Wildfire Defense: How Monolithic Domes Can Bolster Community Safety

As wildfires wreak havoc in California, our hearts go out to the people who have lost so much: their homes, their possessions, their peace of mind, and—sadly for some—their loved ones. It’s a tragedy affecting an entire region and will impact the area for generations.

We thank all the firefighters, EMTs, pilots, relief agencies, law enforcement, and everyday people for battling these terrible fires, helping each other during this crisis, and working together to end this horrible disaster. Through your efforts, the flames will be extinguished, healing will begin, and the cleanup effort will commence.

After every disaster, the question becomes, “How will we avoid this in the future?”

Many people are coming to our websites in search of the answer. Our visits have increased dramatically—as it often does after a disaster—with special emphasis on search terms like “fire safety” and “fire proof homes.” This influx of visitors has prompted us to write this story.

It is not an attempt to push a fantasy that domes are the answer to all the problems we face before, during, and after a natural disaster. Instead, our goal is to provide helpful information about why Monolithic Domes are a useful disaster mitigation tool and our thoughts on how best to utilize the technology to benefit the greatest number of people. Monolithic Domes can be a part of any community’s disaster mitigation planning in ways that make sense, could save lives, and streamline recovery.

‘Like Snowfall From Hell’

“Conditions that night were unbearable. There was a devil wind that came out of that extreme Santa Ana wind condition,” said Anthony Marrone, L.A. County Fire Department Chief, speaking to Bill Whitaker on 60 Minutes.

The wind hurled embers thousands of feet. These are not embers like you see sparking up from a campfire. Marrone hefted a baseball-sized piece of charred wood, explaining that this was an ember from the fire.

“He told us the devil wind hurled embers far ahead of the fire,” narrated Whitaker, “like snowfall from hell.”

As these fireballs fell into neighborhoods, they set houses ablaze across the city. Each ignited house became a source of new embers to scatter farther across town.

In fact, on their website, the National Fire Protection Agency states, “…embers and small flames as the main way that the majority of homes ignite in wildfires.”

Recently, FEMA produced a fact sheet in which they advise the following for wildfire mitigation:

Consider using materials such as Class-A asphalt shingles, slate or clay tile, metal or cement, and concrete products for roof construction. Construct a fire-resistant sub-roof for added protection. Use fire-resistant materials such as stucco or masonry for exterior walls.

Monolithic Domes exceed those recommendations.

Monolithic Dome Difference

The Monolithic Dome is a steel-reinforced concrete shell, insulated with polyurethane foam, and covered with a single-ply roofing membrane.

It is a Type I fire-rated structure—according to the International Building Code—and is considered virtually fireproof. Interior construction typically uses less durable materials, making most Monolithic Dome buildings—schools, gyms, offices, storages, homes—Type II fire-rated structures, which are still incredibly fire resistant.

Put another way, the Type I shell surrounds and protects whatever is inside.

Texas Dome Survives Gasoline Aided Wildfire

A Monolithic Dome home in Blackwell, Texas, only needed minimal exterior renovation after a wildfire completely destroyed its attached garage, shed and greenhouse in 2011. The owner, Bill McLeod, reported that the shed abutting the dome was full of firewood and gasoline when it ignited and burned against the dome for hours that night.

“It created an unusual scar of charred exterior,” said Mike South, President of Monolithic, “We assumed the owner would need to scrape away all three inches of the foam down to the concrete where it had been damaged and reapply it. However, only a very thin layer—about a half inch—was damaged.”

Polyurethane foam is actually an excellent fire barrier. McLeod removed the damaged foam, sprayed a new layer over it and applied a new coating.

The interior of McLeod’s home suffered smoke damage after the window next to the long-burning shed broke. Firefighters covered the window and stayed in the dome while working to extinguish the fire, which destroyed over 100,000 acres before it was put out.

“Even with the interior smoke damage and the cosmetic repair to the exterior,” added South, “McCloed said he counted himself lucky—his home was still standing when the smoke cleared.”

