January 12, 2025 • 31 mins
Dean continues to discuss the wildfires in a part two session and what should be your next steps for anyone affected. Dean shares tips on how to rebuild after a natural disaster. He also covers ways to prevent embers from entering your home and fire rated glass for that extra protection. Dean continues to talk about ember proof vents, remodeling for the future and some ultimate long-term solutions.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
KFI AM six forty. You're listening to Dean Sharp The
House Whisper on demand on the iHeart Radio app Welcome Home.
I am Dean Sharp, the House Whisper. I design custom homes,
I build custom homes, and on the weekends here I
am your guide to better understand that place where you live.
(00:24):
Today on the show, we are going to continue where
we were going yesterday, and that is, of course, with
the coverage of the fires that are still burning here
in southern California and the greater Los Angeles area. Of course,
news coverage will be coming as always from the twenty
(00:44):
four hour KFI Newsroom. Where I'm going to focus my
attention as I began to yesterday and today will continue
to today, is on some subjects of Number one, fire
hardening homes against these kinds of fires. Number two, answering
any of your questions that you may have, because we'll
(01:05):
be taking calls as always, and we'll also hopefully be
able to take calls on a full array of subjects,
anything that you actually want to talk about. More on
that in just a bit. But most importantly, I want
to talk about what happens next, because slowly but surely,
(01:25):
these fires are coming under control. Okay, now, it's not fast,
and that does in no way, shape or form means
that we are out of trouble when it comes to
these fires. The current status we will discuss briefly shortly,
The Palisades Fire eleven percent contained. That's up a good
(01:49):
three percent from yesterday in terms of containment. That's good news.
Twenty four thousand acres burned, though, that is not good news.
And fire is now twenty seven percent contained. That's a
big jump from yesterday. That's good news as well. The
Kenneth Fire that popped up in the West Hills area
(02:11):
on Thursday one hundred percent contained as of this morning,
currently reporting, the Lydia Fire one hundred percent contained. The
Hurst Fire eighty nine percent contained in the north near
San Fernando. So we're making ground. We're making ground, but
nowhere near the finish line for any of these blazes,
(02:34):
and new homes and new areas being threatened. Even now,
now that the wind has started to rise back up again,
worst wind day that we're anticipating for this week is
going to be Tuesday. Are we going to see gusts
in the sixty to eighty mile an hour category? It
is not anticipated. It's anticipated that we're just going to
(02:57):
see what we would call here in southern California normal
Santa Anna wins. But believe me, those are enough, those
are enough to become problematic. So that's where we are currently.
Ellie County is reporting I believe I haven't updated this
number yet. As of yesterday, Ellie County was reporting eleven
(03:19):
fatalities in association with these fires, more than twelve thousand
structures damaged or destroyed. And without question, these are now
not just the most severe natural disaster in terms of
wildfire to hit the Los Angeles area in its history,
(03:40):
these are the costliest wildfire disasters in US history, totaling
over right now an estimated fifty billion dollars in damages.
So the big question is where do we go from here.
I do not mean to make light of the ongoing
(04:02):
battling efforts. That's why the KFI newsroom is going to
be continuing to update us. But what I wanted to
discuss with you this morning is for those of you
who have not experienced this yet, how do you defend
your house against it? And number two, for those of
you who have experienced not just oh there was a fire,
(04:23):
and our house burnt, an area of our house burnt. Now,
what happens when an entire neighborhood, when an entire region
is burnt to the ground? How do we restart from that?
What are some of the factors that you could anticipate,
and what are your next steps? We're going to try
and cover all of that this morning. I am here
(04:45):
with you as always to help in any way that
I can. Of course, we're going to be taking calls.
The phone lines are open now eight three three two
ask Dean eight three three the numeral to ask Dean.
We're up on social media. More on that later. Let
me introduce our awesome team. Elmer is on the board.
(05:06):
Good morning, Elmer, Good morning Dean, Good morning everyone. Producer Richie,
I believe is standing near a microphone this time? Is
it true? So true? Good morning guys, Oh my gosh,
what a rare occurrence. You've heard it? Yes, I rolled
out of bed this time and came to the studio.
Hey brother, good to hear your voice this morning. Glad
(05:28):
to be here with her. Thanks. Eileen Gonzalez at the KFI
twenty four hour news desk, how you doing, Eileen? Good morning,
I'm doing great. How are you guys. We're okay, We're okay.
You know, we're just pushing through. I'm not really looking
forward to all the stuff that I have to talk
about in the next three hours, but it's important stuff.
Sopping people out. You're doing a great service. We're just
(05:49):
going to do what we need to do. Of course,
sitting across the table from me, my better half, my
design partner, my best friend in the world, Tina is here,
my kid, clearing her throat. I was actually waiting for
that before I said anything. Welcome home, Good morning, How
are you doing.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
It's been it's been a week.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Yeah, yeah, it has been.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
I I'm really glad we're doing this and hope that
it helps.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
We will do our best, and we will begin with
this very very special subject matter here on Home with
Dean Sharp the House Whisper.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Right after you're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on
demand from KFI Am six forty.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
I'm here to help you just hang on to your
home so that you can take it to the next
level later on. Because of all of the fires that
we're talking about here in southern California, our special content
for this weekend not originally what we planned, of course,
but that's the way a natural disaster works, right changes
your plans. Our special content for this weekend solely talking
(07:02):
about your home and fires and or natural disasters. And
I know we have a lot of listeners nationwide who
listen to the podcast or listen to the live broadcast
of the show right here and right now. For you,
fire talk is always relevant no matter where you live
(07:22):
on planet Earth. But the discussion specifically of the Los
Angeles wildfires right now you may not feel is entirely
relevant to you. But because of the scope of these fires,
they are a natural disaster that has affected entire region.
