Building a Wildfire bunker?? (2009, home, buying)

[kitty3]

Does your average homeowners insurance in California cover wildfire damage? Or is it extra? Also, how expensive is that gel stuff? Are you saying if you cover your house with it and have good defensible space, a raging fire could come sweeping in and your house would stand a good chance of not burning?

[jimj]

Originally Posted by kitty3

Does your average homeowners insurance in California cover wildfire damage? Or is it extra? Also, how expensive is that gel stuff? Are you saying if you cover your house with it and have good defensible space, a raging fire could come sweeping in and your house would stand a good chance of not burning?

If you take a look at the website I gave it'll show you the gel system is about $350. I personally would get 2 so it can be sprayed by 2 people at once and you might have extra if needed. It has been used up here for the last couple of years as has been foil wrapping houses. I've not heard of a gel house burning down so far.
They've found the gel is faster and works very well and was highly suggested by fire and CDF here during last years forest fires.
If people would realize where they live and use all the modern fire suppression tools available and at a minimum cut back foilage to a defensable space that'd go a long way to cut back how long it takes to put out a wildfire. If the firefighters could concentrate on the foilage instead of structures they'd get more done in less time.
What I'd like to see is a gel system included with every new house that's in a wildfire area, at least to spray the roof down before you run.

[kitty3]

See, that's why I love this forum...I would have never known such a foam/gel existed! I want to do everything in my power to prevent any fire from damaging my (future) home. Thanks for the great advice and the link to the website!

[Ultrarunner]

Originally Posted by jimj

If people would realize where they live and use all the modern fire suppression tools available and at a minimum cut back foilage to a defensable space that'd go a long way to cut back how long it takes to put out a wildfire. If the firefighters could concentrate on the foilage instead of structures they'd get more done in less time.

A lot of my neighbors are caught in a catch 22... previously, we would either till of disc the area around our homes... it was inexpensive and very effective.

The city no longer approves either method and requires hand cutting or mowing to preserve intact root structures for erosion protection... the city also requires a permit for every tree removed greater than 6" at Breast Height... with Eucalyptus being the only exception.

Knowing what to do and being allowed to do it is the often where the problem is.

[DMenscha]

I think the foil wrapping thing is a bit labor intensive, I saw pictures of a 21 person fire crew wrapping a building up in the 6 Rivers NF a couple of years ago. It didn't look particularly effective.

If you are going to be building a new home, you can specify the type of building materials you want to have used. There are many fire resistant building materials in use today. Using them in conjunction with defensible space is how you avoid having your home burn down.

Have a look at this page;

CAL FIRE - Fire Planning & Prevention

[jimj]

Originally Posted by Ultrarunner

A lot of my neighbors are caught in a catch 22... previously, we would either till of disc the area around our homes... it was inexpensive and very effective.

The city no longer approves either method and requires hand cutting or mowing to preserve intact root structures for erosion protection... the city also requires a permit for every tree removed greater than 6" at Breast Height... with Eucalyptus being the only exception.

Knowing what to do and being allowed to do it is the often where the problem is.

Kind of reminds me of "Nero fiddles while Rome burns"
I wonder what the city would do if you did it as the fire was coming?

[jimj]

Originally Posted by DMenscha

I think the foil wrapping thing is a bit labor intensive, I saw pictures of a 21 person fire crew wrapping a building up in the 6 Rivers NF a couple of years ago. It didn't look particularly effective.

If you are going to be building a new home, you can specify the type of building materials you want to have used. There are many fire resistant building materials in use today. Using them in conjunction with defensible space is how you avoid having your home burn down.

Have a look at this page;

CAL FIRE - Fire Planning & Prevention

The foil is labor intensive, they wrapped the Glacier Institute in foil and it survived a massive forest fire but I think the gel would work as well for a lot less labor.

