The way homes are constructed can play a big role in whether they burn in a wildfire.
Few states require building with fire-resistant materials, but some in the Mountain West are in the process of changing that.
Colorado communities in designated wildland-urban interface zones have until next April to adopt a wildfire resiliency code that was finalized by a state board this summer.
“It requires special construction that will reduce the chances of a building catching on fire,” said Ryan Handy, a land use planning specialist at Headwaters Economics.
Handy’s organization is providing technical assistance to cities and counties adopting the code. Some communities already have building or fire codes on the books, but it’s been a patchwork.
The new code primarily applies to new construction, but also major renovations, and requires designs like siding with noncombustible materials or Class A roofs – rated for the highest level of fire resistance.
“In a state like Colorado, where there's a lot of growth – a lot of new construction and development – it could make a real material difference relatively quickly,” said Handy.
Statewide wildfire building codes can be controversial. In Oregon, they were repealed, largely because of controversy surrounding the associated maps that defined the high-risk zones.
In Colorado, statewide policies were repeatedly shot down by the home building industry, which claimed the rules increase the cost of construction and are better created at the local level. But lawmakers eventually signed off on a bill mandating the standards, and setting up a board to develop them, in 2023.
Handy said such codes can reduce the risk a home ignites in a fire by about 40%.
“Science has really shown that homes themselves during a wildfire event are sources of fuel,” she said. “So, from our perspective, one of the most effective ways to reduce wildfire spread and home loss is to build these homes so that they're effectively less burnable.”
California, Nevada and Utah also have some level of state wildfire building codes.
Utah has had statewide standards on the books since 2006, but counties only had to adopt a version of it if they wanted access to state funding to fight fires. Now, under a state law that passed this year, all cities and counties with land in the wildland-urban interface will need to adopt the defensible space and home-hardening requirements by January.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Boise State Public Radio, Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Northern Colorado, KANW in New Mexico, Colorado Public Radio and KJZZ in Arizona as well as NPR, with support from affiliate newsrooms across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Eric and Wendy Schmidt.
