By Etan Horowitz
Orlando Sentinel
Copyright 2007 Sentinel Communications Co.
ORLANDO, Fla. — In the market for a new home? Then you’re sure to come across developments with names celebrating their proximity to the wilderness with words such as woods, preserve and pines.
Country living may provide a respite from the traffic, noise and congestion of urban Altamonte Springs or Orlando, but it also increases the risk that your home will be destroyed by a wildfire.
And with growth pushing Central Florida’s development into rural zones, more homes than ever are at risk.
Just ask Bill Butler of Palm Coast.
In 1981, Butler and his wife built a home in the Pine Lakes subdivision. They loved the rustic feel of their wood-frame house surrounded by eucalyptus, juniper, saw palmetto and wax myrtle.
“We carved it right out of the woods,” Butler said.
Four years later, Butler’s home was reduced to ashes, one of about 100 in Palm Coast destroyed by a wildfire.
The natural features of the home he treasured so much had provided fuel for the wildfire.
“I did all the wrong things,” said Butler, a landscape architect for the city of Palm Coast.
As Butler learned the hard way, homeowners can take steps to minimize the chance that their homes will be destroyed by wildfire.
And with fire experts warning that the dry conditions make the area vulnerable for a repeat of the wildfire outbreaks of 1985 and 1998, it’s critical that people take steps to protect their homes.
“The reality is there aren’t enough fire responders to protect everything that needs to be protected, and there never will be,” said Timber Weller, a spokesman for the Florida Division of Forestry.
Precautions in order
“Houses need to protect themselves,” Weller said. “That doesn’t mean they are fireproof, just more fire-resistant. If you take the proper steps, you can make your house 99 percent fire-resistant.”
Weller said there’s no question that the region’s growth has put more homes in danger.
When he started as a forest ranger in 1987, he said, it was unusual to see homes threatened during a wildfire.
In the 1980s, about 85 percent of the state’s wildfires were in remote areas with few homes nearby, and 15 percent were in more populated areas.
Today, those numbers are reversed, and it is unusual to see a wildfire that is not menacing homes, Weller said.
Fire officials call this phenomenon the “wildland/urban interface,” a term referring to the area where development and forests converge. Weller said that at least one-third of the South’s population lives in the wildland/urban interface.
For Florida, 1998 was a pivotal year.
Wildfires burned 506,000 acres statewide and damaged or destroyed 330 homes and businesses, prompting more attention to the problem and some improvement to firefighting equipment and communication tools.
But calls for ordinances and codes that limit development in fire-prone areas and protect homes from wildfires were largely ignored, Weller said.
He notes that every county requires developers to file plans to control mosquitoes -- but not wildfires.
“We have been really slow to adapt to the reality that most of Florida is a wildfire-prone environment,” Weller said.
Some communities have taken the threat seriously. After the 1998 fires, officials in Palm Coast passed a law that requires mowing tall brush on all vacant lots near homes.
Before the city approves large developments in fire-prone areas, developers must agree to minimize wildfire danger by taking steps that might include thinning out trees, providing multiple access roads for firefighters and evacuees, and making retention ponds accessible to firefighters.
Subdivision creates buffer
In some places, developers have not waited for new regulations. Homes in the 60-acre Briargate subdivision in Ormond Beach have a 30-foot vegetative buffer around them, rocks instead of mulch for landscaping, insulated windows and fire-resistant tile roofs.
“It’s a very delicate balancing act between the environment and natural disasters,” said Greg Fretwell, whose company is developing Briargate. “We all want a beautiful environment with natural trees and foliage, but sometimes those things can cause you a problem.”
Fretwell said the fire-resistant measures only add about 3 percent to the price, and people who buy appreciate them. His community is recognized as being “firewise,” a national designation for subdivisions that minimize the risk of wildfires.
Older communities also are taking steps to become firewise.
In Wedgefield, an east Orange County subdivision once known as “Rocket City,” residents are surrounded by woods and are 12 miles from a fire station. Because of the high wildfire threat, residents formed a “firewise” committee to educate people about protecting their homes from wildfires.
“Since we are in Florida, people move in and move out all the time,” said Mary Prescott, who heads the committee. “It’s a continual process of educating people. With a hurricane, you are warned that it is coming.
“But there’s no warning with a wildfire.”