Fire Safety

• Modern-day manufactured homes have an excellent fire safety record.
• The outdated reputation for manufactured homes goes back before 1976, before there was a national building code for manufactured homes. Since 1976, manufactured homes have been built to a federal construction code established by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.
• Federal building standards mean higher quality, safe homes.
• Some fire resistance features of the HUD Code include strict standards for flame spread and smoke generation in materials, egress windows in bedrooms, smoke detectors and at least two exterior doors, which must be remote from each other and reachable without passage through other doors that are lockable.

Wind Safety

• Modern-day manufactured homes properly installed and anchored by state-licensed installers can withstand hurricane-force winds.
• Tough new wind safety standards went into effect in the early 1990’s. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development issued a revision to the wind safety provision of the HUD Code. Areas prone to hurricane-force winds are labeled Wind Zone II and Wind Zone III.
• Nine South Carolina coastal counties are in Wind Zone II: Beaufort, Berkeley, Charleston, Colleton, Dorchester, Georgetown, Horry, Jasper and Williamsburg.

See Also: Manufactured Home Storm Guidelines