Research Director of the Institute for Urban and Regional Development at UC Berkeley, Kristina Hill, Ph.D. hosted a live and recorded session in partnership with LandscapeWebinars.org titled "Rebuilding For Fire Safety" on August 14.

The course explored the application and explanation of California legislation, AB 3074. This assembly bill was enacted in 2020 with the mandatory creation of an ember resistant zone known as Zone 0. With that, Dr. Hill explained the applicability of this new method through project examples and videos.

Landscape professionals heard research from the independent non-profit, Institute for Building and Home Safety (IBHS), recent research and its strategies for planting that can best help the industry and homeowners combat this disaster that continues to strike the Southwest.

 

Dr. Hill's course was concise, well crafted, and informative for not only Landscape Architects, Designers, Maintenance Experts but for homeowners and insurance professionals looking to better understand the design method and how it can be applied.

To view this course OnDemand, click here: https://landscapewebinars.org/landscape-webinars/webinar/rebuilding-for-fire-safety

Webinar Description:
Recent research from the Institute for Building and Home Safety (IBHS) shows that putting any vegetation in Zone 0, within 5 feet of a structure, can ignite a building if the plants catch fire. Wooden fences can also carry fire to a building. What kinds of designs can limit these risks, while creating spaces that a homeowner enjoys and that add curb appeal to a property? This session will present IBHS research using demonstration videos, then introduce strategies for planting and fences that respect and reduce the risk of fire. Examples will be provided from California. Neighborhood scale interventions will also be discussed, but the focus will be on site-scale interventions to reduce fire risk. Helpful online resources from California counties that have experience with fire will also be included.

Learning Objectives:
1. Become familiar with recent fire research by the Insurance Institute for Building and Home Safety
2. Understand what types of plants and patterns of planting can be used to reduce fire danger around a home.
3. See examples of how to design Zone 0 (within 5 feet of a structure) without plants.

Kristina Hill
Kristina Hill develops research on design strategies for urban adaptation to fires and flooding. Her work identifies synergies between infrastructure investments, biodiversity and environmental justice. She recently organized a design competition with the Institute for Building and Home Safety, to design fire-safe residential landscapes. Hill has contributed to adaptation plans for a diverse group of US cities, federal agencies, and the Rockefeller Foundation; she lectures internationally about her research, and her ideas have been featured in US and international media (PBS's Sinking Cities, the podcast Hidden Brain, and the Guardian). Her PhD is from Harvard University, and she is Research Director of the Institute for Urban and Regional Development at UC Berkeley.