Defensible space, on your ground
You cannot change your hazard. You can change your vulnerability.
Defensible space is the vegetation and material work in the roughly 100 feet around your home that decides whether it can ignite in a wildfire. It runs in zones, from the ember-resistant first five feet outward. This is where you have the most control.
Your home decides its own fate, in the first 100 feet
Defensible space is not about the wall of flame on the news. It is about the ordinary fuel right around your house.
The home ignition zone
Your home and its immediate surroundings are what decide whether it ignites.
It runs in zones
From the ember-resistant first five feet, outward through the intermediate band to about 100 feet.
Hazard times vulnerability
We cannot lower your hazard. We can substantially lower your vulnerability, and that lowers your risk.
The evidence points to the near-home zone
Homes usually ignite from embers and small flames landing on or near the house, not from the main fire wall.
Cohen, on the home ignition zoneIn a study of about a thousand San Diego homes that burned and a thousand that survived, the near-home zone, the first 30 feet or so, was where clearing made the most difference. Going beyond about 100 feet added little, even on steep slopes. It is where your effort pays off, not a guarantee.
Syphard and colleagues, 2014Four areas, one plan
Each stands on its own. Start wherever your property needs it most.
Zone 0: the first 5 feet →
The ember-resistant zone. Hardscape, materials, and keeping combustibles and plants off the house.
Break the pathSpacing & continuity →
Separate tree crowns, clear ladder fuels, and break continuous vegetation into islands.
Plant smartFire-safe landscaping →
Choose plants by characteristics, arrange them well, and keep them maintained.
A hard lookHazard trees →
The trees near your home that deserve a closer look, by condition, species, and position.
Two facts decide everything else
Your Fire Hazard Severity Zone decides whether these rules are required or strongly recommended. Your jurisdiction decides which version of the rules you follow. They are not the same across San Diego. “Zone 1” means 5 to 30 feet in the City, but reaches 50 feet in unincorporated county. Same words, different distances.
See what your property actually needs
A Risk Walk turns all of this into a prioritized read of your parcel. What matters most, and what to do first. What you do with the findings, with us, with your own contractor, or yourself, is your call.