Sooner or later, you are going to have the opportunity to pick a roof for your home. There are many choices. In the opinion of many, myself included, wood roof shingles look the best. There is, however, one serious downside to using them, particularly untreated shingles.
It seems to happen every three years or so. Parts of Southern California burn every fall. The news shows provide running feeds of fires racing across areas and apparently torching everything. When the fires end, however, the same conclusion is always reached. Homes with untreated wood shingles burn far more than other homes.
Why is this? Yes, they are wood, but does it really matter that much given the fact the walls of the home are exposed as well? Yes, it does. To understand why, you have to understand how fires typically spread.
A fire starts at point A and then spread out from there, right? The direction will be influenced by wind and such, but it will burn across the ground in an outward direction from the origination point, correct? Actually, this logical explanation is wrong.
The fires you see on television wiping out much of California do not spread across the ground. They spread through the air. When a big fire burns, it creates firebrands. These firebrands are embers. The massive amount of heat being created in the fire creates a vertical wind column that sucks the embers up. As they climb though the air, they are picked up by horizontal winds and can be carried as far as a mile or more. The real problems start when they come down.
A home presents one real surface to the embers path - the roof. If the embers land on a tile roof, they will scar it a bit but they will not create a fire. The same is not true for wood shingle roofs.
How do you light a fire when you are camping? Well, you create a small pile of wood, a bit of heat and blow on it to provide oxygen. That is exactly what happens when firebrands land on your wood shingle roof. They have wood, plenty of heat and usually there is some wind. The result is what we see on the news.
If you are considering a new roof, avoid untreated wood shingle roofs like the plague. Fire retardant treated shingles are an alternative, but avoiding wood all together might be your best move. This is definitely true in an area that gets fires regularly such as Southern California or wooded areas.