Huge Fire Leaves California Dome Virtually Unscathed

Another family who built their Monolithic Dream home in the foothills of California was spared the heartache of having to rebuild when their home faced a brush fire in 2002. Al and Ruth Braswell’s home was perched on a hill overlooking Yucaipa, California. The town watched in horror as the flames raced up the mountain toward the iconic house. Fire crews watched in shock and awe as the inferno blazed over the top of the dome and continued to catch on the other side.

The fire chief said the Braswells were lucky—their home would have been nothing but embers if it hadn’t been a Monolithic Dome. They didn’t get away without some cosmetic damage to artistic architectural details and they lost outbuildings and a conventional garage. They also had interior smoke damage that took lots of elbow grease to clean up, but they were thrilled with how their dome performed.

So Many More Stories

We could go on. We could go into detail about how the wind blew fire from 300 gallons of transformer oil stored in three wood buildings adjacent to a Monolithic Dome in Channelview, Texas, overnight, burning away all the oil before fire crews arrived and discovered the dome in one piece and the materials inside safe and sound.

We could talk about the 5,000-pound bomb that was dropped onto a Monolithic Dome mosque in Iraq during the first Iraq War and how it punctured the shell and detonated inside, but the dome stood strong and protected the surrounding buildings and people from harm.

But the point is that domes don’t burn. And because they don’t burn, they won’t add to the burning embers to spread and catch other structures on fire.

Time is of the Essence

“Mother Nature owned us. Owned us, those two days,” said Orange County Fire Chief Brian Fennessy on 60 minutes. Fennessy—who has fought fires for almost five decades—dispatched hundreds of firefighters to battle the blaze.

Their fleet of helicopters, each designed to drop up to 3000 gallons of water per pass, was grounded by the Santa Ana winds—gusting to over 100 miles per hour.

“The fires that they experienced this week were unstoppable,” said Fennessy.

“After an uncomfortable 27-hour delay,” said Whitaker, “the choppers were able to get back into the fight after the winds died down.”

Time is the ultimate problem. Time to run. Time to get to safety. Time to find protection. When a single-structure fire occurs, people can be safe by getting outside. When it’s the whole outside that’s burning, where can you go?

In 2023, Maui residents jumped in the ocean to escape the wildfire. In 2017, a couple survived a California forest fire by hiding in their neighbor’s swimming pool for six hours.

Don’t Build Like Before

We know this story would be dramatically different if every home in the path of the wildfires were Monolithic Domes. But again, we are realists and know not everyone’s dream home is round. Still, building back better should be the goal.

Everyone is working to fast-track rebuilding. Governor Newsom signed an executive order waiving some building permit requirements to streamline the building process.

“What we don’t know is how quickly the insurance companies are going to be able to process the claims,” said Gregg Cantor, CEO of Murray Lampert. “If they’re building in kind, it’ll be a very fast track permit, but if somebody wants to customize what they had, then that might extend the process.”

Murray Lampert is one of the many necessary construction companies involved in rebuilding. His comments highlight part of the problem moving forward. He said,“If they are building in kind.” In other words, if California builds what was there before—what burned before.

“If somebody wants to customize what they had, then that might extend the process.” In other words, it will take longer to build something different. Anything different.

This is the problem, and something needs to change.

For now, let’s agree that the bar for constructing new residences should be raised. Better, safer materials should be the norm for homes in high-risk areas. Municipalities and States should consider promoting and even mandating the use of the Class-A materials recommended by FEMA like tile, metal, or cement.

A Practical Recommendation

While it’s a fantasy that everyone will suddenly choose to build a Monolithic Dome home, it is a realistic expectation that every community should have a community disaster shelter.

Monolithic Dome structures are constructed across the Midwest as community tornado shelters. These buildings are built to the FEMA standard for Near Absolute Protection from Disasters and are used by the community’s people for refuge during dangerous weather. Monolithic Dome community disaster shelters could just as easily be used to provide safety during and after a wildfire or earthquake.

Two-for-One

The many Monolithic Dome tornado shelters dotting the Midwest serve as productive buildings like schools, churches, gymnasiums, and more when the weather is good. We like to say that every community needs a disaster shelter disguised as a gymnasium, school, auditorium or fire station. It’s two buildings for the price of one.

And FEMA subsidized many of these community shelters.

