Looking to move here in the future, but concerned about wildfires (Portland: elementary schools, tile)

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

I'm surprised the US hasn't caught on to fireproof roofing tile. Canadian building codes have required since sometime in the latter 20th Century, that every other house in a development have fire-proof tiles.

CA has found the most vulnerable issue is the attic / gable vents required for building code.
Convection of the surrounding fire draws heat / sparks into the attic thorough the required vents and fire starts UNDER your fireproof roof. I will use a concrete slab / + earthen roof in my next 'fireproof design' There will be no attic / vents.

[Cloudy Dayz]

Originally Posted by Larry Caldwell

I haven't seen a flammable roof installed in Oregon in 30 years.

Oh please, about the only fireproof roofs I have seen in Oregon are metal roofs, and those are mostly confined to commercial buildings. Everything else will burn.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by StealthRabbit

CA has found the most vulnerable issue is the attic / gable vents required for building code.
Convection of the surrounding fire draws heat / sparks into the attic thorough the required vents and fire starts UNDER your fireproof roof. I will use a concrete slab / + earthen roof in my next 'fireproof design' There will be no attic / vents.

I remember reading about this. They now recommend those vents be installed with screening to block the embers. I wonder how Germany and Austria build their Tyrolean/Bavarian-style roofs in developments near forests. They require cement houses, but the roofs look like traditional shingle, IIRC. One of the mods here owns a home over there in such a development, &. posted photos & details of the building code on a CA thread on fire-proof construction methods a few yrs. ago...

[Larry Caldwell]

Originally Posted by Cloudy Dayz

Oh please, about the only fireproof roofs I have seen in Oregon are metal roofs, and those are mostly confined to commercial buildings. Everything else will burn.

Any 3-tab asphalt shingle is Class A fire resistive. Metal. Tile. The only common flammable roof is wood, and those are getting pretty rare.

[Cloudy Dayz]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

I remember reading about this. They now recommend those vents be installed with screening to block the embers. I wonder how Germany and Austria build their Tyrolean/Bavarian-style roofs in developments near forests. They require cement houses, but the roofs look like traditional shingle, IIRC. One of the mods here owns a home over there in such a development, &. posted photos & details of the building code on a CA thread on fire-proof construction methods a few yrs. ago...

I had to Google Image search that, to see what it looks like. The first thing I notice is that as you say they are near forest, not in them. The pictures show acres of green grass around them and very few trees. That right there should be enough to keep them from burning.

Also I believe Germany has far better firefighting capabilities. Here is one example.

A large forest fire erupted 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the German capital early Monday morning. The blaze spread across an area of roughly 2.5 hectares (6 acres) before being brought under control by the fire brigade.

After the fire was reported by police at 3 a.m. (0100 UTC), nearly 100 firefighters were dispatched to a wooded area near the city of Oranienburg, in northern Brandenburg, the state that surrounds Berlin.
By morning, 50 emergency personnel were still on-site extinguishing the flames.

Forest fire north of Berlin brought under control _ News _ DW _ 22.04.2019

Six acres is considered a large fire in Germany, and gets an immediate response of 100 firefighters. A six acre forest fire in Oregon would likely get a response of a dozen firefighters from the local volunteer fire department, if that many of them can get out of bed at 3AM. More would be dispatched only if the fire got out of control. 100 firefighters for six acres = 16.666 firefighters per acre of fire. Contrast that to the 676,000 acres of fires in Oregon and 5,600 firefighters. That is 0.009 firefighters per acre of fire.

If we want to be able to successfully put out fires in Oregon, we need to do it like they do it in Germany, and have a hundred firefighters on the way as soon as a wildfire is reported, and probably a couple of aircraft too. It's pretty hard to put a fire out after it spreads to the entire state.

[Cloudy Dayz]

Originally Posted by Larry Caldwell

Any 3-tab asphalt shingle is Class A fire resistive. Metal. Tile. The only common flammable roof is wood, and those are getting pretty rare.

They are not the same. I'm not a big fan of metal construction, but it is pretty darn fireproof.

[NW4me]

Originally Posted by Cloudy Dayz

I had to Google Image search that, to see what it looks like. The first thing I notice is that as you say they are near forest, not in them. The pictures show acres of green grass around them and very few trees. That right there should be enough to keep them from burning.

Also I believe Germany has far better firefighting capabilities. Here is one example.

Forest fire north of Berlin brought under control _ News _ DW _ 22.04.2019

Six acres is considered a large fire in Germany, and gets an immediate response of 100 firefighters. A six acre forest fire in Oregon would likely get a response of a dozen firefighters from the local volunteer fire department, if that many of them can get out of bed at 3AM. More would be dispatched only if the fire got out of control. 100 firefighters for six acres = 16.666 firefighters per acre of fire. Contrast that to the 676,000 acres of fires in Oregon and 5,600 firefighters. That is 0.009 firefighters per acre of fire.

If we want to be able to successfully put out fires in Oregon, we need to do it like they do it in Germany, and have a hundred firefighters on the way as soon as a wildfire is reported, and probably a couple of aircraft too. It's pretty hard to put a fire out after it spreads to the entire state.

That fire in Germany was near a city, so perhaps the response came from an urban fire department?

Also, don't northern European countries like Germany normally get substantial rainfall in the summer?
Perhaps they don't have the problem the western U.S. does, where summers are dry and the countryside becomes fire-prone.

[Larry Caldwell]

I don't know how other counties handle it, but Douglas County has the Douglas Forest Protective Association (DFPA) that offers the same rapid response to wildfire that urban dwellers get for their house fires. The easiest time to control a wildfire is when it is still small. DFPA puts out dozens of wildfires every year. I pay property taxes to them, and in return they will fight fires on my property with no cost to me. They are a fire department that specializes in wildfires.

Because there are no property lines when the wind blows, DFPA also assists with fires on public lands.

[Cloudy Dayz]

Originally Posted by NW4me

That fire in Germany was near a city, so perhaps the response came from an urban fire department?

Also, don't northern European countries like Germany normally get substantial rainfall in the summer?
Perhaps they don't have the problem the western U.S. does, where summers are dry and the countryside becomes fire-prone.

I don't believe Germany gets anywhere near as much rain as Western Oregon, but probably more then Eastern Oregon. Germany gets about 787mm of rain a year. Western Oregon gets anywhere from 2032mm to 5080mm.

From what I read, all firefighting in Germany is done by local fire departments.

What we really need is a rapid firefighting response. I would propose we should have a fleet of at least 100 747 supertankers stationed all over the Western US with at least 10 of them in Oregon, all loaded and ready to go, at a moments notice. The goal should be, no matter how small the wild fire, super tankers should start dropping fire retardant on it in less then 30 minutes. It should be realistic to put most fires out at that point. Once the fire is spreading out of control, nothing can stop it.

[airemp76]

Originally Posted by Cloudy Dayz

answer me this, why is Highway 99 still closed due to "A wildfire is in the area.", when that fire has been out for a week now?

its still smolderin, it could fire back up any time it can