--- title: Historic Buildings Wrapped to Protect them from Forest Fires description: Firefighters in central California are doing a bit of redecorating. canonical: https://time.com/3096340/forest-fires-buildings/ author: Bijan Stephen article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-08-09T19:40:21.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:12:18.495Z og:title: Historic Buildings Wrapped to Protect them from Forest Fires og:description: Firefighters in central California are doing a bit of redecorating. og:url: https://time.com/3096340/forest-fires-buildings/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Historic Buildings Wrapped to Protect them from Forest Fires twitter:description: Firefighters in central California are doing a bit of redecorating. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Firefighters Wrap Historic Buildings to Protect Them From Forest Fires by [Bijan Stephen](https://time.com/author/bijan-stephen/) ## Bijan Stephen Aug 9, 2014 7:40 PM UTC by [Bijan Stephen](https://time.com/author/bijan-stephen/) ## Bijan Stephen Aug 9, 2014 7:40 PM UTC Firefighters in central California are doing a bit of redecorating: They’re [wrapping historic buildings](http://abc30.com/news/protective-wrap-covers-historical-structures-near-french-fire-/238207/) in a foil-like covering to protect them from the radiant heat and flying embers of the French Fire—a massive conflagration [that’s consumed 13,700 acres and is 60% contained](http://www.archaeology.org/news/2407-140806-california-forest-fire). The wraps are similar to ones firefighters use for personal safety on the job, though they’re thicker and the Forest Service says they’re not exactly fireproof. While no buildings have been destroyed yet, drought conditions have managed to worsen the blaze. These wraps are straightforward to apply—essentially you use staples and special tape to hold it fast against the building, so the high winds of a wildfire don’t blow it off—and appear to have the potential to keep the structures intact. It’s [not cheap](http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/its-wrap-forest-service-wrapping-historic-structures-protect-them-wildfires-2-180952289/): Wrapping a single cabin costs nearly $1,200 of the stuff, and it takes six to seven hours to secure to a building. All this said, there’s a version [available commercially](http://www.firezat.com/); let’s hope you never have to use it. \[[_ABC_](http://abc30.com/news/protective-wrap-covers-historical-structures-near-french-fire-/238207/)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3096340/forest-fires-buildings/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3096340/forest-fires-buildings/"},"headline":"Firefighters Wrap Historic Buildings to Protect Them From Forest Fires","datePublished":"2014-08-09T19:40:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:12:18.495Z","description":"Foil, but for foiling forest fires","url":"https://time.com/3096340/forest-fires-buildings/","keywords":["Newsfeed","weather","California"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Bijan Stephen","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/bijan-stephen/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3096340/forest-fires-buildings/","name":"Firefighters Wrap Historic Buildings to Protect Them From Forest Fires"}}]}] ```