The fast winds, stray embers and ample trees that helped fuel 2018’s Camp Fire created what can appear to be a random path of destruction in Paradise, Northern California. But some homeowners benefited from one important factor that had nothing to do with the fire itself: The year their homes were built.
A McClatchy analysis of fire data showed that homes built before California’s 2008 landmark building code burned at a much greater frequency than those built after.
Slightly more than half of the 350 single-family homes built in compliance with the mandated fire-resistant roofs, siding and other safeguards in the fire’s path were undamaged. In comparison, only 18 percent of the 12,100 homes built prior to 2008 escaped damage.