Protecting your home starts with knowing the basics of fire safety. Ignorance can ignite, knowledge can save.
Homeowner Fire Safety Tips
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Home Hardening
Home hardening involves making your home and surrounding property more resistant to wildfires. By implementing home hardening strategies, you can significantly reduce the risk of wildfire damage to your property.
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Defensible Space
Creating and maintaining defensible space around your home is crucial in preventing wildfires and protecting your property. By creating and maintaining defensible space around your property, you significantly reduce the risk of wildfires reaching your home.
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Fire-Smart Landscaping
Fire-smart landscaping is an essential strategy to reduce the risk of wildfires and protect your property. By designing and maintaining your landscape with fire resistance in mind, you can help prevent the spread of wildfires.
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Dead Tree Removal
Removing dead trees from your property is a crucial step in wildfire prevention and protecting your home and community. Dead trees can act as significant fuel for wildfires, increasing the risk of fire spread and intensity.
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Debris Burning
Burning debris can be a useful way to manage yard waste, but it also poses a significant wildfire risk if not done safely. By following safety guidelines and considering alternative disposal methods, you can reduce the risk of wildfires when burning debris.
Join a Firewise Community!
The Firewise USA® program is a voluntary community program that helps bring neighbors together to find ways to increase the ignition resistance of their neighborhoods while providing education on home hardening and defensible space. Firewise USA® provides simple, effective steps to help communities reduce the risk of destruction from wildfire.
To start the Firewise USA@ community process, a minimum of eight residences in the surrounding neighborhood must want to participate. A Community Risk Assessment and Three Year Action Plan must be completed and submitted to start the process of recognition. A local fire official or Firewise USA® Regional Coordinator will be able to assist in the application process. Recognized communities must maintain an active status as a Firewise USA® community by hosting one community meeting per year. Each participating home in a community must also invest a minimum of one volunteer hour per dwelling unit in wildfire risk reduction efforts.
Recognized communities in CA can receive technical assistance, possible access to future grant funding, and a 5-10% discount of Fire insurance from many insurance carriers.
You can find out more information on the national program at https://www.nfpa.org/Public-Education/Fire-causes-and-risks/Wildfire/Firewise-USA
