How defensible Space saved their home
Charissa and her husband, Roberto, are the neighbors you want to have when living a fire-smart life in Butte County. They’ve proven that homeowner defensible space works. In fact, Roberto watched the Thompson fire reach their property line and get no further.
Be Ready, Butte! had the opportunity to speak with Charissa recently about their approach to getting ready to be ready. Here’s her story.
What prompted you to start creating homeowner defensible space on your property? Was there a specific event or piece of information that motivated you?
In a way, defensible space came naturally to us. We don’t like clutter, inside or outside. Plus, we’ve thought a lot about fire since we moved to our home in 2010. With the known drought conditions, wind events, and extreme heat for many months every year, our goal has always been to make sure we’re ready.
How did you discover your proclivity for defensible space?
It happened when we were searching for new fire coverage in 2018. Our long-time home insurance company dropped us suddenly and we had only 30 days to scramble for new coverage.
Our new carrier required a formal home inspection, and their requirements and suggestions just made sense to us. We’ve always been dedicated to the safety of our home and our property, so we complied with all their recommendations within two weeks.
One very important goal we set for ourselves: we didn’t want to have to rely on water to save our home. We’ve worked hard to rely on proper landscaping and careful planning to keep fire as far away as possible.
Did you have any visits from Defensible Space Inspectors? Were they helpful?
Just one, several years ago. We were told our property was very well prepared for a fire, which has been wonderful motivation for us to keep on doing what we’ve been doing!
That’s not to say we haven’t learned anything. We’ve since become aware of CAL FIRE’s amazing fire-safety resources, and those have been incredibly helpful—especially after the Bear Fire started in Plumas County and came within two miles of our home.
Can you list the defensible space and/or home hardening actions you’ve taken on your property?
Do you have a pen handy?
- We replaced all the windows with dual-pane windows.
- We removed our chimney.
- We installed rain gutter screens and replaced our roof with rubberized asphalt shingles.
- No foliage gets closer than five feet from the structure, none is allowed to grow over the roof, and no growth is allowed at the bottom of our wood fencing.
- We clear cobwebs from the eaves to our foundation every week.
- The area under our deck is 100% clear of anything flammable.
- There’s no fire-prone vegetation within 50 feet of the house.
- And of course, we maintain the all important 5-foot, no-burn zone around the entire house.
Wow! Anything else?
We worked with a neighbor to remove dangerous juniper bushes on their property as well and replaced all our screen covers with regulation screens with openings no larger than 1/8”.
How do you think homeowner defensible space helped protect your property when the Thompson fire came through?
The most important factor for our home was the quick and efficient response by CAL FIRE! But defensible space was instrumental in supporting their response.
The fire burned right up to our property lines and died out at the edges where we have maintained fire-safe practices. Our gutter and vent screens prevented large embers from getting through (after the fire I found very large black embers that were adhered to these screens). Our foliage plan kept our fencing from burning and kept flames from neighboring properties away from ours. And our 5-foot perimeter did its job—I found plenty of dead embers and burnt pine needles around the foundation of our house, left there to fizzle out before they could take our home down with them.
What was your reaction after the fact?
We’re in utter awe of how close the fire came to our home and grateful we were able to protect our home from fire using homeowner defensible space. We’ll also never forget the role CAL FIRE crews played in saving our home. This fire has affected both of us for many reasons.
What has the response been from your neighbors or community after they saw your property survived?
Our direct neighbor, who rents his home out, thanked us for helping to save his home, along with firefighter efforts of course. We had been secretly clearing some foliage and other dangerous materials from his property over the years. But it’s sad to see so many of our neighbors still not taking the steps to protect their homes from fire—many whose homes survived by sheer luck. I know it can be hard to get started, but our home is here today because we did. If we did it, anyone can.
What’s the first piece of advice you have for those neighbors?
Go to BeReadyButte.com—there’s no better place to start! We’re all in this together, and Be Ready, Butte! is our community connection.
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We’re grateful to Charissa for sharing her and Roberto’s fire-survival story. Such memories are hard to revisit. If you haven’t adopted a homeowner defensible space mindset yet, we sincerely hope their story will get you on the path to protecting your home. BeReadyButte.com is standing by to help, 24/7.