Stay Informed

Organize Your Community

• Sign up forSMC Alert.
• Know your evacuation procedures.
• VisitZonehavento find out what zone you live in. SMC Alert evacuation notices will use these zones when issuing evacuation instructions.

• Learn who your neighbors are. Do they have special needs? Where are their gas and water valves? Do they need help evacuating?
• Encourage everyone in your neighborhood to have a free Wildfire Home Risk Assessment. This will let residents know what they can do to make both their home and their neighborhood more resilient to wildfire.CallWFPD at 650-851-1594 to schedule.
• Hold a neighborhood meeting to discuss ways to be fire safe. Share information about home hardening techniques and how to create a defensible space around your home.
• Learn how your neighborhood can become a Firewise community. Firewise communities often receive insurance discounts.
• Make sure all your neighbors have filled out the online WPV-Ready emergency preparedness and response annual community questionnaire. This information will help fire fighters keep your neighbors safe.

Make a Plan

• Create a Go-Bag so you can leave in a hurry. Include medications, pet supplies, and all your essentials.
• Plan where your family will meet in case of an emergency.
• Practice all the ways out of your neighborhood. Try driving these routes during the day and night.
• Know where your evacuation station is located.

When the Worst Happens

• When evacuation seems likely, move flammables away from your home.
• Evacuate early. Most deaths in wildfire occur when people wait too long to evacuate.
• Follow evacuation orders, especially regarding routes and destinations.

0-5 foot Zone Zero

5-30 foot Zone

• This is the ember defense zone.
• Use hardscape, gravel, pavers, concrete, etc. No combustible bark or mulch.
• Remove dead weeds, grass, shrubs, trees, branches, leaves, and vegetative debris.
• Clear your roofs and gutters.
• Clear underneath decks, porches, and stairways.
• Remove all branches within 10 feet of chimney, stovepipes, and roof surface.
• Limit combustible items e.g. outdoor furniture, planters, and storage sheds.
• Replace combustible fencing, gates, and arbors with noncombustible alternatives.
• Relocate garbage, recycling containers, boats, RVs, and other combustible items outside this zone.
• Relocate wood piles 30 feet from structures and decks.

• Remove dead weeds, grass, shrubs, trees, branches, leaves, and vegetative debris.
• Remove all branches within 10 feet of chimney, stovepipes, and roof surface.
• Trim trees to keep branches at least 10 feet from other trees.
• Remove Flammable Five trees and shrubs: juniper, cypress, acacia, pine, and eucalyptus.

30-100 foot Zone

• Cut annual grass to a maximum height of 4 inches.
• Create horizontal and vertical space between shrubs and trees.
• Limit dry leaves, needles, twigs, bark, and pine cones.
• Exposed wood piles must have a minimum 10 feet of clearance in all directions

Roof

Decks

• Replace any wood roof and re-roof with fire-resistant materials.
• Install roof gutter guards so that leaf debris does not accumulate.
• Block spaces between roof decking and covering to prevent ember intrusion.
• Remove vegetative debris from the roof.

• Surfaces within 10 feet of structures should be built with noncombustible materials.

Vents

 Fences

•  Install ember-resistant vents.

• Separate your fence from your house or upgrade the first 5-10 feet of fencing to noncombustible material. Don’t let wood fencing serve as a wick to your home. 

 Eaves and Soffits

 Garage

• Eaves should be boxed in (soffited-eave design) and protected with ignition-resistant materials.

• Add a battery backup to the garage door motor so that the garage door can be opened if power is out.
• Install weather stripping around and under the garage door to prevent ember entry.
• Treat windows and vents in the garage door and walls the same as the rest of the house.

 Windows and Skylights

•  Install dual-paned windows and skylights.
• Limit the size and number of windows that face large areas of vegetation.

 Chimney

 Siding

• Cover your chimney and stovepipe outlets with ember-resistant screens.
• Close the fireplace flue during fire season when the chimney is not being used.

• Update your home siding with ignition-resistant buildings materials, such as stucco or fiber cement siding. This is especially important when neighboring homes are within 30 feet of the home.