Wildfire Safety and Defensible Space
Consulting for the people of California and Nevada
Our Services
We show you the best practices to be in compliance with any brush ordinance and to best protect your home from wildland fire.
We have relationships with contractors who can do all of the work shown on your highlighted on your defensible space consult.
Forest and brush lands near communities have been prioritized for thinning in community wildfire protection plans throughout the state.
Community wildfire protection planning allows homeowners to protect their communities.
We bring certainty to HOAs who are implementing fire safe community plans.
2018 California Fire Stats
Even with the destruction caused by the recent mega-fires, homes continue to survive. How can a home survive when it is surrounded by hundreds of destroyed homes? The practices that protect these resilient homes have been studied and honed for years. Decades of scientific research found that a home’s immediate surroundings dictate home ignition. Simply put, a home’s survival will primarily be determined by the quality of a property’s defensible space and home construction.
California Public Resource Code requires homeowners to maintain defensible space. Cal Fire is actively inspecting properties; however, insurance companies are frequently requiring more work than is required by law. As an example, PRC 4291 allows for homeowners to maintain a closed tree canopy under the condition that there are no small trees or brush that would allow fire to travel into the tree canopy. This standard will frequently be rejected by insurance companies who are looking for 10-foot tree branch spacing as described in the International Wildland Urban Interface Code. The WUI Code requires 10-foot tree spacing from branch to branch. This absolute policy does not provide for heterogeneity in the tree structure or recognize that trees tend to grow in clumps. Homeowners wanting to maintain their homeowner’s insurance will likely have to conform to this tree spacing guideline.
Who We Work With
Live Oak Wildfire is a leading defensible space and wildfire risk reduction consulting company, dedicated to providing you with all the services you need to stay wildfire safe.