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SALT LAKE CITY — It cost $13,000 to seismically reinforce Catherine Lilly's 112-year-old home, but she didn't pay a penny of the cost.
Salt Lake City footed the bill through its Fix the Bricks program, an effort to provide financial assistance to homeowners of the most vulnerable and potentially dangerous buildings if a major earthquake struck the Wasatch Front — an event that recent statistics project has a 43 percent chance of happening in the next 50 years.
Lilly's brick home in Salt Lake City's East Central neighborhood was built in 1904 and was considered an "unreinforced masonry structure," which are buildings made out of block or brick and built before 1975.
Earthquake experts consider unreinforced masonry buildings to be especially susceptible to complete collapse in the event of an earthquake. They estimate there are 144,000 such buildings in Salt Lake County, with 30,000 in Salt Lake City alone. Projections estimate that a 7.0 earthquake could kill as many as 2,500, with 90 percent of those crushed by unreinforced buildings.
But when Lilly called the city earlier this spring, her home's earthquake susceptibility wasn't on her mind. She was only seeking some low-interest loan options to help pay for a new roof.
So when city officials told her they were seeking a "beta" home to pilot their Fix the Bricks program and would pay for all of the reinforcements, Lilly was thrilled.
"It was pretty amazing," Lilly said. "I could have never afforded it on my own."
Though she knows the improvements may not completely save her home in a major earthquake, Lilly said her home's upgrades — a chimney brace and bolts securing the roof to the walls — could save her life, as well as her 15-year-old son, Robert.
"It may not completely save the house, but if it buys us enough time to get out and save our lives, that's all I'd want," she said. "That's worth a lot."
Now Salt Lake City is looking to do more.
Fix the Bricks began under former Mayor Ralph Becker as an education effort to urge unreinforced masonry homeowners to make the investment.
But Thursday, city and state emergency management officials announced the effort will now be more than an education campaign, since Salt Lake City has been awarded $500,000 in federal grant money to help offset seismic upgrade costs for at-risk homeowners.
"Safety is priority No. 1 in Salt Lake City," said Mayor Jackie Biskupski at a news conference outside the Salt Lake City-County building. "Today, we are encouraging homeowners to join us in making their own homes and families as safe as possible."
Last year, Salt Lake City had $50,000 set aside to help kickstart the program, which began with three projects, including Lilly's home. Now, with the additional grant money available, city officials are aiming to help retrofit 50 to 60 more homes in the current budget year.
The catch: as part of the federal grant, homeowners will be asked to foot 25 percent of the cost.
Cory Lyman, director of Salt Lake City Emergency Management, said home seismic upgrades typically cost between $7,000 and $12,000, depending on the size and floor plan of the home. He acknowledged 25 percent of the cost is still expensive, but he added the city is also exploring conversations with the private sector to help low-income residents even more with the cost.
"It certainly is a reasonable risk we should take appropriate steps to address," he said. "We're just trying to make sure people get a real leg up."
Audrey Pierce, Fix the Bricks program manager, urged Salt Lake homeowners living in unreinforced masonry buildings to apply for the program at BeReadySLC.com. The city will be accepting applications for the current budget year through December. For next year, applications will open again in the spring.
Pierce said the grant is expected to grow, so the city aims to help retrofit 200 to 300 homes next year.
"Ultimately, what we're trying to accomplish here is build resiliency in our community," said Bob Carey, operations chief for the Utah Division of Emergency Management.
"Ninety-two percent of all unreinforced masonry buildings are single-family dwellings, so this is a big problem, and Fix the Bricks is the first step."
