PARADISE, Calif. — In 2018, an entire town was punished by fire.
The Camp Fire in Paradise, California, is the deadliest wildfire in the states history. It devastated the small town of Paradise, killing 85 people and wiping out nearly every home.
“Everybody’s houses burned up on both sides and behind and in front of us,” said Cindy Lassonde who is a volunteer with the Paradise Police Department.
On Nov. 8, 2018, as flames closed in, she was stuck behind a line of cars and surrounded by a wall of fire. Lassonde had to evacuate.
“You’re just panicked. You just keep going. You have to be strong to keep going," said Lassonde. "I was praying the entire time. I prayed God, please don’t let a tree or a power line got down because if it does, we’ll be stuck here, we’ll burn up."
Cindy Lassonde’s home had smoke damage, but remained standing. Her neighbors' homes were destroyed. Across town, Gary Ledbetter’s house was one of the first to burn.
“You got to realize that was a bad day. It’s a life-changing event," Ledbetter said. "Traumatic. Just so traumatic."
Nearly six years later, there’s still empty lots everywhere with crumbled cement, scorched fire places and drained pools. The town was wiped out and with it their homeowners’ insurance.
“Unfortunately we’re in the middle of a crisis, an insurance crisis,” said Ledbetter.
Building fire-resistant homes
When Gary and his wife were finally able to return home, they say it looked like something out of a Terminator movie.
Despite the potential for another wildfire, the Ledbetters decided to rebuild, knowing this new house would look quite different from the original. The goal: build a home to withstand wildfire.
Building a fire-resilient home wasn’t just Gary’s idea, the town of Paradise mandated it. It’s a first for any town: to implement requirements to use fire resistant materials, specific vents and a five-foot perimeter, essentially creating a fireproof home.
Ron Lassonde, the mayor of Paradise, said he knows the town is a leader when it comes to these building codes. He said to bring back the town’s population, you have to bring back the insurance companies.
Ron Lassonde said these new, fire-resistant homes will reduce the probability of being destroyed by wildfire — something he learned from experience.
Before the Camp Fire rolled in, the Lassonde's house was already built with state-of-the-art fireproof materials. And it worked. Their home had minor damage while the yard coming right up to the home was scorched.
Every single one of their neighbors lost their homes and their insurance. The Lassonde’s kept both.
The most fireproof home in the country
Gary Ledbetter can’t say the same. He lost his home and his insurance. That’s why building a fire resilient home was so important to him.
Now he’s the proud owner of one of the most fireproof homes in the country. He was the first recipient of a fireproof designation by a renowned safety research organization called the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS).
“The plan is never to go through it again,” said Ledbetter who hasn’t reaped the rewards just yet, but is hopeful the improvements will get his insurance back.
In August, the KING5 investigators first revealed an insurance crisis. Homeowners said insurance companies are unfairly dropping them for wildfire risk at record rates. In the last year, formal complaints into the Office of the Insurance Commissioner have doubled.
“The insurance crisis is spreading like a wildfire itself across the country,” said Ledbetter.
Back in California, there’s a big push to create these fireproof buildings to reduce losses and gain the confidence of insurance companies.
KING 5 wanted to see the fireproof material in action and went south near San Francisco to watch a demonstration at a local fire safety fair.
“I think a lot of people in Marin are more concerned about their homeowners insurance being non-renewed than they are about their home being destroyed by fire,” said one of the presenters for IBHS.
IBHS, the company that gives homes fire-resistant designations, showed people what happens when a wildfire strikes a regular home versus one of that is deemed fireproof. There are two ADU style homes placed next to each other and connected by a fence.
The home on the left is a traditional house you’d find on the West Coast, the one on the right has a fire-resistant rating.
Demonstrators lit the brush around each home on fire. In less than an hour, the home on the left was consumed by the fire. Whereas the home on the right was barely touched, those fireproof materials required by law did the job.
There’s nowhere in Washington that has similar regulations and the people of Paradise say that’s a mistake.
“We’ve learned a lot of lessons the hard way," Ron said, "and I’d hope the people of Washington would learn it the soft way that is, learn from our mistakes and not repeat them."