(07:43):
And so our response to that the question answering the
question how do you rebuild? What does that process look
like after an entire region has been devastated by a
natural disaster? Hopefully, and I think you will be able
to glean a lot of information, a lot of truth
from our conversation, regardless of whether it's fire, flood, earthquake, hurricane, tornado,
(08:10):
or what have you that affects the region where you live.
No place on planet Earth is immune to natural disasters,
and so knowing what to do and basically what happens
after the fact. We have a lot of precedent for it.
It is not an unknown, although there are a lot
of specific unknowns with every disaster in every situation. So
(08:32):
we'll also be going to the phones. Let me give
you the number eight three three two. Ask Dean A
three to three the numeral two. Ask Dean eight three
three two. Ask Dean anything that's on your mind that's
got you scratching your head about your home today. As always,
I will be prioritizing fire related calls, though, just so
(08:54):
you know, and you know, and if we don't have
any of those, I'm still going to the phones. Would
be nice to be able to just kind of take
a breather and take a break from all the fire
talk as well. So I am wide open to whatever
you may want to be discussing about your home today,
as always, eight three three two Ask Dean. Ritchie is
(09:15):
standing by screening calls right now. Phone lines are open
and there's a clear path for you. Just to give
him a call. He'll tell you everything you need to know.
Popy into the queue, and then we'll put our heads
together and we'll figure out what's going on with your place,
all right, let's get to it. A quick review of
what we covered yesterday. I don't want to recover it.
(09:36):
I just want to make you aware, especially if you
are a podcast listener, that there is a previous episode
Part one of this coverage was yesterday's or the previous
episode to this episode. I've not I've got too much
stuff to cover with you to do a full review
of that, but I am going to repeat this because
(09:57):
this is worth saying every single day. I want to
begin today's program with appreciation for all the brave and
dedicated men and women who have been tirelessly fighting these fires.
I want to show appreciation for the cooperating out of
area fire services who've rushed in to assist. Tina and
I were on PCH at the Zuoma Beach Command Center
(10:20):
on Thursday to see firefighting teams and equipment from cities
and counties from all over California, as well as states Arizona, Oregon, Washington, Idaho.
If there is a silver lining I said this yesterday
to a natural disaster, it is that, in my opinion,
(10:41):
for a time at least, the immediacy of the threat
and the need sets aside all the other bs that
we normally get caught up in and can bring out
the very best in human beings. And of course, for
those who have comfortable, safe vantage points. These events are
already being criticized and politicized, But for the countless people
(11:05):
who are in it on the front lines, the volunteers
with food and water and blankets, the neighbors offering shelter
and open arms and kind words. I mean, we do
not live anywhere well, I shouldn't say anywhere near. We
do not live in threat of these particular fires. When
the Wolsey Fire happened in twenty eighteen, just a mere
(11:27):
six years ago, we were just a few hundred feet
away from evacuating. But these fires have not threatened our
location this year. And yet this week, nothing but calls
coming in from friends, from loved ones saying, hey, are
you okay? I've heard, are you guys safe? Do you
(11:48):
need anything? If you guys need a break from the
smoke or this, come on over that kind of stuff.
That's what I'm talking about that happens a minute for
minute during these kinds of situations. And I'm happy to
say I've made some of those calls to to friends
who are a lot closer to the fire. So the food,
the water, the blankets, the neighbors offering shelter, the open arms,
(12:11):
the kind words. It is heartening to see the best
of what it means to be human during a natural disaster.
That does not make it a happy event. It simply
is encouraging, that's all. Okay, all right, let's start with
topically with hardening your home, and then I want to
(12:34):
move into Okay, your home is burnt down. Now what
do you do. We've done fire hardening show. I do
a fire hardening show at least once a year, okay,
before fire season begins. So for those of you who
are longtime listeners of the program, this is not going
to be any new information for you. But we always
(12:55):
have new people listening, and so I want to give
you this information. Start with the most repeated thing on
this program in terms of fire ardening of your home
and arguably the most important thing in my opinion, ember
proofing your attic events. Okay, again, I will tell you this.
(13:18):
Even though the fire line, this is a relatively rare
occurrence that a fire line because of the perfect storm
of high gale winds and the location of let's say
the Palisades, and both the Palisades and the Eaten Fire
especially this is a rare occurrence that the fire line
(13:40):
blazes through street after street, neighborhood after neighborhood after neighborhood. Okay,
what is most common during a wildfire scenario when houses
start to catch on fire is that houses that are
nowhere near the fire line start to burn. And the
question is why is that eighty percent of homes that
(14:04):
ignite as the enduring a wildfire event are not on
the fire line. Why is that? It is because our
attics of our homes have a susceptibility to them. They
have been by building code vented to circulate airflow. Warm
(14:29):
air in the attic rises and cool air is drawn
in through lower events. It actually creates a vacuum and
embers that can travel miles. We used to say half
a mile an ember could trial travel, and then we
up to two a mile, and then we up to
it to two miles. I'm just going to say this,
embers can travel several miles. And the hotter the fire
(14:51):
is and the more it's engaged in structures, the more
embers there are, and the further it travels. Embers can
retain their ability to ignite material and travel for miles
and as they in their super light, drifty state pass
by a home. Under the eaves of a home, those
(15:12):
embers can literally be and are often sucked into the
attic space, which becomes at that point the perfect breathing
barbecue for igniting and maintaining a flame. Ember proof vents
are a newer style event than the classic vent for attics,
(15:33):
and they are a vent that has a smaller mesh
screen that have baffles built into them that don't allow
hot embers to travel directly in, but knock them down
as they come through, therefore protecting in the biggest way
possible a house from catching on fire if it's in
the vicinity of another wildfire. All right, We're going to
(15:54):
go to a break and when we come back, we
will continue this conversation.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
We're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
Dean Sharp the house whisper with you on this Sunday morning,
January twelfth, twenty twenty five. As we still are suffering
through southern California wildfires here in the Greater Los Angeles area.
