Quote:
Originally Posted by MrLonzo
I lived in Southern California for over 40 years. My house, and most houses there are stucco over wood frame with Class A roofing shingles made of fiberglass/asphalt or clay.
Stucco is not a flammable material. It is composed of Portland cement and sand, neither of which are flammable. Class A roofing shingles are fire-resistant and can withstand exposure to direct flames without catching fire, according to numerous online sources. You’ll find inside most of these upscale houses lots of tiling, stainless steel, mirrors, glass, and other non-flammable materials.
So how do embers get to the wood frame leading to the burning down of the entire house? And how do the fires spread so quickly from house to house (one report says “length of a football field in 90 seconds”). Yes, wind is an accelerant, but fire needs flammable fuel.
I don’t disbelieve the pictures I’m seeing, just trying to understand how this happens.
|
I also lived in Southern California in a fire area. I had to evacuate twice do to fire. Our house had concrete tiles as do most houses in fire zones but still wood facia.
There are several ways the houses still burn. One is with 60-80 mph winds the temperature is so hot anything flammable will burst into flame including asphalt shingles which are made from petroleum (asphalt) and wood covered in stucco. Another way is the embers get sucked into the attic and the house burns down from the inside.
These fires are so bad because of the wind the fire is much hotter and spreads so quickly. No amount of water is going to stop the fire it just needs to run out of fuel or the wind to stop.