Just want to say to the "CBS Sunday Morning" crew - thank you for all you do. I'm 61 and I've been watching this show since you first went on the air in the late 70's. I consider this - along with 60 minutes - to be one of the best and most important shows on television for all time. Keep up the amazing work.
I am retired, living in Manila Philippines. Many place in the city where fires take out 500 to several thousand homes at a time. New construction, such as our home, involves masonry and steel and almost no wood. So risk of catastrophic fire is greatly reduced. Also worth mentioning about the new construction there in Paradise, such reduces pest/termite damage also.
I'm an American here in Cebu. Every building we are constructing is concrete and steel. However, the price of supplies and labor is a fraction of that in America. Plus what Everyone is missing is that those fires were all set to drive out owners so investors like Black Rock and Vanguard can buy them up.
@@airwess3369 wow. I’d love to see evidence of that. Seriously, I hate Blackrock with an unholy passion, but that’s a serious allegation. PG&E dropping the ball on maintenance in exchange for profit is bad enough (and provable), but Hedge funds burning people out? That sounds like a play straight from the GQP Playbook. Except everybody knows they’re in the pockets of big business…
Back in China, our homes were built from concrete. It doesn't burn. You can't really have that in California because of earthquakes. A concrete building would crumble and bury you.
I have never understood why buildings in fire/flood zones are not ALL mandated to be resistant to their areas recurring natural threats. Build fire resistant or nothing...enjoy the woods with confidence. Build high on stilts in flood plains...enjoy the water without fear. Anything less is the height of hubris and foolishness...and a horrible burden on insurers and taxpayers, not to mention those negatively affected.
Taxpayers should not be subsidizing private mortgages in risky areas while over 1/3 of households who RENT have heavy rent burdens, people are driven by HIGH RENTS to live in their cars, and are made homeless because the rent is too damn high, but somehow we have no money ever for renters ever in this country. If a natural disaster strikes your rental, you're out of luck. This cannot stand.
@@kitcoffey7194 we require our tenants to carry renters insurance but anyone can buy their own home nowadays its actually easier and less expensive to buy instead of rent i encourage our tenants to seek ownership
Mandates are what many conservatives don't agree with. They see it as infringing on their freedoms. So while seeing these images of the fire that ravaged Paradise may make you think "why don't they just build SAFER?" makes all the sense in the world to you and anyone watching, jumping the political hoops to actually implement the mandates that you speak of would be politically unpopular.
@@slickburrito - Yes...of course...The freedom to be stupid! The freedom to just let insurance, or government take care of it. The freedom for those very same politicians to think only of themselves and their re-election (can anyone say 'term limits?) instead of doing what is best for The People.
When I built my cabin up in the mountains back in the 90s. I built a small stone wall with crushed stone and other no flammable material around it. Not clearly to stop fires but to also look nice. I cleared 150ft around the whole cabin. It has survived 12 small wild fires so far. Other folks cabins have burned down and been rebuilt many times. You Don't need a metal or brick building, it does help. But you need to build the landscaping to prevent fires from. Getting near the building in the first place.
Really good point! One of the problems with stone is that unreinforced masonry is earthquake vulnerable. Golden State indeed! I think that stone buildings should be part of the plan in every community facing fires. It doesn't have to be a glorified Q hut. Doesn't have to look like a Ranger Station. Stone is a construction component that has a generational historical foundation. Organic to our environment and pleasing to the senses. I don't know why people need to redesign the most useable wheel and call it an improvement.
Exactly! And get the fire retardant spray that works on property , land, and on the house. A photo of a burn area, I believe in NV is amazing proof of how it works.
@@MustangsTrainsMowers Super rare. I lived in Kansas. If I had built there, I'd use 18" centers on the studs, tie down the walls with extra bolts running from the concrete foundation. Reasonable precautions, but not a full re-design of proven methods.
I always wondered why homes in high risk fire areas aren't built to resist fires. Nothing is foolproof, but building a home that resists fire and making sure nothing near the home can burn are good steps in the right direction. When the next fire hits the area, and it will come someday, it will be interesting to see what survives and what doesn't.
Most of the fires in Paradise burned because they didn't have fire resistant roofing material installed. The biggest mistake is to not make the house fire resistant by removing forced debris like pine cones and needles and branches out of the gutters. They didn't remove them from the troughs of the roofs. They didn't remove them from underneath the deck and put a fire screen on the deck opening. They didn't remove the twigs the bark dust the flammable things that are dry around the foundation. There should be absolutely nothing up next to the house maybe 3 to 5 ft away it should be pretty much sand or gravel. In the case of paradise vinyl is an absolute No-No. All window frames need to be metal all gutters need to be metal. Siding needs to be metal or cement board. This is going a little bit above Beyond to make a fire resistant house. Nearest trees and bushes should be a minimum of 30 to 50 ft away. All plants need to be extremely hydrated with water. Test plants for fire resistance even when they are slightly dry.
Problem solved - easy-peasy! Probably only cost a couple dollars and be done by Friday. Oh what’s that? I’m sitting here today wondering if my town is going to burn up next
Housing is expensive enough. We need to not build in areas prone to fire, and maintain forests to prevent fires, AND Californians are going to have to discover this little thing called "density," that building apartment buildings in cities is actually not a bad thing, and a lot better than disrupting the woods. We need affordable housing and this isn't it.
Well, if the windows are open, then what's inside would burn. Very important, that there is no sure bet your home would not burn on an intense fire that can go up to 2000 F.
I think people let go of their need to control because we all learned there is no such thing - beautiful sentiment. These Non- combustible homes are gorgeous and make sense.
And you are the company owner's spouse? Did you know this guy wants $300 per foot, and; how many years have these materials been approved? Chinese drywall sounded great 20 years ago too. How did that great idea turn out?
