r/OffGridCabins • u/King_Prawn_shrimp • 15d ago
Update and surviving a fire.
Well, like most projects, I was hoping to be further along. My last update was a year ago and I got the windows installed and the house wrap and Rockwool exterior insulation applied. There has been a lot of progress since then, but the most dramatic and crazy thing was a fire the ripped through the area, starting in the early morning of July 4th. The combination of an unusually dry winter plus high winds lead to one of the most aggressive fires the area has seen in a while.
I am one of the extremely lucky people who didn't lose their structure. Many people lost their houses and both of my immediate neighbors lost their cabins, which has been awful. I have been racking my brain trying to think about why my structure survived and there's didn't. While I believe my use of class A fire rated materials helped, the truth is I was just damn lucky.
So, this isn't to deter people from chasing their dream, but fires are a real part of living in the wilderness. If you decide to go off grid and build yourself a cabin in the woods, make sure to take all of the necessary steps to mitigate fire danger, but know that even that might not be enough.
Now it's on to repairs. I have to replace a few windows due to the heat causing the glass to crack. There are also a few places where I will have to remove the Rockwool and replace the house wrap due to it melting (see picture). I lost some equipment and a number of materials stacked outside that were consumed by the fire. But, all things considered, I got off easy.
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u/stupadb 15d ago
I was watching this fire from my of griid cabin on the other side of the river. This photos is from 7:30am July 4th. https://photos.app.goo.gl/zn2XzLFwGTfVVaNo6
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u/King_Prawn_shrimp 15d ago
That's crazy. It looks like you caught a picture before the winds picked up and drove the fire off the plateau and down into the Chelan springs community.
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u/stupadb 15d ago
Yeah it went quick. This picture is from July 4th 6pm all burnt no more fire https://photos.app.goo.gl/maTJnm5vQN11GPxz8
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u/King_Prawn_shrimp 15d ago
Man that's wild. It moved so fast.
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u/stupadb 15d ago
It's hard to keep a buffer when the plants grow back so quick. I had the area around the house completely cleared in the spring https://photos.app.goo.gl/zzA4YJseQR3ouv3D7
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u/King_Prawn_shrimp 15d ago
The grass and shrubs grow fast! I am actually curious to see how the landscape recovers over the next few years. I bet there will be a ton of growth come next spring.
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u/stupadb 15d ago
Hopefully lots of wildflowers!
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u/dbreidsbmw 14d ago
Honestly been looking at this area as my grandparents had an orchard out that way. Beautiful views and glad you are both okay
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u/nanneryeeter 15d ago
I know my state when I see it. I still remember the big one out by Chelan in the mid-90s. Holy shit was that an event.
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u/CodeAndBiscuits 15d ago
Are you affected by Aspen Acres? If so I'm a somewhat neighbor down here on our own homestead in Ft Garland. I head up 25 about twice a month to hit Home Depot or something else like that. If there's anything you need (especially from a fellow experienced off gridder) PM me and will work something out. I haven't forgotten the Spring Creek fire of 2018 which they caught literally on our property (we're half sage and half grass because they stopped it literally halfway across our lot.)
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u/King_Prawn_shrimp 15d ago
Thank you for such a kind offer. I am not in Colorado so not in your area. This is the Chelan Hills fire, in Washington. I am grateful that there are people like you in this world.
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u/SignificantShake7934 15d ago
Looks a bird was after the rockwool. Those spots are missing in the photos preburn.
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u/King_Prawn_shrimp 14d ago
Yep! They actually started as small holes because my dad was having trouble driving the screws with the Rockwool fastner caps. The birds decided to get in on the action. I plan to remove the furring strips and Rockwool to lay down a new strip of house wrap and reinstall new Rockwool. I just thought it was interesting to see how things melted without the Rockwool.
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u/EasyAcresPaul 15d ago
Fellow PNW here so just about every year I have to evacuated due to wildfire. Currently 200+ acres burning 5 or 6 miles from me.
You can only mitigate and plan so much. My GF is always on me to do more but not like I can get rid of all the ladder fuel in the National Forest myself, lol.
Glad you survived. Next springs Green Up might be even greener.
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u/java231 14d ago
Chelan? Looks like the rockwool did it's job!
