LA Fires and Fire Resilient Design
The recent fires in Los Angeles are a reminder to me of the three years I spent living there. I regularly saw articles in the news highlighting concerns over fire safety in new developments. The state is fully built-out in all areas that are not at high risk of fire. As a result, as new developments are built they are more and more encroaching on wildland areas that are at great risk of wildfire. The more building that is completed, and the more contact humans have with the edges of wildland areas, the more wildfires there will be.
This disaster has been devastating for everyone who has lost their homes, their neighbors, family, and friends. Some have lost their lives. It is my duty as an Architect to protect lives and livelihoods by building homes that are fire resistant and be constantly thinking about how to build homes better. This great tragedy highlights how important fire-safety legislation is for the building of new homes.
In the affected areas of the current fires, some homes survived. In some cases this is down to pure luck, but for others the architects took a proactive approach—recognizing the risk and integrating resilient detailing into every line of the drawings.
Why LA’s 100 mph-Wind Firestorm Matters to Anyone Building in Utah
California’s winds drove flames laterally—jumping setbacks, CMU fences, and xeriscaped parkways. Swap the Pacific breezes for our canyon gusts and you have a similar recipe. Utah recorded 808 wildfire incidents in 2023, burning 18,061 acres and putting 668 communities at risk.
Mother Nature granted us a wetter winter last year, yet the climate curve is clear: longer fire seasons, drier fuels, steeper insurance premiums.
Planning to build from out of state? Utah’s mountain counties—Summit, Wasatch, Morgan, Salt Lake and Utah—sit firmly inside the national Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) map. The choice isn’t whether to design for wildfire, but how well we intend to do it.
What Is the Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI)?
The WUI is the transitional zone where homes and other buildings meet or intermingle with undeveloped forests, shrublands, or grasslands. Because wind-blown embers can leap from surrounding vegetation to structures, properties in the WUI face a much higher wildfire risk—and therefore need purpose-built, fire-resistant design.
What the Survivors Did Differently
On Matt Risinger’s Build Show episode “Lessons From Two Surviving LA Fire Homes” you can see the playbook in action: defensible space that’s actively managed, Class-A roofing, boxed eaves, mesh-screened vents and tempered glazing. Each element buys the fire department precious minutes—often the difference between a near-miss and a pile of embers.
Utah’s Wildland-Urban Interface Code—Still Stuck in 2006
Utah continues to rely on the 2006 Utah Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) Code—a nearly 20-year-old document written long before today’s megafire era. Despite periodic bills, meaningful upgrades have stalled under heavy lobbying from the volume-builder industry.
H.B. 48 (2025 General Session)—still working its way through committee—would add automatic sprinklers to single-family homes over 10,000 sq ft in WUI zones. Remember, sprinklers are a life-safety measure that activates only after flames breach the building envelope; they do not keep embers from reaching the structure.
Bottom line: If you’re planning a large mountain home, assume you’ll need interior sprinklers for occupant safety and robust exterior fire-hardening—non-combustible cladding, Class-A roofing, boxed eaves, and managed defensible space—to stop the fire from entering in the first place.
Eight Design Moves I Specify for a Fire-Resilient Luxury Home
Non-combustible cladding (fiber-cement, stone, stucco) — Resists direct flame and ember attack
Class-A metal or concrete-tile roof with standing seams — Sheds embers; 50-year life-cycle
Boxed & protected eaves ≤ 12 in. — Eliminates soffit vents that act like ember scoops
1-hr fire-rated wall assemblies on exposed faces — Buys critical time for suppression
Tempered, metal-framed glazing + dual-pane IGUs — Survives radiant heat; maintains views
1/8-inch mesh on vents & spark arrestors — Stops ember intrusion into attic and crawl space
CMU or steel fencing within 5 ft of the home — Breaks the “kindling fuse” effect of wood fences
Managed defensible space—first 30 ft irrigated & green, thinned to 100 ft where WUI rules require — Reduces flame height and radiant heat; meets zone-by-zone WUI guidelines
Need the cliff-notes version? Download my 10-Step Fire-Wise Checklist inside the Complimentary Project Planning Pack (free PDF).
Cost vs. Value—Does Resilience Pay Off?
Up-front premium: Plan on roughly 7–9% above standard shell costs for the full fire-hardening package. The big-ticket item is the Class-A standing-seam metal roof. Choosing a full stone or masonry veneer as your non-combustible cladding can add further premium, while fiber-cement or stucco alternatives are closer to cost-neutral.
Insurance impact: Carriers now apply automatic surcharges for homes inside WUI polygons. A recent Park City policy we reviewed dropped 18% after the underwriter saw boxed eaves and Class-A roofing.
Resale: Agents report a 2–3% list-price bump for “Firewise-USA®”-labelled listings.
Translation: you can spend five figures today to avoid six-figure losses tomorrow—while boosting equity the day you move in.
County-by-County Nuances You Should Know
Summit County: Requires fire-department site access on > 10 % grades; our graded-driveway standards often trigger sprinkler mandates—plan early.
Wasatch County: Enforces a 10-ft non-combustible zone around decks; we prefer concrete or steel framing here.
Morgan & Weber Canyon Areas: Wind tunnels. I specify mechanically seamed standing-metal roofs rated to 120 mph uplift.
Salt Lake & Utah Counties (foothill lots): Extended hose-lay distance—think dry standpipes integrated into landscape walls.
For a deeper dive, see our Mountain Home Architect in Utah resource page.
Ready to Protect Your Dream Retreat?
Wildfire is a fact of life in America’s West, but loss is not inevitable. When we integrate resilient detailing with luxury aesthetics, the result is a home that feels secure, looks timeless and honors the landscape.
Questions about your own site?
Download the Complimentary Project Planning Pack for worksheets, cost guides and my directory of vetted experts.
Schedule a 30-minute call through our contact page.
Or browse our recent custom-home portfolio to see these principles in built form.
It is my duty as an architect to protect lives and livelihoods by building better. Let’s start planning your resilient mountain home today.
Further Resources
Utah Division of Forestry, Fire & State Lands – 2023 Wildfire Annual Report (PDF)
H.B. 48 Wildland Urban Interface Modifications – 2025 Utah Legislature
National Fire Protection Association – Firewise USA®
WUI 2006 (permanent link on my website): https://www.oxfordarchitectslc.com/learning Or the PDF directly at: https://ffsl.utah.gov/wp-content/uploads/06_Utah_Wildland_5th.pdf
The National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA): https://www.nfpa.org/wildfirepreparedness
And this YouTube video with Landscape Architect Mike Wonenberg where he and I talk about WUI standards (timestamp 21:21): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6swnAwYVI58