Stand Alone Certified Hardened Hybrid Homes Stops Structure to Structure Ignition
HMM uses non-combustible hybrid exterior sidings for certified hardened homes to survive without first responder assistance
NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Outsmarts Trump by replacing the canceled US Forest Service partnership with the new California Partnership Timeline to Stand Alone 2022. See what Trump was trying to hide; here’s PROOF from 2017 to 2022, NIST.TN.2205. Wildfire science belongs to the people, funded by their taxes.
OCTOBER 2007 NIST.TN. 1018-5
AUGUST 2008 NIST.TN 1600
DECEMBER 2012: NIST and the Forest Service create the world's first hazard scale for wildland fires.
DECEMBER 2012: NIST and the Forest Service propose a system to help communities review and address wildfire mitigation strategies.
JANUARY 2013 NIST.TN 1748
NOVEMBER 2015 NIST.TN. 1910
JANUARY 2017 TO JANUARY 2021: The Joint Fire Science Program, a partnership between NIST and the US Forest Service, faced cancellation of its science exchange with managers in the Federal Network. See NIST NOTES for current citations.
MAY 2021 NIST.TN. 2161
MARCH 2022: NIST.TN. 2205 replaced the Joint Fire Science Program and US Forest Service Partnership with a 2021 partnership involving the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE), and the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS). In 2022, they completed Phase 1 testing of the Hazard Mitigation Methodology (HMM), which is now law in the State of California. The HMM was developed because fire departments can’t be everywhere at once; structures in the Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) must be designed as Certified Hardened Homes (CHH) to withstand fire and ember exposure without relying on first responders.
What better place than Los Angeles PACIFIC PALISADES, to serve as the birthplace of Certified Hardened Homes? Communities with low Structure Separation Distance (SSD) will be fortified to stand alone and survive fires without contributions from first responders, creating CHH Family Legacy Homes. With Family Legacy Homes and Hardened Homes, all families can enjoy Grandma’s House for generations.
JULY 2023 NIST.TN. 2252
AUGUST 2023 NIST.TN. 2262
The agglomeration of structures seen in high-density communities, often resulting in small SSD, has a significant impact on fire behavior. First, these structures represent a substantial density of fuels that influence fire spread and, in many cases, directly contribute to the ignition of additional structures, propagating fire throughout the community.
The structures destroyed by WUI fires have devastated entire communities, resulting in losses amounting to billions of dollars. As structure losses continue to rise, there is an increasing need for a comprehensive wildfire mitigation strategy, including a hazard assessment and mitigation methodology to effectively harden appropriate structures and parcels against ember and fire exposures. To address this need, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE), and the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) undertook a sixteen-month collaborative effort, culminating in this Hazard Mitigation Methodology (HMM).
This HMM outlines a detailed structure hardening strategy, emphasizing the importance of features such as fire-rated siding to resist ignitions from ember exposures. The 40 identified structure ignition vulnerabilities illustrate how comprehensive the structure hardening must be for a Certified Hardened Home to withstand potential threats.
NIST and IBHS are non-regulatory entities, while CAL FIRE has regulatory authority in California. Regulatory agencies and homeowners will decide where to implement any or all of the components presented in the HMM.
NIST Technical Note 2161 May 2021 Structure Separation Experiments Phase 1 Preliminary Test Plan. The primary objective of this project is to assess structure-to-structure fire spread for structures located in the Wildland-Urban Interface. Full-scale fire experiments will be conducted to evaluate various types of structures, including those with certified hardened home features and fire-rated siding. The spacing between the source and target structures will be varied to identify a safe structure separation distance (SSD) essential for effective wildfire mitigation. Experiments will be conducted at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the National Fire Research Laboratory (NFRL), and the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS).
NIST.TN. 1748 JANUARY 14, 2013 Framework for addressing the National Wildland Urban Interface Fire Problem using a WUI Hazard Scale. The destruction of homes at the interface highlights the limited coupling between building codes and standards and potential fire and ember exposure. The available exposure information does not fully address the realistic WUI exposures and provides little context for designing ignition-resistant landscapes and buildings, such as those featuring Certified Hardened Homes and fire-rated siding. While the principles of ignition and fire spread at the WUI are known, actual quantification of exposure has been very limited. This gap between exposure and structure ignition has resulted in a lack of tested and implementable wildfire mitigation solutions. For instance, there is currently little quantifiable information linking ember generation from wildland fuels to building assemblies testing. The proposed WUI scale can be used to explicitly identify WUI areas with a fire problem, rather than merely those that meet housing density or wildland vegetation requirements, as is frequently done.
