Wildfire Hazard Mitigation

Two different markets. One process: Plan. Prepare. Act.

Most “wildfire mitigation” is either a generic brush list or a planning document written after the lotting pattern is already frozen.

A developer needs to know whether wildfire risk will kill density, entitlement, or insurance before an LOI. A homeowner needs to know what will ignite first on this house, what can be finished this weekend, and how the household evacuates when the word comes.

Those are different products. They share a method: structure first, then the five feet against the wall, then the yard, then access and water, then what the jurisdiction and the insurance market will actually require. That order is a firebrand: it is how homes ignite and how WUI projects fail review.

Which call is for me?

Book the Pre-Acquisition Wildfire Risk Advisory if most of these are true:

• You represent a builder, land developer, acquisition team, civil firm, or land-use counsel.

• There is a specific parcel, assemblage, or concept you need a concrete opinion on.

• A purchase, option, LOI, or preliminary-plat decision has a date on it.

• You need a Pursue / Pursue with conditions / Do not pursue opinion based on wildfire risk potential.

Book the Home Wildfire Readiness Advisory if most of these are true:

• You own or occupy the house, or you are buying this house and need a plan after close.

• You want a ranked action list: home hardening, Zone 0, defensible space, evacuation.

• You can send phone photos of the house, roof, vents, decks, and the first 30 feet of yard at least 24 hours before the Zoom.

• You understand the hour produces a checklist, not a certificate and not a promise that any insurer will bind.

Do not book either call if:

• You want someone to show up Saturday with a crew and a chipper. That's a forestry/landscaping crew. The homeowner hour can tell you what to put in the forestry/landscaping contractor’s scope.

• You want a free look at a plat. The builder hour exists so that look is a decision, not a conversation.

• You need NWCG operations training, a prescribed-fire workshop, or department instruction. Use the training card on this Projects page.

• You need a stamped Wildfire Hazard Mitigation plan this week with no screening hour. Good luck. A good one is going to take about 50 work hours on the low end.

What the work is built on

The screening and the checklist use the same public records a planner, a fire marshal, or an underwriter already has on the desk. Our value is the order and professional opinion based upon wildland fire knowledge, training, and lived experience.

On a parcel (builder hour):

• Hazard and fire-history context: state or local hazard products (and do they pass the "sniff test"), fire return intervals, major wildfires in the area that may provide broader views.

• Terrain and fuels at landscape scale: slope, aspect, drainages/chimneys, and if realistic fuels mitigation is practical.

• Access, egress, and water: ways out, apparent width and grade, dead-ends, gates, bridges, whether fire-protection water is plausible for the proposed density. This is the Intl WUI Code Chapter 4 problem: access and water are site requirements, not landscaping notes.

• Jurisdictional path — Federal, State, or Local Responsibility Area for Wildfire Protection, likely IWUIC / local WUI ordinance, and whether a Wildfire Mitigation Plan is required at preliminary plat or building permit.

• Insurability. Forward-thinking design that favors IBHS "Wildfire Prepared Neighborhood"/NIST Hazard Mitigation Methodology. Insurers are no longer looking at indvidual home-scale. Structure-to-structure ignition potential is a real possibility unless the overall site and lot layout is thoughtfully planned ahead.

You leave with a written recap and a direct opinion: Purchase/Purchase With Conditions/Walk. If Purchase/"With Conditions" is the recommendation, potential next steps include: layout assistance/review and/or a Wildfire Hazard MItigation Plan based on a PUD/Permit Application.

On a house (homeowner hour):

• Ember entry and the structure envelope. Embers are what kill structures in a wildfire: roof covering and debris, gutters, vents, the first six inches of wall, decks and attachments, fence-to-house connections.

• The 0–5 ft Noncombustible Zone. This is the zone IBHS treats as non-negotiable in Wildfire Prepared Home. Calling it Zone 0, the immediate zone, or “the first five feet” does not change the physics: mulch, junipers, firewood, and a combustible fence that dead-ends into siding are the fuses for fire to attack your home.

• Defensible space 5–30 ft, and farther where the lot and the fuels justify it: eliminating ladder fuels, tree/shrub spacing you can maintain, outbuildings, propane, woodpiles, the neighbor’s side you do not control.

• How the household leaves in an evacuation: two ways out if they exist, vehicles, pets and livestock, a Ready / Set / Go sequence that encourages you to leave early.

You leave with a ranked checklist and the three highest-leverage items. This is not an IBHS designation or a letter that binds coverage.

Neither advisory replaces:

• A site-specific wildfire behavior analysis or fuels inventory (but can lead to that work as a next step!)

• A Wildfire Hazard MItigation Plan, vegetation-management plan, or fuel-modification plan for the AHJ

• Plan check against IWUIC, NFPA 1140, California Chapter 7A, or the local ordinances that actually apply

• An on-the-ground ignition-zone inspection

• An IBHS Wildfire Prepared Home or Wildfire Prepared Neighborhood designation

• A jurisdiction’s defensible-space inspection or statutory disclosure packet

• An insurance binder, underwriting decision, or premium quote

• Civil, geotech, biological, or traffic due diligence

After the hour

Builders: If the opinion is pursue or pursue-with-conditions, the next engagement is the technical work the recap identified: risk analysis, wildfire-safe site design, and reviews a planning department and an insurer can use. Project assignments start at $10,000. An annual retainer for a WUI pipeline and subject-matter expertise across multiple developments starts at $100,000. Those are floors, set against the actual parcel and deliverable list after the call. The $1,000 advisory fee is credited if that contract is signed within 60 days.

Homeowners: If the checklist is enough, you are done. If the lot is steep, multi-structure, or you need documentation for an insurer or a sale, the next step is an on-site inspection or a contractor-ready scope. The $150 fee is credited if that work is signed within 30 days.

Communities and agencies: FireWise processes, CWPP technical input, and department training are real lines of work. They are not booked through these two Zooms. Use the training cards on "The Work" page, or email mark@groundedtruths.com with the actual request.

Book the correct hour

Pre-Acquisition Wildfire Risk Advisory: for builders and developers — $1,000 https://www.groundedtruths.com/service-page/pre-acquisition-wildfire-risk-advisory

Home Wildfire Readiness Advisory: for individual homeowners — $150 https://www.groundedtruths.com/service-page/home-wildfire-readiness-advisory

Questions that are not a booking: mark@groundedtruths.com · 573-889-2559