Homebuilder unveils ‘fire-resilient’ neighborhood

KB Home on Thursday unveiled its first wildfire-resilient neighborhood in Southern California, marking one of the many solutions the homebuilding industry is working on to protect structures and communities from the devastating effects of natural disasters.

KB Home, one of the largest homebuilders in the U.S., announced that KB Home’s Dixon Trail community in Escondido, California, is the first in the nation that meets the home- and neighborhood-level wildfire resilience standards developed by the independent nonprofit research organization Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety. 

The community was built with fire-resistant materials and is “designed to IBHS’s highest level of protection against direct flame contact, radiant heat and embers, which helps to meaningfully reduce the likelihood of wildfire spread,” the company said.  

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KB Home said it implemented strategies both in and around the homes to prevent wildfires “from becoming catastrophic.”

For instance, the company has installed Class A fire-rated roofs, noncombustible gutters, upgraded windows and doors, and ember- and flame-resistant vents for homes. It also created a 5-foot noncombustible buffer around structures. 

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KB Home also separated nearly all the structures by more than 10 feet and decreased the potential fuels through the use of fire-resistant materials like all-metal fence systems.

The community was built after a JPMorgan analysis revealed that overall economic losses and insured losses caused by the deadly wildfires impacting Southern California are likely to be the most costly in state history.

JPMorgan’s insurance analysts released a report in January that looked at the exposure of homeowner and commercial property insurance lines in light of the wildfires that have devastated communities in the Los Angeles area, including Pacific Palisades and Altadena. Several people were killed and thousands of homes, businesses and other structures were damaged or destroyed.

The analysts estimated that the total impact would be worse than the 2018 Butte County Camp fires, which previously held the record for the highest insured loss wildfires in California’s history.

The 2018 Camp Fire devastated the town of Paradise and several nearby communities and caused 85 fatalities. It was caused by a downed utility transmission line during a high wind event.

FOX Business’ Eric Revell contributed to this report.