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Finding 3: The seasonal climatic conditions during the late sa'mmer and fall " create numerous serious difficulties regarding the control of and protection against fires in the City of Redwood City. Although the city has experienced an annual mean rainfall of 20.21 inches since 1948, one can anticipate no measurable precipitation at all during the summer months. The dry period average maximum temperature is 82.7 degrees Fahrenheit with an extreme maximum of 110 degrees Fahrenheit.4 These temperatures are often accompanied by light to gusty prevailing westerly to . northwesterly winds. These dry winds, mixed with the natural vegetation which is predominant throughout the area, creates a hazardous fuel condition which has caused extensive grass and brushland fires. With more and more development encroaching into these wooded and grass covered areas, wind driven fires could have severe consequences as shown on many occasions in other areas of the state. Recorded weather patterns indicate that the average annual rainfall cannot be relied upon. Water shortages and water rationing may result as was experienced during recent drought years. While some code requirements, such as fire-resistive roof classification, have a direct bearing on building survival in a wildland fire situation, others such as automatic fire sprinklers, may also have a positive effect. In dry climate on Iow humidity days, many materials are much more easily ignited. More fires are likely to occur and any fire, once started, can expand extremely rapidly. Automatic fire sprinkler systems can arrest a fire starting within a structure before it could spread to adjacen.t brush and structures. The aforementioned conditions support the imposition of fire-protection and life- safety requirements greater than those set forth in the 2000 Edition of the Uniform Fire Code. Finding 4: The City experiences water shortages from time to time. Those shortages can have a severe adverse effect on water availability for firefighting. Fires starting in sprinklered buildings are typically controlled by one or two sprinkler heads, flowing as little as 13 gallons per minute each. Hose streams used by engine companies on well established structure fires operate at about 250 gallons per minute each. The estimated water need for a typical residential fire is 1250 to 1500 gallons per minute and upwards to 3500 gallons per minute for commercial buildings, according to the Insurance Services Office.5 Under circumstances such as earthquakes, when multiple fires can start within the city, the limited water demands of residential fire sprinklers would control and extinguish manv fires before they spread from building to building. In such a disaster, water demand ~,eede¢ for conflagration firefighting probably would not be available. ~ Source: National Weather Service, Western Regional Climate Center, Desert Research Institute, 2215 ~agg~o Parkway, Reno, Nevada 89512, (775) 674-7010. ~ Fire Suppression Ratin.q Manual, Insurance Services Offices, New Jersey: 1998. F:Atty/Reso/Reso.1333 5 102802