CALAVERAS COUNTY, Calif. — For many Californians, the understanding is that fire season is year-round. Because of that, a group of people have joined together to build homes in Calaveras County with a special material hoping to change how homes are protected from wildfires.
"Now seeing what's happening here, we have basically a revolutionary change," said Bill Soest, with Evergreen Performance Inc.
In Calaveras and Amador counties, residents are used to being on guard for potential wildfires. Instead of hoping for the least amount of destruction, Soest says he partnered with a Canadian company to build a home they're confident to call fire resistant.
"We have a fire-resistant material. Fireproof? Who's to say? But definitely fire resistance is the big key to this equation. We know that if we're building homes that are engineered right from the start to be fire resistant, we have a better chance of surviving a horrible situation of a wildfire," said Soest.
That material makes up the home being built in Angels Camp. Doug Brown with ZS2 Technologies says the material is sourced from Canada.
"Magnesium is a critical mineral. We take it as a supplement. It supplies higher value industries, like steel refractory bricks, and thinking about refractory bricks, those are the molten molds for molten metals that we pour," said Brown. "What better material to look at building some of the homes that we live in out of?"
In a time lapse, the material continues to stay in tact even with more than five minutes of constant high heat. Not only can it resist fire, but Brown said it's resistant to mold, insects and water.
"They have extremely good heat resistance at very high temperatures, and they don't allow heat to transfer through them nearly as quickly," Brown said.
When it comes to the cost, Brown said it is slightly more expensive than a traditional home.
"We are a slight cost premium, but you're getting the resiliency of a material that can be submerged in water, or flame can be applied to it and it's not going to catch on fire," he said.
During a time when insurance companies are pulling out of California, Tom Pratt with Delos Insurance said homeowners still have options, especially if this is the type of home they want.
"What we are looking at is to widen the reach of what we can write by people that take in consideration the home hardening... People that replace their vents so that they're smaller, so the embers can't fly in," said Pratt.
Because homes like this are so new, Pratt said he can't yet predict what premiums would look like for homeowners.
"We have to gain the experience and see and then hopefully we can get and provide discounts to people. I don't have a set rate," he said.
For now, the team said the house is the first of its kind in the state. As fire season continues to be an issue in California, they're hoping the home won't be the last.
"We're completely blown away about the material, the ease of construction, and everything else," said Gregg Smith, with Calaveras County Habitat for Humanity.
For the past year, Smith and his team have been working to build affordable homes with this material.
"We have 17 acres where we're going to build 107 affordable, sustainable homes, 43 condominiums, and 64 homes — three- and four-bedroom homes," Smith said.
The hope is to attract more people to want to live and work in Calaveras County.
"We're looking at a budgeted amount for the homes in the $300,000, to mid-300, the high 300 for the three- and four-bedroom homes, a little bit less for the condominiums — so very reasonably priced," Smith said.
For now, the home in Angels Camp will hopefully be finished by the beginning of the year with a promise to keep those inside of it alive.
"I really do believe it's a game changer. I completely believe that," said Soest.
Habitat for Humanity hopes to have three model homes finished by the beginning of 2024.
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