Building fire-resilient communities is a good place to start when guarding against urban blazes such as January’s Los Angeles County wildfires.
But any building strategy must be comprehensive, and it should include everything from noncombustible housing materials to smart neighborhood designs, according to a new report from the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety.
Otherwise, the authors say, “a home’s overall fire resilience is only as strong as its weakest link.”
The report, released last week, presents findings from an on-the-ground investigation by nine IBHS staff members, who evaluated 247 structures affected by the Southern California fires. Combined with previous studies on urban blazes, the observations highlight three key elements that influence fire behavior: the separation between structures, the fuels surrounding the buildings and the materials used to construct them.
