To the editor: Right now in Los Angeles we are seeing what happens when we build wood-frame houses instead of sloping steel-reinforced concrete walls that would be more fire-resistant. (“2 dead and more than 1,000 homes, businesses and other buildings destroyed in Los Angeles County fires,” Jan. 8)
We citizens are too stupid to insist on building codes that are truly fire resistant. Of course, we would still need to meet anti-seismic standards, which could be achieved with even better steel-reinforced cement materials than wood-frame structures.
If we're smart, we should encourage those who are losing their homes now to rebuild them fire-resistant. Insurance companies should welcome that approach. As experience is gained with fire-resistant homes, they will likely become less expensive.
One of the companies I worked for years ago was in a sloping cement facility that I believed was very safe and certainly fire resistant. The technology exists; We just need to revise our building codes to encourage more fire-resistant structures.
Douglas M. Chapman, Santa Ana