That is the topic of our program. Today, not ongoing
coverage by me. We have the KFI twenty four hour
(16:29):
news team right here helping you with that. I am
taking the focus of our program, given my level of
expertise with homes, and I'm turning it towards Number one,
something that we talk about every year, but I'm going
to talk about again this morning, which is fire hardening
your home against the risk of wildfire damage. And number
(16:49):
two something that we haven't talked a lot about because
this kind of disaster has not struck in this way,
and that is what is the rebuilding process going to
be when not just a home burns down or a
couple of homes burned down, but entire neighborhoods or regions
of infrastructure go down because of that. What's that going
(17:10):
to look like? And what's the insurance process and the
rebuilding process and the expectation all of that coming on
the program today. So go nowhere, stick with me. We
were just talking about the number one most important thing
in my opinion in regards to prepping your home against
wildfire risk, and that is ember proof vents. It's also
(17:32):
happens to be the one thing that most people don't
end up doing, so I'm just gonna repeat myself until
you're sick of hearing it. Emberproofing the vents around it
that are flow into your attic is a key, a
key that gives you a big advantage of not having
your home catch on fire during a wildfire situation. Now,
(17:56):
let me be clear about this. When a when a
forty foot wall of flame is sweeping through your neighborhood
and approaches your home with you at somewhere in the
area of fifteen hundred plus degrees, okay, the vent situation
is not going to make necessarily a huge difference. Okay,
(18:20):
But understand the statistic, and it's very very important. Eighty
percent of homes that burn in a wildfire area when
a wildfire is raging, eighty percent of homes that typically
burn are not on the fire line when they catch
on fire. And those homes, those homes are experiencing ember
(18:43):
related ignition happening. And that's why we change out the vents. Okay. Now,
another option that we've talked about just this last year,
and I will now continue every year to discuss this
not only in terms of fire hardening, but in terms
of remodeling. A new design for home holmes Another option,
now which I am a strongly, strongly an advocate of,
(19:06):
is if you are planning on remodeling your home, that
you also include remodeling the attic and turning it into
what we call a conditioned attic space. A conditioned attic
space simply means this, instead of the attic being outside
the insulated envelope of your home. In other words, the
(19:26):
attic insulation is on the floor of the attic and
that's keeping you know, the home below it cool land
or warm, you know, when you need it to be.
But the attic itself is technically outside. It's it's not
part of the conditioned space. Making the attic part of
the conditioned space. That means taking the insulation off the
floor of the attic, putting it into the rafters of
(19:49):
the roofline itself, so that the roof is the envelope
that is insulated, and therefore the attic is going to
be roughly the same temperature as the rest of the
house when you're cool the house. If it's seventy two
degrees in the house in the summertime because of the
air conditioner, the attic is close to that as well.
If it's nice and toasty warm in the house during
(20:10):
the cold of winter, the attic is toasty warm as well.
What is the point, Dean of doing that. Well, I'm
not going to belabor the other designed advantages of that,
meaning you could utilize attic space for storage without compromising insulation,
or the fact that it is typically a better seal,
(20:30):
a better insulating quality, and energy efficiency for the entire house.
That it makes your heating and cooling equipment last longer
because they're not freezing and baking in those extreme temperature
situations the equipment itself. And there's plenty of other efficiencies
about that, But here is the number one reason that
(20:50):
I'm mentioning it this morning. I'm mentioning it this morning
because a remodeled conditioned attic space that is now part
of the regular conditioned house has no vents, no standard
attic vents. Now, there is some vapor weeping vents at
(21:11):
the top, but those are not in any way, shape
or form vents that are susceptible to embers or wildfire conditions.
So a conditioned attic space home is a home that
doesn't need to have its vents changed out to ember
proof ens because it doesn't have vents. It doesn't in
(21:31):
any way, shape or form, invite embers into the inside
of your home. And that's why I'm mentioning it today.
So make a note consider you can do a little
bit of an investigating and of course you can go
back into our archives of last year's shows and on
the podcast and find my show on the New Attic
(21:56):
in which we discuss all of those advantages. And also,
by the way, pests bugs a non issue with a
conditioned attic space because no vents, no easy form of
access into the attic. So food for thought. I dealt
with this yesterday in terms of a caller who called
(22:17):
in asking about fire rated windows, what's the mystery of
fire rated windows? Very quickly because it was on yesterday's program,
But I'm going to put it on our list today.
There is no mystery about fire rated windows. A fire
rated window is essentially nothing more than a standard window
that instead of having regular what we call annealed glass,
(22:39):
which is regular old, good old window glass, it has
tempered glass in its place. And the reason is that
tempered glass is produced at incredibly high temperatures in the
factory five thousand degrees plus, and so a fifteen hundred
degree or two thousand degree wall of fire picking up
(23:00):
against a tempered glass piece of glass is not going
to cause it to shatter and crack and burst open.
And that's the problem with a non fire rated window
is that the cool of the inside of the house
and the heat on the outside unevenly heats the glass
of regular glass and it shatters. And as soon as
it shatters, now the fire has a hole to enter
(23:23):
your home through. Okay, So in southern California new construction
and major remodels, it's code requirement now in the state
of California to have fire rated glass. If you are
up against an urban wildfire interface area facing the wilderness area,
(23:44):
at least those windows have to be fire rated glass.
