Delivered to your inbox at 5 p.m., the Daily Briefing brings you all the latest Berkeley news in one handy place.

Something went wrong. Please try again later.

Nonprofit news. Free for all, funded by readers.

ELECTION 2022: Our coverage ● How to submit an op-ed | WILDFIRES: Prepare | MAPS: Injury crashes ● Gunfire

“Defensible space” is a term that’s become commonplace with the increased risk of wildfires. It refers to a buffer zone of landscaping around a structure to give it the best shot at not catching fire.

The recommendations regarding defensible space are based on data showing they can or might help. They also might not. All fires are different. 

But most emergency planners feel strongly that you should do all you can to make your property more defensible, even with the unknown.

To help visualize defensible space, imagine embers carried through the air by the heat of fire and winds. The goal is to protect your home and yard from catching fire from a flying ember, or from surging flames. 

This means removing or limiting as much flammable or combustible vegetation and other materials from around your house as possible. Trimming back plants and trees, mowing grasses and weeds, keeping combustibles off of and away from your house and creating space around plants, trees and backyard equipment like grills. 

CalFire sets the gold standard of defensible space. Local jurisdictions — including Berkeley — base their own regulations on the CalFire model.  

The CalFire model uses zones around a house: an “ember-resistant” zone extending five feet from the structure, called Zone 0; a wider inner zone extending 30 feet out, Zone 1; and an outer zone, extending from 30 feet to 100 feet, Zone 2. 

Zone 0 isn’t yet required by law, but CalFire stresses its importance, and legal regulations are in the works. This is the area closest to any structure and should be “hardscaped” with gravel, rocks, concrete or any material that can’t ignite. No mulch and limited plants. CalFire Zone includes decks and roofs in Zone 0, calling for removing vegetative debris such as leaves and needles, limiting combustible patio furniture or planters, replacing combustible fencing, gates or arbors with noncombustible alternatives and not storing garbage and recycling bins or RVs or trailers in this area. 

Zone 1 standards call for smaller, thinner and lower vegetation to prevent sparks from flying to your house. 

Zone 2 allows for some taller trees and bushes, trimmed to minimize risks from flames and flying embers. The closer to the house, the more space between bushes and trees. Look for horizontal as well as vertical spacing, so upper branches are spaced apart. 

Fire resistant landscaping is strongly encouraged.

Maintaining your yard is not just about saving your home. It’s also about saving neighborhoods. Every burning building is fuel for a fire, making it hotter and stronger. Making property more fire-resistant can minimize this effect. The more you clear space in high-risk fire zones, the better your chances of slowing a fire.

Defensible space is required by state law in high-risk fire zones and is enforced by local fire agencies, such as the Berkeley Fire Department. Property owners can face fines and a misdemeanor conviction if they fail to comply after repeated notifications. Local agencies can also create stricter regulations than state authorities. 

Under local enforcement, yards are usually inspected in the spring, at the start of fire season, with compliance required by early summer.

First, learn your property’s wildland fire risk. 

Berkeley’s vegetation management program applies to the city’s hillside fire zones, which are made up of two zones, called 2 and 3. The city’s map shows each address’ fire risk zone. Credit: City of Berkeley

This year, the Berkeley Fire Department is “dramatically expanding” its formal inspection program. 

For more details on Berkeley’s wildland-urban interface property inspections, read a mailer from Fire Chief Abe Roman, check Berkeley Fire’s wildland fire information page, call the department at 510-981-3473, or email fire@cityofberkeley.info.

Along with “defensible space,” “home hardening,” once a rare term, is now finding its way to the common lingo of wildfire prevention. 

Home hardening is the act of preparing your house against fire by choices in materials, construction and design. This includes replacing flammable materials with fire-retardant or noncombustible options, protecting against embers and removing fire hazards.

The concepts of home hardening and defensible space overlap to cover practices that can reduce wildfire damage to your entire property, the structures and the land.  

Nothing is guaranteed when it comes to stopping fire, but research shows that home hardening steps can make a difference.

Flying embers and intense radiant heat pose the greatest dangers to buildings during wildfires. Wood — such as siding, shingles, roofs or decks — are kindling to embers and fuel for flames. The same goes for flammable vegetation. Intense radiant heat can cause combustible materials to burst into flames.

The science of home hardening, the development of new materials and techniques to resist fire, is a fast-moving field. California’s recent large-scale fires are serving to some extent as laboratories for what works best.

As of now in the East Bay, most home hardening is optional, not required. Though in high wildland fire risk zones, creating defensible space is the law. However, the California Fire Marshall sets codes for home hardening materials and practices. Using these methods must meet codes. 

Two California entities have published guides to home hardening:

Other things to consider are replacing wooden furniture with fire-resistant materials. Wooden furniture, BBQ grills, propane tanks and garbage and recycling bins should not be stored near your home’s exterior.

For property owners, fire prevention can be expensive. Even if you mow, weed and trim bushes on your own, most people need to hire out for heavy work, such as removing or trimming trees.

Some of the work is required, while some is strongly recommended.

Berkeley’s vegetation management requirements include creating 30 feet of defensible space around your home and things like covering house vents with wire mesh to prevent embers from entering your home.

Other improvements, like using fire resistant materials for your roof and siding, can add up to thousands of dollars. And some of the work needs to be done or maintained every year. This is easier for some people to manage financially than others. 

Unfortunately, there isn’t a lot of assistance available.  

