Farzana Gandhi, M. Arc.The Associate Professor of Architecture at the New York Institute of Technology is available for interviews/comments. Contact (email protected).
an estimated 15,000 structures are destroyed Up to January Wildfire in Los Angeles, California leaders implemented a $ 2.5 billion wildfire relief package to help the state reconstruction.
In the coming weeks, environmentalists, urban planners and architects will argue about how and where to rebuild communities in high -risk forest fire areas. But these concerns are not limited to Southern California. In the fall of 2024, firefighters suppressed 500 fire in New JerseyAs Blaze also expressed concern in New York and Southern Massachusetts. In fact, 3.3 million Americans The “very high” remains in the census path with the risk of wildfire, while around 15 million live in “relatively high” areas.
Now, a specialist in Sustainable Architecture provides the manufacture of mitigation strategies for California and further high -risk areas.
“There are several standard with their building code to ensure the lives and safety of residents in firefighting areas in California and protect the structures against disastrous wildfire,” Farzana Gandhi, M. Arc.Associate Professor of Architecture at New York Institute of Technology.
“These include landscaping and flammable brushes on the ground and cleaning the gutters by cleaning the gutters and making a ‘defensive location’ zone around the houses and cleaning the gutters. In addition, the need to pruning the trees back from the roof It is, and plants and shrubs should be excluded. Attari vents should also have a trap, in which the opening is covered and the opening size is limited, ”she says.
Gandhi, a registered architect in New York and a Leed-recognized professional with an expertise in durable design urges builders to use fire-resistant materials-like plaster-bucket and metal gutter and double instead of wood -For Windows for Pandy Templed Glass.
Importantly, she recommends that houses in fire -affected areas be built between them with more than 20 feet, which prevents heat in a house from reaching another building nearby. However, she notes that many existing, old structures currently do not meet tight building construction requirements for areas of wildfire and require retrofits to bring to the code.
“Code to code is not necessarily added to cost and there is no reason that such preventive measures should not be done. However, it is important to note that even the fire-resistant material has a number of hours which is resistance, ”she says.
Gandhi said that these suggested measures for individual homes can only reduce the impact – not to act as “silly” prevention – on the face of a tremendous fire incident. In addition, she asks cities to invest in ‘smart’ infrastructure systems that work at the neighborhood level to help detect the initial fire. These systems can provide real -time data on fire conditions, including temperature, smoking density and spread of flames, allowing firefighters to make informed decisions during emergency.
Southern California Fire; Fire and Climate; Building and design; Architectural design; Landscape Design (T) New York Institute of Technology (T) New York Tech