@@chriswesterfield2042 Quonset's huts have been around from 1942, and so they work, beauty however is in the eye of the beholder, and beauty does not last.
it doesnt work... the radiant heat rusts the metal exterior, everything inside cooks....watch it again, and pay attention to "it resists catching on fire from embers.." if you want to be fireproof go undergrround construction or earth cov.
As a journey level roofer builder for many years, I’ve always thought that this shape and design is very very very universal and multifunctional, and extremely user-friendly to work with. I always thought it would be perfect for exactly what is described in this video and now here it is
Regarding the old Quonset huts, they were used on many university campuses throughout the USA in the 1940's and early 50's as married student housing. It was the perfect solution, as there was a glut of students after World War II and not enough housing.
@@dianayount2122 That is interesting ! They used them at the University of North Dakota for quite a few years, as well. Hopefully, the Quonsets were warm enough in the sub-zero snowy winters !
Or maybe we should not be building in those areas at all, full stop. How many times are the taxpayers going to keep subsidizing rebuilding over the same areas? Isn't it interesting how renters never get any help at all? Yet apparently if you have a mortgage you get endless help, nobody checks if the mortgage is paid off. Renting is absolute slavery in the United States.
Then you can pay for it for us then. Like the things y’all say here you’d NEVER come here to our fire torn Areas with scars everywhere and say them to the face of the people who live here, to the children. You wanna be mad and blame someone, blame the corporations that have been super cutting forests for years here destroying the atmospheric rain cycles and at the same time not letting controlled fires happen , and the pollution the shipping companies in Northern California and mining that caused so much change to water tables. The residents are NOT where your ire should lie. Shame , be better
We would have to stop building everywhere. What about places highly prone to twisters, or floods. What about hurricanes, earthquakes, land slides, etc.? Every area of the US and the world have regionally specific high risk natural disaster threats. It’s twisters, where I live.
@@LafemmebearMusic I think the issue with California is sprawl. They need to build more dense walkable towns and discourage building new suburbs. Residents have fought against this.
The heat that I'm talking about is when a fire rolls through, the heat from that fire itself can cause significant damage. It's just not the flames. I've seen where a gun safe was involved in a fire. The fire itself didn't cause damage to the safe, but the heat from it melted all of the guns inside.
maybe we should not be using taxpayer money to build in fire prone areas over and over. you know, the whole prevention is worth a pound of cure thing. Tell millions and millions of renters that they are entitled to a house. These people in Paradise are not entitled to a house, sorry it's difficult but a lot of people move every year, and maybe building on a fire prone area is not the smartest.
I live in Magalia which also burned with Paradise, adjacent & practically the same town, so I watch the rebuilding process nearly every day. It's a slow process to rebuild a community of several thousand that was nearly unidentifiable as the same place from before the 'Camp Fire' made it a moonscape. Skyway (the main street of both towns) and other major streets are still torn-up from all the heavy logging, firefighting & reconstruction equipment used for clean-up of our previously heavily wooded terrain; additionally underground utility installations create many traffic detours & delays for the remaining residents who still have homes. This is 3 and a half years after the Camp Fire, and we still have several years to get back to normalcy. Fortunately, I found my home spared after worrying that I lost everything during 3 weeks of of mandatory evacuation. Many of my neighbors are refugees who weren't so lucky.
It does however; melt and conduct heat which would cause everything inside to combust and burn. Aircrete sips is currently the only true fire survival material in that it insulates against heat and does not melt; protecting interior utilities and furnishings from combustion.
Pumicecrete is by far the best building material on the planet Pumicecrete is fireproof termite proof rust rot and mold proof and has a high R value and good sound attenuation solid poured walls means no critters can live in your walls
It's important to know that a fire resistant house does not have to look like a military bunker. They can be built just as nice as any other house using modern materials.
It's an interesting concept. But I'm left wondering about all the chemicals used to make materials flame resistant. What health effects might there be on those living in such structures over the long haul, with exposure to those chemicals, especially kids who are still developing? I hope they are taking that into account.
@@cheryld7713 The person you replied to was referring to "off gassing" possibilities that could cause major health problems while living in the structure. But the outdoor concerns you mentioned are good points. I would think that the materials have been approved by the Government, but who knows? Americans lost millions of dollars by using Chinese drywall. How that slipped by government regulations, I'll never know. But the lesson to learn "be wary of any new building material innovations."
It appears that the main reason these won't burn is that almost the entire frame work is made of metal. The roof is metal, the wall studs are metal. the wall sheathing is metal. I couldn't tell for sure but I would guess the widow frames are all metal too. I believe we already use insulation that is resistant to fire so I don't see just offhand that this is any more of a chemical issue than most other homes.
This is most likely a product called Hardiboard, a fiber reinforced concrete board. Is available as siding or 4 x 8 sheets. It is heavy, and the framing needs to be strong enough to support the weight. I imagine with prolonged high temperatures thermal expansion might cause it to snap off fasteners. Or weaken the steel framing to the point of failure, but that could only happen if a huge fuel load was right up against the building. Best practices include removing all flammable material anywhere near the exterior, and any trees tall enough to land on the structure when they fall. The energy used in manufacturing and the related CO2 production are the most serious health threats. It's not toxic, even when heated, no toxic gases are released. However all human and animals still need to be evacuated during a fire event. It could become a huge oven, and air quality will be very bad, toxic bad from the wildfire.
Details would have helped. Is it the steel/metal that is fire resistant? Is it a combination of steel and fire retardant? Is there a limit to how long the house can be exposed to fire?
2:07 Story was about a town rising from the ashes, not an infomercial for the home builder. A few keystrokes will lead you to the answers in a matter of seconds.
