PD Editorial: State fund would help harden homes to withstand fires

Debates about California wildfires tend to focus on who pays for catastrophes like the fire last fall that flattened most of the Butte County town of Paradise.

Making victims whole is paramount, to be sure.

But policymakers also need to prioritize prevention and limiting the destruction of homes and businesses in this age of massive wildfires.

More than 2.6 million acres burned in California over the past two years, and the state's Fourth Climate Change Assessment, published in January by the Governor's Office of Planning and Research, projects that the average area burned statewide will increase 77% by the end of the century.

About half of the state already is classified as very high or extreme risk fire areas, and more than 2 million homes are located in the wildland-urban interface - those areas where homes are closest to forests, grasslands and other flammable landscapes.

From 1990 to 2010, as fires started growing more frequent and more intense, the number of new homes in those areas increased by 41%.

Even if a building moratorium could be enacted - and that's highly doubtful -- millions of Californians already call high-risk areas home.

Last year, in response to the North Bay fires, state lawmakers budgeted $1 billion over five years for fire prevention, including prescribed burns and projects to remove dead trees, thin brush and cut fire breaks. Much of the money will be distributed in grants to cities, counties and fire departments.

Assemblyman Jim Wood, D-Healdsburg, was the architect of the fire prevention program. He's back this year with a proposal to help rural property owners harden their homes to survive a wildfire.

Assembly Bill 38 would establish a state Wildfire Preparedness Board and 18 regional districts to provide technical assistance, review best practices, develop prevention plans and track the progress of and obstacles to fire prevention efforts.

Wood's bill also would allocate $1 billion for no- and low-interest loans to help pay for, among other things, fire-resistant roofs, siding and windows; ember-resistant vents; establishing a 5-foot noncombustible zone and tree trimming and removal within a 100-foot of buildings.

These features are required for new buildings, but thousands of homes in high-risk areas areas were built before some of these standards were established. They need to be retrofitted.

With many insurers canceling policies in fire-prone areas, the improvements identified in AB 38 could make it easier for property owners to maintain coverage.

As Wood noted in explaining his proposal, “Overwhelming data suggest the two most important factors in protecting homes from wildfire are selection of building materials and the maintenance of potential fuel sources in order to establish adequate defensible spaces.”

Photographs taken after last fall's Camp fire in Butte County illustrate Wood's point. In many of Paradise's neighborhoods, tall trees survived while houses burned to the ground, ignited by floating embers landing on roofs and flames spreading through low-lying vegetation alongside buildings.

Anyone living in a fire-prone area has obvious incentives to harden their home. But replacing a roof, vents and windows quickly adds up to thousands of dollars. Landscaping and maintenance can be costly, too. A revolving-loan fund would make it easier for property owners to do the work that needs to be done. With the high cost of fighting wildfires, including the environmental costs, it would be a good investment for taxpayers, too. State lawmakers should support AB 38.

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