Engineering Resilience: Alpha Structural Urges California Residents to Make Wildfire-Proof Home Upgrades Now

News provided by

Sep 16, 2025, 08:13 ET

California's wildfires don't wait for a season—and neither do earthquakes. Natural disaster preparedness is part of a holistic approach to home preservation. Alpha Structural helps homeowners safeguard properties with structural retrofits, combining engineering and construction expertise to reduce earthquake risks, assess structural safety after wildfires, and preserve property value across the state's high-risk zones.

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 16, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- California's wildfire season is no longer seasonal—it's a year-round threat that continues to grow. According to Cal Fire, in 2020 alone, more than 4.3 million acres burned in the state, which consistently experiences the largest share of wildfire damage in the nation, with thousands of structures destroyed annually.⁽¹⁾ In the past month, there were a dozen active wildfires, totaling more than 100,000 acres covered.⁽²⁾ Amid this escalating crisis, one of Southern California's most experienced foundation repair specialists, Alpha Structural, wants more homeowners to know that making existing homes more natural disaster-resilient is within reach through strategic home upgrades.

"We want stronger, more resilient buildings everywhere”

Strategic upgrades can mean the difference between a home standing or failing. "No one wants to see two houses side by side—one retrofitted, one not—where only one is left standing. We want stronger, more resilient buildings everywhere," said Joe Demers, a licensed civil engineer who brings 18 years' experience in structural repair and design expertise to Alpha Structural. He wants more people to know about effective—and doable—upgrades and retrofits that can increase a home's resiliency to fires and earthquakes, while adding safety and value.

Codes Save Homes, But Millions Left Behind

Enacted in 2008, California's Chapter 7A Wildland-Urban Interface code is widely considered the nation's strictest wildfire construction standard. It enforces ignition- and ember-resistant materials for exteriors of structures built in 2008 and after.⁽³⁾ Research shows the impact: during the Camp Fire disaster, 51% of homes built after July 1, 2008, survived undamaged, compared to just 18% of homes built before.⁽⁴⁾ But these protections apply only to new construction. Millions of older homes still sit in California's fire hazard severity zones, many of which were built before modern codes were enacted. And with earthquakes threatening these same regions, true resilience requires addressing both hazards together—exterior protections above, and structural safety below.

Concrete Issues at the Foundation

"Homeowners can save a lot of money by rebuilding on existing foundations after a fire," said Demers. "Sometimes you can just build right back on top of it, and in other cases you can't. It's important to work with a structural expert," cautioned Demers. "We've seen that. When exposed to extreme temperatures, concrete can lose up to 50% of its compressive strength and develop hidden fractures, making it brittle and prone to cracking. Steel rebar can lose up to 20% of its tensile strength, reducing its ability to support loads and withstand seismic forces. Spalling—where the surface of the concrete chips, cracks, and delaminates due to heat expansion—is also common."

In many cases, surface damage is most visible, but hidden weaknesses often remain, making post-fire foundation evaluations critical, especially in earthquake-prone areas. Fortunately, many fire-damaged foundations can be repaired using conventional concrete repair methods. Alpha Structural specializes in assessing whether damaged foundations can be repaired, reinforced, or rebuilt to meet both fire recovery and seismic safety needs.

Combatting California's dual disasters can feel overwhelming, but the first step is consulting professionals to assess the damage. "Homeowners never go in their crawl space," Demers explained. "Foundations could be falling apart, or the posts and piers are compromised, and a homeowner would never know because the floor seems fine to them," he said.

Above Ground: Affordable, High-Impact Upgrades

The good news: many resilience upgrades are cost-effective. In addition to making structural retrofits to the foundation below to address earthquake safety, homeowners can improve wildfire resilience with exterior protections above ground. Building true resilience often means working with skilled professionals on different layers of the home, ensuring that structural strength and fire resistance complement one another. Together, these upgrades form a holistic defense against California's dual disasters.