I don't know what they're using for sheathing here, but it looks like the siding is fiber cement, which is fire resistant, as are the steel studs. Nothing is fireproof. This house would survive many fires but if there's enough heat for enough time, the inside will eventually burn.
According to the story, most houses that burn catch embers on window frames or between roof shingles. Point is, these houses don't have those weaknesses
...and let's never do anything for renters like permanently end eviction or give rental subsidies or vote in real rent control. Let's just do nothing for renters ever. Renters are 1/3 of households, people. Not everyone will ever have a mortgage and maybe renting could be less like slavery... because not having a mortgage is not a crime.
I just spent two days in Paradise. Had a chance to talk with locals etc. I see why people live there but please keep it a secret as I'd like to live there too & would hate to see it too crowded. Selfish on my part, yes. Guilty as charged.
Just don't expect us taxpayers to keep rebuilding your house because you choose to place it in a fire hazard area, meanwhile we can't do anything for overburdened renters who are 1/3 of households and paying more than half their income in rent. Nothing to be done, nothing to see here.
@@kitcoffey7194 you are oversimplifying and deeply ignoring that disasters like this come in many forms and are happening everywhere now. Again I ask where would all these people including me go? Are we coming to live with you???? You’d see people displaced because of your anger but don’t say where they should go?
I remember hearing about a guy build a fire resistant garage to store valuable car, well forest fire swept through and the garage was still standing afterwards, everything in garage got baked inside due to high fire temperatures.
Silly question but is the idea to stay inside during fire or still evacuate? and hope your building / belongings survive? wouldnt it feel like an oven inside and cook everything inside the house?
Okay so it won't burn but the heat would cook everything inside like a giant oven. I would still Evacuate if there is a fire, and there's more fires to come.
ya seems nothing can prevent air currents associated with infernos, from cooking anything in the path of the air, even if you cut down all combustibles.
None of the idiots in Gatlinburg are rebuilding their houses any differently than they were before. New wooden cabins still cover the wooded mountainsides. Some people never learn.
These homes are made perdominately out of metal, wildfires get really really hot. Hot enought to melt metal. They should have those trees around their property checked out b/c during drought which Cali currently is in bettles hollow out the inside of trees; making it easier for fires to jump from one area to another with the high winds we get out here.
1. No wood-fire gets hot enough to 'melt metal', especially outside of a human furnace designed specifically for such a purpose. Scorched and embrittled? Yes. Red-hot and pliable? Maybe. 'Molten'? No. 2. There is a LOT of other stuff you can do to Metal / Quonset houses to completely eliminate this problem: Coat the outside with a mixture of Perlite and lightly-mixed Portland Cement.... 8-inchk layer should do it. INCREDIBLE insulation, and GENUINELY fireproof. Regardless, 10000x better than a toxic matchstick-timber-and-drywall house. Lighter, more healthy (mold, bugs), less waste, 100% recyclable, easier to build. And yes, the drought needs to be addressed too.
I like Q huts. Never lived in one so I wonder what the inside would sound like during a thunder, heavy rain, storm? I've seen a few in the desert, unoccupiedat this time, would they be difficult to cool off in 120 degree heat?
I was in Northern California during the Paradise fire. I also worked in SanDiego county spraying fire proofing on huge structural steel beams in commercial buildings. Lesson- everything burns if hot enough. Non combustible huge steel beams fail. Why not this non combustible home?
You'd better have excellent insulation and a panic room below ground because the intense heat can still cook you inside a fire-proof home like it was an oven...
All homes should be fireproof. It should be illegal to live in a home that isn't fireproof. There's so much about humanity that could be improved by 1000%. Kinda sad that we live the way we do.
Got to keep the combustibles (trees and landscaping) away from your house as much as possible. Stick houses with asphalt shingles are absolutely the wrong way to build a house. These people learned the hard way.
Man I wish I was rich enough to live there and have a home to live in and have insurance that will build me a new fire proof home and I love run on sentences.
In SoCal the fire department requires all homes at the edge of a field to have a 50' fire clearance around the house. You can't have anything burnable in that zone. If you don't clear it out then the fire department will and they will then send you the bill. If you look at pictures of Paradise before the fire it looks like a huge tinder box ready to explode. People had dry bushes right up against their houses and yards full of dead branches.
All of the non combustible will act as a oven and as long as the temperature gets high enough material like furniture auto ignites along with all kinds of materials hence why you don't see wood in cooking ovens so your basically trading one issue for another plus if the metal structure gets hot enough it loses all structural integrity which means you have to tear it all down to replace it with non heat damaged metal.
I'm a survivor of this fire. This reporting is a complete misrepresentation of what is actually happening in Paradise right now. People are NOT flooding back, and the vast majority of the structures being rebuilt will burn again when the next fire hits . . . as it surely will.
@@patrickfitzgerald2861 When you go on this company's website they quote $300 per foot. That is about 2x to 3x more than a conventional home. So, this is yet another major lie by this business owner.
@@chriswesterfield2042 Right now in Paradise a stick built home costs between $250 and $350 per square foot - that is if you can even find a builder. The area has a small population base, so the contractors will charge whatever the owners can afford. They are rebuilding exactly zero affordable housing units, which represent the majority of the homes that were destroyed in the fire.
They shouldn't come back, because we should not be building in fire prone areas at taxpayer expense. So, good that people aren't coming back, spread the word that maybe nature is smarter than us. The rest of California has unaffordable rents and unbreathable air, maybe we could worry about the people in California who didn't sign up for those and who aren't living in a fire path, maybe we could also do something about those millions of people at risk.
The point of a Quonset house is to be cheaper than building a 'normal' home. So them saying it's about the same cost as building a new home is telling.
This is a variation/advancement of the Container Homes. CBS should follow up with a show on them. At least as practical and the costs are probably much less, not to mention the different configuration options. Think Lego blocks and go from there, these are rather limited..
