In January, the world watched in horror as fires marched through multiple Los Angeles neighborhoods, leaving behind blocks of smoldering foundations. A recent report tried to calculate how much it would cost to rebuild the structures lost to better withstand the next blaze.
While building a wildfire-ready home may seem daunting and expensive, that new research claims the costs are modest, especially when weighed against their protective powers.
The Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS) and Headwaters Economics recently paired up to estimate the added cost to meet California’s wildfire building standards and two standards developed by the institute itself – the Wildfire Prepared Home (WFPH) Base and WFPH Plus. For a 1,750-square-foot, $500,000 build, those costs ranged from around $9,000 to $15,000 – or up to 3% more.
“And that really equates to $50 extra per month on a traditional 30-year mortgage mortgage,” said Steve Hawkes, IBHS’ wildfire director.
The analysis focuses on the relative costs of roofs, exterior walls, vents, windows, doors and decks, as well as work done on vegetation close to the structure.
“All the areas of the exterior of the home that are vulnerable to the three different mechanisms of fire transfer: the embers, the flames and the radiant heat,” Hawkes explained.
Some of the differentials in the report were modest, like the less than $1,000 that separates a roughly $25,000 non-wildfire-prepared roof from the three fire-safe alternatives.
But other differences were more substantial: the $5,200 for IBHS Plus standard eaves, for example, is nearly three times the non-standard alternative.
As the report notes, such measures are most effective “when every home in the neighborhood participates.” And even though the price differences were relatively modest, Hawkes recognized that some people may need assistance in getting started.
He said state mitigation funds to support such home hardening efforts “can be really important for them to take the next step.”
He also recommended the adoption of statewide wildfire building codes, like those in California and more recently adopted in Colorado.
“It's ‘all of us’ problem, and it's an all of the above strategy,” Hawkes said. “There's no silver bullet … that's going to get us out of this problem.”
The Mountain West News Bureau recently reported on separate research that found that home hardening measures can more than double structure survivability during a wildfire.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Boise State Public Radio, Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Northern Colorado, KANW in New Mexico, Colorado Public Radio and KJZZ in Arizona as well as NPR, with support from affiliate newsrooms across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Eric and Wendy Schmidt.
