Workshop to help builders create homes to withstand wildfire

Building professionals are invited to join a free virtual workshop from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on November 18 to learn how to design, build, and retrofit homes to withstand wildfire.

Hosted by the Tahoe Network of Fire Adapted Communities with support from University of Nevada Cooperative Extension, University of California Cooperative Extension, Tahoe Resource Conservation District and CAL FIRE, the workshop will feature presenter Stephen Quarles, Ph.D., who brings years of expertise in wildfire and home ignition science. Quarles will discuss how homes are threatened during a wildfire and related home hardening techniques. The goal of the workshop is to provide building professionals with information and tools they can use when designing, building or retrofitting homes in the United States.

To pre-register, go here: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJUpfu6grDIpH9L5o6krT2adzmJlZzeF_tNa

“Post-wildfire assessments have shown that more than 60 percent of home ignitions are the result of wind-blown embers. The chance of home ignitions can be greatly reduced if residents create and maintain an effective defensible space on their property and take steps to harden their homes to make them more resistant to embers,” said Dr. Steve Quarles and he described the importance of home hardening.

If you have a home hardening question you'd like answered during the workshop, submit it to fire@tahoercd.org.