Your sliding glass door, if you have one of those,
which most people do, is already fire rated in the
sense that a sliding glass door has to be tempered
glass because it's glass that goes all the way to
the floor and it's kickable that strength. So not the
sliders the windows to change them out. Now, again, what
(24:08):
if that's not in your budget right now and you're
concerned about maybe two or three years, Dean before we
get around to switching out those windows. Can I do
anything to protect my windows until then? Yes, you can.
We'll talk about that right on the other side of
the news.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
Thanks for joining us on the program today as we
engage in our ongoing topical coverage of natural disasters and
wildfires here in southern California. Guess why we're covering this
this weekend. Yeah, of course I am in the middle
of first and foremost conversing with you about fire hardening
(24:53):
your home. I know there are a bunch of questions
about it. So we've talked about amber proof ns, We've
talked about remodeling an addic if and remodeled is in
your future. So okay, let me pause for a second
and just to get this pushed out of my brain
on most of these here or what I'm trying to
do is offer you number one ultimate long term best solution,
(25:18):
and then if I can offer you short term help,
get it better solutions. Okay, So, ember proof addic vents
are a really good idea, and we've covered that. A
better idea in my opinion, if there is a remodel
in your future is to include in your remodel budget
(25:40):
a remodel of the attic space into a conditioned attic
so that your attic doesn't have to have vents at all. Okay,
we also, right before the break talked about fire rated windows.
Fire rated windows are and they aren't a special manufacturer
out there where you got to go, and now you're
can have windows look weird and they don't match the
(26:01):
rest of your house. Every major manufacturer of window makes
fire rated windows in almost all of their models of windows,
because it's really not about the window frame or the
structure itself. It's essentially about and there are a couple
exceptions there, but it's essentially about just replacing the standard
annealed glass, which is very heat sensitive, with tempered glass,
(26:25):
which is not heat sensitive. Because if a fire line
passes by your house, here's what you don't want. You
don't want the heat from the fire cracking your windows.
The windows shatter, and now you have a penetration and
opening a wide open window literally for the flames to
lap up and reach inside the house. Okay, that's what
a fire rated window is all about. Now, if a
(26:47):
fire rated windows, they're pricey and you get a lot
of them facing the open space. If a fire rated
window is in fact not in your financial future, but
you are concerned about the windows, that you've got another option. Again,
we discussed it on the previous episode here a yesterday's
show is fire rated window film? Yeah, the kind of
(27:08):
film that goes on like you know, tinted windows on
a car. Okay, what does fire rated window film achieve? Well,
you could, of course add some tinting and if you
want a little less light coming in, I wouldn't advise that.
Generally speaking, you can add some reflectivity for energy and heat.
But in terms of the fire, what a fire rated
(27:31):
window film does is it is rated to withstand the
heat of fire for an hour. That's a class A
fire rating. Anything that's class A fire rated is designed
to withstand flame for an hour before it moves through
it and during that time as the fire line, which
they move very fast, as you can tell right when
(27:51):
fire lines are really moving fast, there are winds involved,
and they move through your house or buy your house quickly.
So it's not as though you're gonna have to worry
about like, well, what if the fire is right outside
my door for an hour and a half. It's typically
not the case. Fire rated window film that can resist
flame and heat for an hour will not keep your
(28:13):
regular glass windows from shattering. Because the glass is the glass.
It's gonna shatter with the uneven temperature. It will. However,
it will hold that shattered glass in place so that
an opening is not created when the glass shatters, and
therefore the flame still don't have an opportunity to get
(28:36):
inside the house. Much like a car windshield, an automobile
windshield with safety glass on it, right, it is an
automobile windshield is not tempered glass. It's a form of
safety glass. When a tempered windshield, I mean when a
automobile windshield, as you have seen countless times, is cracked
(28:56):
or shattered or even hit with a sledgehammer, right, it
doesn't just low apart in all bits and pieces, because
there is a film embedded in between two pieces of
glass there on the automobile that holds the glass in place. Okay,
that's the idea. That's the idea of fire rated window film.
(29:18):
Far less expensive. And are any of these things, by
the way, a silver bullet that just solves the problem, No,
not at all, But they help, they help Okay, so
fire rated window film something is easy. This next thing
that everybody has the ability to deal with right now,
(29:41):
and that is get the junk away from your home.
Anything that can burn, anything that would burn, anything that
might burn. You got to get it away from your home.
How far as far as you can. That's it. I'm
not going to tell you. Yeah, I've seen rules out
there saying well at least five feet away from the house.
Are you kidding me? Do you want things catching on
(30:04):
fire five feet away from your house? Now? I understand
the majority of homes in southern California are in tracts
and neighborhoods, and the majority of side yard setbacks are
five feet Okay, So when it comes to the side
yards of your house, have nothing there, zero things there. Okay,
(30:25):
don't just move them away from the wall to the
outside fence. Just get them out of there. And when
it comes to the front and backyards, clear it out.
Push things as far away from the house, pick them up,
carry them out there. We're not trying to decorate your house.
We're talking about keeping it safe during a fire threat.
And so you move all of this stuff and you
(30:46):
get it as far away from the house as possible. Okay,
the next conversation that we're going to have is about
one of my favorite topics that I have recommended again
and again. There is cost, and but as far as
I'm concerned, it's worth its weight in gold, and that
is having a supply and being prepared with FIREJEL, fire gel.
(31:11):
What is firejel And how is it potentially going to
save your bacon when it comes to a wildfire situation.
