Fire officials: Local lessons from North Bay fires

I have some questions about what might helps with wild fires?
How much better is it . . .
To have a house with stucco siding compared to wood siding?
To have a house with a tile roof compared to shingles or tar paper?
To have available structure wrap? See some at firezat.com .
To use an outside fire retardant paint?

Are there other possible things that could be helpful?

- Thanks

As an experienced wildland fire professional I am deeply concerned that our entire area, with its heavy (and beautiful) fuel/vegetation load and with the significant use of flammable construction materials is at significant risk of exactly the type of devastation that occurred in Santa Rosa.

We need better preparation, planning, alerting systems, voluntary and mandatory fire safety/fuel load reduction/removal zones, voluntary and mandatory removal of flammable construction materials and well defined, tested and signed evacuation routes.

Here is an absolute must read - Does California need to rethink urban fire risk after wine country tragedy?:

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"Are there other possible things that could be helpful? "

1 - Make sure that the roof vents on your house all have ember proof screening
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2 - Clear afire safety zone of at least 100 ft around your home
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3 - Install residential fire sprinklers in your home including the attic spaces. Most wildfires that spread to structures do so via the roof vents and the roof itself and attic sprinklers will mitigate, but may not prevent, such occurrences.

4 - If you have a combustible roof replace it with a non-combustible roof.
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Recognize that government agencies are slow to react regarding disaster planning and preparation so organize your neighborhood to develop an evacuation plan.

Here is what a small group of concerned residents did in 2008 to prepare an evacuation plan for the Walsh Road area in Atherton:

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This effort was completed , start to finish, in less than 60 days and without any public agency support!

If your mobile phones are your only phone systems (that is, you do not have a landline) be sure that you keep them on at on if you wish to receive SMS and other emergency alerts. If you use the "do not disturb" option on your mobile phone to block calls during certain hours, be sure to add emergency numbers to the exceptions list to allow those messages to get through.

Information for Do Not Disturb on iOS devices is here:
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and for Android OS here:
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Check your settings to make sure that do-not-disturb is working as you want it to. Check with your mobile phone service provider with any questions about your mobile phone's settings.

steve taffee

Note - you may well awaken to a disaster with no power; plan accordingly.

My son woke up at 1am Monday morning of the firestorms, in their home off Montecito in SR. They evacuated quickly, and as they drove down their street, they had to navigate the downed power lines on their street.

Likely we won't experience the windstorm that was experienced that night, but one never knows. Certainly if the disaster is an earthquake, do not count on power. If you are doing a "walk-thru" with your kids, have a practice in the dark.

Lastly, as noted above, your route is important. My son evac'd east to Kewood. Bad choice, as they found both ends of the valley were ablaze, and they evac'd again 4 hours later, back to the west.