In the wake of recent wildfires, homeowners and builders in the Bay Area and across California are rethinking the ways to better protect their homes.
Jimmy Singer’s family has lived on the heavily wooded hillsides of Mill Valley for decades.
Homes are surrounded by towering redwoods and other vegetation that can quickly become tinder for a destructive wildfire.
“Living in the hills in California, we’ve thought about fires forever,” said Singer.
Singer does what he can to harden his home and make it more fire-resistant, including working with neighbors to help maintain defensible space.
“It kind of brings a community aspect to know that if I do all this work on my property, somebody sharing the fence line is also doing that work too,” said Singer.
But the longtime resident says other steps like replacing the siding of an older home with newer composite material to make it more fireproof, can be extremely cost-prohibitive for homeowners.
While there is only so much that can be done to harden older homes, new construction in an unprecedented era of wildfire destruction, is vastly different.
“Taking it seriously and taking those lessons so we set ourselves up to not be the next Palisades Fire,” said Singer.
The goal is to minimize risk, as homeowners and builders look for new ways to tackle a growing concern of wildfires wiping out entire communities.