There are still a lot of California homes with wood shingles or tar and gravel roofs or a combo. We had a big retro fit on our home and replaced a shake with some tar and gravel with the roof you recommended.
We spent thousands of $’s having dying 50 year old pine trees cut down and chipped and the planted brush/shrubs around our home removed and hauled away..
As usual, there is a lot of controversy re what to do. During our retro fit, our contractor installed 12 air vents on the sides over the foundation of our home for air flow and to prevent dry rot, fungus and other problems and to meet the code. In some areas, air vents apparently sucked in burning embers and set the homes on fire.
Thanks for your comments.
“Or flames on the side of the house melting the vinyl and burning through walls.”
This caused the loss of many homes in an area with a lot of shrubbery close to the house, even the stucco homes. In one area, they got the shrubbery soaked with garden hoses and apparently saved the homes.
The big home saver was swimming pools and a gasoline water pump.
The above happened last October and was not in the recent Paradise fire.
Now you know why AZ has rocks in their yards. Water shortage and fire hazard.
Those are just 10-20 mph winds, a lot less than some of your fires. Of course the embers are generated close by, but some of your fires had prolific ember sources.