Fire-resistant fortress born out of Hayman mistakes
July 16, 2012 6:00 PM
The Gazette
Roni Vale designed her home to be a fire resistant fortress complete with a steel roof and aluminum deck.
From Vale’s house, above Highway 115 on Turkey Canyon Ranch Road, one can see a fire scar on Fort Carson where trees exploded, sending smoldering burning bits of wood known as fire brands across nearby hills.
In 2009, Vale’s home was ready for those flames, even though they never crossed the highway. During the Hayman fire, Vale and her husband learned their lesson.
“Back east we didn’t think about wildfire.” Vale said. “It crossed our minds when the Hayman fire was dumping fire brands in our front yard.”
Not only did they have a shake shingle roof but a tree touched their house.
“We did everything wrong,” she said.
Reviewing the behavior of the Waldo Canyon Fire, Colorado Springs Fire Department officials said they found others making similar mistakes. At a Pikes Peak Wildfire Protection Partners meeting Thursday, officials from Colorado Springs Fire Department said they found cedar shake shingle roofs made Mountain Shadows homes more susceptible to the fire.
But Vale didn’t stop with the steel roof. To her knowledge, her house is the first in the United States designed to make fire resistance a factor in the landscaping, the exterior, the interior and the décor.
She coated the carpet, the cabinets and wood, used for decoration and framing, with a fire retardant spray.
Instead of wood, she opted for black granite counter tops and slate floors for the 10,361-square-foot house. She even decided against curtains.
She picked steel doors, glass balustrades and chose to bury her propane tanks so they wouldn’t explode. Every finite detail was considered. Vale acknowledges some of her steps are cost prohibitive and for those getting started, she recommends cutting back brush and low hanging limbs around your house.
“You have to structure your landscape to protect your house,” she said.
The defense around her house starts with two roads, which make natural firebreaks, provide escape routes and are accessible in a fire truck.
She also planted grass and plants with high water content to mitigate risk.
In Mountain Shadows, one homeowner who practiced textbook fire mitigation saved his neighbors’ homes, said Andrew Notbohm a fire mitigation program coordinator for Colorado Springs Fire Department.
But mitigation was not always enough because of the unpredictable fire behavior. One home used as a fire mitigation model burned, he said.
In Cedar Heights, where the fire was less extreme and conditions more cooperative, a fire line put in almost a year before stopped the flames.
From Vale’s house, above Highway 115 on Turkey Canyon Ranch Road, one can see a fire scar on Fort Carson where trees exploded, sending smoldering burning bits of wood known as fire brands across nearby hills.
In 2009, Vale’s home was ready for those flames, even though they never crossed the highway. During the Hayman fire, Vale and her husband learned their lesson.
“Back east we didn’t think about wildfire.” Vale said. “It crossed our minds when the Hayman fire was dumping fire brands in our front yard.”
Not only did they have a shake shingle roof but a tree touched their house.
“We did everything wrong,” she said.
Reviewing the behavior of the Waldo Canyon Fire, Colorado Springs Fire Department officials said they found others making similar mistakes. At a Pikes Peak Wildfire Protection Partners meeting Thursday, officials from Colorado Springs Fire Department said they found cedar shake shingle roofs made Mountain Shadows homes more susceptible to the fire.
But Vale didn’t stop with the steel roof. To her knowledge, her house is the first in the United States designed to make fire resistance a factor in the landscaping, the exterior, the interior and the décor.
She coated the carpet, the cabinets and wood, used for decoration and framing, with a fire retardant spray.
Instead of wood, she opted for black granite counter tops and slate floors for the 10,361-square-foot house. She even decided against curtains.
She picked steel doors, glass balustrades and chose to bury her propane tanks so they wouldn’t explode. Every finite detail was considered. Vale acknowledges some of her steps are cost prohibitive and for those getting started, she recommends cutting back brush and low hanging limbs around your house.
“You have to structure your landscape to protect your house,” she said.
The defense around her house starts with two roads, which make natural firebreaks, provide escape routes and are accessible in a fire truck.
She also planted grass and plants with high water content to mitigate risk.
In Mountain Shadows, one homeowner who practiced textbook fire mitigation saved his neighbors’ homes, said Andrew Notbohm a fire mitigation program coordinator for Colorado Springs Fire Department.
But mitigation was not always enough because of the unpredictable fire behavior. One home used as a fire mitigation model burned, he said.
In Cedar Heights, where the fire was less extreme and conditions more cooperative, a fire line put in almost a year before stopped the flames.
Read more: http://www.gazette.com/articles/vale-141767-resistant-fire.html#ixzz20vMpfl9o
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