Monthly Archives: April 2024

Think Home First

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Before you ask us for a fire defensive landscape, please harden your home

September 2023. By Cassy Aoyagi: Alongside Hawaii’s losses weighing heavy on hearts, we see amplified fire fear. That’s natural. Yet, fear often clouds our ability to see and take the most productive action.    

January 2025 Notice: This article is designed to provide long-term guidance.
If you are navigating loss, consider waiting to read it.
If you have been asked to evacuate, Get Set and Go!

When fear rises, people look out to the wild with trepidation and want to pave entire landscapes. That won’t save homes or lives. Thinking home first will. The fire scientists, fire fighters, and fire-defensive architects who have taught us to fear less have been sounding this warning for years.

Research like that of the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety can leads us to more calm, clear-eyed solutions. Fire defensive architect Amanda Cavallo perfectly defined our true problem:    

It’s important to understand that buildings
and structures are the first thing to perish
in a wildfire and provide the most
fuel for a wildfire.

We use materials in our building and construction that are flammable, chemical, synthetic, combustible and explosive.

Amanda Cavallo
Wildfire Beyond the WUI (Video)
IBHS ember tests illustrate how to protect homes from the most common source of ignition.

The first of the 10 fire defensive actions we hope you’ll take is to think home first.

Home first thinking involves looking at where on your home embers could gain access to the interior or gather to build enough heat to ignite the exterior of your home. Here, Cavallo brings additional clarity:

[Home fires] start because the worst impacts are due to wind blown embers
that can travel for miles and land on roofs, get in through vents,
and will burn a structurefrom the inside out.
The biggest danger is to the home is the home – that is
where we need to start.

Amanda Cavallo
Wildfire Beyond the WUI (Video)

Take Action

Here are highly effective home-first actions, from low-cost to high. (Yes, we’re being a bit sneaky here, as thinking home first involves a few actions.)

  1. Maintenance: Block any spaces between roof and decking (“birdstopping) and in siding – we hear gorilla tape can work wonders in a pinch! Keep your roof, gutters and the base of your home free of debris.
  2. Vents: Cover chimney and other vents with “spark arresting” mesh screens.
  3. Gutters: Install non-combustible leaf guards. (Bonus: This will save rainy season maintenance too!)
  4. Attached Fence/Gate: Add a metal plate where the gate attaches to the home. Replace wood gates with metal or composite. Avoid designs that could catch and hold embers.
  5. Eves: Install soffits if you have an overhang. Install fire resistant (1-hour rating) soffits and fascia.
  6. Doors: Add weather stripping to doors and shutters to sliding doors. Replace wooden garage doors, particularly if they are not solid-core.
  7. Decks: Replace plastic, wood plastic and softwoods with hard woods and be sure to select sizes that comply with California building codes.
  8. Windows + Skylights: Replace with fire resistant materials, tempered glass – this includes windows in doors!
  9. Roofs: Re-roof with Class-A materials (e.g. composition, metal or tile)
  10. Siding: Replace siding that could burn (wood) or melt (vinyl) with fire resistant materials such as brick, stone, or stucco, starting with the vertical six inches closest to the ground.

Tour Examples

To get a sense of what this looks like, tour the model Fire Resilient Home designed by architect Clark Stevens as an educational tool for the Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains and LA County Fire Department’s Forestry Division.    

Tour the Fire Resilient Home with Architect Clark Stevens

For a more detailed checklist and cost versus efficacy assessment, see the House Upgrade Section of DefensibleSpace.org. If you are will apply these insights to your home, don’t do it alone!

If you live in Malibu, city inspectors will help you for free. In Simi Valley or the Santa Monica Mountains? The Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains (RCDSMM) will provide a free Home Ignition Zone Evaluation for free – they will also train you in the evaluation technique if you aim to be a resource for your community.    

Of course, all of this home-work will be much easier if the five feet around your home is ember resistant and clear of artwork, furnishings, toys, tools, wood piles, storage, and container gardens. We would be very happy to help you create this ember resistant Zone 0, which will be required for all those in high and very high fire sensitivity areas by January 2024.

Not yet in a high fire severity zone? They are expanding year by year. Let’s get ahead of things. We love you, and we want to know we’ve done all we can to keep you safe.    

Sources and Resources

Ember Resistant Zone 0 Requirements

Home Hardening

Get Safer in 5 Steps

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improve safety by dressing your home in a 5 foot ember resistant “skirt”

September 2023. By Oscar Ortega: Our teams spent the summer improving the safety of Zone 0s for dozens of grantees supported by the Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains (RCDSMM). We learned a lot! We can absolutely create beautiful Zone 0s that enhance curb appeal and day-to-day living – it is also possible to just get safer by taking a few simple steps.

January 2025 Notice: This article is designed to provide long-term guidance.
If you have been asked to evacuate, Get Set and Go!


If you simply want to get safer fast, here are five relatively easy steps that will get you there.

This home’s Zone 0 is clearly measured and marked.

Step 1: Identify Your Zone 0

Zone 0 is the five feet closest to your home, including any physical structures like decks or stairways. Let’s walk the perimeter around your home and mark this space. This action alone brings valuable awareness to the space.

Pro Tip: Measure five feet out from the wood structures like decks. For example, in the photo above Andres has bumped out the Zone 0 to accommodate wood stairs that will sit at the entrance to the home.

