We’ve mentioned before about fires in carports and how, if addressed in a reasonable amount of time, the fire won’t spread to the home because of the properties of carports. Of course, this is if you own a portable carport, either one made entirely of metal or one made from metal and a polyethylene canopy, and not a carport attached to your home. Although not significant news, a carport caught fire near Topeka, and The Topeka Capital-Journal reported it. But, what’s notable about the fire not spreading to the home counteracts with the damage done to all materials inside the carport.
In the case of the linked article from The Topeka Capital-Journal, the carport had the fire contained, but the vehicle inside, unlike the adjacent home, wasn’t as fortunate and, as you can see from the picture accompanying the article experienced some damage. This applies to all vehicles and items stored within a carport or portable garage. If the shelter catches fire, most, if not all, items inside will be damaged or destroyed, although, in most cases, your home will remain unharmed from the blaze. Regardless of whether a car, boat, RV, or random items are inside the portable shelter, all are susceptible to fire.
Nevertheless, replacing or fixing a burned vehicle may run cheaper than fixing an entire side of a house, depending upon the strength of the fire. Carports, whether the fully metal portable shelters or the metal and polyethylene kind, all contain a frame made from galvanized steel. The steel itself won’t bend weaken from the blaze, unless exposed it to for about two hours. Similarly, the heavy-duty polyethylene used for many of the canopies on these structures can be treated to be fire retardant according to California fire codes and, as a result, helps keep the fire contained within the structure, as well.