Property Defense Tips
Hardening Your Home
Prepare for wildfire and harden your home now. There are three ways your home can be exposed to wildfire:
Direct flames from a wildfire or burning neighboring home
Radiant heat from nearby burning plants or structures
Flying embers. Flying embers from a wildfire can destroy homes up to a mile away and are responsible for the destruction of most homes during a wildfire.
Taking the necessary measures to harden (prepare) your home can help increase its likelihood of survival when wildfire strikes.
Defensible Space
Keep your property lean and green to help protect your family and home.
Defensible space, coupled with home hardening, is essential to improve your home’s chance of surviving a wildfire. Defensible space is the buffer you create between a building on your property and the grass, trees, shrubs, or any wildland area that surround it. This space is needed to slow or stop the spread of wildfire and it helps protect your home from catching fire—either from embers, direct flame contact or radiant heat. Proper defensible space also provides firefighters a safe area to work in, to defend your home.
Defensible Space Zones
Zones 1 and 2 currently make up the 100 feet of defensible space required by law. Assembly Bill 3074, passed into law in 2020, requires a third zone for defensible space. This law requires the Board of Forestry and Fire Protection to develop the regulation for a new ember-resistant zone (Zone 0) within 0 to 5 feet of the home by January 1, 2023. The intensity of wildfire fuel management varies within the 100-foot perimeter of the home, with more intense fuels’ reduction occurring closer to your home. Start at the home and work your way out to 100 feet or to your property line, whichever is closer.
Zone 0: Zone 0 extends 0- 5 feet from your home, focusing on intense fuel reduction to protect against ember attacks.
Zones 1 & 2: These zones cover up to 100 feet around your home. They’re required by law and involve varying levels of vegetation management.