PURPOSE:

The adoption of these revisions to the Burbank Municipal Code will modify the date for complete removal of wood roofs in the Mountain Fire Zone, revise the section regarding replacement and repairs to wood roofs and wood siding and revise the City�s fuel modification requirements (brush clearance) via a Burbank Municipal Code Amendment to the California Fire Code. The boundary line for the Burbank Mountain Fire Zone will be revised to eliminate any arbitrary jogs and inconsistencies in the present Zone border that may add possible fire hazards to adjacent properties.

BACKGROUND:

At the January 23, 2004 meeting of the Burbank City Council, Fire Chief Mike Davis made a presentation requesting modifications to the present requirements regarding fuel modification or brush clearance and wood shake/ wood shingle roofs and siding in the Mountain Fire Zone be made as a result of the recent hillside and mountain fires.  The Council requested that the modifications be made and brought back to them at a future meeting.  At that same Council Meeting additional clearance of brush on City owned land was approved and is in progress.  The proposed amendments are consistent with that new level of clearance and apply to both City and privately owned properties within the Mountain Fire Zone.  These proposed revisions were presented to the Building and Fire Appeals Board for their review and public comment on February 25, 2004. The Board recommended approval of the revisions.

ANALYSIS:

The proposed changes are as follows:

1. No roof covering shall be applied over existing wood shake or wood shingle roofing.

2. Roofs with two or more layers of roof covering, in which one of those layers is wood shake or wood shingle, must be completely removed before applying a new roof covering.

3. For all property owners with currently covered wood roofs, 1 or 2 layers, the deadline to remove and replace all the roof coverings remains August 14, 2012.

4. All exposed wood roofs in the Mountain Fire Zone shall be removed and replaced by August 14, 2005.  The current deadline to remove all wood shake and shingle roofing is August 14, 2012.

5. In the Fire Mountain Zone the allowable replacement of wood shingle siding with a one hour underlay and treated shingles or shakes is to be eliminated.

6. Mountain Fire Zone boundary line shall be revised to include additional areas that presently have been arbitrarily excluded from the Mountain Fire Zone. The map of the Burbank Mountain Fire Zone is referred to in BMC Section 7-1-3601 and is on file in the Office of the Building Official. 

7. All City owned property within the Mountain Fire Zone shall continue to have native brush areas modified to provide clearance from structures to a minimum of 100 feet and immediately add a fuel modification zone from 100 feet to 200 feet from all structures. This change has been approved and funded by City Council and work is in progress.

8. All privately owned property within the Mountain Fire Zone shall continue to have native brush areas modified to provide clearance from structures to a minimum of 100 feet and shall be required to add a fuel modification zone from 100 feet to 200 feet from all structures by June 1, 2004.

9. Fuel modification / brush clearance must conform to the California Fair Plan Standards in all cases.

STAFF RECOMMENDATION:

The staff recommends that the City Council adopt the revisions, as written, with authorization for the City Clerk to publish the revisions to Sections 7-1-1405 and 7-1-1503 of the Burbank Municipal Code relating to the installation and maintenance of wood shake / shingle roofing and siding and the Burbank Municipal Code Section 15-1-1103 Amendment to the California Fire Code creating an additional 100 foot fuel modification zone for a total 200 foot protection zone within the Mountain Fire Zone.

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