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 bolstered cement partitions that will 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 really fire-resistant. After all, we might nonetheless want to satisfy earthquake requirements, which might be completed with steel-reinforced cement supplies even higher than wood-frame buildings.
If we’re sensible, we should always encourage those that are shedding their properties now to rebuild fire-resistant. Insurance coverage firms ought to welcome that method. As expertise is gained with fire-resistant properties, they are going to in all probability be inexpensive.
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 know-how exists; we simply must revise our constructing codes to encourage extra fire-resistant buildings.
Douglas M. Chapman, Santa Ana
