Orange County Grand Jury • 2002-2003 • Agency Response
Response to: Wood Roofs Are Dangerous 02/10/03, 90K

City of Cypress*

Published: April 28, 2003 4 pages
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Findings and Recommendations 4 findings

F1
There is a lack of uniformity in local building codes involving roofs for identical environmental conditions within Orange County. Response: In our view, environmental conditions are not identical throughout the entire There are several topographic and geographic conditions that county. increase fire hazards in specific areas, as well as different fire response times due to fire station locations and neighborhood density. The lack of uniformity in the codes is due to these varying geographic conditions within the regional environment. All cities are required to adopt the minimum code provisions of the California Building Code and Title 24. The reason for the perceived lack of uniformity is that many jurisdictions, including Cypress, have already modified the code to mitigate the specific conditions within their jurisdiction.
Related Recommendations (1)
R1
Each responding jurisdictional agency should consider amending the building code to require the most fire retardant class of roof covering (Class A) for new construction of all residential structures (Group R) in all fire zones. (Findings 1 through 4) Response: In considering the adoption of a local code amendment, each jurisdiction is required to substantiate any proposed amendment by specific findings. As discussed in our introductory comments and our response to the Grand Jury
F2
The testing and qualification standards of wood shakes and shingles are below the environmental conditions within Orange County. Response: The testing and qualification standards for fire retardant wood roof products must meet minimum standards criteria in conformance with the adopted codes. The City of Cypress is not a party to that process, and can only assume that the testing criteria included our specific regional environmental conditions.
Related Recommendations (1)
R2
Each responding jurisdictional agency should consider amending the building code to require the most fire retardant class of roof covering (Class A) for re- roofing of all residential structures (Group R) in all fire zones, when more than 50 percent of the roof is replaced within one year. (Findings 1 through 4) Response: Similar to our response to recommendation #1, we do not feel we meet the criteria to justify the proposed code amendment to require a "Class A" rating on all wood re-roofs. We amended the code years ago to require minimum "Class C" materials. As stated in our response, the number of wood re-roofs occurring in Cypress is so insignificant that we feel the benefits would be minimal while the cost is significant. Conclusion: The City of Cypress feels that the dangers of wood roofs discussed in the Grand Jury report are already being mitigated in our city due to the many factors discussed in this report. We feel that the adoption of a more restrictive ordinance for wood roofs would be of little benefit to the city do to the small number of wood roofs remaining. Furthermore, there is no evidence to suggest that we have met the requirement to amend the code based on specific findings do to our local climatic and geographic conditions. For these reasons, it is not our intent to amend the building code to require "Class A" materials for all wood roofs. We contend that in light of the suburban character of our community and our current requirement for Class C roofs, Cypress exceeds current code requirements and is more than adequately protecting public safety and the lives and property of its homeowners. If you have any questions in regards to this matter or the responses provided, please feel free to contact our Building Official, Bob Decker, at (714) 229-6730. Sincerely, Fronk S. EVECEZ Frank McCoy Mayor Bob Decker, Building Official CC:
F3
The cities' and county's roofing codes do not adequately take into account the climate, particularly the Santa Ana winds, and topographical conditions unique to Orange County. The Honorable Frederick P. Horn Presiding Judge of the Superior Court April 28, 2003 Response: That may be true for some jurisdictions, but many jurisdictions, including Cypress, have already adopted stricter amendments to the roofing code based on climatic conditions. Although geographic and climatic conditions within Cypress are mild compared to other Orange County jurisdictions, the City has required a minimum of Class C roofing materials for years in an attempt to mitigate these local conditions.
No recommendations for this finding
F4
Fire conflagrations stress finite fire fighting resources especially during the period of Santa Ana winds. Response: Although our jurisdiction has no history of fire conflagrations, we agree that there are areas within the county that are susceptible to conflagrations during periods of Santa Ana winds, stressing resources. These areas are primarily rural hillside communities where fire overlay zones have already been adopted. The City of Cypress is a suburban flat community. This fact, coupled with our current requirement for Class C roofs, suggests that fire conflagrations are not a significant issue in the City of Cypress.
No recommendations for this finding

Conclusions 1

* This report's PDF did not contain easily extractable text and required Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for analysis. There may be minor errors in the extracted findings and recommendations due to OCR limitations with scanned documents.