Whenever you see photos of a pristine neighborhood except all the houses are ashes it was shake shingles. This scene is typical of California fires that burn homes. I haven't one shread of sympathy for any of these people.

Many homeowners associations absolutely require shakes - no other roof is allowed, especially in "gated communities" which tend to be up in fire prone areas. The fire retardant treatments boasted by the industry are completely worthless, except to make the product more profitable.

Periodically, the state legislature moves to ban them, but every time this comes up the shingle industry buys as many legislators as is required to defeat the measure. Legislators are uniformly scum for hire here as elsewhere.

When I moved into this valley, the mountains were on fire for 10 miles to the left and 20 miles to the right. Some homes were lost. I examined the area later. None of the homes lost were on the fire line because those had asphault roofs. The homes that burned were farther in and had shake roofs.

. . but you won't find many burned out tile roofed adobes surrounded by pristine lawns and untouched trees. I don't see a lot of brick wall so I suspect this house had plenty of architecturally stylish vulnerabilities.

I remember an older lady who did it right up in Ventura county. She lost her home when the entire tract burned down. The next time that tract burned to the ground her house stood unscathed in the middle of a square mile of ashes that used to be houses.