The human-made materials we keep attached, near, or under our structures present the greatest dangers.

Step 2: Think Home First

Every fire defense strategy starts with the home. For now, let’s document where we are. Take pictures and make notes of what is in this space. Pay attention to human-made materials – they are often the most easily ignitable, flammable and explosive items on our properties. Ask: How easy would these items be to move? Could you (or your home-alone aged kids) do it alone? How quickly?

Pro Tip: Keep these notes and photos to show fire and insurance agencies. It will be useful to have proof of your progress when enforcement begins. It may also earn an insurance discount or help defend against a loss of insurance.

Once Zone 0 is clear. Clean it of leaf litter, cobwebs – anything that might catch or fuel an ember.

Step 3: Relocate Critical Dangers

Now that we understand what is in your Zone 0, let’s make it safer. We’ll start by addressing items that are not planted or firmly attached to the home.

  1. Remove explosive items (e.g. paint cans, gasoline and propane containers, chemical fertilizers, and garbage cans).
  2. Relocate and store items that easily ignite (e.g. cushions, umbrellas, outdoor rugs and matts; wood piles; wood or plastic furniture, containers, hoses, tools and toys).

Pro Tip: Store noted items in a garage or other ember resistant container as far from the home and neighboring structures as possible. Take a beat to note the effort involved. Would you want to do this under pressure?

Make the area nearest your home as safe and easy to navigate as you can.

Step 4: Clear Exposed Ground

You and your home are already substantially safer. Our next step will be to clear ground level materials away from the home. This typically means you will:

  • Rake away mulch and leaf litter, which can be placed in foliage beds beyond Zone 0,,
  • Pull back synthetic or turf grass, and
  • Prune foliage away from the ground, siding and roofline.

Pro Tip: With the area around your home much more accessible and visible, now would be a great time to get a Home Ignition Zone assessment.

Everything in this Zone 0 could be removed and stored in a moment’s notice. The exposed vents to the left of the steps are ember rated – a very effective, inexpensive upgrade.

Step 5: This Is the Fun Part!

Now a great time to assess what you want to keep and create. If we were there, we would ask a few questions:

  • How do you feel now that you, your home and your neighbors are now much safer?
  • How do you want to use the Zone 0 space day-to-day?
  • What ember materials do you find charming? Architecturally consistent?

Pro Tip: Ignite your imagination! An ember resistant Zone 0 can facilitate a fun lifestyle, even as it increases safety. With that understanding, we can look out to the broader landscape to plant beautiful, enjoyable defensive spaces.

More Information

Hardscapes: Aim for Just Enough

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hardscapes can increase fire safety, water security – when right sized

September 2023. By Isara Ongwiseth: Whether it’s to save water or protect ourselves from fire, Angelenos often turn to creating a more-built environment when we are gripped by a sense of emergency. Often the preference comes from thinking if a little of something is good, more is better.

January 2025 Notice: This article is designed to provide long-term guidance.
If you have been asked to evacuate, Get Set and Go!

Why not seek “just right”? When it comes to hard spaces in our landscapes, we need just enough. Just enough for convenience. Just in particular spaces for fire protection. Just “soft” enough to sink water. Just “rough” enough to catch embers. Here is what that looks like.    

Where the home’s siding meets the ground is wildfire prepared with ember resistant materials.

Create an Ember Resistant Zone 0

It’s essential to keep the five feet closest to homes, our Zone 0s, free of flammable materials and to have ember resistant materials at the foundation of the home. Just what CalFire considers ember resistant might surprise you! Well-hydrated, non-woody foliage is ember resistant. So are the trunks of well-established trees (exceptions: palms or cypress). What they will not allow are synthetic turfs; mulch; or wood gates, piles or storage structures. Tip: Having a skirt of ember resistant gravel, decomposed granite, pavers and/or concrete is one of the best things we can do for our safety. It can be both stylish and really convenient! See Examples

Too much hardscape allows embers to reach homes, where low-growing foliage can inhibit them.

Reduce Expansive “Hardscapes”

Driveways, as well as paths and patios can provide fire breaks and “defensible space,” space where fire-fighters can be safe from trip hazards and fire while defending our homes. Beyond that, large gravelscapes and intensely hardscaped areas create free-space for embers to fly, bounce and roll toward homes. This is more dangerous than having well-hydrated, well-maintained foliage spaced and placed to inhibit ember travel. Tip: Maintain or plant well spaced, placed, ideally native, foliage supported by irrigation rather than gravel or hardscaping large areas. In addition to increasing your safety, it will reduce heat, and save energy as well as money.    

Permeable hardscapes help landscapes stay hydrated.

Pick Permeable Materials

In addition to flying through open space, embers will bounce and roll. Like any ball, their roll can be slowed and redirected by bumps, by rough surfaces. The same materials and strategies we use to ensure our gardens sink as much stormwater as possible can also inhibit ground-level ember travel. Tip: Pick materials that can slow embers, sink water, and enhance your curb appeal! Consider permeable concrete, gravel, pavers with stone or foliage joints, or decomposed granite for patios and paths.      

More Information

For a deeper understanding of the protective role of foliage, we recommend this tutorial from the Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains.    

Cassy Aoyagi walks through how we applied these best practices at a variety of LA area homes in our Fire Defensive Tours and Tips Playlist in YouTube.