We'll talk about that right after this has been Home
with Dean Sharp the House Whisper. Tune into the live
broadcast on KFI AM six forty every Saturday morning from
six to eight Pacific time and every Sunday morning from
(31:33):
nine to noon Pacific time, or anytime on demand on
the iHeartRadio app.
KFI AM six forty. You're listening to Dean Sharp The
House Whisper on demand on the iHeart Radio app Welcome Home.
I am Dean Sharp, the House Whisper. I design custom homes,
I build custom homes, and on the weekends here I
am your guide to better understand that place where you live.
(00:24):
Today on the show, we are going to continue where
we were going yesterday, and that is, of course, with
the coverage of the fires that are still burning here
in southern California and the greater Los Angeles area. Of course,
news coverage will be coming as always from the twenty
(00:44):
four hour KFI Newsroom. Where I'm going to focus my
attention as I began to yesterday and today will continue
to today, is on some subjects of Number one, fire
hardening homes against these kinds of fires. Number two, answering
any of your questions that you may have, because we'll
(01:05):
be taking calls as always, and we'll also hopefully be
able to take calls on a full array of subjects,
anything that you actually want to talk about. More on
that in just a bit. But most importantly, I want
to talk about what happens next, because slowly but surely,
(01:25):
these fires are coming under control. Okay, now, it's not fast,
and that does in no way, shape or form means
that we are out of trouble when it comes to
these fires. The current status we will discuss briefly shortly,
The Palisades Fire eleven percent contained. That's up a good
(01:49):
three percent from yesterday in terms of containment. That's good news.
Twenty four thousand acres burned, though, that is not good news.
And fire is now twenty seven percent contained. That's a
big jump from yesterday. That's good news as well. The
Kenneth Fire that popped up in the West Hills area
(02:11):
on Thursday one hundred percent contained as of this morning,
currently reporting, the Lydia Fire one hundred percent contained. The
Hurst Fire eighty nine percent contained in the north near
San Fernando. So we're making ground. We're making ground, but
nowhere near the finish line for any of these blazes,
(02:34):
and new homes and new areas being threatened. Even now,
now that the wind has started to rise back up again,
worst wind day that we're anticipating for this week is
going to be Tuesday. Are we going to see gusts
in the sixty to eighty mile an hour category? It
is not anticipated. It's anticipated that we're just going to
(02:57):
see what we would call here in southern California normal
Santa Anna wins. But believe me, those are enough, those
are enough to become problematic. So that's where we are currently.
Ellie County is reporting I believe I haven't updated this
number yet. As of yesterday, Ellie County was reporting eleven
(03:19):
fatalities in association with these fires, more than twelve thousand
structures damaged or destroyed. And without question, these are now
not just the most severe natural disaster in terms of
wildfire to hit the Los Angeles area in its history,
(03:40):
these are the costliest wildfire disasters in US history, totaling
over right now an estimated fifty billion dollars in damages.
So the big question is where do we go from here.
I do not mean to make light of the ongoing
(04:02):
battling efforts. That's why the KFI newsroom is going to
be continuing to update us. But what I wanted to
discuss with you this morning is for those of you
who have not experienced this yet, how do you defend
your house against it? And number two, for those of
you who have experienced not just oh there was a fire,
(04:23):
and our house burnt, an area of our house burnt. Now,
what happens when an entire neighborhood, when an entire region
is burnt to the ground? How do we restart from that?
What are some of the factors that you could anticipate,
and what are your next steps? We're going to try
and cover all of that this morning. I am here
(04:45):
with you as always to help in any way that
I can. Of course, we're going to be taking calls.
The phone lines are open now eight three three two
ask Dean eight three three the numeral to ask Dean.
We're up on social media. More on that later. Let
me introduce our awesome team. Elmer is on the board.
(05:06):
Good morning, Elmer, Good morning Dean, Good morning everyone. Producer Richie,
I believe is standing near a microphone this time? Is
it true? So true? Good morning guys, Oh my gosh,
what a rare occurrence. You've heard it? Yes, I rolled
out of bed this time and came to the studio.
Hey brother, good to hear your voice this morning. Glad
(05:28):
to be here with her. Thanks. Eileen Gonzalez at the KFI
twenty four hour news desk, how you doing, Eileen? Good morning,
I'm doing great. How are you guys. We're okay, We're okay.
You know, we're just pushing through. I'm not really looking
forward to all the stuff that I have to talk
about in the next three hours, but it's important stuff.
Sopping people out. You're doing a great service. We're just
(05:49):
going to do what we need to do. Of course,
sitting across the table from me, my better half, my
design partner, my best friend in the world, Tina is here,
my kid, clearing her throat. I was actually waiting for
that before I said anything. Welcome home, Good morning, How
are you doing.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
It's been it's been a week.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Yeah, yeah, it has been.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
I I'm really glad we're doing this and hope that
it helps.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
We will do our best, and we will begin with
this very very special subject matter here on Home with
Dean Sharp the House Whisper.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Right after you're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on
demand from KFI Am six forty.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
I'm here to help you just hang on to your
home so that you can take it to the next
level later on. Because of all of the fires that
we're talking about here in southern California, our special content
for this weekend not originally what we planned, of course,
but that's the way a natural disaster works, right changes
your plans. Our special content for this weekend solely talking
(07:02):
about your home and fires and or natural disasters. And
I know we have a lot of listeners nationwide who
listen to the podcast or listen to the live broadcast
of the show right here and right now. For you,
fire talk is always relevant no matter where you live
(07:22):
on planet Earth. But the discussion specifically of the Los
Angeles wildfires right now you may not feel is entirely
relevant to you. But because of the scope of these fires,
they are a natural disaster that has affected entire region.
