Demand rises for fire-resistant materials

More buyers willing to pay difference as Valley arsons continue.

After 16 years with the Mesa Fire Department, Ken Forrey knows a thing or two about fire.

So when he started planning his new home in the East Valley, he wasn't going to give it any chance to burn.

"I was always looking for an alternative method of building." said Forrey, a Mesa fire captain. "I wanted something a little more substantial" than wood.

The demand for alternative, fire-safe building supplies is soaring, and the recent rash of arsons near the Phoenix Mountains Preserve has driven home the advantages of finding a material that won't succumb to fire.

"Within the last year, the call for steel and for a wall system that's fire-resistant has absolutely skyrocketed," said Connie Sloan of Scottsdale-based Sloan Homes.

Sloan works exclusively with steel and a product called Rastra, a combination of whater, cement and recycled polystyrene -- like the foam packing materials in which most electronic equipment is shipped. Rastra is billed as fire-safe, termite-safe and easier to work with than tradidtional wood.

Forrey is using Rastra to build his new home. He said he discovered the material after helping several other firefighters who were using it in their own homes. Although it is about 7 percent more expensive than wood, Forrey said it will provide better insulation along with the fire protection.

Forrey said he initially thought building with Rastra would cost more.

"But I said, 'Yeah, we're just going to do it.' And it will end up costing me less in the long run," he said.

Jason Chouinard, managing partner of Tempe-based Earth Friendly Building Materials -- which distributes Rastra in Arizona, said he just signed a contract with one of the victims of the Phoenix arsons.

Nine fires have been set along the fringes of the Phoenix Mountains Preserve, ruining homes under construction. No arrests have been made, although several messages have been left warning that if people try to rebuild the homes, they will be burned again. No one has taken responsibility for the blazes, although the messages have been signed with the initials C.S.P.

Another fire raged Thursday night at a home-construction near 128th Street and Via Linda in Scottsdale, although investigators have not tied that blaze to the Phoenix arsons.

Chouinard said his business has been doubling virtually every year for the past five years as people look for safer alternatives to wood-frame homes. He said he is supplying materials for 400 homes so far this year, including several in the Pinnacle Peak area of north Scottsdale.

Chouinard said he and his father built their first Rastra home in the San Marcos area of Chandler about nine years ago, and "it just kind of took off."

Chouinard said building with a material like Rastra is a natural arsonist repellent.

"If you're looking for something to burn, you're not going to look for something like that."