Unfortunately Paradise is becoming a testing area for different types of "fire resistant" builds. It is good to see construction happening back up the hill though.
That building type makes sense! Worth mentioning other strategies: 1) *Install weather stripping around and under the garage door* to prevent embers from blowing in. 2) *Since vents are an ember entry point, so:* Cover all vent openings with 1/16-inch to 1/8-inch metal mesh. Do not use fiberglass or plastic mesh because they can melt and burn. Use Ember and flame resistant vents (WUI vents). (Much more at: readyforwildfire . o r g )
It's about time it only makes sense who would want to live in a house that can catch fire when you live in a fire prone area it's not rocket science it only makes sense
has california learned forest thinning and brush clearing is a good idea yet? you know remove the fuel from the ground to burn. Let the big trees grow bigger and stronger.
I salute and applaud Paradise for preserving and renewing their community. I am looking forward to hearing how they are reducing their contribution to man-made climate change like other towns that have had to rebuild in the Midwest have done, Greensburg, Kansas or Soldiers Grove, Illinois to name a couple of examples. Seeing people in my city driving huge Mammoth Hummers as the only occupant and hear them lamenting fires out west it's like complaining about the fire burning the house down as you throw gasoline on it to put it out because it's a liquid. Cities like Greensburg show we don't have to take for granted the Titanic is going in the only sensible Direction
it's an absolute waste of money and a complete example of why California is totally unaffordable. there will be more fires and maybe we shouldn't be building right in the path of them.
i wonder what they are using for insulation? The international building code requires at least R-15 of insulation value in walls. I know mineral wool like Rockwool brand and cellulose insulation are the only ones that are fire resistant but that isnt really talked about here. Fire resistant building exterior materials seem like a no brainer in areas like this.
Great to see concrete and steel in residential construction, fires are one problem, engineer for defeating tornadoes ,wouldnt take much more... Florida should likewise enginneer designs for hurricane stresses.. stop letting insurance companies and mortgage companies make money off you..
Absolutely terrible design that seems like price gouging to make housing even more expensive. As many others on this thread have pointed out, brick and other materials are safer and cheaper (depending on earthquake risk). This is why we need to regulate landlords, because there's literally no end to the greed when it comes to housing. There's no bottom and landlords will drag us down with all of them if they had the chance. Or we could actually vote for real laws to regulate this thing *that we all need* called housing.
Okay, so what is a molten home going to have as an advantage over a burned down one? Everything inside will still be destroyed. Plus, if the windows aren't fireproof, they will burst and the insides of the house will burn quickly, no matter what. In both cases the houses will have to be demolished and rebuilt.
Just want to say to the "CBS Sunday Morning" crew - thank you for all you do. I'm 61 and I've been watching this show since you first went on the air in the late 70's. I consider this - along with 60 minutes - to be one of the best and most important shows on television for all time. Keep up the amazing work.
Same for this 64 year old lady!!!
Same for this 62 year old.
Same for this 45-year-old woman!🥰
Yes I have been watching since the beginning as well and I still miss Charles Kuralt 💔 absolutely wonderful delightful program!
@@JillShaw yes he was. I loved his travel segments!
We rebuilt in Paradise. Moved in to our new home on Nov 11, 2020. 2 years and 3 days after the fire. Love Paradise.
I am retired, living in Manila Philippines. Many place in the city where fires take out 500 to several thousand homes at a time. New construction, such as our home, involves masonry and steel and almost no wood. So risk of catastrophic fire is greatly reduced. Also worth mentioning about the new construction there in Paradise, such reduces pest/termite damage also.
I'm an American here in Cebu. Every building we are constructing is concrete and steel. However, the price of supplies and labor is a fraction of that in America. Plus what Everyone is missing is that those fires were all set to drive out owners so investors like Black Rock and Vanguard can buy them up.
@@airwess3369 wow. I’d love to see evidence of that. Seriously, I hate Blackrock with an unholy passion, but that’s a serious allegation. PG&E dropping the ball on maintenance in exchange for profit is bad enough (and provable), but Hedge funds burning people out? That sounds like a play straight from the GQP Playbook. Except everybody knows they’re in the pockets of big business…
Back in China, our homes were built from concrete. It doesn't burn. You can't really have that in California because of earthquakes. A concrete building would crumble and bury you.
@@SunnyWu That is true, unless you use steel with the concrete. That doe make it more expensive.
I have never understood why buildings in fire/flood zones are not ALL mandated to be resistant to their areas recurring natural threats. Build fire resistant or nothing...enjoy the woods with confidence. Build high on stilts in flood plains...enjoy the water without fear. Anything less is the height of hubris and foolishness...and a horrible burden on insurers and taxpayers, not to mention those negatively affected.
Taxpayers should not be subsidizing private mortgages in risky areas while over 1/3 of households who RENT have heavy rent burdens, people are driven by HIGH RENTS to live in their cars, and are made homeless because the rent is too damn high, but somehow we have no money ever for renters ever in this country. If a natural disaster strikes your rental, you're out of luck. This cannot stand.
Ever hear of renters insurance?
@@kitcoffey7194 we require our tenants to carry renters insurance but anyone can buy their own home nowadays its actually easier and less expensive to buy instead of rent i encourage our tenants to seek ownership
Mandates are what many conservatives don't agree with. They see it as infringing on their freedoms. So while seeing these images of the fire that ravaged Paradise may make you think "why don't they just build SAFER?" makes all the sense in the world to you and anyone watching, jumping the political hoops to actually implement the mandates that you speak of would be politically unpopular.
@@slickburrito - Yes...of course...The freedom to be stupid! The freedom to just let insurance, or government take care of it. The freedom for those very same politicians to think only of themselves and their re-election (can anyone say 'term limits?) instead of doing what is best for The People.