December 05, 2012 NIST and Forest Service Create World's First Hazard Scale for Wildland Fires
GAITHERSBURG, Md.—Two federal agencies have teamed to create the first-ever system for linking accurate assessments of risk from wildland fires to improved building codes, standards, and practices that will help communities better resist the threat. The proposed Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) Hazard Scale addresses fires that occur where developed and undeveloped areas meet, and it emphasizes the importance of features like Certified Hardened Homes and fire-rated siding for effective wildfire mitigation. This initiative is detailed in a report released today by the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's U.S. Forest Service (USFS).
NIST Technical Note 1600 August 2008 Residential Structure Separation Fire Experiments In a recent full-scale laboratory experiment at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), it took less than 80 seconds for flames from a simulated house with combustible exterior walls to ignite a similar structure just 1.8 meters (6 feet) away. This highlights the importance of incorporating features like fire-rated siding in the construction of homes, especially for those designed as Certified Hardened Homes. In another experiment involving identical types of structures, flames from one simulated house reached the second, but this time, a gypsum barrier was used to enhance wildfire mitigation and protect the simulated home from sustained ignition.
The 94% of urban properties, totaling 6.5 million very high-risk homes, burn like those in Fire Hazard Severity Zones (FHSZ) but do not receive the same access to mitigation resources or government recovery assistance. To eliminate discrimination, FHSZ risk should be based on fire frequency, as FHSZ maps often overlook homes and areas currently at risk of burning. Implementing strategies such as Certified Hardened Homes and fire-rated siding can enhance wildfire mitigation efforts in these overlooked regions.
On December 5, 2012, the NIST and the Forest Service established the World's First Hazard Scale for Wildland Fires, a significant initiative by the Obama Administration and the Joint Fire Science Program (JFSP) scientists. This effort aimed to develop advanced wildfire codes and standards to create communities equipped to withstand wildfires independently, without the immediate intervention of first responders. The initiative emphasized the importance of implementing features such as certified hardened homes and fire-rated siding in these communities for effective wildfire mitigation. NIST. TN 2205.
In 2018, President Trump and his administration faced the critical task of supporting tax-funded wildfire science testing technologies to promote the development of these stand-alone communities. However, Trump ultimately canceled the Joint Fire Science Program Federal Partnership with the National Institute of Technology and the US Forest Service. This decision halted the creation of the 4-part WUI Hazard Scale, which initially focused on testing vegetation and was intended to include structures, vehicles, and ornamental vegetation at a later date.
Part 1
12-3-24
Trump canceled the Joint Fire Science Program a Federal Partnership developing standalone building codes delayed four years of science exchange with managers. The JFSP mission is to exchange the results of peer reviewed science with the Fire Science Exchange Network which delivers practical science-based solutions to various stakeholders, and lawmakers. One year into The Biden/Harris Administration May 2021, NIST.TN 2161 and March 2022, NIST.TN 2205 culminating in this HMM HAZARD MITIGATION METHODOLOGY Now law in the state of California.
NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Outsmarts Trump by replacing the canceled US Forest Service partnership with the new California Partnership Timeline to Stand Alone 2022. See what Trump was trying to hide; here’s PROOF from 2017 to 2022, NIST.TN.2205. Wildfire science belongs to the people, funded by their taxes.
OCTOBER 2007 NIST.TN. 1018-5
AUGUST 2008 NIST.TN 1600
DECEMBER 2012: NIST and the Forest Service create the world's first hazard scale for wildland fires.
DECEMBER 2012: NIST and the Forest Service propose a system to help communities review and address wildfire mitigation strategies.
JANUARY 2013 NIST.TN 1748
NOVEMBER 2015 NIST.TN. 1910
JANUARY 2017 TO JANUARY 2021: The Joint Fire Science Program, a partnership between NIST and the US Forest Service, faced cancellation of its science exchange with managers in the Federal Network. See NIST NOTES for current citations.
MAY 2021 NIST.TN. 2161
MARCH 2022: NIST.TN. 2205 replaced the Joint Fire Science Program and US Forest Service Partnership with a 2021 partnership involving the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE), and the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS). In 2022, they completed Phase 1 testing of the Hazard Mitigation Methodology (HMM), which is now law in the State of California. The HMM was developed because fire departments can’t be everywhere at once; structures in the Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) must be designed as Certified Hardened Homes (CHH) to withstand fire and ember exposure without relying on first responders.
What better place than Los Angeles PACIFIC PALISADES, to serve as the birthplace of Certified Hardened Homes? Communities with low Structure Separation Distance (SSD) will be fortified to stand alone and survive fires without contributions from first responders, creating CHH Family Legacy Homes. With Family Legacy Homes and Hardened Homes, all families can enjoy Grandma’s House for generations.
JULY 2023 NIST.TN. 2252
AUGUST 2023 NIST.TN. 2262
The agglomeration of structures seen in high-density communities, often resulting in small SSD, has a significant impact on fire behavior. First, these structures represent a substantial density of fuels that influence fire spread and, in many cases, directly contribute to the ignition of additional structures, propagating fire throughout the community.
