In September, Hurricane Sally put FORTIFIED to the test for more than 17,000 Alabama homeowners – and resilience won the battle. Stronger roofs protected families and businesses against the slow-moving category 2 hurricane turning FORTIFIED home- and business owners into beacons of hope in their communities.

Expanding the FORTIFIED product offering for communities in America’s heartland, IBHS applied the results of the Roof Shingle Performance Ratings to FORTIFIED Home‒High Wind & Hail.

Meanwhile, FORTIFIED growth accelerated with designations growing by 38% as the value of a strong place to call home became abundantly clear. Now, more than 21,000 homes are a part of the program. The 2020 FORTIFIED Standard streamlines the process for contractors and integrates our latest work on the importance of a wind-rated garage door, which will help sustain this momentum in the years ahead.

The influence of the IBHS Hail Impact Test Protocol for Asphalt Shingles continued to ripple out as IBHS provided members with performance results on non-IR counterparts and the ratings for 1.5-inch hail to round out the Asphalt Shingle Hail Impact Performance Guide. Commercial roof testing is ongoing as we work to broaden the reach of the IBHS Hail Impact Standard.

Our flagship Ready Guide series continued to provide science-based, consumer-oriented guidance. Wildfire Ready built on the understanding laid out in the Suburban Wildfire Adaptation Roadmaps to prioritize home improvements for the most vulnerable components of the home first, while the addition of Thunderstorm Ready applied wind and hail learnings tailored to the timeframe of severe storm forecasting. For small business owners and commercial building owners, Hurricane Ready—Business and Wildfire Ready—Business applied the successful Ready Guide format to a new commercial guidance format; Thunderstorm Ready—Business will launch publicly in early 2021 ahead of the spring storm season.

Understanding the importance of flashing on commercial roofs, IBHS began a deep dive into vulnerabilities of the often-overlooked detailing that too frequently begins the cascade of damage for commercial properties. Analysis of test chamber data will continue into 2021. Meanwhile, our investigation into garage doors led to a consumer-facing campaign highlighting the importance of a wind-rated garage door and helped drive changes requiring doors to have permanent labels according to the 2021 International Building Code, the 2021 International Residential Code, and the 2020 Florida Building Code.

2020 Commercial Year in Review

Read more about how IBHS delivered new research and products to help businesses reduce risk to their facilities and operations and advanced the Commercial Story Line in the 2020 Commercial Year in Review.

On the wildfire front, analysis of deck vulnerability provided insights we will take into the codes arena. This work, coupled with previous projects investigating the vulnerabilities to wildfire of home components, allowed for the release of the Suburban Wildfire Adaptation Roadmaps to qualitatively understand a home’s risk.

As the Product Team grew, so did our commitment to translating research into action all guided by social science insights and focus group findings. An updated FORTIFIEDHome.org launched enhancing the user experience for both homeowners and our FORTIFIED builders and roofing contractors. You joined us for seven member-focused webinars and our first virtual Disaster Dynamics Academy as we brought our research demonstrations to your computer screen. Across communications channels – traditional media, social media, websites, and beyond – technical reports, Ready Guides, charts, graphics, photos, animations and videos worked in harmony to bring stakeholders inside the perils, demonstrate the risk, and showcase what is possible when individuals and communities take necessary steps to adapt to their risks.

Bringing together a decade of wildfire work in the lab on decks, vents, embers, and countless other projects with insights from the fire protection community, the Suburban Wildfire Adaptation Roadmaps provide a comprehensive look at eight components of a home that are particularly vulnerable to wildfire and the actions homeowners should take first to reduce the risk. The Roadmaps qualitatively detail the clusters of actions to take to address wildfire risk laying out a holistic plan for homeowners with the best science available to date.

IBHS research strengthened the 2021 International Residential Code and the 2020 Florida Building Code through improvements including the addition of the sealed roof deck, a requirement for permanent garage door labels, clarity surrounding wind loads for soffits, and prescriptive tables detailing roof deck attachments. Now, the 2020 Florida Building Code requirements for a large portion of the state closely mirror the FORTIFIED Home™–Gold standard.

After a powerful derecho plowed across Iowa revealing vulnerabilities of agricultural buildings and infrastructure, a member report on the applicable design requirements and building codes examined the causes of many grain bin failures. Across the hurricane coastline, the team collected the data for the next edition of Rating the States – coming soon to your inbox.

Celebrating its 10th anniversary, the Research Center remains the powerful and unique tool it has been since we first turned on the fans. In fact, after visiting the IBHS Research Center last year, the Texas General Land Office began requiring all new homes funded by the agency meet the FORTIFIED Roof™ standard. Furthermore, the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA) is considering the FORTIFIED standards for rebuilding initiatives.

Throughout the apocalyptic wildfire season and hyperactive hurricane season you helped amplify our resiliency messages. IBHS experts spoke with more than 90 reporters in 2020 as we translated research into action. Top tier media, including Bloomberg, Forbes, CNN, The New York Times, National Geographic, NPR, BBC and The Weather Channel engaged with us to share practical solutions to drive down risk. New consumer-facing campaigns on social media garnered 22% growth in engagement for the year and drove website traffic. Our FORTIFIED and Be Wildfire Ready campaigns increased web traffic by 20% and 18% respectively.