Homeowner

Tools for Homeowners

The links below provide a simple way to find out what you can do to reduce the possibility of damage to your home in the event of a wildfire, and read up-to-date wildfire news. California residents can also find out if their home is located in an area that may be at risk from wildfires and see the locations of current fires in California. You can also download a brochure that explains the features of the toolkit here (.pdf).

PROTECT YOUR PROPERTY FROM WILDFIRE

Homeowner Wildfire Assessment

This is an overview of the questions asked in the assessment. Save your answer on a separate document as you fill this out. For the assessment and advice, click on the link above to go to the survey. You can also click here to see the glossary, which contains definitions for specific terms. Click here for Frequently Asked Questions.

Roof
1. Is your roof covering something other than Class-A fire rated?

2. Does your roof have any unstopped openings at the edge or ridge (e.g., open tiles)?

3. Is your roof, or a portion of your roof, in poor condition?

4. Is there vegetation or other debris in your roof valleys?

5. Does your roof have a complex design that might allow debris, and possibly embers, to collect?

6. Does your roof have open eaves (i.e., exposed rafter tails) with gaps greater than 1/8-inch between the blocking and rafters?

7. Does your roof have open eaves with vent holes in the between-rafter blocking?

8. Does your roof have boxed-in (soffited) eaves with vents in thesoffit?

9. Does your roof have boxed-in eaves with combustiblesoffit material?

10. Is your chimney open in gun screened?

11. Is there debris in your roof gutters?

12. Is there any vegetation near the roof or the roof edge?

Windows

1. Does your home have any single pane windows?

2. Are your windows or window frames in poor condition?

3. Are there any man-made fuels within 3-feet of your windows?

4. Is there any combustible vegetation within 6-feet of your windows?

Decking
1. Does your home have a deck or exterior staircase with open-frame construction?

2. Is it difficult to access/maintain the area under your deck?

3. Are there any man-made fuels under or within 3-feet of your deck?

4. Is there any vegetation under or within 3-feet of your deck?

Garage
1.Does your home have an attached garage or one close (within 30-feet) to your home?

2. Does your garage have a vehicle access door?

3. Are there any gaps under or around your garage doors?

Siding
1. Is your siding combustible?

2. Are there any gaps in the building envelope?

3. Is there a combustible fence or gate attached to your home?

4. Are there any man-made fuels located within 6-feet of your siding?

5. Is there any vegetation within 6-feet of your siding?

6. Does yourhomehaveunscreened vents or screened vents with a mesh size greater than 1/4-inch (e.g., crawl space, room containing gas water heater)?

Suppression

1. Is your address marking less than 3 inches tall or otherwise unreadable?

2. Is your driveway less than 12 feet wide or otherwise obstructed?

Resources

Wildland-Urban Interface Demonstration Building: A Virtual Tour

Take a virtual tour of a structure built to demonstrate the trade-offs of different types of building materials and construction in the wildland-urban interface.

Builder's Wildfire Mitigation Guide

Review a comprehensive guide to building in fire-prone areas.

Homeowner's Wildfire Mitigation Guide

Review a comprehensive guide to mitigating home-related fire hazards.

Home Landscaping for Fire Guide from UC Cooperative Extension

UC Master Gardener recommendations on landscaping

Two related publications from UC ANR

After-wildfire Resources

Information and further resources on recovering after a wildland-urban interface fire.

Up-to-the-minute Wildfire News

Read the top ten fire news stories from around the globe, updated continuously from Google News.