(07:43):
And so our response to that the question answering the
question how do you rebuild? What does that process look
like after an entire region has been devastated by a
natural disaster? Hopefully, and I think you will be able
to glean a lot of information, a lot of truth
from our conversation, regardless of whether it's fire, flood, earthquake, hurricane, tornado,
(08:10):
or what have you that affects the region where you live.
No place on planet Earth is immune to natural disasters,
and so knowing what to do and basically what happens
after the fact. We have a lot of precedent for it.
It is not an unknown, although there are a lot
of specific unknowns with every disaster in every situation. So
(08:32):
we'll also be going to the phones. Let me give
you the number eight three three two. Ask Dean A
three to three the numeral two. Ask Dean eight three
three two. Ask Dean anything that's on your mind that's
got you scratching your head about your home today. As always,
I will be prioritizing fire related calls, though, just so
(08:54):
you know, and you know, and if we don't have
any of those, I'm still going to the phones. Would
be nice to be able to just kind of take
a breather and take a break from all the fire
talk as well. So I am wide open to whatever
you may want to be discussing about your home today,
as always, eight three three two Ask Dean. Ritchie is
(09:15):
standing by screening calls right now. Phone lines are open
and there's a clear path for you. Just to give
him a call. He'll tell you everything you need to know.
Popy into the queue, and then we'll put our heads
together and we'll figure out what's going on with your place,
all right, let's get to it. A quick review of
what we covered yesterday. I don't want to recover it.
(09:36):
I just want to make you aware, especially if you
are a podcast listener, that there is a previous episode
Part one of this coverage was yesterday's or the previous
episode to this episode. I've not I've got too much
stuff to cover with you to do a full review
of that, but I am going to repeat this because
(09:57):
this is worth saying every single day. I want to
begin today's program with appreciation for all the brave and
dedicated men and women who have been tirelessly fighting these fires.
I want to show appreciation for the cooperating out of
area fire services who've rushed in to assist. Tina and
I were on PCH at the Zuoma Beach Command Center
(10:20):
on Thursday to see firefighting teams and equipment from cities
and counties from all over California, as well as states Arizona, Oregon, Washington, Idaho.
If there is a silver lining I said this yesterday
to a natural disaster, it is that, in my opinion,
(10:41):
for a time at least, the immediacy of the threat
and the need sets aside all the other bs that
we normally get caught up in and can bring out
the very best in human beings. And of course, for
those who have comfortable, safe vantage points. These events are
already being criticized and politicized, But for the countless people
(11:05):
who are in it on the front lines, the volunteers
with food and water and blankets, the neighbors offering shelter
and open arms and kind words. I mean, we do
not live anywhere well, I shouldn't say anywhere near. We
do not live in threat of these particular fires. When
the Wolsey Fire happened in twenty eighteen, just a mere
(11:27):
six years ago, we were just a few hundred feet
away from evacuating. But these fires have not threatened our
location this year. And yet this week, nothing but calls
coming in from friends, from loved ones saying, hey, are
you okay? I've heard, are you guys safe? Do you
(11:48):
need anything? If you guys need a break from the
smoke or this, come on over that kind of stuff.
That's what I'm talking about that happens a minute for
minute during these kinds of situations. And I'm happy to
say I've made some of those calls to to friends
who are a lot closer to the fire. So the food,
the water, the blankets, the neighbors offering shelter, the open arms,
(12:11):
the kind words. It is heartening to see the best
of what it means to be human during a natural disaster.
That does not make it a happy event. It simply
is encouraging, that's all. Okay, all right, let's start with
topically with hardening your home, and then I want to
(12:34):
move into Okay, your home is burnt down. Now what
do you do. We've done fire hardening show. I do
a fire hardening show at least once a year, okay,
before fire season begins. So for those of you who
are longtime listeners of the program, this is not going
to be any new information for you. But we always
(12:55):
have new people listening, and so I want to give
you this information. Start with the most repeated thing on
this program in terms of fire ardening of your home
and arguably the most important thing in my opinion, ember
proofing your attic events. Okay, again, I will tell you this.
(13:18):
Even though the fire line, this is a relatively rare
occurrence that a fire line because of the perfect storm
of high gale winds and the location of let's say
the Palisades, and both the Palisades and the Eaten Fire
especially this is a rare occurrence that the fire line
(13:40):
blazes through street after street, neighborhood after neighborhood after neighborhood. Okay,
what is most common during a wildfire scenario when houses
start to catch on fire is that houses that are
nowhere near the fire line start to burn. And the
question is why is that eighty percent of homes that
(14:04):
ignite as the enduring a wildfire event are not on
the fire line. Why is that? It is because our
attics of our homes have a susceptibility to them. They
have been by building code vented to circulate airflow. Warm
(14:29):
air in the attic rises and cool air is drawn
in through lower events. It actually creates a vacuum and
embers that can travel miles. We used to say half
a mile an ember could trial travel, and then we
up to two a mile, and then we up to
it to two miles. I'm just going to say this,
embers can travel several miles. And the hotter the fire
(14:51):
is and the more it's engaged in structures, the more
embers there are, and the further it travels. Embers can
retain their ability to ignite material and travel for miles
and as they in their super light, drifty state pass
by a home. Under the eaves of a home, those
(15:12):
embers can literally be and are often sucked into the
attic space, which becomes at that point the perfect breathing
barbecue for igniting and maintaining a flame. Ember proof vents
are a newer style event than the classic vent for attics,
(15:33):
and they are a vent that has a smaller mesh
screen that have baffles built into them that don't allow
hot embers to travel directly in, but knock them down
as they come through, therefore protecting in the biggest way
possible a house from catching on fire if it's in
the vicinity of another wildfire. All right, We're going to
(15:54):
go to a break and when we come back, we
will continue this conversation.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
We're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
Dean Sharp the house whisper with you on this Sunday morning,
January twelfth, twenty twenty five. As we still are suffering
through southern California wildfires here in the Greater Los Angeles area.
