Strategies for those in fire country? Building and landscaping modifications?

[ultrarunner]

I think the insurance industry will respond with highly selective and expensive policies or no policy...

It is already happened and this is before California's most destructive wildfire ever.

I've wondered if more will consider building a fortified shelter like some still do for Tornados?

The other fact is parts that recently burned had gone 270 days without significant rain...

 

[Teachu2]

I live in the Sierra Nevada foothills, between Bakersfield and Tehachapi, CA. Fire insurance is only available through the state plan. We have lots of oak trees and a few pines. The pines are being removed as time and money allows. We prune as we can, with the target of limbing everything up to 10' - we have gotten up to about 8' so far.

I use a flail mower and a brute of a rider mower, and clear our five acres every May. Closest bushes are 200' from the house. Both lawns have sprinkler systems, and we keep them short. The house is stucco with concrete tile roof and lots of concrete poured around it. My main outbuilding is the same. The wooden shed is 75' from the house, but it's on a skid and could be 150' away in minutes. The woodpile is close to the outbuilding, but right above a ravine. We keep the wood stacked on plastic pallets, so ten minutes on the tractor would send it all 100' down the ravine.

We can be ready to bug out in 30 minutes in two 4x4 vehicles, well armed, well supplied with food, water, pets, and cash. All the photos are scanned and on the cloud, all the legal stuff in a single tote. Everything else is insured. Thirty miles to the kid's house in Bakersfield. The loss would be substantial, but we'd leave California with a lot less to move and enough cash to resettle elsewhere.

 

[plowhog]

it has become so restrictive I know those that will let a tree fall down rather than take a permit with public hearing/comment to remove.

Had the PG&E subcontractor on the property today. They want to remove many trees, which is not new. What is new is they gave me a Utility Exemption Form that might let me legally sell logs to a lumber mill. I still need to research this more thoroughly but maybe the gears are starting to budge ....

 

[plowhog]

Not a tone of volunteer firefighters in CA anymore.

Many of these were casualties of "risk managers." If a 65 year old volunteer firefighter was pulling hose and had a heart attack and died, his widow had .... hit the jackpot. There is so much litigation that volunteers are deemed an unacceptable risk in many cases.

 

[1010]

I think the insurance industry will respond with highly selective and expensive policies or no policy...

It is already happened and this is before California's most destructive wildfire ever.

I've wondered if more will consider building a fortified shelter like some still do for Tornados?

The other fact is parts that recently burned had gone 270 days without significant rain...

It'll be similar to hurricane areas. none or pain in the rear to deal with like you said.

 

[dmccarty]

... What is new is they gave me a Utility Exemption Form that might let me legally sell logs to a lumber mill. I still need to research this more thoroughly but maybe the gears are starting to budge ....

Is it really illegal in CA or NV to sell your own property, ie, timber?

Later,
Dan

 

[oosik]

If what you say is true in CA or NV - that's just too close to WA for comfort. I want to speak to the person who has the cajones to come out and tell me I can not cut my trees on my property and sell them to whomever I please. That person had better be part cat and have nine lives.

 

[plowhog]

Is it really illegal in CA or NV to sell your own property, ie, timber?

Later,
Dan

I don't know about in Nevada.

In California, it is heavily regulated. You can cut trees down without a permit if you don't sell them. If you want to sell them to a lumber mill, you need a CalFire permit. To obtain that permit takes months of effort to prepare the application. That application must be signed and approved by a Registered Professional Forester. If you don't have that, they will turn you around at the mill and not buy any logs from you.

There is also .... drum roll .... a timber tax! It's a special tax you pay on the sale of the logs.

CAL FIRE - Timber Harvesting Plan Review Process

 

[Jchonline]

There are no absolutes to defending your property from a fire. It is appropriate to do your best, stay informed, and have an escape plan. Colorado has pretty comprehensive guidance on building structures and maintaining property in areas that are prone to fire. My goal is to follow it and hope for the best. As others have mentioned if the conditions are right it doesn’t matter what you do, it will burn.

 

[oosik]

You have no idea how "defeated" it made me feel when I realized that I could not stop a fire from burning my entire property, buildings, vehicles, etc, etc. As I sat up on the big 'ol bun that's just south of my property and watched the approaching wildfire - - reality really hit home.

I have appropriate and good insurance on everything and a good & quick escape plan. I now realize that under wildfire conditions - that's the very best I will be able to do.