When I built my cabin up in the mountains back in the 90s.
I built a small stone wall with crushed stone and other no flammable material around it. Not clearly to stop fires but to also look nice. I cleared 150ft around the whole cabin.
It has survived 12 small wild fires so far. Other folks cabins have burned down and been rebuilt many times.
You Don't need a metal or brick building, it does help. But you need to build the landscaping to prevent fires from. Getting near the building in the first place.
Really good point! One of the problems with stone is that unreinforced masonry is earthquake vulnerable. Golden State indeed! I think that stone buildings should be part of the plan in every community facing fires. It doesn't have to be a glorified Q hut. Doesn't have to look like a Ranger Station. Stone is a construction component that has a generational historical foundation. Organic to our environment and pleasing to the senses. I don't know why people need to redesign the most useable wheel and call it an improvement.
Exactly! And get the fire retardant spray that works on property , land, and on the house. A photo of a burn area, I believe in NV is amazing proof of how it works.
Metal can warp and distort. Also Hemp houses could be used for insulation fire resistance. Now I can have the Q hut I have always wanted.
And for tornado prone areas I think a strong dome type structure would be a better idea than a typical 2x4 frame house.
I agree
hard to build, wasted space, higher costs, not many tornadoes relative to expense of variations
I talked to a guy who briefly lived in Kansas but moved away because there were so many tornadoes destroying houses around them.
@@MustangsTrainsMowers Super rare. I lived in Kansas. If I had built there, I'd use 18" centers on the studs, tie down the walls with extra bolts running from the concrete foundation. Reasonable precautions, but not a full re-design of proven methods.
Ok go ahead and do that. Maybe someone else will try a dome shaped house some day and have a tornado go over doing nothing to it.
I always wondered why homes in high risk fire areas aren't built to resist fires. Nothing is foolproof, but building a home that resists fire and making sure nothing near the home can burn are good steps in the right direction. When the next fire hits the area, and it will come someday, it will be interesting to see what survives and what doesn't.
Most of the fires in Paradise burned because they didn't have fire resistant roofing material installed. The biggest mistake is to not make the house fire resistant by removing forced debris like pine cones and needles and branches out of the gutters. They didn't remove them from the troughs of the roofs. They didn't remove them from underneath the deck and put a fire screen on the deck opening. They didn't remove the twigs the bark dust the flammable things that are dry around the foundation. There should be absolutely nothing up next to the house maybe 3 to 5 ft away it should be pretty much sand or gravel. In the case of paradise vinyl is an absolute No-No. All window frames need to be metal all gutters need to be metal. Siding needs to be metal or cement board. This is going a little bit above Beyond to make a fire resistant house. Nearest trees and bushes should be a minimum of 30 to 50 ft away. All plants need to be extremely hydrated with water. Test plants for fire resistance even when they are slightly dry.
They can use this in most of the western US. 👍
Problem solved - easy-peasy! Probably only cost a couple dollars and be done by Friday. Oh what’s that? I’m sitting here today wondering if my town is going to burn up next
Housing is expensive enough. We need to not build in areas prone to fire, and maintain forests to prevent fires, AND Californians are going to have to discover this little thing called "density," that building apartment buildings in cities is actually not a bad thing, and a lot better than disrupting the woods. We need affordable housing and this isn't it.
Well, if the windows are open, then what's inside would burn. Very important, that there is no sure bet your home would not burn on an intense fire that can go up to 2000 F.
Glass melts in forest fires too
I think people let go of their need to control because we all learned there is no such thing - beautiful sentiment. These Non- combustible homes are gorgeous and make sense.
And you are the company owner's spouse? Did you know this guy wants $300 per foot, and; how many years have these materials been approved?
Chinese drywall sounded great 20 years ago too. How did that great idea turn out?
@@chriswesterfield2042 Quonset's huts have been around from 1942, and so they work, beauty however is in the eye of the beholder, and beauty does not last.
it doesnt work... the radiant heat rusts the metal exterior, everything inside cooks....watch it again, and pay attention to "it resists catching on fire from embers.." if you want to be fireproof go undergrround construction or earth cov.
It does work. You clearly don't understand wildland fire behavior or fire mitigation.@@stanallport6746
As a journey level roofer builder for many years, I’ve always thought that this shape and design is very very very universal and multifunctional, and extremely user-friendly to work with.
I always thought it would be perfect for exactly what is described in this video and now here it is
I saw a regular built house in Australia that survived a giant bush fire by using water sprinklers on the roof
Regarding the old Quonset huts, they were used on many university campuses throughout the USA in the 1940's and early 50's as married student housing. It was the perfect solution, as there was a glut of students after World War II and not enough housing.
Michigan State University had a few Quonset buildings still in use until early 80's (student radio station was in one WKAR)
@@dianayount2122 That is interesting ! They used them at the University of North Dakota for quite a few years, as well. Hopefully, the Quonsets were warm enough in the sub-zero snowy winters !
They called them The Barracks at Penn State....
I think fire resistant structures ought to be required if you live in such a fire prone area.
Or maybe we should not be building in those areas at all, full stop. How many times are the taxpayers going to keep subsidizing rebuilding over the same areas? Isn't it interesting how renters never get any help at all? Yet apparently if you have a mortgage you get endless help, nobody checks if the mortgage is paid off. Renting is absolute slavery in the United States.
@@kitcoffey7194 also how do you think displacing people will help the problems of renting???
Then you can pay for it for us then. Like the things y’all say here you’d NEVER come here to our fire torn Areas with scars everywhere and say them to the face of the people who live here, to the children. You wanna be mad and blame someone, blame the corporations that have been super cutting forests for years here destroying the atmospheric rain cycles and at the same time not letting controlled fires happen , and the pollution the shipping companies in Northern California and mining that caused so much change to water tables. The residents are NOT where your ire should lie. Shame , be better
We would have to stop building everywhere. What about places highly prone to twisters, or floods. What about hurricanes, earthquakes, land slides, etc.? Every area of the US and the world have regionally specific high risk natural disaster threats. It’s twisters, where I live.