That is the topic of our program. Today, not ongoing
coverage by me. We have the KFI twenty four hour
(16:29):
news team right here helping you with that. I am
taking the focus of our program, given my level of
expertise with homes, and I'm turning it towards Number one,
something that we talk about every year, but I'm going
to talk about again this morning, which is fire hardening
your home against the risk of wildfire damage. And number
(16:49):
two something that we haven't talked a lot about because
this kind of disaster has not struck in this way,
and that is what is the rebuilding process going to
be when not just a home burns down or a
couple of homes burned down, but entire neighborhoods or regions
of infrastructure go down because of that. What's that going
(17:10):
to look like? And what's the insurance process and the
rebuilding process and the expectation all of that coming on
the program today. So go nowhere, stick with me. We
were just talking about the number one most important thing
in my opinion in regards to prepping your home against
wildfire risk, and that is ember proof vents. It's also
(17:32):
happens to be the one thing that most people don't
end up doing, so I'm just gonna repeat myself until
you're sick of hearing it. Emberproofing the vents around it
that are flow into your attic is a key, a
key that gives you a big advantage of not having
your home catch on fire during a wildfire situation. Now,
(17:56):
let me be clear about this. When a when a
forty foot wall of flame is sweeping through your neighborhood
and approaches your home with you at somewhere in the
area of fifteen hundred plus degrees, okay, the vent situation
is not going to make necessarily a huge difference. Okay,
(18:20):
But understand the statistic, and it's very very important. Eighty
percent of homes that burn in a wildfire area when
a wildfire is raging, eighty percent of homes that typically
burn are not on the fire line when they catch
on fire. And those homes, those homes are experiencing ember
(18:43):
related ignition happening. And that's why we change out the vents. Okay. Now,
another option that we've talked about just this last year,
and I will now continue every year to discuss this
not only in terms of fire hardening, but in terms
of remodeling. A new design for home holmes Another option,
now which I am a strongly, strongly an advocate of,
(19:06):
is if you are planning on remodeling your home, that
you also include remodeling the attic and turning it into
what we call a conditioned attic space. A conditioned attic
space simply means this, instead of the attic being outside
the insulated envelope of your home. In other words, the
(19:26):
attic insulation is on the floor of the attic and
that's keeping you know, the home below it cool land
or warm, you know, when you need it to be.
But the attic itself is technically outside. It's it's not
part of the conditioned space. Making the attic part of
the conditioned space. That means taking the insulation off the
floor of the attic, putting it into the rafters of
(19:49):
the roofline itself, so that the roof is the envelope
that is insulated, and therefore the attic is going to
be roughly the same temperature as the rest of the
house when you're cool the house. If it's seventy two
degrees in the house in the summertime because of the
air conditioner, the attic is close to that as well.
If it's nice and toasty warm in the house during
(20:10):
the cold of winter, the attic is toasty warm as well.
What is the point, Dean of doing that. Well, I'm
not going to belabor the other designed advantages of that,
meaning you could utilize attic space for storage without compromising insulation,
or the fact that it is typically a better seal,
(20:30):
a better insulating quality, and energy efficiency for the entire house.
That it makes your heating and cooling equipment last longer
because they're not freezing and baking in those extreme temperature
situations the equipment itself. And there's plenty of other efficiencies
about that, But here is the number one reason that
(20:50):
I'm mentioning it this morning. I'm mentioning it this morning
because a remodeled conditioned attic space that is now part
of the regular conditioned house has no vents, no standard
attic vents. Now, there is some vapor weeping vents at
(21:11):
the top, but those are not in any way, shape
or form vents that are susceptible to embers or wildfire conditions.
So a conditioned attic space home is a home that
doesn't need to have its vents changed out to ember
proof ens because it doesn't have vents. It doesn't in
(21:31):
any way, shape or form, invite embers into the inside
of your home. And that's why I'm mentioning it today.
So make a note consider you can do a little
bit of an investigating and of course you can go
back into our archives of last year's shows and on
the podcast and find my show on the New Attic
(21:56):
in which we discuss all of those advantages. And also,
by the way, pests bugs a non issue with a
conditioned attic space because no vents, no easy form of
access into the attic. So food for thought. I dealt
with this yesterday in terms of a caller who called
(22:17):
in asking about fire rated windows, what's the mystery of
fire rated windows? Very quickly because it was on yesterday's program,
But I'm going to put it on our list today.
There is no mystery about fire rated windows. A fire
rated window is essentially nothing more than a standard window
that instead of having regular what we call annealed glass,
(22:39):
which is regular old, good old window glass, it has
tempered glass in its place. And the reason is that
tempered glass is produced at incredibly high temperatures in the
factory five thousand degrees plus, and so a fifteen hundred
degree or two thousand degree wall of fire picking up
(23:00):
against a tempered glass piece of glass is not going
to cause it to shatter and crack and burst open.
And that's the problem with a non fire rated window
is that the cool of the inside of the house
and the heat on the outside unevenly heats the glass
of regular glass and it shatters. And as soon as
it shatters, now the fire has a hole to enter
(23:23):
your home through. Okay, So in southern California new construction
and major remodels, it's code requirement now in the state
of California to have fire rated glass. If you are
up against an urban wildfire interface area facing the wilderness area,
(23:44):
at least those windows have to be fire rated glass.
