Couple hope fire-safe features will preserve home in future wildfire

Fire marshal says fire-resistant construction is necessary, but awareness is also key


RAINBOW ---- At first glance, Bob and Anne Atkins' house doesn't look too much like a fortress.

Its yellow stucco walls and Mexican tile roof blend in with other houses in the residential area just east of Interstate
15, overlooking Stewart Canyon stretching out to the south.

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But it is a fortress of sorts, designed to keep flames and smoldering debris at bay the next time a fire roars over the hill where the couple's 6-acre lot is perched ---- like the Rice Canyon wildfire that razed 219 homes and scorched 9,500 acres in Fallbrook, Rainbow and De Luz a year ago this week.
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