@@LafemmebearMusic I think the issue with California is sprawl. They need to build more dense walkable towns and discourage building new suburbs. Residents have fought against this.
They need to address the impact from HEAT!
Insulation inside the frame will block Sun heat .
Heat from a nearby fire.
The heat that I'm talking about is when a fire rolls through, the heat from that fire itself can cause significant damage. It's just not the flames. I've seen where a gun safe was involved in a fire. The fire itself didn't cause damage to the safe, but the heat from it melted all of the guns inside.
maybe we should not be using taxpayer money to build in fire prone areas over and over. you know, the whole prevention is worth a pound of cure thing. Tell millions and millions of renters that they are entitled to a house. These people in Paradise are not entitled to a house, sorry it's difficult but a lot of people move every year, and maybe building on a fire prone area is not the smartest.
I live in Magalia which also burned with Paradise, adjacent & practically the same town, so I watch the rebuilding process nearly every day. It's a slow process to rebuild a community of several thousand that was nearly unidentifiable as the same place from before the 'Camp Fire' made it a moonscape. Skyway (the main street of both towns) and other major streets are still torn-up from all the heavy logging, firefighting & reconstruction equipment used for clean-up of our previously heavily wooded terrain; additionally underground utility installations create many traffic detours & delays for the remaining residents who still have homes. This is 3 and a half years after the Camp Fire, and we still have several years to get back to normalcy.
Fortunately, I found my home spared after worrying that I lost everything during 3 weeks of of mandatory evacuation. Many of my neighbors are refugees who weren't so lucky.
It does however; melt and conduct heat which would cause everything inside to combust and burn.
Aircrete sips is currently the only true fire survival material in that it insulates against heat and does not melt; protecting interior utilities and furnishings from combustion.
Which is why you wouldn't have trees and brush right up against the building.
Quonset huts are ugly. Like to see something with the round roof & more vertical walls. Love the fireproof construction concept though.
Exactly! Think about all the aluminum exterior mobilehomes that melted. Noncombustible isn't enough.
Pumicecrete is by far the best building material on the planet Pumicecrete is fireproof termite proof rust rot and mold proof and has a high R value and good sound attenuation solid poured walls means no critters can live in your walls
@@davemarr7743 sounds like you have the gift Dave. Sketch Up?
This is the answer for anyone in tornado ridden areas
Nope.
It's important to know that a fire resistant house does not have to look like a military bunker.
They can be built just as nice as any other house using modern materials.
Non-flammable is awesome! Though these have too much thermal bridging.
It's an interesting concept. But I'm left wondering about all the chemicals used to make materials flame resistant. What health effects might there be on those living in such structures over the long haul, with exposure to those chemicals, especially kids who are still developing? I hope they are taking that into account.
Concerns would be: contaminating water table, construction/deconstruction, and off gassing (if any).
@@cheryld7713
The person you replied to was referring to "off gassing" possibilities that could cause major health problems while living in the structure. But the outdoor concerns you mentioned are good points.
I would think that the materials have been approved by the Government, but who knows? Americans lost millions of dollars by using Chinese drywall. How that slipped by government regulations, I'll never know. But the lesson to learn "be wary of any new building material innovations."
It appears that the main reason these won't burn is that almost the entire frame work is made of metal. The roof is metal, the wall studs are metal. the wall sheathing is metal. I couldn't tell for sure but I would guess the widow frames are all metal too. I believe we already use insulation that is resistant to fire so I don't see just offhand that this is any more of a chemical issue than most other homes.
This is most likely a product called Hardiboard, a fiber reinforced concrete board. Is available as siding or 4 x 8 sheets.
It is heavy, and the framing needs to be strong enough to support the weight. I imagine with prolonged high temperatures thermal expansion might cause it to snap off fasteners. Or weaken the steel framing to the point of failure, but that could only happen if a huge fuel load was right up against the building.
Best practices include removing all flammable material anywhere near the exterior, and any trees tall enough to land on the structure when they fall.
The energy used in manufacturing and the related CO2 production are the most serious health threats. It's not toxic, even when heated, no toxic gases are released.
However all human and animals still need to be evacuated during a fire event. It could become a huge oven, and air quality will be very bad, toxic bad from the wildfire.
@anahata2009 what about all the chemicals in the materials used in a normal home? What about all the chemicals in the food you consume?
Details would have helped. Is it the steel/metal that is fire resistant? Is it a combination of steel and fire retardant? Is there a limit to how long the house can be exposed to fire?
2:07 Story was about a town rising from the ashes, not an infomercial for the home builder. A few keystrokes will lead you to the answers in a matter of seconds.
I don't know what they're using for sheathing here, but it looks like the siding is fiber cement, which is fire resistant, as are the steel studs. Nothing is fireproof. This house would survive many fires but if there's enough heat for enough time, the inside will eventually burn.
According to the story, most houses that burn catch embers on window frames or between roof shingles. Point is, these houses don't have those weaknesses
The quonset hut is a great idea. Told my dad about this two years ago.
3d printed houses are pretty durable and fire resistant
The future is now! How do these rate for earthquakes? Love love love it
Looks like steel frames, so probably earthquake resistant.
Who can afford these? No one. Time to do ANYTHING for RENTERS who are 1/3 of households.
I've been wondering why they don't do this for years, I always assumed it must have been prohibitively expensive. Good that I was wrong!
You were not wrong. The cost is $300 per foot to build. 3 times more than a normal house.
The guard rails never go up until after a few ppl die on the corner.
