For the past 50 years, California has been besieged by an increase in wildfires. More than 1.8 million acres have burned. Yet rebuilding efforts rarely reflect an inclination towards fire safety. Builders and homeowners must explore the affordable innovations available to end this deadly trend. The Underestimated Threat In 2018, the nation witnessed Camp Fire, the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in recent history. The fire blazed 135,000 acres and engulfed 14,000 buildings. Camp Fire claimed the lives of 85 people. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that wildfires will contribute to increase in frequency. The land burned by wildfires has increased since the 1980s, and “of the 10 years with the largest acreage burned, nine have occurred since 2000.” Though the frequency of wildfires has spiked, many homeowners are choosing to rebuild their home without additional fire precautions. The problem isn’t isolated to California. In Western Australia, for example, a series of deadly bushfires ravaged four regions in the course of two years. Few homeowners rebuilt their homes with additional fire precautions in place. Fire-Resistant Architecture Some architects specialize in fire-resistant structures, such as Glenn Murcutt. His work in Australia includes black ceramic tiles that reflect radiant heat, rooftops equipped with permanent water features, and powerful sprinkler systems that protect home exteriors. The fire-conscious elements of Murcutt’s designs add only 5 percent to building costs. In the absence of a specialized architect, there are several recommendations for fire resilient rebuilds: Consider wildfire burn patters. Build at least 30 feet away from ridges and cliffs. Wildfires travel fastest uphill. A 20° increase in slope can double wildfire spread. Customize vents for fire safety. Add flame- and ember-resistant vents or metal screening to attic and crawl space access points. Upgrade glass features. Double paned and tempered glass...
Instant Housing Crisis
Helping Fort McMurray Fire Evacuees
On May 1, 2016, a fast-moving wildfire began near Fort McMurray in northeast Alberta, Canada. The fire forced the largest evacuation in Alberta’s history and destroyed more than 2,000 homes, while 90,000 people fled the flames. Evacuees headed south in a scene reminiscent of an apocalypse movie. They made it away safely, but waiting at the end of the road was an instant housing crisis. “Residents won’t be able to return home until it is safe to do so,” Alberta Premiere Rachel Notley informed thousands of anxious evacuees. “Residents of Fort McMurray should not expect to return home for an extended period of time.” There were apartments to rent, but a way to share information about them was missing. The Provincial Government of Alberta, including the municipal government of Edmonton, scrambled to connect fire evacuees with a searchable, trustworthy, easy-to-use housing registry. It needed to be ready fast to connect an estimated 4,500 evacuees seeking housing with new homes and apartments. Reaching out The Capital Region Housing Corporation, a social housing provider in the city of Edmonton, reached out to its real estate technology provider, Yardi Canada Ltd., part of global software firm Yardi Systems. Based in Santa Barbara, Calif., Yardi is an industry leader and well-known provider of software for real estate companies around the world. Greg Dewling, CEO of Capital Region Housing, contacted Peter Altobelli, Vice President and General Manager of Yardi’s Canadian subsidiary. Altobelli quickly reached out to Yardi founder and CEO Anant Yardi, who said that his company would provide development services without commercial terms. Yardi’s RentCafe apartment search platform was ideally suited to address the crisis, and its development team was ready to leap into action. Dewling made his first call to Yardi late in the afternoon of Monday, May 9. By the early afternoon of Thursday, May 12, he viewed a nearly final product. Development of the housing registry website was complete in just 72 hours. “This was an excellent test of how quickly we can mobilize the RENTCafé platform,” said Chris Ulep, Vice President of multifamily product development at Yardi. “It truly demonstrated the capability of design, development and client services to work together and ensure that product update and production plan was delivered quickly.” “We were floored that they were able to turn it around so quickly,” Dewling said. “I shared this with colleagues at a real estate forum, and jaws were dropping about the speed of the initiative and what Yardi was doing to help. We were, to say the least, extremely impressed.” Behind the scenes The accomplishment of that 72-hour site launch was a global effort by Yardi executives, managers, programmers, designers and marketers. Staff members from Toronto, Canada; Santa Barbara, Calif.; Pune, India; and Cluj-Napoca, Romania were all part of the sprint to prepare the site. With teams in four different time zones, the project was on a 24-hour clock. Web designers in Santa Barbara created a site design and handed off to programmers in Cluj, who built the site. With the infrastructure in place, the project came back to Pune and Toronto for Quality Assurance and user testing. Monitoring of site performance was conducted in Toronto, Cluj, and Pune. As development neared completion, marketers in Cluj learned of the project and pitched in to publicize it via social media. To start the content process, Yardi clients in Canada were asked to list their vacant Alberta units, and many did so. “Everybody was incredibly dedicated to working quickly to get this done,” said Altobelli. “Employees around the world worked overtime. There was amazing communication.” The housing registry went live for all landlords to use on Friday, May 13. Vacant apartment listings began pouring in via webform and needed to be prepared for display. “Everyone came together to participate in this initiative,” said Stephen Teague, a client services manager in Toronto. “The RentCafe team in Canada and India worked...
