Professionals who build, maintain, landscape, and sell homes play a key role in wildfire resilience and in delivering long-term quality and value to clients and customers, often before homeowners even consider wildfire risk.
Across wildfire-prone regions, such as Marin County, research shows that home hardening works. Home hardening reduces the ways embers, flames, and radiant heat reach a structure during a wildfire. Thoughtful construction details and landscape choices can significantly reduce ignition risk while also improving quality, durability, sustainability, and real estate market appeal.
To support professionals in this work, we’ve created several short videos that explain home-hardening strategies in just 90-seconds, and focus on clear visuals and real-world examples that are easy to share with clients and useful for crews:
- Fire-resistant vents – Using exterior wall vents to block ember intrusion.
- Metal gutter guards – Helping to reduce maintenance needs and risk of debris ignition from embers.
- Exterior walls – Installing non-combustible siding and materials at vulnerable exterior surfaces to enhance safety.
- Enclosed eaves – Replacing open eaves with enclosed eaves to reduce risk of roof ignition.
- Retrofitting decks – A full rebuild is not always necessary, even minor improvements to decks/patios can make a big impact.
- Hardening outbuildings – Garages, sheds, or other outbuildings need to be made ember resistant to lower the threat of fire transferring to the home.
- Install fire-resistant fence – Reduces risk of your fence catching fire and carrying the flames to your home.
- Zone 0 space – The area up to 5 feet around your home can be designed with non-combustible, fire resistant, and attractive materials.
Coming soon: Spanish translations of all videos!
Because most homes ignite from embers, these upgrades make a measurable difference. They also support water-wise landscaping, signal quality construction, and increasingly influence insurance availability and home value for both buyers and sellers.
For more information about wildfire preparedness resources for contractors, landscapers and realtors, please see Fire Safe Marin’s resources page.