...and let's never do anything for renters like permanently end eviction or give rental subsidies or vote in real rent control. Let's just do nothing for renters ever. Renters are 1/3 of households, people. Not everyone will ever have a mortgage and maybe renting could be less like slavery... because not having a mortgage is not a crime.
Finally my US friends are learning. Now fix your damn gun laws 👍
what is it matter when the air is unbreathable? Even people who don't own homes deserve to be able to breathe air.
I just spent two days in Paradise. Had a chance to talk with locals etc. I see why people live there but please keep it a secret as I'd like to live there too & would hate to see it too crowded. Selfish on my part, yes. Guilty as charged.
Just don't expect us taxpayers to keep rebuilding your house because you choose to place it in a fire hazard area, meanwhile we can't do anything for overburdened renters who are 1/3 of households and paying more than half their income in rent. Nothing to be done, nothing to see here.
@@kitcoffey7194 you are oversimplifying and deeply ignoring that disasters like this come in many forms and are happening everywhere now. Again I ask where would all these people including me go? Are we coming to live with you???? You’d see people displaced because of your anger but don’t say where they should go?
CBS News needs to talk about Ecosia they are a search engine that plants tress
Hempcrete is fire resistant, and lasts for hundreds of years.
Beautiful
Looks like it can handle strong storm s. To.
I remember hearing about a guy build a fire resistant garage to store valuable car, well forest fire swept through and the garage was still standing afterwards, everything in garage got baked inside due to high fire temperatures.
Silly question but is the idea to stay inside during fire or still evacuate? and hope your building / belongings survive? wouldnt it feel like an oven inside and cook everything inside the house?
Okay so it won't burn but the heat would cook everything inside like a giant oven. I would still Evacuate if there is a fire, and there's more fires to come.
ya seems nothing can prevent air currents associated with infernos, from cooking anything in the path of the air, even if you cut down all combustibles.
None of the idiots in Gatlinburg are rebuilding their houses any differently than they were before. New wooden cabins still cover the wooded mountainsides. Some people never learn.
Yeah, and homes to resist poverty look suspiciously like those we used to use for camping when leisure was attainable.
These homes are made perdominately out of metal, wildfires get really really hot. Hot enought to melt metal. They should have those trees around their property checked out b/c during drought which Cali currently is in bettles hollow out the inside of trees; making it easier for fires to jump from one area to another with the high winds we get out here.
1. No wood-fire gets hot enough to 'melt metal', especially outside of a human furnace designed specifically for such a purpose. Scorched and embrittled? Yes. Red-hot and pliable? Maybe. 'Molten'? No.
2. There is a LOT of other stuff you can do to Metal / Quonset houses to completely eliminate this problem: Coat the outside with a mixture of Perlite and lightly-mixed Portland Cement.... 8-inchk layer should do it. INCREDIBLE insulation, and GENUINELY fireproof.
Regardless, 10000x better than a toxic matchstick-timber-and-drywall house. Lighter, more healthy (mold, bugs), less waste, 100% recyclable, easier to build.
And yes, the drought needs to be addressed too.
We need to accommodate ourselves to the environment. Fires occur,,well then build something that can survive a fire. Great ideas!!
I like Q huts. Never lived in one so I wonder what the inside would sound like during a thunder, heavy rain, storm?
I've seen a few in the desert, unoccupiedat this time, would they be difficult to cool off in 120 degree heat?
4:48 A look back at Ray Liotta Next on Sunday Morning
I was in Northern California during the Paradise fire. I also worked in SanDiego county spraying fire proofing on huge structural steel beams in commercial buildings. Lesson- everything burns if hot enough. Non combustible huge steel beams fail. Why not this non combustible home?
You'd better have excellent insulation and a panic room below ground because the intense heat can still cook you inside a fire-proof home like it was an oven...
You think that's bad. I remember a town where only 1 structure burned, the fire department.
All homes should be fireproof. It should be illegal to live in a home that isn't fireproof. There's so much about humanity that could be improved by 1000%. Kinda sad that we live the way we do.
I'm curious how they insulate the house? Heat and cold pass thru metal easily. I'm curious how they build with that in mind.
Trying to fly to mats and yet we still can’t stop these fires.
More people should move into fire risk areas. They're high earners for property insurance companies.
Got to keep the combustibles (trees and landscaping) away from your house as much as possible. Stick houses with asphalt shingles are absolutely the wrong way to build a house. These people learned the hard way.
Man I wish I was rich enough to live there and have a home to live in and have insurance that will build me a new fire proof home and I love run on sentences.
In SoCal the fire department requires all homes at the edge of a field to have a 50' fire clearance around the house. You can't have anything burnable in that zone. If you don't clear it out then the fire department will and they will then send you the bill. If you look at pictures of Paradise before the fire it looks like a huge tinder box ready to explode. People had dry bushes right up against their houses and yards full of dead branches.
All of the non combustible will act as a oven and as long as the temperature gets high enough material like furniture auto ignites along with all kinds of materials hence why you don't see wood in cooking ovens so your basically trading one issue for another plus if the metal structure gets hot enough it loses all structural integrity which means you have to tear it all down to replace it with non heat damaged metal.
Rebuilding with ICF may be a better choice against fire.
Nice thermal bridging ya got there...
ICF, AirCrete, etc?
The simplest thing one can do for fire resistance is go with a metal roof.
Don't forget that radiant heat from a wildfire outside a non-combustible home could catch window curtains on fire that are inside the home.
That fire needs to be called the PG&E fire.
I bet this house is also tornado/hurricane proof, or almost with some slight modifications.
1:49 - "...like a modern barn." NOPE! It looks like a section of a "quonset hut," NOT a barn.
