The HIZ (Home Ignition Zone) pilot program (hosted by FireSafe Council of Santa Cruz County) provides free educational assessments to home owners who live in wildfire risk areas. The one-hour assessment covers home hardening and defensible space topics, around the resident’s home and property. These assessments are performed by volunteers who were trained via the NFPA’s two-day HIZ training last August.
The pilot is starting out with Firewise communities so we can gain experience and figure out our capacity. Another excellent benefit of us becoming a Firewise community! Yay! They are only offering this to 3-4 Firewise communities and they chose us to join them!
We are hoping to invite any new homeowners on NRG to receive this assessment. They are probably new to wildfire areas and this will help them get on board with our NRG Firewise Community. Can you forward this to any new homeowners in your area? I’ve heard that there are new people on Bronco and Lupin.
Melody, there’s a place on the form that asks for your Firewise name, if applicable; I believe that’s the crucial piece of information. I put North Rodeo Gulch, and after figuring out how to sign my name, was able to submit. Haven’t heard anything yet, but that was only this morning.
Hmm. I looked at the form and it looked straightforward. I didn’t submit because I’m hoping our new neighbors will do the assessment. Can anyone help Melody?
HIZ Assessor Laura Giorgi spent more than an hour on my property this morning, conducting a Fire Safe Council assessment. Despite my year of fire learning and persistent focus on home hardening, Laura pointed out important issues that I had overlooked or not even considered! This was time well spent. I would encourage everyone to submit an application for a visit from the Fire Safe Council.
I’ll let you know when I receive Laura’s report. One I remember is to put flashing along the edge of the roof where it hangs over the gutter, so embers that fall in the gutter cannot ignite that area just under the otherwise nonflammable composite.
Thanks for sharing Carolyn! I especially like the Protective Clothing piece. My daughter Nicole told me about patients she’s seen who were wearing synthetic clothing. It’s really awful! The synthetic fabric actually melted on a woman’s face, neck and torso. Keep sturdy shoes by your bed for both fire and earthquakes to protect your feet.
I just weeded everything around 5 feet from my house – again. Fire Safe Council has great advice with good visuals! This is the time to do it!
