General: Obviously a big deal here or anywhere. The insurance companies become more obsessed about this every year so its important not to ever be out of compliance for your safety and that of your neighbors and community. Cal Fire has complete descriptions of both required and recommended fire safety procedures for brush, trees and safe area around your property. They are also really helpful and will come out by appointment to inspect your property and suggest what you should and need to do. They will also write up a signed report on compliance that can be very useful for you in dealing with your fire insurance company when you obtain or renew your policy
Burn Permits: There are burn seasons and non-burn seasons, and corresponding permits for certain types of burning during allowable times. These regulations and rules change so it is always important to check with Cal Fire if you are contemplating burning anything. Since fires in the mountains have such serious consequences for you and everyone else it is important to follow every rule and probably not to burn anything unless you have compelling reasons to do so and are able to take all the safety steps required. It does not take much of a mistake when burning to start a potential big disaster.
Fireplaces: Fireplaces are an especially nice addition in our mountain homes. There has been a constantly evolving set of requirements for fireplaces, manufacturers certifications and chimneys. Its best to check on them if you are thinking of any changes to your fireplace. The one constant requirement is a spark arrestor on your chimney top that is in compliance with regulations. The typical arrestor is a coarse wire mesh completely covering the area where smoke leaves the chimney. A single spark escaping through a chimney may be all it takes to start a fire of disastrous consequences. Its a good idea to get up on the roof at least one a year to check your spark arrestor to make sure it has not come loose or corroded to the point it no longer functions. Worst case you can give it a pretty good check with binoculars although it is not as good as looking directly from the roof. Spark arrestors are one of the cheapest safety items to replace in return for providing such a high degree of safety.
Access for Fire Department: If you have a water storage tank it is a good idea to provide a separate and accessible fire department supply line with a fire department compatible hose fitting for a fire crew to attach a fire hose to if it's ever needed. You should mark it clearly so a fire crew on site can easily locate the connector if they need to use it. Cal Fire can provide the specs for the connector.
Preventative Work: In the mountains at almost every location there is a need for an annual brush clearing to cut down or remove all the vegetation that grew in your fire safety zone during the rainy season and then turned into brown toasty straw when the rains stop. That usually means by early June its time to cut it down. Also time to cut away any small trees or other fire safety hazards that have popped up in the zone since the last year. Lots of people offer brush clearing services; ranging from individuals with weed whackers and mowers to tractor services that disc for larger properties.
Maintain Access to Your Property
CalFire is responsible for both fire response and supplementary medical response their vehicles are usually very large particularly in height consequently trees, brush and other obstacles that are not noticeable when driving to your home in a car or even large pickup or SUV can be a problem for CalFire Obstacles like limbs should be removed up to a height of 15 feet wherever they imping on your road, drive or shoulders if the emergency vehicle (often a fire truck) cannot get past a limb it cannot get to the site of your emergency.
Finding Your Home-House Street Numbers
Emergency vehicles responding to your call will rely on maps and to some degree GPS. But GPS does not work in all areas reliably enough to ensure they get to you so they need address markers and direction signs. Make sure your street name is clearly marked with signs that are at least 4-5 inches high and dark lettering on a light background with reflective paint if possible. The same goes for house numbers. Place them wherever along the road someone looking for your address need directions such as right or left. Provide arrows. And make them 4-5 inches minimum with dark numbers on a light reflective background. If they can't find you they can't help you!
List links to CalFire and other emergency numbers here
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