Last week an unattended grill on a first floor patio somehow ignited the building and the resulting fire burned the entire building down, displacing over 150 residents and destroying over 50 condos.
Screen shot from TikTok shows an aerial ladder attempting to suppress the flames coming through the roof.
The building did not have sprinklers as it was an older building that was exempt from retrofitting from our understanding. The resident of the unit that started the fire was arrested on multiple charges including a charge related to 4 firefighters being injured.
Bill Leys, President of William Leys Waterproofing Consultants LLC recently completed the Santa Barbara County Fire Safe Council’s “Design for Fire Resilience” Structure Hardening Course for Architects and Building Designers at the Council’s headquarters on State Street in Santa Barbara. The day long course, led by nationally recognized wildfire expert Dave Shew taught participants about techniques and best practices to harden homes in the WUI. As recognized home hardening building designers, we can now help SLO and Santa Barbara County homeowners with strategies to reduce their homes exposure to wildfire and survive.
We are now offering home hardening assessments for home owners to help you increase your homes ability to survive fires via a variety of preventative methods, including your landscaping, installing ember resistant vents, ensuring that your roof is ember resistant as well as any decks, windows, siding and doors.
Reach out today to learn more about our latest service we offer to help our community survive and resist wildfire!
Call Bill Leys today at 805-801-2380!
Reach out today for a home evaluation! 805-801-2380
Download the Santa Barbara Fire Safe Council/Cal Fire’s free GUIDE FOR HOME HARDENING here at this link below. We bring this guide to you as a public service to increase community safety. No infringement of any copy rights owned by any entity is intended.
