FAQs
There is no regulation enforcement— no one tells you what to do. Decision-making about anything related to one’s property is totally at the discretion of the home-owner.
The requirement is one hour per year. This one hour can be spent in a wide variety of ways that makes your property become less prone to fire damage. Here is a list of some ways to fulfill this one hour per year requirement.
No. The program is supervised by the National Fire Protection Association.
There are currently 28 Certified FireWise Communities in Santa Barbara County. The certified communities closest to us include:
Mission Canyon – Upper Tunnel Road
Mission Canyon – Arriba Way
Mission Canyon-Upper Mission Canyon Rd
Mission Canyon – Montrose Place
Rattlesnake Canyon – Las Canoas
In addition there are 14 other Santa Barbara County communities in the process of becoming certified, including SB Fire Safe Lanes.
No, participation is totally free.
Insurance benefits have historically been offered to those that are on the CA Fair Plan, State Farm, Mercury, and USAA. Insurance companies are likely to prioritize those that are part of FireWise communities.
The fire department is more likely to want to allocate resources to those communities that have shown commitment to fire prevention, such as being in a Firewise Community.