Roofing: Replacing combustible wood shingles or older asphalt shingles with Class A fire-rated materials (metal, newer asphalt, composite, or tile), can significantly reduce ignition.
Vents: Installing ember-resistant vent screens, at a cost of just a few hundred dollars, can block airborne embers, the leading cause of structure ignition.
Windows: Dual-pane, tempered glass windows resist breakage from heat exposure.
Gas Shutoff Valves: Seismic shutoff valves cut fire risk after earthquakes, landslides, and other events.

"Homeowners often assume wildfire resilience means massive expense," said Demers. "But even affordable upgrades—like ember-resistant vents or new shingles—can significantly improve a home's survival odds. Roofs are the one area where the most improvement can be made, because a lot of fire spreads through floating embers that can travel far in the wind. They land on a wood shingle roof or on exposed wood on an older roof and spread quickly. Wood is the most susceptible to fire." Demers noted. "Anything built with wood that can be built with metal should be; framing can also be built with metal studs."

Dual Disaster: Fire and Quake

California's risks don't occur in isolation. Wildfires weaken structural systems, leaving homes more vulnerable to earthquakes or mudslides.

"Even slight compromises in concrete strength can mean a structure won't perform in the next quake," Demers noted. "We see cracked foundations related to the fires, and the anchors in the concrete can be bent and destroyed. If the fire burns the lateral system, then it's going to weaken it. In our area, retrofitting must consider both fire and seismic resilience together. It's important to work with builders and engineers who continuously stay up to date on the latest materials. This is something we're always working on."

Alpha Structural's integrated approach—combining engineering and construction expertise—enables the firm to deliver structural retrofits that provide natural disaster resilience. Structural upgrades, plus home hardening, can make all the difference when disaster strikes. In many cases, the state programs can help make upgrades affordable. California's $536 million wildfire resilience and home hardening package under SB-85 provides funding for home hardening, among other measures.⁽⁶⁾

Alpha Structural sees these efforts as essential—and aims to make resilience upgrades accessible to more homeowners. "Resilience shouldn't be a luxury," said Demers. "We help property owners prioritize structural upgrades that deliver the biggest safety gains within their budget."

About Alpha Structural, Inc. 

When he saw geological challenges trigger catastrophic building collapses, Dave Tourje, founder of Alpha Structural, Inc., immersed himself in construction repairs and mitigation facing the iconic hillside homes and buildings throughout Los Angeles in the 1980s. He recognized a lack of skilled tradesmen and the need for repairs or upgrades to be engineered and constructed successfully. Today Alpha Structural is Southern California's premier structural repair and engineering firm. With over 30 years of experience in foundation repair, hillside stabilization, and seismic retrofitting with challenges of earthquakes, wildfires and landslides, Alpha Structural distinguishes itself by being dual-licensed and authorized by the State of California to both engineer and build in-house—an integration that eliminates miscommunication and cost overruns seen when engineering and construction are handled separately. Alpha Structural is trusted by homeowners, municipalities, and commercial partners alike. For more information visit Alpha Structural.

References:

California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE). "2020 Incident Archive." CAL FIRE, State of California, 2020, 2020 Fire Season Incident Archive, fire.ca.gov/incidents/2020.
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE). "Current Emergency Incidents." CAL FIRE, 2 Sept. 2025, Incidents page.
California Building Standards Commission. Chapter 7A: Materials and Construction Methods for Exterior Wildfire Exposure. Part 2 of the California Building Code, Effective July 1, 2008. California Department of Housing and Community Development, 2008.
"Which Houses Survived Wildfire? Often, Those Built to Code." Phys.org, 3 Apr. 2019. (Based on McClatchy analysis of Cal Fire and Butte County property records.)
Governor Newsom Signs Landmark $536 Million Wildfire Package Accelerating Projects to Protect High-Risk Communities. State of California Office of the Governor, Press Release, 13 Apr. 2021, CA.gov.