Title: Why do houses burn in wildfires and what can we do about it?
Presenters: Dr. Eric Knapp (USFS) and Yana Valachovic (UCANR)
Abstract: Recent destructive wildfires in northern California provide an opportunity to investigate how different factors influence home survival. We conducted an analysis of the 2018 Camp Fire, obtaining measurements from a randomly selected subset of homes in Paradise, to determine if nearby burning structures and/or nearby vegetation contributed to home survival, and whether new building codes in place since 2008 helped. The findings, corroborated by photographs taken of damaged but not destroyed homes, point to changes that could substantially improve outcomes.
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