I'm a survivor of this fire. This reporting is a complete misrepresentation of what is actually happening in Paradise right now. People are NOT flooding back, and the vast majority of the structures being rebuilt will burn again when the next fire hits . . . as it surely will.
so why are these people are buying the lies?
@@zardozmania They are selling a "feel good" story to generate ad revenue. They're not concerned about telling the truth.
@@patrickfitzgerald2861 When you go on this company's website they quote $300 per foot. That is about 2x to 3x more than a conventional home. So, this is yet another major lie by this business owner.
@@chriswesterfield2042 Right now in Paradise a stick built home costs between $250 and $350 per square foot - that is if you can even find a builder. The area has a small population base, so the contractors will charge whatever the owners can afford. They are rebuilding exactly zero affordable housing units, which represent the majority of the homes that were destroyed in the fire.
They shouldn't come back, because we should not be building in fire prone areas at taxpayer expense. So, good that people aren't coming back, spread the word that maybe nature is smarter than us. The rest of California has unaffordable rents and unbreathable air, maybe we could worry about the people in California who didn't sign up for those and who aren't living in a fire path, maybe we could also do something about those millions of people at risk.
Might not burn, but it might melt or deform.
My son built an all steel garage. It sure looks better than a quonset hut.
Those are all over here built in the 50's and 70's as shops to keep farm equipment or grain
But would it melt like the chrome on vehicles?
I find it ironic that they’re building a fire resistant church. Because nothing fails like prayer.
Depending on how you place them very wind resistant too.
conical shaped homes for tornado-prone areas should be next.
The point of a Quonset house is to be cheaper than building a 'normal' home. So them saying it's about the same cost as building a new home is telling.
Actually, they're cheaper than traditional stick built homes. We're looking into building one for a machine shop
This is a variation/advancement of the Container Homes. CBS should follow up with a show on them.
At least as practical and the costs are probably much less, not to mention the different configuration options.
Think Lego blocks and go from there, these are rather limited..
You will need to make suew it is not to close to conmbustible materials as it can get hot enough to allow materials in side to combust.
Notice how the design is a Quonset hut a design from WW2. We could have been doing this for 75 years or more.
Unfortunately Paradise is becoming a testing area for different types of "fire resistant" builds.
It is good to see construction happening back up the hill though.
Just did extra work in Pecos in NM, the forest fire right over the hill. That was interesting!
Fires here have been horrible. Cheers from Santa Fe
That building type makes sense! Worth mentioning other strategies: 1) *Install weather stripping around and under the garage door* to prevent embers from blowing in. 2) *Since vents are an ember entry point, so:* Cover all vent openings with 1/16-inch to 1/8-inch metal mesh. Do not use fiberglass or plastic mesh because they can melt and burn. Use Ember and flame resistant vents (WUI vents). (Much more at: readyforwildfire . o r g )
Great suggestions. I didn't know that ember/flame resistance vents existed. Learn something new everyday.🤩
Protect your attics from EMBERS
It's about time it only makes sense who would want to live in a house that can catch fire when you live in a fire prone area it's not rocket science it only makes sense
has california learned forest thinning and brush clearing is a good idea yet? you know remove the fuel from the ground to burn. Let the big trees grow bigger and stronger.
What if the fire starts inside? what now?
It maybe non-combustable but what is its melting point?
Nature: you should not live here, humans.
Humans: if we listened to you, we never would have ended up here in the first place ... now hold my beer.
Please give me a job in paradise
I salute and applaud Paradise for preserving and renewing their community. I am looking forward to hearing how they are reducing their contribution to man-made climate change like other towns that have had to rebuild in the Midwest have done, Greensburg, Kansas or Soldiers Grove, Illinois to name a couple of examples. Seeing people in my city driving huge Mammoth Hummers as the only occupant and hear them lamenting fires out west it's like complaining about the fire burning the house down as you throw gasoline on it to put it out because it's a liquid. Cities like Greensburg show we don't have to take for granted the Titanic is going in the only sensible Direction
it's an absolute waste of money and a complete example of why California is totally unaffordable. there will be more fires and maybe we shouldn't be building right in the path of them.
how about cost. Can all afford that
i wonder what they are using for insulation? The international building code requires at least R-15 of insulation value in walls. I know mineral wool like Rockwool brand and cellulose insulation are the only ones that are fire resistant but that isnt really talked about here. Fire resistant building exterior materials seem like a no brainer in areas like this.
Nice oven
dont play with fire...
Great to see concrete and steel in residential construction, fires are one problem, engineer for defeating tornadoes ,wouldnt take much more... Florida should likewise enginneer designs for hurricane stresses.. stop letting insurance companies and mortgage companies make money off you..
Maybe not but they can melt 2:25
Have a brick firewall that surrounds your property with a metal door.
How about stop building in areas with consistent annual fires and flooding.
But what is the energy efficiency of these buildings? Metal conducts heat far more than wood.
Absolutely terrible design that seems like price gouging to make housing even more expensive. As many others on this thread have pointed out, brick and other materials are safer and cheaper (depending on earthquake risk). This is why we need to regulate landlords, because there's literally no end to the greed when it comes to housing. There's no bottom and landlords will drag us down with all of them if they had the chance. Or we could actually vote for real laws to regulate this thing *that we all need* called housing.
It might not burn but, it’ll melt with enough heat.
Has any engineer or standards group rated these things for survivability during a major fire? This is not good reporting.
build it underground like bunker deep underground
What about melting and then weakening the structural integrity?
Those dreadlocks are super flammable, tho
I have the hots for Vern Sneed
Yes, but it's metal. The outside might not burn, but anything inside is going to cook.
Okay, so what is a molten home going to have as an advantage over a burned down one? Everything inside will still be destroyed.
Plus, if the windows aren't fireproof, they will burst and the insides of the house will burn quickly, no matter what.
In both cases the houses will have to be demolished and rebuilt.