The structures destroyed by WUI fires have devastated entire communities, resulting in losses amounting to billions of dollars. As structure losses continue to rise, there is an increasing need for a comprehensive wildfire mitigation strategy, including a hazard assessment and mitigation methodology to effectively harden appropriate structures and parcels against ember and fire exposures. To address this need, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE), and the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) undertook a sixteen-month collaborative effort, culminating in this Hazard Mitigation Methodology (HMM).
This HMM outlines a detailed structure hardening strategy, emphasizing the importance of features such as fire-rated siding to resist ignitions from ember exposures. The 40 identified structure ignition vulnerabilities illustrate how comprehensive the structure hardening must be for a Certified Hardened Home to withstand potential threats.
NIST and IBHS are non-regulatory entities, while CAL FIRE has regulatory authority in California. Regulatory agencies and homeowners will decide where to implement any or all of the components presented in the HMM.
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NIST Technical Note 2161 May 2021 Structure Separation Experiments Phase 1 Preliminary Test Plan. The primary objective of this project is to assess structure-to-structure fire spread for structures located in the Wildland-Urban Interface. Full-scale fire experiments will be conducted to evaluate various types of structures, including those with certified hardened home features and fire-rated siding. The spacing between the source and target structures will be varied to identify a safe structure separation distance (SSD) essential for effective wildfire mitigation. Experiments will be conducted at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the National Fire Research Laboratory (NFRL), and the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS).
NIST.TN. 1748 JANUARY 14, 2013 Framework for addressing the National Wildland Urban Interface Fire Problem using a WUI Hazard Scale. The destruction of homes at the interface highlights the limited coupling between building codes and standards and potential fire and ember exposure. The available exposure information does not fully address the realistic WUI exposures and provides little context for designing ignition-resistant landscapes and buildings, such as those featuring Certified Hardened Homes and fire-rated siding. While the principles of ignition and fire spread at the WUI are known, actual quantification of exposure has been very limited. This gap between exposure and structure ignition has resulted in a lack of tested and implementable wildfire mitigation solutions. For instance, there is currently little quantifiable information linking ember generation from wildland fuels to building assemblies testing. The proposed WUI scale can be used to explicitly identify WUI areas with a fire problem, rather than merely those that meet housing density or wildland vegetation requirements, as is frequently done.
December 05, 2012 NIST and Forest Service Create World's First Hazard Scale for Wildland Fires
GAITHERSBURG, Md.—Two federal agencies have teamed to create the first-ever system for linking accurate assessments of risk from wildland fires to improved building codes, standards, and practices that will help communities better resist the threat. The proposed Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) Hazard Scale addresses fires that occur where developed and undeveloped areas meet, and it emphasizes the importance of features like Certified Hardened Homes and fire-rated siding for effective wildfire mitigation. This initiative is detailed in a report released today by the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's U.S. Forest Service (USFS).
NIST Technical Note 1600 August 2008 Residential Structure Separation Fire Experiments In a recent full-scale laboratory experiment at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), it took less than 80 seconds for flames from a simulated house with combustible exterior walls to ignite a similar structure just 1.8 meters (6 feet) away. This highlights the importance of incorporating features like fire-rated siding in the construction of homes, especially for those designed as Certified Hardened Homes. In another experiment involving identical types of structures, flames from one simulated house reached the second, but this time, a gypsum barrier was used to enhance wildfire mitigation and protect the simulated home from sustained ignition.
20. Out of the 445 total ignited structures, there were 55 to 119 (12 % to 27 %) identified as burning within 60 min of the passage of the main wildland fire front. My observation of this data indicates that if only 55 to 119 of the total 445 structures were set ablaze by the passage of the main wildland fire front, the conclusions of the Joint Fire Science Program suggest that 326 to 390 homes, possibly lacking features like fire-rated siding or certified hardened home standards, were destroyed by structure-to-structure fire burn. 23. The effects of structure spacing on the burning of adjacent structures are dependent on exposure and can vary considerably within a small spatiotemporal extent, which is critical for effective wildfire mitigation. 36. Structure spacing and density affected exposure between adjacent structures, making certain locations untenable for first responders and reducing their effectiveness in quickly responding to stop early fire spread.
A WUI fire and ember exposure scale (WUI-scale) needs to be created to help consistently quantify the expected severity of WUI fire events based on measures, or scales, of expected ember and fire exposure. Once established, these technically based ember and fire exposures for the WUI can form the technical foundation for a set of performance-based building codes aimed at providing a level of structure ignition protection, such as those offered by a Certified Hardened Home, commensurate with the expected fire and/or ember exposure. Incorporating features like fire-rated siding can also enhance wildfire mitigation efforts.