Planning for the next big fire with home wildfire retrofit guide

LAKE TAHOE, Calif./Nev. - With several feet of snow on the ground, preparing for wildfire may not be on your winter "to-do" list. But, winter is actually a great time to plan your home hardening retrofits. Home hardening is the process of preparing your home for wildfire embers by addressing its most vulnerable components and retrofitting them with fire-resistant building materials.

Choose an easy retrofit or something grand from this idea list from Living With Fire:

Replace Roof with Class A material, metal, composite, or tile - Normally roofs are replaced when they have reached their life expectancy which is about 30-40 years. Wood shingle roofs should be replaced immediately. Having a shingle roof is like having campfire kindling on top of your beloved home. This retrofit is one of the most expensive, so plan wisely.

Eaves: Enclose open eaves - If a roof upgrade doesn’t fit in your budget, enclosing your eaves may be a more affordable option. If you have carpentry skills, you may even do it yourself. Open eaves could harbor pesky embers long enough to ignite the eave. Enclosed eaves deflect the embers where they fall to the noncombustible materials on the ground. Retrofits actually work better together

Vents: Replace attic and crawl space vents with 1/8” metal mesh screening - Again, those small, but devastating embers need to burn out in a noncombustible area, not flame up in your attic. Specialized vents for this purpose may cost around $1000 depending on the size of your house.

Fences: Replace 5 feet of the fence or gate next to your house with a non-combustible material like metal - A burning wooden fence can bring the fire directly to your home, and potentially to your neighbor’s house as well. Installing a segment of non-combustible fence will greatly reduce the fire’s progress from this source.

Decks: Stop embers from igniting your deck and disconnect flammable deck materials from your home - After removing flammable materials from under your deck, skirt the open ends of the deck with ignition-resistant siding or 1/8-inch wire mesh to stop embers from blowing under your deck. Additionally, installing metal flashing between your home and deck, and replacing the combustible deck board adjacent to your home with fire-resistant materials can slow the spread of fire between your deck and your home.

Vents: Replace attic and crawl space vents with 1/8” metal mesh screening - Again, those small, but devastating embers need to burn out in a noncombustible area, not flame up in your attic. Specialized vents for this purpose may cost around $1000 depending on the size of your house.

Windows and Skylights: Install or upgrade windows and skylights to multi-pane tempered glass - Windows are a common entry point for fire. Slow the radiant heat during a wildfire from shattering your windows with multi-pane tempered glass and remove all flammable vegetation and materials adjacent to your windows.

Taking on all these projects could be challenging to impossible for most people. Picking one or two projects and completing them will greatly improve your wildfire preparedness. As you complete more retrofits you are on your way to helping your home and neighborhood community survive a wildfire.

We live in a majestic mountain community and we also live with wildfire. We are not helpless because we can take the steps to harden our homes and community.

Download this free guide to learn the many ways that you can harden your home for wildfire. see: Wildfire Home Retrofit Guide.

The Wildfire Home Retrofit Guide was funded by CAL FIRE California Climate Investments, a statewide initiative that assigns cap-and-trade dollars to projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, address the risk of wildfire, and increase community resiliency.