[riceme]

Originally Posted by kitty3

Hey Everybody-

I'll be moving to a rural part of California pretty soon, and am worried about the potential for wildfires. I was thinking I might try to build some sort of small, underground bunker, (or underground 'hole' of some sort) on my land, NOT for me to go into, but some place to put "important" stuff (photo albums, good furniture, etc) in case I would have to evacuate the house due to potential wildfire. Let's face it...I couldn't just shove a whole housefull of belongings into my car and go, but at least the important/sentimental stuff would be saved, and insurance would pay for the house and other stuff if it burnt down. Has anyone ever considered this? Would it work? Where would I find plans to build such a thing? Nothing too huge or elaborate, maybe just the size of a small bathroom or something.

Kitty:

Depending on how much property you have, and the geology of it, if you take care of the property around your home properly, keeping weeds and brush down, etc. you will not likely have to worry about the long, hot, intense burn you mentioned. A fire safe for your special/important belongings should be sufficient.

Also, it's not totally accurate to say that there are no basements or cellars in the Tehachapi area. My parents have a basement, my uncle and grandma have cellars.

Somebody here mentioned that if there's a fire and you have to evacuate, you will not have time to mess with gathering and storing all your things in a basement or a cellar. That is very, very true. If you have to evacuate, you will need to go NOW.

Your best bet, by far, is to take care of your property around your home to properly protect it against fire.

I know you're trying to think of everything before you move to the new area, which is great, but remember that it is all relative.

[skilaketahoe]

In case it helps, a respected Government lab, CSIRO, and a Councillor assisting a Royal Commission are looking into www.wildfiresafetybunkers.com.au. At around $6000USD, installed, I'm getting one. Be a nice wine cellar too.

[atlantagreg30127]

Originally Posted by riceme

Somebody here mentioned that if there's a fire and you have to evacuate, you will not have time to mess with gathering and storing all your things in a basement or a cellar. That is very, very true. If you have to evacuate, you will need to go NOW.

I was just passing through the room, but want to do a "ditto" on the above comment.

Here in Georgia we aren't "known" for wildfires, but with the drought of the last couple of years (now letting up) we did have a few, and the residents of those areas were completely caught off guard as to what to do since wildfires are so rare here. There was even a decent sized one not far from my own house.

A suggestion or two:

1) Digitize EVERY important paper and photo. Scanners are cheap these days, and many all-in-one printers even have them built in, with the nicer ones having adapters so you can scan film negatives, too. While it can be time consuming, take a couple of weekends and scan EVERY photo, document, birth certificate, insurance inventory record/photos, receipts, prescriptions, etc etc. If you have art work in your home, you can even use a good higher res camera (if you own, or even rent one) and take shots of those - you could blow up the pics later and at least somewhat duplicate them once framed if you lose them.

You can now get external USB hard drives (small one) CHEAP - Costco even had a whopping 500 gig one for only $100 recently. More than enough room for anything and the kitchen sink to be stored on digitally (photos, docs, videos, etc). Keep this digital backup drive in your laptop bag with your laptop. In the event of a "get out NOW" situation, you can at least grab that one bag with the laptop and drive in it, and have copies of everything important on the drive and be able to access it later. If the stuff in your safe survives, great, but if not, at least you have backups in digital form on your person.

2) If you have smaller "heirloom" type objects that you don't leave out on display in your home, you could maybe keep them secure in a small portable plastic crate or two. Keep it in the closet where you keep your emergency "bag" of clothes/toiletries (which you should have prepacked for emergencies) and with the laptop bag. In the event of the "get out now" scenario, you can literally grab your emergency clothes, heirloom crates, and laptop bag in less than a minute or so and shove them into a car and take off.

Anyway - just a couple of ideas. As riceme said, there's no way you're going to have time to move larger or bulk stuff into a bunker in the yard in time without risking your safety. Stuff can be replaced and digitized papers and photos can easily be reprinted. Heirloom items can't be replaced per se, but unless you keep them shut 25 feet underground all the time, it's a simple risk we all take. Getting out quick is the main priority in this type of situation.