In the test, one house burned and the other was unscathed. A course on fire prevention in Los Angeles?

On a sunny Tuesday, a small house exploded in the parking lot of a firefighter training center in Anaheim and neighbors survived.

The fiery showcase is part of a demonstration showing the effectiveness of wildfire defense strategies, and as the community begins to rebuild, it can serve as a roadmap for Pacific Palisades and Altadena. The devastating January fire.

The event – co-hosted by the non-profit research group Institute of Business and Home Security Insurance and the California Construction Industry Association. – Place two small houses (about the size of a shed) on the fire. One is built to typical standards, the other is built above and above, using a few Fire fighting technology.

It is foreseeable that the unprotected homes bear the fate of thousands of structures doing in the January 7 disaster.

First, firefighters simulated the embers around the embers using dripping torches. Four industrial fans provided the wind, spreading the fire over dry wood coverings to small bushes outside the house.

Within five minutes, the shrub cracked on the side of the house, serving as a pile of wood fire, a universal storage for properties with wood-burning fireplaces-lit. Soon, the flames climbed onto a tall juniper bush planted on the side of the house, spreading the flames across the exterior walls and roofs, and soon the wooden fence exploded into flames.

Vinyl rain ditch hangs down and melts, its plastic material slapped in the wind like a flag, and the windows will soon shatter, allowing the flames to enter the interior. Within fifteen minutes, the fire burned from the inside out, roaring through the walls and roofs. The tan color of the house was burned to black, and smoke shrouded hundreds of feet of the sky.

The test chamber that was not ready for the wildfire was completely engulfed by the flames.

(Etienne Laurent / The Times)

Twenty minutes later, the house was swallowed by a hell before the frame gave in, collapsed, and fell into a pile of burnt debris.

The wildfire-prepared house has the periphery of a cement paver surrounded by gravel and no bushes. The covering blows onto the gravel and burns. Several hydrangeas sing five feet from the walls of the house, but the house was unscathed.

“This is the story of two houses,” said Anne Cope, chief engineer at the Institute of Insurance.

The company's CEO Roy Wright said the architectural features of burned houses displays are very common in properties in wildfire-prone areas: plastic gutters, open eaves and flammable housing environments such as juniper, bamboo or eucalyptus.

“We won't eliminate wildfires, but we can limit their impact,” Wright said. “The easiest way to start at home.”

The main focus is what fire experts call 0: the first five feet of defense space around the structure. To stop fires on tracks, firefighters recommend removing all landscaping from the 5-foot perimeter and replacing materials that are prone to fire, such as grass or mulch, with cement or bricks.

A firefighter watched a burning demonstration at the ruins of Anaheim to show the effectiveness of preventing embers.

(Etienne Laurent / The Times)

Pavement next to a residential structure next to the Anaheim ruins and a cleanup area show the effectiveness of so-called ember prevention in the house burn demonstration.

(Etienne Laurent / The Times)

Compared to the burning house, the burning house has metal ditch, fiber cement siding, enclosed eaves, metal fences, tables and metal patios with chairs and cement pavers. When burned with ashes, the fire burned to a 5-foot perimeter and then stopped.

“You can still have plants, just keep them five feet away from your house,” Wright said.

Wright visited Pacific Palisades and Altadena once a week after the fire to analyze how they spread so quickly between houses, finding that houses usually burn in clusters, suggesting that the houses are helpful to those around them or harm others around them.

He said if a house has been around for a century and has no mastery of the code, it often burns quickly and passes fires to neighbors. However, if a house is built with fireproofing in mind, with defensive spaces, fireproof materials, enclosed eaves and vents mesh covers, in some cases it will serve as a shield for the house with a tailwind.

Modern fire protection strategies have been implemented in new master-planned communities in Southern California, where home builders look at previous disasters and implement stricter building regulations. The latest success story is Orchard Hills The fire that survived in 2020 Unscathed by meticulous planning and dedicated home design.

But Los Angeles’ housing stock is usually older, with many houses scattered across the region’s hills and mountains sitting on ducks – if the fire swept, the architecture is fragile. That's why Wright emphasizes clearing 0 zones, as it's the fastest and cheapest way to ensure a fire reaches your doorstep and you won't cheer it on.

“We need to do everything we can to narrow down the damage road and give firefighters a chance to beat it,” Wright said.