By Paul Rogers – San Jose Mercury News

When Ed Kanner decided to build a new home in the foothills just south of downtown Los Gatos, he chose an unusual roof. Steel, painted brown to blend in with the oaks nearby.

Originally the idea was environmental efficiency – steel reflects heat and will keep the house cool. But it also has another benefit, fire safety. Starting Tuesday with new statewide building standards, fire-safe materials are about to become a lot more common around California.

“If there’s a fire, stuff up here goes up fast,” said Kanner, a CPA who also didn’t mind a Los Gatos rule that he also install fire sprinklers. “I think I’m not only saving my own life, but probably somebody else’s.”

As wildfires burn across California this summer, the new codes will include some of the strictest standards in the nation for people constructing new homes in high-fire areas from the Oregon border to San Diego and the Sierra to the Santa Cruz Mountains.

The rules require the highest-rated roofing materials: double-pane tempered windows so the glass doesn’t shatter in heat; fire-resistant materials for decking and siding; and mesh screens over attic vents to repel flying embers, a common way firestorms spread.

“We have been looking at how we can make houses more resistant to fire. Embers are the real culprit,” said Ernylee Chamlee, chief of wildland fire prevention engineering for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

The new building rules are part of a two-pronged state strategy following historic blazes in 2003 that killed 24 people and burned 3,600 homes in Southern California.

The strategy is simple. It is politically impractical to ban all construction in fire-prone areas – just as it would be to ban all construction in earthquake hazard zones. So state authorities hope instead to reduce the chances of homes burning once fires start.

The other component requires rural homeowners to clear brush and trees 100 feet around their homes, rather than 30 feet, the previous standard. Although Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed that “defensible space” law in 2005, state and local fire departments have written almost no tickets for violators. But that’s changing, too. Fines go up to $500.

“This year, we will be more aggressive. If necessary, we will take enforcement actions to see that the work gets done,” said Cal Fire director Ruben Grijalva.

“Defensible space doesn’t mean clear-cutting everything down. It means thinning. It means being lean, clean and green.”

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