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Home My WebLink About011725 email - Wildland-urban Interface and increased fire dangerALERT: BE CAUTIOUS This email originated outside the organization. Do not open attachments or click on links if you are not expecting them. Dear Commissioners, Please note that I have sent a similar email to Governor Ferguson, the Washington Department of Ecology, and the Office of the Washington State Fire Marshal. I read Governor Ferguson's Executive Order 25-02 which addresses the important issue of the housing shortage in Washington, especially affordable housing. This issue is worse in some counties than in others. Cutting red tape and making the permitting process easier and faster will benefit our residents and local businesses. However, everyone seems to be ignoring the danger of traditional wood framing, especially in the wildland-urban Interface, and this Executive Order exacerbates this problem. As reported by Cara Buckley in the January 16, 2025, New York Times, "Across the country, including in Los Angeles and California, millions of Americans have been moving to places at risk of burning, particularly developments on the outskirts of cities that bump up against forests, grasslands and shrub lands. The rapid growth in these areas, known as the “wildland-urban interface,” has increased the odds of devastating blazes, especially as climate change fuels larger and more intense wildfires across the West." Structures with wood frames are less likely to be damaged in earthquakes than structures with concrete walls. However, concrete structures are much less likely to spread fires than wooden structures. Even with the Cascadia Fault, we are more likely to have a severe fire event than a major earthquake. We have been warned. We are already suffering disastrous firestorm effects from climate change. Most notable are the Camp Fire in northern California (2018), the Kahaina Firestorm on Maui in Hawaii (2023), and now the Los Angeles Firestorms (2025). Will you and local government officials in Washington learn from these warnings or ignore them and continue with policies that could result in a similar disaster in Washington State, including Jefferson County, where I live? We have to be proactive not reactive. Permits should no longer be issued for constructing wood-framed buildings, wood siding, or wood decking. If at least 40% of such a building is being renovated, permits should not be issued when the structures are wood-framed. Permits should be issued only for constructing buildings or decks or attaching siding using non-traditional materials which are also more energy efficient. Permits should also require clearing of surrounding brush where brush creates a fire danger. The permitting rules I recommend will raise issues with builders, general contractors, plumbers, electricians, and other trades, but they will just have to adapt and deal with these issues as opportunities. The permitting requirements will also result in higher building and renovation costs but those costs pale in comparison with the costs and other impacts associated with a fire disaster like what Los Angeles is facing. Among the non-traditional building materials are those described below that I copied from Wikipedia. Respectfully, David Tonkin 32 S. Stromberg Ave., Port Townsend, WA 98368 Concrete Block - Concrete block - Wikipedia <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concrete_block> A concrete block, also known as a cinder block in North American English <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_English> , breeze block in British English <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britis h_English> , concrete masonry unit (CMU), or by various other terms <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concrete_block#Naming> , is a standard-size rectangular block used in building construction <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Building_construction> . The use of blockwork allows structures to be built in the traditional masonry <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masonry> style with layers (or courses) of staggered blocks. Concrete blocks may be produced with hollow centers (cores) to reduce weight <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weight> , improve insulation <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Building_insulation> and provide an interconnected void into which concrete can be poured to solidify the entire wall after it is built. Insulated Concrete Forms (ICFs) - Insulating concrete form - Wikipedia <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulating_concrete_form> Insulating concrete form or insulated concrete form (ICF) is a system of formwork <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formwork> for reinforced concrete <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinforced_concrete> usually made with a rigid thermal insulation <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_insulation> that stays in place as a permanent interior and exterior substrate for walls, floors, and roofs. The forms are interlocking modular units that are dry-stacked (without mortar <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortar_(masonry)> ) and filled with concrete <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Co ncrete> . The units lock together somewhat like Lego <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lego> bricks and create a form for the structural walls or floors of a building. ICF construction has become commonplace for both low rise commercial and high performance residential construction as more stringent energy efficiency <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Efficient_energy_use> and natural disaster resistant building codes <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Building_code> are adopted. Structural insulated panels (SIPs) - Structural insulated panel - Wikipedia <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structural_insulated_panel> A structural insulated panel, or structural insulating panel, (SIP), is a form of sandwich panel <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandwich_panel> used as a building material <https://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Building_material> in the construction <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Construction> industry. SIP is a sandwich structured composite <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandwich_structured_composite> , consisting of an insulating layer of rigid core sandwiched between two layers of structural board. The board can be sheet metal <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheet_metal> , fibre cement <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibre_cement> , magnesium oxide board <https://en.wikipedia.o rg/wiki/Magnesium_oxide_wallboard> (MgO), plywood <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plywood> or oriented strand board <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oriented_strand_board> (OSB), and the core can either be expanded polystyrene foam <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polystyrene> (EPS), extruded polystyrene <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extruded_polystyrene> foam (XPS), polyisocyanurate <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyisocyanurate> foam, polyurethane foam <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyurethane_uses> , or be composite honeycomb <https://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Composite_honeycomb> (HSC). The sheathing <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheathing> accepts all tensile forces <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tensile_force> while the core material has to withstand only some compressive <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compressive_force> as well as shear forces <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shear_force> .