To the editor: Proper now in Los Angeles, we’re seeing what occurs once we construct properties with wooden framing as a substitute of tilt-up metal strengthened cement partitions that might be extra fire-resistant. (“2 dead and more than 1,000 homes, businesses, other buildings destroyed in L.A. County fires,” Jan. 8)
We residents are too silly to insist on constructing codes which can be actually fire-resistant. In fact, we might nonetheless want to fulfill earthquake requirements, which may very well be completed with steel-reinforced cement supplies even higher than wood-frame constructions.
If we’re sensible, we should always encourage those that are dropping their properties now to rebuild fire-resistant. Insurance coverage firms ought to welcome that strategy. As expertise is gained with fire-resistant properties, they’ll most likely be cheaper.
One of many firms I labored for years in the past was in a tilt-up cement facility that I believed was very protected and absolutely fire-resistant. The expertise exists; we simply have to revise our constructing codes to encourage extra fire-resistant constructions.
Douglas M. Chapman, Santa Ana