Your sliding glass door, if you have one of those,
which most people do, is already fire rated in the
sense that a sliding glass door has to be tempered
glass because it's glass that goes all the way to
the floor and it's kickable that strength. So not the
sliders the windows to change them out. Now, again, what
(24:08):
if that's not in your budget right now and you're
concerned about maybe two or three years, Dean before we
get around to switching out those windows. Can I do
anything to protect my windows until then? Yes, you can.
We'll talk about that right on the other side of
the news.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
Thanks for joining us on the program today as we
engage in our ongoing topical coverage of natural disasters and
wildfires here in southern California. Guess why we're covering this
this weekend. Yeah, of course I am in the middle
of first and foremost conversing with you about fire hardening
(24:53):
your home. I know there are a bunch of questions
about it. So we've talked about amber proof ns, We've
talked about remodeling an addic if and remodeled is in
your future. So okay, let me pause for a second
and just to get this pushed out of my brain
on most of these here or what I'm trying to
do is offer you number one ultimate long term best solution,
(25:18):
and then if I can offer you short term help,
get it better solutions. Okay, So, ember proof addic vents
are a really good idea, and we've covered that. A
better idea in my opinion, if there is a remodel
in your future is to include in your remodel budget
(25:40):
a remodel of the attic space into a conditioned attic
so that your attic doesn't have to have vents at all. Okay,
we also, right before the break talked about fire rated windows.
Fire rated windows are and they aren't a special manufacturer
out there where you got to go, and now you're
can have windows look weird and they don't match the
(26:01):
rest of your house. Every major manufacturer of window makes
fire rated windows in almost all of their models of windows,
because it's really not about the window frame or the
structure itself. It's essentially about and there are a couple
exceptions there, but it's essentially about just replacing the standard
annealed glass, which is very heat sensitive, with tempered glass,
(26:25):
which is not heat sensitive. Because if a fire line
passes by your house, here's what you don't want. You
don't want the heat from the fire cracking your windows.
The windows shatter, and now you have a penetration and
opening a wide open window literally for the flames to
lap up and reach inside the house. Okay, that's what
a fire rated window is all about. Now, if a
(26:47):
fire rated windows, they're pricey and you get a lot
of them facing the open space. If a fire rated
window is in fact not in your financial future, but
you are concerned about the windows, that you've got another option. Again,
we discussed it on the previous episode here a yesterday's
show is fire rated window film? Yeah, the kind of
(27:08):
film that goes on like you know, tinted windows on
a car. Okay, what does fire rated window film achieve? Well,
you could, of course add some tinting and if you
want a little less light coming in, I wouldn't advise that.
Generally speaking, you can add some reflectivity for energy and heat.
But in terms of the fire, what a fire rated
(27:31):
window film does is it is rated to withstand the
heat of fire for an hour. That's a class A
fire rating. Anything that's class A fire rated is designed
to withstand flame for an hour before it moves through
it and during that time as the fire line, which
they move very fast, as you can tell right when
(27:51):
fire lines are really moving fast, there are winds involved,
and they move through your house or buy your house quickly.
So it's not as though you're gonna have to worry
about like, well, what if the fire is right outside
my door for an hour and a half. It's typically
not the case. Fire rated window film that can resist
flame and heat for an hour will not keep your
(28:13):
regular glass windows from shattering. Because the glass is the glass.
It's gonna shatter with the uneven temperature. It will. However,
it will hold that shattered glass in place so that
an opening is not created when the glass shatters, and
therefore the flame still don't have an opportunity to get
(28:36):
inside the house. Much like a car windshield, an automobile
windshield with safety glass on it, right, it is an
automobile windshield is not tempered glass. It's a form of
safety glass. When a tempered windshield, I mean when a
automobile windshield, as you have seen countless times, is cracked
(28:56):
or shattered or even hit with a sledgehammer, right, it
doesn't just low apart in all bits and pieces, because
there is a film embedded in between two pieces of
glass there on the automobile that holds the glass in place. Okay,
that's the idea. That's the idea of fire rated window film.
(29:18):
Far less expensive. And are any of these things, by
the way, a silver bullet that just solves the problem, No,
not at all, But they help, they help Okay, so
fire rated window film something is easy. This next thing
that everybody has the ability to deal with right now,
(29:41):
and that is get the junk away from your home.
Anything that can burn, anything that would burn, anything that
might burn. You got to get it away from your home.
How far as far as you can. That's it. I'm
not going to tell you. Yeah, I've seen rules out
there saying well at least five feet away from the house.
Are you kidding me? Do you want things catching on
(30:04):
fire five feet away from your house? Now? I understand
the majority of homes in southern California are in tracts
and neighborhoods, and the majority of side yard setbacks are
five feet Okay, So when it comes to the side
yards of your house, have nothing there, zero things there. Okay,
(30:25):
don't just move them away from the wall to the
outside fence. Just get them out of there. And when
it comes to the front and backyards, clear it out.
Push things as far away from the house, pick them up,
carry them out there. We're not trying to decorate your house.
We're talking about keeping it safe during a fire threat.
And so you move all of this stuff and you
(30:46):
get it as far away from the house as possible. Okay,
the next conversation that we're going to have is about
one of my favorite topics that I have recommended again
and again. There is cost, and but as far as
I'm concerned, it's worth its weight in gold, and that
is having a supply and being prepared with FIREJEL, fire gel.
(31:11):
What is firejel And how is it potentially going to
save your bacon when it comes to a wildfire situation.
We'll talk about that right after this has been Home
with Dean Sharp the House Whisper. Tune into the live
broadcast on KFI AM six forty every Saturday morning from
six to eight Pacific time and every Sunday morning from
(31:33):
nine to noon Pacific time, or anytime on demand on
the iHeartRadio app.
Home with Dean Sharp News
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