The recent fires in Los Angeles are now the worst disaster in US history and the rebuilding process will take years. Hopefully the reconstruction will use non-combustible fire resistant materials so that history won’t repeat itself. Photo Credit: Sua Sponte Photography and Arprince via Shutterstock
The recent fires in Los Angeles have resulted in the largest amount of fire damage the country has ever seen. For so many people life went from normal to one of complete despair in the matter of just a few hours. Homes of all kinds; modern and traditional designs, new and old, homes with stucco siding, homes with clay tile and steel roofs, small and big—all burnt to the ground quickly leaving people homeless without any possessions. Over time investigations will define many contributing factors but without any doubt the two leading causes for the fires were lack of rain in the LA basin over the past year and the up to 100 mile per hour “Santa Anna” winds with only 3% humidity that fueled the fires and made firefighting nearly impossible. The other key factor had to do with the fact that the destroyed homes were built with combustible materials.
Whether or not you personally believe in global warming or whether or not you think it is caused by man, it’s a fact that the world climate is changing—global temperature is rising. With over a half million years of weather history collected the results of scientific research have demonstrated the link between carbon dioxide (C02) in the air and atmospheric temperature; when C02 levels in the air rise so does the atmospheric temperature and when they drop so does air temperature. The question is where the C02 is created. With the increasing amount of heat energy in the atmosphere weather will continue to become more extreme and our building structures will have to be more robust as a result.
When Los Angeles is ready to rebuild there will be updated building codes designed to offer better protection in the event of fires. For the sake of those who died and for those who lost everything it’s time for building codes to require that all new homes be constructed with non-combustible materials or at the very least that buildings remain structurally sound for an hour or more in a fire environment. The city of Los Angeles building code will probably mandate such things as house designs that don’t trap burning embers during wind events, the reduction of burnable landscape materials around homes, and changes to water systems. Narrow streets will likely be widened too so that vehicles leaving an area won’t interfere with emergency vehicles going the other way. Building code upgrades will probably also require that buildings be designed to resist stronger wind forces and violent weather in recognition of climate change.
The shift to non-combustible building materials will not be easy. Historically the US has been blessed with large forests so we became a wood-built culture with large trained labor forces to build wood-frame structures. However this isn’t the case for many other countries in the world where timber is scarce. In those places concrete is the leading building material. Florida builds more concrete homes than any other state because of hurricane damage, flooding, termite damage, and a climate that encourages wood decay.
Concrete Houses
Concrete houses can be designed to look like any other house on a block. But unlike others this house can be engineered to survive hurricanes, tornados, fires, and earthquakes. Photo Credit: Joe Nasvik
The push for concrete in the US has a long history. In 1908 Thomas Edison filed for a patient for the construction of concrete homes. He developed cast iron forms that were assembled to build an entire house in one concrete placement. An opening was left at the top of the roof for concrete to move into the forms. He also developed a flow-able mix so that the concrete would flow down to the bottom of the house and to all parts of the formwork. Afterwards the forms were unbolted and moved to the next house. He built only a few houses in New Jersey and Gary, Indiana but some of them are still in use today.
Architects such as Tadao Ando and Frank Lloyd Wright designed high end modern looking sleek homes for wealthy buyers. An Ando designed beach front home in Malibu built in 2013 survived the Palisades fire.
In 1908, Thomas Edison filed a patent for constructing concrete homes by placing concrete only once.
It would be good if concrete could be regarded as “fire proof” but it is more accurate to say that it is “fire resistant.” Nothing is fireproof, everything depends on the amount of time something is exposed to heat and the amount of heat involved. This relationship with concrete will be described more fully in the next article in this series.
Concrete homes can be designed, engineered, and built to resist hurricanes, tornadoes, fires, floods, and earthquakes. They can protect inhabitants from trees that fall on houses and flying debris. Concrete homes are resilient because they can survive disasters without needing to be rebuilt. In succeeding articles the following will be addressed:
In Greece as well as in many other countries where wood is scarce the material most used for home building is concrete. Photo Credit: Joe Nasvik
- How concrete homes perform in fires
- How engineers design them to resist increasing natural disasters
- Different concrete home building methods and their associated costs
- The importance of resiliency compared to focusing on carbon dioxide created during the building process
- Information about the process of developing and changing building codes
- How home insurance companies view concrete homes.
The road ahead for rebuilding Los Angeles and dealing with a monumental amount of toxic debris will be long and stressful. Let’s hope their decisions will be for the good of everyone.
About Joe Nasvik
Joe Nasvik has been a prominent figure in the concrete industry for over four decades. Before transitioning to editorial roles, he owned and operated a concrete construction company for nearly 20 years. In his editorial career, Nasvik served as a senior editor for Concrete Construction magazine, contributing extensively to the field through articles and insights.