When you have a firestorm, it won’t matter if it’s tile or shake. It all burns down. Moot point.
No, it does matter. Not everything burns in a firestorm. A blown ember will touch off a shake roof by just landing on the roof. For a tile roof to burn, the ember has to get onto the tar-paper underneath the tile, up into the eves or in an open window/door. If the tile roof is properly built, the ember can’t get under. There are eve vents that prevent embers from getting through. As for the doors and windows, that is up to the homeowner.
From what I remember of the Cedar fires, tile wasn’t a big win as they are glued to roof with tar.
No they are not glued with tar. The tiles are nailed through pre-drilled holes in the tiles. The problem is with the ‘spanish’ style tiles. There is an open channel going up under the tile unless a blocking plate or tile is placed at the ends. Flat interlocking tiles are the safest in fire zones. The other thing to watch out for are ‘open eves’ on the roof and ‘eve vents’. Most eve vents allow embers to be blown into a house’s attic, after which “thats all she wrote”.