Berkeley has a free chipper program to grind tree limbs and brush in high fire risk zones and haul away chippings. For details:

The Diablo Firesafe Council, a nonprofit serving Alameda and Contra Costa counties, offers matching grants of up to $5,000 for vegetation clearance in residential areas of the East Bay hills and in high-risk fire zones. Applications are reviewed on a quarterly basis with the next deadline being Aug. 13. Cheryl Miller, the council’s executive coordinator, says they currently have a wait list for projects and they hope to hear soon if they get additional funding for the next few years. More details are available on the council’s website or by calling 510-282-1265.

PG&E has also produced a seven-part video series called “7 Saturdays” with tips about how homeowners can protect their properties against wildfires.  

Several Berkeley hotels have offered discounts on Red Flag days, targeting people relocating from high risk fire zones.

For renters, most of the same advice on wildfire preparation applies to you, such as preparing a go bag, signing up for emergency alerts, and having an evacuation plan. You should know if you live in Berkeley’s hillside fire zones and you should know your Zonehaven evacuation zone number. 

The responsibility of renters generally stops with the physical property, the house or building and the yard. Your landlord or the property owner is responsible for making sure the building meets building codes, including fire codes and for defensible space requirements related to yard maintenance. 

State and local laws require rental properties to have smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors, fire extinguishers and openable window bars. Larger buildings may require sprinkler systems and alarm systems. 

If you rent in a hillside fire zone, have conversations with your landlord now about preparedness including:

If you feel your landlord isn’t meeting fire safety regulations or isn’t sharing information with you, contact your fire or emergency services department.

The Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board is an important resource for tenants and landlords. It can provide detailed information on fire code requirements for everything from a rental house to a multi-unit apartment complex. 

The horrific wildfires of Northern California brought attention to how renters can be impacted, including losing all their belongings in a blaze and then experiencing homelessness. Many were left with nothing but bank accounts, if they had them, and reliance on family and friends.

Unlike property owners, rebuilding or dealing with homeowner’s insurance wasn’t relevant. 

One good to come of this tragedy was disaster advice just for renters. Some of these efforts are still active today, and excellent resources for tenants. Including: 

On hot days, many people living in high-risk areas of the East Bay hills like to water their yards often to keep their plants and grounds moist and damp, as a deterrent to flying embers or flames. Some also regularly hose down their wood decks and fences. 

But does this even help and, more importantly, is this water use OK during a drought? 

No to both, says Pam Temmermand, a fire prevention specialist at CalFire. Temmermand offered this drought advice to those living in hillside fire zones.

I have fire insurance — for now. What do I need to know? 

For many property owners in high-risk fire areas, homeowner’s insurance is becoming a nightmare. Rates are increasing, and policies are being canceled or not renewed, all linked to the risks of destructive wildfire.

Having adequate coverage in an area with high wildfire risk is vital. Thousands of homes were destroyed in recent California fires, with many people discovering they didn’t have enough coverage.

The cost of insurance – if you can get it – is challenging or prohibitive for some family budgets. The headache of finding adequate coverage is hard on most people affected.

If you’re a homeowner in the hills, here’s what you should do now:

Insurance companies have to give you a 75 day-notice of cancellation under state law. It might take this long to get a new policy, so try not to procrastinate.

Ask your former broker for suggestions, including whether additional wildfire prevention work might help keep your coverage. Talk to neighbors in the same fire risk zone.

There are a couple of online services that might help.

If your insurance company didn’t give you a 75-day notice before cancellation, or if you don’t understand why you were dropped, contact the California Department of Insurance at 800-927-HELP.

California law guarantees that basic home fire insurance is available to any homeowner who can’t get conventional coverage under the California Fair Plan.

But it isn’t free or low-cost. The plan is essentially a pool of high-risk private insurers available to homeowners as a last resort. It is considered a temporary safety net until regular coverage is attained.

Here are a few more helpful resources:

The Berkeley Wildfire Guide is a collaboration between Berkeleyside and The Oaklandside. The guide — first published on July 29, 2021, and last updated on June 7, 2022 — was written by Kate Darby Rauch and Brian Krans, edited by Zac Farber and Jacob Simas, designed by Doug Ng and illustrated by T.L. Simons. You can read a version of the guide tailored for Oakland residents on The Oaklandside.

Information overload can be an issue as you plan for emergencies. That’s why we’ve compared information and vetted sources for you, with the aim of providing only credible and recent information from trusted sources. 

Sources used in compiling this guide: CalFire, Berkeley Fire Department, Oakland Fire Department, FEMA, Alameda County Fire Department, U.S. Forest Service, National Interagency Fire Center, National Wildfire Coordinating Group, U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Weather Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Centers for Disease Control, Pacific Gas & Electric, East Bay Municipal Utility District, East Bay Regional Park District, California Fire Safe Council, Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, Community Emergency Alert Teams, State Council on Developmental Disabilities, University of California Cooperative Extension, Oakland Animal Services, Berkeley Disaster Preparedness Neighborhood Network, Hills Emergency Forum, Alameda County Office of Emergency Services, Oakland Firesafe Council, Diablo Firesafe Council, FIRESafe Marin, Public Health Institute, California Air Resources Board, Bay Area Air Quality Management District, American Red Cross, Kaiser Permanente, Mask Oakland, Zonehaven, ALERTWildfire, City of Mill Valley, City of Ross.

The image illustrating defensible space in the property section of this guide is adapted from the Wildfire Home Retrofit Guide (publication #SP-20-11) with permission from University of Nevada, Reno Extension and the Living With Fire Program.

Donate to Berkeleyside and support independent local journalism.