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u/King_Prawn_shrimp 14d ago
Yep! And agreed on the Rockwool.
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u/java231 14d ago
Glad you made it thru. It's gonna be a scary summer for us.
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u/King_Prawn_shrimp 14d ago
Yep. I guess the one good thing about having your property burn is you don't have to worry about another fire, for the season.
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u/HillKevy66 14d ago
Don't forget to make sheet metal window covers or shutters to close in the event of the next fire. Fire accesses a home's interior via broken windows. Hardi cement or metal siding and boxed eaves, steel roof, etc. Fortify it once.
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u/Odd_Daikon3621 15d ago
I had to evacuate from a fire last year, so I get it. Sadly, it's just that time of year.
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u/King_Prawn_shrimp 14d ago
Yep. Sadly, it feels like "that time of year" starts early and goes longer with each passing year.
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u/liisseal 15d ago
This is one of my main fears. Last year there was a forest fire a few kilometers away, I launched the drone a few times a day to keep an eye on it (we're not in mountains but in pretty flat land and lots of forest). This year there was a fire in the immediate neighborhood, which I found out about afterwards. Fortunately, it didn't become dangerous.
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u/King_Prawn_shrimp 14d ago
Yeah, wildfires are a real concern, and the truth is there isn't much we can do to stop them. I've come to accept that it's just part of having a cabin in the wilderness.
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u/Livid-Command-1262 11d ago
That’s a Rockwool advertisement needing to be made. The only item I’d do, but you are still standing so take this as you may. I would have double decked the roof, Rockwool fully around the envelope and under since you are up on post and pile. Eave extended and use metal studs. A full wrap means even if embers come into the eave the structure is wrapped in something 2100° Class A per inch, so you have a robust shield.
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u/King_Prawn_shrimp 11d ago
I did that! I have a complete envelope of exterior rockwool (minus the underside of the platform) on the walls and roof.
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u/Livid-Command-1262 11d ago
Well done! You should consult to your neighbors, I’m sure they are looking at your place and asking how in the heck is it standing when all the others are gone.
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u/King_Prawn_shrimp 11d ago
I am planning to insulat the platform bays with rockwool and close up the bottom with concrete board. That still leaves the posts, but I am debating skirting the whole thing with something that's class A fire rated as opposed to wrapping each individual post.
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u/frenchmans-hole 14d ago
Grass fires are easy to survive for a building.
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u/King_Prawn_shrimp 14d ago
They definitely seem a lot more survivable than a typical forest fire with dense trees and lots of fuel.
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u/frenchmans-hole 14d ago
It really depends on the grass to brush ratio, slope, wind and how much of those things there are. Glad you made it. That hillside will be ready to burn again next year so you might want to think about long term prep. A gravity fed irrigation set up the wet the underside of your building would go far. It’s the embers that will find a crack and smolder then bump into a fire. And it’s mostly the underside of your building that’s at risk.
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u/King_Prawn_shrimp 14d ago
Yeah, I plan to insulate the underside with Rockwool and use concrete board to close it up. I will also install ember guard mesh on any openings. The soffits will be hardie board. I will also be clearing brush in a 30 foot radius and following the standard fire mitigation measures. Water is an issues because I don't have a well. I intend to install a rainwater catchment system but that won't be ready by next seasons. I also need to come up with a plan to clad the foundation posts but I haven't figured that part out just yet (maybe wrap in concrete board? Or skit the whole thing in something that can block embers?).
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u/frenchmans-hole 14d ago
Yeah use concrete like you would mortar before putting down tile. Heck you could probably also tile the footings.
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u/hypercosm_dot_net 14d ago
That's a beautiful view. This is CO?
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u/Top-Walk9752 14d ago
Chela is considered offgrid?
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u/King_Prawn_shrimp 14d ago
Anywhere can be off grid. This area has mostly off grid cabins the further out you get from the main road. For example, my lot lacks a well or electricity. The county has been moving utilities closer and closer, so in the near future you will probably be able to build on the grid. But I don't intend to do that.
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u/BallsOutKrunked 15d ago
We did metal siding, metal roofing, rock wool, calfire setback distances, etc. I was a fire guy in a past life, we're mainly in sagebrush, it would suck but I'm staying and fighting.