What the standards actually require

These are the provisions an architectural committee reviewing a new build, or a roof or siding replacement in a covered area, will encounter:

• Roofing — minimum Class B-rated roof assembly equivalent. “Wood shingle and shake roofs are not permitted on structures in areas designated by the municipality that fall within the scope of this section.” Valley flashing not less than 0.019-inch No. 26 gage galvanised, with a 72-pound cap sheet per ASTM D3909 not less than 36 inches wide.
• Gutters and downspouts — noncombustible, with a means of excluding debris.
• Ventilation — mesh and screening “a minimum of 1/16-inch and a maximum of 1/8-inch in any dimension.” No vents on the underside of eaves, soffits or cornices except ember-resistant listed vents, or openings 12 feet or more above grade.
• Exterior walls — noncombustible, ignition-resistant, heavy timber, log wall, or an assembly passing the ASTM E2707 10-minute direct-flame test. “Ignition-resistant material” means an ASTM E84 or UL 723 test extended to 30 minutes with a flame spread index of not more than 25 and the flame front not travelling past 10½ feet. “Heavy timber” means a smallest minimum nominal dimension of 4 inches.

Deschutes County identifies the three biggest technical changes as attic and crawlspace ventilation design, elevated deck underfloor protection, and protecting the exposed underside of rafter or truss eaves under 12 feet from grade.

What it costs, and who said so

The State Building Codes Division estimates wildfire-standard construction costs 2 to 11 percent more than conventional building.⁵ Deschutes County commissioners adopted unanimously by emergency order after a January 14, 2026 public hearing.

Garrett Mosher of the Central Oregon Builders Association put the industry position on the record: “There will be increased costs associated with adopting R327…We encourage policymakers to take into account the layering of costs.” Commissioner Tony DeBone took the other view: “It's best practices, and the industry is almost doing it anyway, so it's an exciting place to be.” Lon Leneve, co-chair of the Project Wildfire Neighborhood Coalition: “The only way to really accelerate wildfire safety is to require it of all property owners.”

Where associations sit in this

The Bend Bulletin's coverage of the Deschutes adoption made the association point concretely: Sunriver Owners Association maintains appearance standards but has no wildfire protections beyond a ban on wood shake roofs.⁵ That is a fair description of a great many Oregon communities — a single legacy prohibition, adopted decades ago for reasons that were partly aesthetic, sitting alongside standards that specify combustible materials elsewhere.

Note the limits of what local adoption does. R327 applies to new construction of new buildings, by statutory command in Senate Bill 83 section 7(3). It does not reach remodels, additions or partial repairs, and Deschutes County says so expressly. An existing Oregon home in an adopting jurisdiction is not required to be brought up to the standard by anyone.

That is precisely why Senate Bill 1551 matters so much. The public-law route to hardening an existing house does not exist in Oregon. The private-law route — voiding the covenant that stops the owner doing it voluntarily — is the whole of the mechanism, and since June 5, 2026 it comes with a 90-day deemed-approval clock. Our Oregon architectural review page covers how that clock works.

What to watch next

Redmond. Local reporting in May 2026 had the City of Redmond considering adoption within a year, which would give Central Oregon near-complete regional coverage.⁶ Watch also for the gap between the two programmes: R327 covers building construction and has five jurisdictions; the State Fire Marshal's separate defensible space model code covers vegetation, was adopted by rule on April 29, 2026, and is likewise voluntary. A jurisdiction can take one and not the other, and most so far have taken neither.