Two homes in Napa County's Silverado area that are being rebuilt from the ashes of 2017 Atlas Fire have a secret weapon against destructive blazes of the future.

“Clearly, building products is not an emerging industry, but the shifting demands of customers, regional resilience needs, and upgrading codes is creating a giant disruptive phase”

The fire consumed the hillside, charring trees and bushes and homes on its way to devastating 70,000 acres in northern California. But Sean Jennings’ house did not burn. Jennings says his house survived the Valley Fire of 2015 because it was not made of wood. When he’d built it five years earlier, Jennings instead used something called RSG 3-D panels

"A futuristic building material is being touted by its manufacturer as the environmentally friendly and fire-resistant material California needs for a sustainable future."

"A traffic noise barrier along a thoroughfare in Santa Rosa, Calif., gives one glimpse of residential America’s fire-resistant future. The 8-foot-high wall stretches 1,550 feet along the Coffey Park subdivision, where embers from the 2017 Tubbs Fire jumped Highway 101 and destroyed 1,200 homes. The old wooden barrier went up in smoke too, replaced in 2019 by a more fire-resistant one consisting of polystyrene encased in stucco-covered concrete. Besides helping block traffic noise, the new wall will serve as a fire break that protects nearby homes from future infernos, says David Shew, former staff chief for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection."

"Harrison Woodfield is one of a handful of Wine Country architects who refuses to design wooden homes in areas vulnerable to wildfire. Instead she favors noncombustible materials like RSG-3D, a thick fire-retardant foam panel sandwiched between wire mesh and coated on both sides with concrete."

"When the panel system is used for a total building, its potential for fire safety, hurricane and seismic resistance si sumerior to virtually any otherstandard building system."

"But another answer to the looming threat of wildfires is to construct homes that are resistant to flames, said Ken Calligar, the CEO of RSG 3- D, a company that manufactures building panels made of concrete and steel, which are noncombustible."