County Calls for New Fire Standards and Codes : Disaster: Supervisors seek to avoid a repetition of last fall’s devastating firestorms. Plan stresses fire-retardant buildings and brush clearance.

Seeking to prevent a repeat of last year’s devastating wildfires, the Board of Supervisors Tuesday encouraged cities and the state to adopt a host of new fire-prevention and firefighting measures.

The recommendations, proposed by members of a countywide task force, include establishing new uniform building and fire codes, stricter brush-clearance standards and more intense training for firefighters who battle blazes in areas that mix urban and rural environments.

“Their findings were not surprising,” County Fire Chief Larry J. Holms told the board. “People in Orange County love to live surrounded by wildlife habitat,” he said, but “unfortunately any single date can bring about disaster and our scenic countrysides can turn into infernos.”

Holms said the wildfire problem requires strengthening fire-prevention and firefighting standards and goes beyond spending money to acquire more firefighting equipment.

The Orange County Wildland/Urban Interface Task Force spent eight months analyzing the causes of last October’s firestorms that burned about 36,000 acres in Laguna Canyon, Anaheim Hills and Cleveland National Forest, destroying or damaging nearly 470 houses. Total damages were put at $528 million.

“The scenes that we saw are indelibly painted in my memory forever,” Holms said, adding that the task force was a cooperative effort of about 70 people representing fire departments, the county, cities, developers and others.

On Tuesday, county supervisors unanimously endorsed the task force’s plan, which included a recommendation that local government agencies adopt amendments that would go beyond the state’s uniform building and fire codes.

Those codes specify what types of fire-resistant building materials should be used in “high fire hazard” areas. They also regulate landscaping, property setbacks and structural designs.

For example, Holms said, houses in high-risk areas should have fire-retardant roofs, enclosed eaves and fire-resistant vegetation, such as ice plant, around structures.

In a slide presentation, Holms noted that an entire street in Laguna Beach had been leveled by the fire except for one home, which was built to better defend against fires and where brush had been cut back.

“When fire strikes our communities, it’s too late,” he said. “Those homes that are in the path of that fire that cannot defend themselves . . . stand a very high chance of being lost.”

The task force also recommended that the county, cities and state adopt a common set of guidelines for clearing or reducing brush near homes and other buildings, set minimum training levels for firefighters who work in areas prone to brush fires and increase the number of drills and controlled burns that local and state firefighters conduct together.

The recommendations will be circulated throughout the county and state, fire officials said. Holms said he hopes all the task force’s findings will be adopted by the county’s cities and the state.

Supervisor William G. Steiner echoed that sentiment.

“I think it’s a real model, and I hope it is used by other communities,” he said.