How to Prepare

Protect Your Home from Wildfire

Wildfire embers are the greatest threat to homes. They can travel long distances, find small weaknesses, and ignite structures long before flames arrive. A Home Hardening Assessment helps you understand those vulnerabilities and identify upgrades that meaningfully improve your home’s ability to withstand wildfire.

Our assessments are free, confidential, and educational, designed to empower homeowners with clear, realistic steps toward a safer property.

What Is Home Hardening?

Home hardening focuses on improving the parts of your home most likely to be exposed to embers, heat, or sparks during a wildfire. This includes: The materials and condition of your roof, siding, windows, and vents, how close combustible items are to the structure, features like decks, fences, eaves, and attachments, and what opportunities there are to upgrade to ember-resistant or non-combustible alternatives

Even small improvements such as replacing vent screens with 1/8-inch or 1/16-inch screens, cleaning roof debris, or adjusting landscaping within the first five feet of the home (Zone 0), can significantly increase a structure’s chances of surviving a wildfire.

What Happens During an Assessment?

One of our trained staff visits your property and walks you through the features of your home that matter most in a wildfire. The assessment includes:

• A review of your home’s exterior and immediate surroundings
• Identification of areas where embers could enter or ignite materials
• Guidance on maintenance, retrofits, and cost-effective improvements
• Recommended upgrades you can complete at your own pace

Assessments are confidential and non-regulatory, which means no one reports your results, tracks your progress, or requires you to complete any recommendations. The goal is to help you make informed choices that reduce risk for you and your neighbors.

Why It Matters for the Ojai Valley

Our region’s unique combination of wind, topography, and vegetation means that embers often become the primary cause of home ignition. Strengthening homes from the outside in not only protects individual households, it also contributes to a more fire-adapted and resilient Ojai Valley.

Home hardening is one of the most impactful actions a resident can take. It complements defensible space and supports the safety of firefighters, neighbors, and your broader community.

Schedule a Free Assessment

Whether you’re just beginning to explore home hardening or are considering specific upgrades, an assessment offers a clear starting point tailored to your home and budget.

Let’s work together to protect what matters most.