LAT : Why some averted disaster [govt regulation WORKS!]

[DBoon]

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-saved24oct24,1,6328214.story?coll=la-headlines-california

California cannot avoid wildfires. But proper building techniques have proved to greatly reduce the threat to homes and businesses. Fire safety experts said Stevenson Ranch, and other modern communities like it, have made their own luck.

....

Many fire-safe features in practice there are borne out of planning and building code changes enacted in the aftermath of devastating 1993 fires, said Ron Coleman, a former California state fire marshal and forestry and fire protection chief.

Higher standards will soon be required of all new building statewide, at least in the zones where fire risk is highest. The California Building Standards Commission last month approved standards recommended by the state fire marshal for buildings in fire hazard zones.

Those requirements are to go into effect in January 2008 in areas under state control, and after that date, any new permits issued in such zones will require that the new standards be met.

Once again, I'm glad to live in the people's republic of California, where legislatures (and sometimes governors) don't shy from imposing regulations that save lives.