The Kauai Resilience Center

In August 2023, a terrible wildfire broke out in Maui, Hawaii. We all watched in horror as details of the fire were released. Knowing what we know now, we can see that much could have been done to prevent the loss of life and streamline recovery. We are not throwing rocks. The people of Hawaii banded together in heroic ways to give immediate aid to the wounded and see to the needs of those displaced.

Meanwhile, in nearby Kauai, Jill Lowry, director of Anaina Hou Community Park, had been formulating a plan to mitigate a different kind of disaster: hurricanes. In 1992, Hurricane Iniki damaged 41 percent of Kauai’s 15,200 homes, injuring 100 and killing seven people. The Category 4 storm caused $3 billion in damage, and Iniki was one of 11 Central Pacific tropical cyclones during the El Niño season between 1990 and 1995.

Lowry and her associates designed the Kauai Resilience Center—a proposed Monolithic Dome Disaster Shelter and Recovery Center, which will house a fire department, police department, emergency medical personnel and equipment and interim shelters for up to 450 people. A commercial kitchen and an interior depth built to provide short-term shelter for 1000 to 1500 people are included. Designed as three connected Monolithic Domes, the campus would function as an emergency control center, with separate stand-by power for communications and general operation.

“The center bays can house six emergency vehicles, including a helicopter with folding rotors,” the architect for the project, Rick Crandall, said. “The ambulance and small first aid center can be greatly expanded to become a MASH unit in case of emergencies.”

Their concept could be replicated in municipalities nationwide.

Lowry reported that after Iniki, new buildings had to be built to withstand Category 3 hurricanes. She pointed out that while that helps the people living and working in new buildings, those in existing structures were still at risk.

In the aftermath of the Lahaina fire on Maui, Tapani Vuori, the Maui Ocean Center general manager in Makawao said, “The temperature of that fire rose to 2000 degrees, it was a horizontal fire with those winds. People taking shelter died in their cars, in their homes, and now their ashes mix with the ashes of all else lost.”

If there had been a Monolithic Dome gymnasium or school that doubled as a disaster shelter nearby, maybe some of those lives could have been saved. A planned community disaster response center like the one proposed for Kauai goes even further in anticipating the needs of the people affected after the initial disaster is over.

Retired Maui fire chief Jeff Murray said, “If I had it my way, I would propose that every church, gymnasium, community center, and school have at least one Monolithic Dome for protection.”

A Call to Build Smarter, Safer, and Stronger

Disasters like wildfires, hurricanes, and earthquakes remind us how vulnerable we are because of the fragility of much of the built world around us. There is an urgent need to build back better. People’s lives are at stake, and their shelter and livelihoods are on the line. Community safety and resiliency should be at the forefront of everyone’s minds.

We know people are worried and looking for answers—we see it in terms of traffic to our website. We want to let everyone know that Monolithic Domes offer a proven, practical answer to the dangers and repercussions of extreme conditions. They protect lives and aid recovery efforts. Their resilience, cost-effectiveness, and versatility make them a smart investment for every community.

While no single solution can solve every problem, incorporating Monolithic Domes into disaster mitigation plans—whether as homes, schools, municipal buildings or community shelters—can save lives and provide a foundation for quicker recovery.

If you are a municipality, a designer, or a member of a community planning board and you browse the list of Monolithic Dome homes, gyms, schools, churches, safe rooms, and more on this site and are thinking to yourself that you can’t visualize the look of the domes for your town, think bigger. Monolithic Dome construction technology could be leveraged to create innovative designs—modern and futuristic or natural and understated. The underlying method of using pneumatic forms to shape concrete thin-shells is begging for the right designers or architects to explore new and exciting ways of integrating Monolithic Domes into contemporary projects.

We invite the great architects and city planners of California to talk with us about how the Monolithic Dome can augment the projects they are currently working on.

As rebuilding efforts in disaster-prone areas like California and Maui move forward, most would agree that it’s crucial to resist the temptation to rebuild as before. We encourage everyone to help move toward a safer tomorrow by reaching out to the community decision-makers in your life and letting them know you want them to consider alternatives to traditional construction. Monolithic Domes are an important innovation and could be an integral part of helping to create safer communities that survive disasters and thrive despite them.