Here in Texas, wood frame buildings are the common thing. In fact, many of the hotels and apartments being built in the Downtown area are wood-framed. Like this one: http://www.liveagave.com/
That place is completely wood-framed, except for the parking structure.
Although concrete is a safe option here. While we do have a couple of fault lines, they're stable and not likely to cause any trouble. The most excitement we've had was when an earthquake in another part of the country actually caused the entire Edwards Aquifer to SLOSH so violently that the paper graph recording of the time shows the needle flying clear off the top and then the bottom of the page. But otherwise, there was no harm done.
Wildfires of a large scale are actually pretty uncommon here despite the dry spells we're prone to here. Sure, there's a brush fire now and then, but the fire departments here are very quick to respond to these as they are well aware of the consequences.
Personally, I'd take the concrete and do it Japanese style - that is, with storm shutters on slides to quickly cover windows in the event of one of our infamous came-out-of-nowhere thunderstorms that can suddenly deposit golf ball-sized hail stones in your sunroom.
That place is completely wood-framed, except for the parking structure.
Although concrete is a safe option here. While we do have a couple of fault lines, they're stable and not likely to cause any trouble. The most excitement we've had was when an earthquake in another part of the country actually caused the entire Edwards Aquifer to SLOSH so violently that the paper graph recording of the time shows the needle flying clear off the top and then the bottom of the page. But otherwise, there was no harm done.
Wildfires of a large scale are actually pretty uncommon here despite the dry spells we're prone to here. Sure, there's a brush fire now and then, but the fire departments here are very quick to respond to these as they are well aware of the consequences.
Personally, I'd take the concrete and do it Japanese style - that is, with storm shutters on slides to quickly cover windows in the event of one of our infamous came-out-of-nowhere thunderstorms that can suddenly deposit golf ball-sized hail stones in your sunroom.