Letters to the Editor: Fires happen. Why are we still building homes out of wood?

To the editor: Right now in Los Angeles, we are seeing what happens when we build homes with wood framing instead of tilt-up steel reinforced cement walls that would be more fire-resistant. (“2 dead and more than 1,000 homes, businesses, other buildings destroyed in L.A. 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 earthquake standards, which could be done with steel-reinforced cement materials even better than wood-frame structures.

If we are smart, we should encourage those who are losing their homes now to rebuild fire-resistant. Insurance companies should welcome that approach. As experience is gained with fire-resistant homes, they will probably be less expensive.

One of the companies I worked for years ago was in a tilt-up cement facility that I believed was very safe and surely fire-resistant. The technology exists; we just need to revise our building codes to encourage more fire-resistant structures.

Douglas M. Chapman, Santa Ana