate [wood-shake] roofs without some kind of fire retardant.”

Municipal and county building codes are, for the most part, derived from a Uniform Building Code that’s updated every three years by the International Conference of Building Officials. That code governs construction practices in most Western states.

The model code was most recently updated in 1994. The new version now being readied will be published in 1997, said Soroosh Rahbari, a senior inspector with the city of Tustin who chaired an Orange County group that helped to develop the updated building code.

In addition to requiring Class A roofing materials in areas with obvious wildfire hazards, the new model code for the first time requires homeowners to meet strict standards for roof support systems.

“Rather than just having a finished product on the roof with a given rating, you have to look at the supports, the underlying things that support the roof,” Rahbari said.

But the Uniform Building Code is merely “a minimum set of standards,” Rahbari said. “As for the city of Tustin, we’ve had a requirement for some years now that new construction or reroofing of existing roofs use a minimum of a Class B material.”

Despite continued pressure from building codes, fire officials and the inevitable pictures of homes lost to wild fires, homeowners are often slow to embrace practices that can reduce the likelihood of losing a home, officials said.

That’s particularly true in the foothills of Southern California, where wood-shake shingles long have been stylish among owners of ranch-style homes.

When roofer Wes Warden lived in the hills above Tustin during the late 1980s, most of the homes were covered with wood shake roofs.

“The homes are almost all ranch-style up there, and other than a scattering of tile roofs, the norm was wood,” said Warden, who runs Service Roofing Inc. in Fullerton. “That’s also the case in Sunny Hills, above Fullerton.”

Roofer James K. Kilbourne, who lives less than two miles from where Monday’s fire evidently started, said that wood shakes are common in Lemon Heights, but that homeowners who can afford to use more expensive tile and composite roofing materials are increasingly likely to replace their wood-shake roofs with tile or composition shingles.

Kilbourne, whose house was not in the path of the Monday blaze, said it’s no accident that his home is topped by a Class A material.

But, as Rahbari noted, some homeowners are not likely to reduce the odds of losing their home by clearing potentially hazardous underbrush or installing a roof that’s less likely to catch fire.

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Making Homes Flame-Resistant

Some residential areas in Orange County are more prone to brush fires than others. Most often they are next to wild lands with large expanses of grassy hillsides. Those residing in these areas should take extra precautions to avoid having their homes damaged or destroyed by fire.

Fire-Prone Areas

[1] Lemon Heights

[2] Cowan Heights

[3] Anaheim Hills

[4] Villa Park

[5] Orange Park Acres

[6] Laguna Canyon

[7] Yorba Linda (hills area)

[8] Brea (portion near Chino Hills)

[9] Tustin

[10] Red Hill

[11] Silverado

[12] Black Star Canyon

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Planning and Precautions

Fire ladders: Avoid situations where flames can jump from the ground to treetops and onto the roof. Remove branches from the bottom six to eight feet of any tree over 15 feet tall and prune away the lower three or four feet of tall shrubs. Also remove limbs that hang over the house or are within 10 feet of a chimney.

Spacing: Create space between trees and plants to deprive an oncoming fire of a continuous fuel supply. Trees planted on slopes should be 10 to 20 feet apart.

Mulch: Chip prunings into mulch and scatter it beneath shrubs to cool the soil and prevent grasses and weeds from growing.

Chimney: Equip with a spark arrester.

Roof: Wood shake shingle roofs should be replaced.

Gutters: Clear out all leaves and other debris.

Grass: Cut tall grasses and weeds down to stubble.

Firewood: Stack away from the house.

Address: Make sure address is visible from the road.

Safety radius: Clear all highly flammable vegetation within a 100-foot radius of the house.

Fire-retardant landscaping: Create a landscape from fire-retardant, native plants, widely spaced trees and isolated islands of drought-tolerant shrubs.

Flammable: Pines, palms, cedar, cypress, juniper, spruce, bougainvillea and pampas grass.

Fire-retardant: Succulents, low-growing perennials (California fuchsia, coyote bush, Encelia, Mexican evening primrose and Santa Barbara daisy), and native oaks and sycamores.

The Wildland Management / Hazard Reduction Section of the Orange County Fire Authority has literature and specific questions and answers about fire-retardant landscaping. (714) 744-0500.

Source: Orange County Fire Authority

Researched by JANET EASTMAN and JANICE L. JONES / Los Angeles Times