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Wildfire Prepared Home Program: Improving Property Survivability and Insurability
May 28 @ 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm PDT
AIA in California Presents….
Wildfire Prepared Home Program: Improving Property Survivability and Insurability
The AIA in CALIFORNIA is responding to the recent Southern California fires with a unified plan for response, recovery, and rebuilding for communities that were devastated by the disaster. This series of sessions will help the architectural profession understand the rapidly changing landscape, the local issues facing communities, and strategies for resilient design and disaster response; the AIA in California is connecting policy makers, government officials, and practitioners, uniting architects in building a more just, equitable, and resilient future.
IBHS is a non-profit research organization that has spent years researching material and component vulnerabilities, wind-driven ember ignitions, and wind-driven building-to-building fire spread. Insights from these experiments have informed the Wildfire Prepared Home Program – a designation certification program that outlines a system of actions homeowners can take at the parcel level to address a property’s roof, building features, and defensible space to meaningfully reduce its risk of wildfire ignition.
This session will walk attendees through the science conducted at IBHS’ Research Center in South Carolina, along with post-disaster field investigations, that have collectively identified the most vulnerable areas around the home that must be addressed. IBHS will discuss the two Wildfire Prepared Home designation level requirements and how each addresses ignitions from embers, radiant heat, and direct flame contact. IBHS is actively engaged in improving community-scale wildfire resilience through its recently launched Wildfire Prepared Neighborhood standard. This neighborhood-level operational framework includes the science-backed requirements of its Home-level program and incorporates additional requirements to address structure density, the presence of connective fuels, and building materials – the three pillars of wildfire conflagration.
(*Virtual on Zoom. Register below to receive the access link)
FEATURED SPEAKERS: (12:00pm – 1:30pm)
- Dr. Anne Cope – Chief Engineer, IBHS
- Roy Wright – President and CEO, IBHS
Moderated by:
- William (Bill) Melby, FAIA – former principal, Ordiz Melby Architects & past Chair, AIA California Disaster Assistance Network
REGISTER HERE
CLICK HERE for more info from AIA California.
FEATURED SPEAKERS:
Dr. Anne Cope – Chief Engineer, IBHS
Dr. Anne Cope joined IBHS in 2009 just a few months before the groundbreaking for the construction of the IBHS Research Center in Richburg, South Carolina. As the Chief Engineer, she leads the development of research programs to improve the performance of structures in hurricanes, wildfires, severe thunderstorms, and hailstorms, as well as the team of engineers, scientists, and skilled craftsmen who conduct research on full-scale homes and commercial buildings. She is responsible for the team’s implementation of research findings into building codes and standards.
Prior to joining IBHS, Dr. Cope was a project manager and structural engineer with Reynolds, Smith & Hills, Inc., designing projects for NASA, the Department of Defense, and commercial launch operations. Dr. Cope’s research encompasses topics ranging from the full-scale simulation of wind effects on buildings to detailed studies of the vulnerabilities of buildings to natural hazards and the development of damage prediction models. She is also a proud veteran of the United States Army. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in civil engineering from Clemson University and her doctorate from the University of Florida. She is a registered professional engineer in Florida and South Carolina.
Roy Wright – President and CEO, IBHS
Convinced the continuing cycle of human suffering that strikes families and communities following severe weather can be broken, Roy Wright leads a team of scientists and risk communicators who deliver strategies for safer and stronger homes and businesses.
For two decades, Roy has served in roles that put him on the ground in the immediate aftermath of weather-driven and climate-related disasters, walking through damaged homes with survivors and leading the charge for survivable homes and businesses, stronger construction, more effective resilience efforts, and better building codes.
A property insurance and disaster resiliency expert and a former Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) official, Roy joined the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) in 2018.
IBHS delivers top-tier science and translates it into action to prevent avoidable suffering, strengthen our homes and businesses, inform the insurance industry, and support thriving communities. Roy’s team uses a unique, state-of-the-art research facility to conduct realistic re-creations of severe weather hazards on full-scale structures.
Prior to IBHS, Roy served at FEMA as the chief executive of the National Flood Insurance Program, led the agency’s Federal Insurance and Mitigation Administration, and directed resilience programs addressing earthquake, fire, flood, and wind risks.
A native of California, Roy earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Azusa Pacific University and a Master of Public Administration from The George Washington University.
Follow Roy on LinkedIn and Twitter for his insights on disaster safety, building resilience, and leadership.
Moderated by:
William (Bill) Melby, FAIA – former principal, Ordiz Melby Architects & past Chair, AIA California Disaster Assistance Network
William (Bill) Melby, FAIA has been the principal-in-charge of over 300 diverse educational and institutional projects, including four comprehensive high schools, and several other award winning projects.
For over four decades Bill has been a tireless advocate for his clients, the architectural profession, and the often overlooked Central Valley of California. He has been an active mentor and has worked to educate the entire architectural community through his efforts with the AIA California. He regularly participates in mentoring opportunities with local elementary, high school, and college students. a well as coordinating with high school and community college instructors.
As a volunteer, Bill has deployed to disasters like the Northridge Earthquake and Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. He is a past Chair of the AIA California Disaster Assistance Network, AIA CA representative to the national AIA State Disaster Coordinators network. and was a member of the AIA National Disaster Assistance Committee from 2021 to 2023. Bill was a founding Co-chair of the AIA CA Resilient Design Committee. He has also been active with the Golden Empire Gleaners food bank for over thirty years.
RESOURCE LINKS:
AIACA Hardening for Wildfire Resilience
AIA California published an article discussing the impacts of wildfires in California and the importance of hardening both the site and structure to limit destruction. The piece emphasizes that wildfires create significant financial burdens and highlights strategies to enhance resilience.
https://aiacalifornia.org/news/hardening-for-wildfire-resilience/
Continuing Education: Wildfire-Adapted Design
An article in Architectural Record discusses the importance of hardening homes against fire in tandem with other measures, most critically, defensible space. It emphasizes that while hardening homes is essential, it must be complemented by other strategies to effectively mitigate wildfire risks.
Sustainable Defensible Space
Created by the Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains, along with a diverse steering committee of experts, this project focuses on offering solutions to improve resilience and resource conservation values, and resistance of structures to wildfire loss for developed properties in the SMMNRA by improving management by homeowners of their defensible space zone. The site has an additional “Resources” tab for more detailed information and links to associated agencies.
Rockwool/RDH Technical Bulletin: https://www.rockwool.com/syssiteassets/o2-rockwool/documentation/technical-bulletins/residential/rockwool—building-with-stone-wool-in-wildfire-prone-areas.pdf?f=20250311140839
SFPE WUI Handbook: https://www.sfpe.org/wuihandbook/home
NFPA Wildfire Resources: https://www.nfpa.org/education-and-research/wildfire
2022 CBC – Chapter 7A – https://up.codes/viewer/california/ca-building-code-2022/chapter/7A/sfm-materials-and-construction-methods-for-exterior-wildfire-exposure#7A
Calfire WUI Listed Products – https://osfm.fire.ca.gov/what-we-do/fire-engineering-and-investigations/building-materials-listing
IBHS Wildfire Research – https://ibhs.org/risk-research/wildfire/
