Wildfire demonstration shows homeowners which building materials are more durable

Jun. 19--Cynthia Strecker of Monte Rio eagerly took notes while watching three roof and single-wall structures, one covered with wood shingles, burn in a controlled demonstration Tuesday. Her 40-year-old home, which also has a shingled roof, was made almost entirely of wood.

Midway through the two-hour demonstration, the small structure with the shingled roof was already burned through and ready to collapse. The image certainly got the attention of Strecker who attended the event to learn how to make her house in the wooded Russian River area more resilient against potential wildfires and floods.

"I do not want to be stuck in a helpless or hopeless state and want to have some idea of how to take control of our house to make sure it is safe," she said. "We have a lot to contend with in our area, from floods to fire, and we have to be as prepared as possible."

The Rebuild with Resilience fire demonstration event at the training center at Santa Rosa Junior College was hosted by the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety and the American Property Casualty Insurance Association.

Nicole Ganley, a spokeswoman with the property casualty insurance group, said the event was an opportunity for homeowners in the Santa Rosa area to network with people would could help alleviate the stress of renovating their homes to be more fire-resistant.

"Not everybody can afford to completely redo their homes and we as an insurance company cannot ask people to do that," Ganley said. "The idea is to get out in the community and talk to people about what they can reasonably do."

Steve Quarles, a senior scientist with the Institute for Business and Home Safety, led the controlled burn of the three structures -- each with a roof and one wall but covered with either shingles, wood siding or fiber cement siding. The purpose was to show the stark differences in how the structures burned.

After nearly an hour, the fiber cement-sided structure was barely burning, while the one with wood siding was blackened but not completely engulfed by flames. The shingled structure was devastated by the small fire.

"These kinds of demonstrations help people learn a lot about what's out there in terms of how to better prepare their homes," said Quarles, who has decades of experience in wildland fire research and more recently focused his work on the durability of buildings against escalating wildfire threats.

"I really think these things are on people's minds more now after what happened here two years ago and so we felt it is time to provide our insight to help," he said, referencing the 2017 North Bay fires.

Janet Ruiz, a California representative of the Insurance Information Institute, said if residents just take it one step at a time, before they know it their homes could be much more resilient to fires.

Aside from maintaining vegetation and removing debris from properties, insurance officials Tuesday narrowed it to a few easy starting points for homeowners. They recommended avoiding untreated wood shingles and vinyl siding, using fiber cement siding and covering all home vents with mesh screening.

"If people can make small changes over time to keep their homes from totally burning, then it is less trauma for them to recover from after fire season," said Ruiz, who works from Rohnert Park and coordinated the event.

You can reach Staff Writer Alexandria Bordas at 707-521-5337 or alexandria.bordas@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @CrossingBordas.

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