Rebuild:LA Episode 011 - Can We Out-Think Wildfires with the NFPA's Michele Steinberg

The National Fire Protection Association has been creating fire code in American since the late 1800's. We have the NFPA to thank for fire sprinklers in apartment buildings and fire doors in high rise buildings. In the 1980's, the NFPA realized that wildfires were igniting in unusual places in North America, and they decided to do something about it. They wanted to "out-think wildfires." Firewise USA was born. And it's why their Wildfire Division Director, Michele Steinberg, toured surviving homes in the Palisades and Eaton burn scars. Cameron Barrett had a wide-ranging discussion with Steinberg, and found out some reasons why there are still houses standing in Pacific Palisades and Altadena.

Resources:

• National Fire Protection Association
• Firewise USA Toolkit
• MySafe:LA Wildfire Home Inspection Request Form

Chapters

• 0:00 Intro
• 2:21 About the NFPA
• 6:14 Firewise USA
• 13:05 Defensible Space and Home Hardening
• 17:30 Breaks on Fire Insurance
• 19:31 Out-thinking Wildfires
• 21:37 These Aren't Your Grandma's Fires
• 23:10 Rebuilding Firewise-ly
• 28:09 Visiting the Burn Scars
• 32:51 Home Inspections
• 34:02 It's the Little Things
• 35:54 The Danger of Embers
• 37:50 People Want to Go Home
• 39:39 The Trauma on the Foreground
• 44:06 Sustainable Recovery