Fire-resistant homes can be built with straw bales

Anne Atkins held an open house Jan. 20 at her ranch to let people know about the benefits of building homes with straw bales, a subject she is passionate about. She first learned about straw bale building from an article in an Orange County newspaper.

Atkins lived in Huntington Beach at the time and had been saving pages from magazines with ideas for her dream home. The benefits of constructing a house with straw appealed to her and she researched the subject, going as far as Sacramento to attend a straw builders' convention.

In 2007, she and her husband, Bob Atkins, bought a property in Rainb...