last updated 21 Jan 2025
Click on image for more.
To make your home fire resistant, focus on using non-combustible materials for your roof, siding, and exterior structures, regularly clean gutters and remove debris from the roof, maintain proper landscaping around your home by trimming trees and shrubs, and install fire-resistant vents and chimney screens to prevent embers from entering your house; consider materials like brick, stone, concrete, metal roofing, and fire-retardant treated wood for enhanced protection.
Key areas to focus on:
- Roofing:
Choose a Class A fire-rated roof with materials like metal, tile, slate, or composite shingles instead of wood shakes.
- Siding:
Opt for non-flammable siding like brick, stone veneer, stucco, or fiber-cement board.
- Gutters and eaves:
Regularly clean gutters and ensure proper drainage, consider adding ember-resistant mesh to vents and eaves.
- Chimneys:
Install a spark arrester on your chimney flue and ensure it's properly maintained.
- Windows and doors:
Consider double-paned fire-resistant windows and weather stripping to prevent heat transfer.
- Landscaping:
Create a "defensible space" around your home by trimming trees and shrubs, removing flammable vegetation, and keeping mulch away from the house.
Hardening Your Home - Wildfire safety steps to protect your home | Cal Fire
The fire-resistant home is coming to California, and here’s what it looks like | SFGate
How some houses survived Los Angeles' extreme wildfires | NPR
Insurance cancellations:
Many houses in California are having their insurance cancelled.
One story from Elk Grove.
I had my home insurance canceled in October because the company left California. Several others wouldn’t insure the house, one because it has the wrong stucco, another because I have trees near the house. They don’t take into account I live 100 feet from a fire hydrant, on a lake and our fire department has tested a pump they can use if needed to pump lake water onto fires. Plus my house has a steel frame. I finally found insurance around Christmas time. The insurance companies don’t seem to base the premium cost on the actual risk.
Some insurers use Zesty (https://www.zesty.ai/) to rate homes for fire risk.