Firewise

The Wildfire Foundation will assist you growing your Fire Prevention Communities

NFPA® Firewise Program

Firewise was developed by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA®) and is a cooperative effort among local, state, federal, and private agencies and organizations to promote fire safety in the wildland/urban interface.

 

Firefighters do not have the resources to defend every home during a wildfire. Firewise communities are those that have taken appropriate measures to mitigate or prevent wildfire structural damage.

 

There is a 2,500 dwelling maximum for a Firewise community (CAL FIRE prefers a maximum of 500 dwellings. Because many cities have more than 2,500 dwelling it is often best to take the HOA-by-HOA or community approach to qualify for the program. Therefore, at a local level, you can form a Firewise Community in your HOA or neighborhood, which will eventually provide better protection for the entire community and potentially qualify your community for a discount on Homeowners Insurance. Each HOA or neighborhood can qualify for Firewise Status as soon as it meets the requirements.

 

The Wildfire Foundation has helped many communities achieve the objectives of the Firewise program by addressing the four major components of the program below. To achieve this, it is necessary for HOA and community leaders to work together to tackle this challenge, community by community. The following four steps are required to become a Firewise-recognized community:

Qualifying Firewise activities are listed here (CLICK HERE), and insurance companies that provide discounts for Firewise Communities are listed here (CLICK HERE). For a tutorial on how to get your community up and running on Firewise, please see the links below.

You will have a lot of support from us as you go through the process of applying for Firewise recognition. Once Firewise-recognized, you will have achieved greater protection for your family and community from wildfire, and you will have potentially earned a discount on your Homeowners Insurance.

  1. Create a board or committee of volunteers to represent your community – You will need to find 3-5 people from your HOA or neighborhood who will represent your community for Firewise recognition.
  2. Complete a Community Risk Assessment (WRA) – Your HOA (or committee or team) will need to fill out the Firewise USA Community Risk Assessment (CLICK HERE to view). Local and Regional Fire Departments and Resource Conservation Districts normally collaborate on this.
  3. Develop a three-year action plan – Your team or committee will fill out a three-year action plan (CLICK HERE). This is a simple four-page document that details your annual goals for each of the three years.  The Wildfire Foundation  and your local Fire Safe Councils and the Fire Department will assist you to complete this form.
  4. Compile volunteer hours – A Firewise community is required to provide evidence of an average of one volunteer hour per dwelling annually of Firewise-qualified activities. So, if there are 100 homes in a community, that community would need a total of 100 Volunteer Hours annually. This is much simpler than it sounds. Getting residents to submit their hours, dollars spent, and cubic yards of removed vegetation is complicated. The Wildfire Foundations proprietary Resident Management System™ (RMS) easily enables residents to enter their information on your website, and the RMS then provides monthly and annual reports for each HOA/Community and each Firewise Volunteer Activity. CLICK HERE to see how easy it is to submit Firewise Volunteer Hours. It is important to note that you also get credit for dollars spent on materials or services to improve your home or defensible space. Each $29.95 spent can be converted to one Volunteer Hour to help meet your annual goal. For example, if you pay your gardener $75 per month, that is the equivalent of 3 hours. Our Resident Management System™ makes this a very simple, ongoing process.

Please visit the NFPA® website for more information:
https://www.nfpa.org/Education-and-Research/Wildfire/Firewise-USA

Some helpful links when setting up your Firewise USA community:

NFPA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DA4aYkDuD7k
APPLICATION PROCESS TUTORIAL (BIG SUR FIREWISE USA): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxmnqkcnXQc

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