Firesafe: Designing for Fire-Resilient Communities in the American West
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University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Masters Theses Dissertations and Theses July 2021 Firesafe: Designing for Fire-Resilient Communities in the American West Brenden Baitch University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/masters_theses_2 Part of the Environmental Design Commons, Environmental Policy Commons, Environmental Studies Commons, Landscape Architecture Commons, Nature and Society Relations Commons, Other Architecture Commons, Physical and Environmental Geography Commons, Social Policy Commons, Urban, Community and Regional Planning Commons, and the Urban Studies Commons Recommended Citation Baitch, Brenden, "Firesafe: Designing for Fire-Resilient Communities in the American West" (2021). Masters Theses. 1033. https://doi.org/10.7275/22725256.0 https://scholarworks.umass.edu/masters_theses_2/1033 This Open Access Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Dissertations and Theses at ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. FIRESAFE: DESIGNING FOR FIRE-RESILIENT COMMUNITIES IN THE AMERICAN WEST A Thesis Presented by BRENDEN BAITCH Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARCHITECTURE May 2021 Department of Architecture © Copyright by Brenden Baitch 2021 All Rights Reserved FIRESAFE: DESIGNING FOR FIRE-RESILIENT COMMUNITIES IN THE AMERICAN WEST A Thesis Proposal by BRENDEN BAITCH Approved as to style and content by: ____________________________________ Carey Clouse, Chair ____________________________________ Erika Zekos, Member ____________________________________ Stephen Schreiber, Department Chair Department of Architecture DEDICATION For my daughter Toni, my wife Anya, and the resilient people of the American West. “Your own property is concerned when your neighbor's house is on fire.” - Horace ABSTRACT FIRESAFE: DESIGNING FOR FIRE-RESILIENT COMMUNITIES IN THE AMERICAN WEST MAY 2021 BRENDEN BAITCH, B.A., FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY M.A., UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA M.ARCH., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by: Professor Carey Clouse The perception that wildfires are completely preventable has caused many structures and communities to be built in locations that will inevitably experience an uncontrollable fire event, risking human lives and infrastructure. Modification of built environments into fire-adapted communities has been explored in this thesis, through multiple strategies. Central to this analysis is the idea that sustainable human developments could adopt a form of biomimicry and indigenous design informed by the adaptions of plants, animals, and native groups that endure and even thrive with regular cycles of fire. This possibility has been assessed through the scope of fire adaptation strategies available to architects, builders, and urban planners. Design decisions including the strategic placement of buildings in relation to topography, wind, vegetation type, and fuel loads has been considered. Additionally, other mechanisms for adaptation have been assessed, such as fire-retardant building materials, building form, landscaping, and the density of built form on the scale of single homes, and broader communities. The thesis identifies a typical building site, the adjacent community, the potential threats to landscape and buildings posed by wildfire, and then explores design approaches aimed at improving fire adaptability. These factors have been considered and assessed on a qualitative level and v offer new recommendations for building within fire zones. These design ideas and principles can then be applied to a variety of landscapes wherein the wildfire is inevitable, thereby exploring how fire-adapted communities may be built to sustain wildfires through a myriad of methods within a range of regions. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT .........................................................................................................................v LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ iix LIST OF FIGURES .............................................................................................................x INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................1 LITERATURE REVIEW ....................................................................................................4 Introduction ..............................................................................................................4 Current Conventions in Fire-Resilience ...................................................................5 The Single Property Approach .....................................................................6 Comprehensive Community Fire Resilience ...............................................7 The Role of Biomimicry in Fire-Adaptation ...........................................................9 Fire Adaption Strategies of Indigenous Groups.....................................................15 PRECEDENTS ..................................................................................................................18 Resilient Landscapes ..............................................................................................18 Fire-Resistant Structures ........................................................................................20 Fire-Adapted Community Design ..........................................................................24 SITE CONTEXT ...............................................................................................................27 Regional Setting .....................................................................................................27 Site in Focus ...........................................................................................................29 DESIGN APPROACH: COMMUNITY ...........................................................................35 Overview of Design Approach ..............................................................................35 Mediating Now and the Inevitable .........................................................................36 vii DESIGN APPROACH: LANDSCAPE .............................................................................45 Fire Cleansing Reliant Ecosystems ........................................................................45 DESIGN APPROACH: STRUCTURE .............................................................................53 Building like a Sequioa ..........................................................................................53 DISCUSSIONS ..................................................................................................................32 Limitations .............................................................................................................67 Findings..................................................................................................................69 CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................70 BIBLIOGRAPHY ..............................................................................................................72 viii LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Biological, traditional, and contemporary fire interventions. ................................35 2. Time and cost of contemporary fire interventions .................................................37 ix LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1. Sergeant cypress dispersing seeds from cones following fire exposure ............... 14 2. Symbiosis between people, plants and animals in fire-reliant landscapes............ 16 3. Contextual location of San Luis Obispo, California. ............................................ 27 4. Topographical map of San Luis Obispo and immediate surroundings. ................ 28 5. Single-family residential site located at a suburban edge ..................................... 30 6. Volumetric connectivity expressing likely traffic loads ....................................... 31 7. Assessment of roads and buildings adjacent to site (indicated in red). ................ 31 8. Assessment of vegetative fuel loads adjacent to site. ........................................... 32 9. Assessment of water sources (hydrants, pools, creeks) adjacent to site. .............. 32 10. Representation of prevailing winds in the area. .................................................... 33 11. Path of Santa Ana winds descending hillside. ...................................................... 33 12. Map displaying behavior of Santa Ana winds in Southern California. ................ 34 13. Bats & amphibians live in groups that can detect & evacuate fire zones. ............ 36 14. Minimum mediation - protects existing structures ............................................... 39 15. Grazing as fuel management. ................................................................................ 40 16. Prescribed fire cleanses and protects. ................................................................... 41 17. Medium Mediation - ideal for new neighborhood design. ................................... 42 18. Maximum mediation – for areas lost and extremely