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Our fire retardant works primarily by altering the chemical properties of burning fuel to make it non-flammable, while also providing cooling and oxygen-depleting effects to slow or stop a fire. Applied as a clear mixture with water, it coats vegetation with a sticky coating of organic material that, when heated, trigger a chemical reaction. This reaction consumes heat energy and produces non-flammable carbon material and water vapor, which further cools the fuel and suffocates the fire by blocking its oxygen supply. 

Chemical Action

• Alters fuel decomposition: The retardant changes how plant cellulose breaks down when exposed to heat, preventing it from forming flammable gases. 
• Creates non-flammable carbon:Instead, the cellulose is converted into a non-combustible carbon material, which also provides an insulating layer. 
• Neutralizes chemical radicals:The retardant’s components react with the tiny reactive particles (radicals) that sustain the fire, stopping the chain reaction and inhibiting combustion. 

Physical Action

• Cools the fuel:The water mixed with the retardant absorbs heat as it turns into steam. 
• Depletes oxygen:The coating of retardant on the fuel also restricts the flow of oxygen to the fuel. 
• Forms an insulating barrier: The carbonized material left behind after the chemical reaction helps to insulate the fuel and block air from reaching it. 

How it’s applied

• Our product is a concentrate that is mixed with water and then sprayed onto planting, trees, and other combustibles.
• The retardant can also be applied trough a suppressing system that can be activated remotely.
• Over time as the retardant breaks down or is washed away by rain it will need to be reapplied at a latter point depending on the amount of rain fall.

A Guide to Applying Our Fire Retardant in Residential Landscapes

🔥 Why Hillsides Matter

Sloped terrain accelerates fire spread. Embers roll downhill, flames climb uphill. Treating these areas with fire retardant is a critical step in defending your home.

✅ Step-by-Step: How to Treat a Lush Hillside

1. Identify High-Risk Zones

• Focus on slopes within 0–100 feet of structures
• Prioritize areas with dense vegetation, ornamental shrubs, and tree canopies
• Include fence lines, retaining walls, and under tree drip lines

2. Choose Our Fire Retardant

• Use our clear fire retardant approved for residential vegetation
• Our products are biodegradable and safe for landscaping people and pets
• Apply before peak fire season and reapply after heavy rain

3. Apply Strategically

• Spray from the base of the slope upward
• Coat shrubs, grasses, and tree trunks evenly
• Don’t forget under eaves, fence lines, and mulch beds

🌿 Pro Tips for Homeowners

• Water first, retardant second: Moisture helps retardant adhere better
• Treat Fences and other flammable materials
• Create access paths: Ensure safe footing for spraying on slopes
• Combine with defensible space: Remove dead plants, trim trees, and space out shrubs

🏡 Make It a Routine

Treating vegetation isn’t a one-time fix. Incorporate fire retardant application into your seasonal home maintenance checklist — especially before summer heat waves and Santa Ana winds.

This is your part in preventing a Neighborhood Wildfire

🛡️ First Line of Defense: Treating Vegetation with Fire Retardant

The image above shows us applying our clear fire retardant to vegetation in a residential yard. This kind of hands-on mitigation is a powerful visual reminder that wildfire prevention starts at home—with informed choices and early action.

The first line of defense to prevent neighborhood wildfires is to treat all vegetation with our fire retardant.

In high-risk areas like the wildland-urban interface, where homes meet flammable vegetation, proactive treatment can mean the difference between containment and catastrophe. Fire retardants—whether applied by professionals or through homeowner kits—create a protective barrier that slows ignition and reduces flame spread. This buys precious time for firefighters and evacuation as well as it helps prevent embers from turning shrubs into fuel.

🔍 Why It Matters

• Vegetation is fuel: Dry grasses, shrubs, and even ornamental plants can ignite quickly under an ember attack.
• Retardants reduce flammability: By coating vegetation with a fire-resistant layer, retardants disrupt the combustion process.
• Strategic application saves homes: Targeting vulnerable zones—like under eaves, on and around fences, and around decks—can dramatically improve survivability.

🧰 What Homeowners Can Do

• Identify ignition-prone areas: Focus on vegetation within 5–30 feet of structures.
• Use approved products: Our fire retardants are rated for residential use and are approved and used by the FDA- Cal-Fire and the National Forest.
• Reapply as needed: Most treatments last weeks to months depending on weather exposure.

🛡️ Property-Level Strategies to Mitigate Neighborhood Wildfires

🔲 1. Create Defensible Space (Zones 0–2)

Break your property into zones to reduce fuel and slow fire spread:

Tip: Think of defensible space as a firebreak that protects not just your home, but your neighbors’ too.

Break your property into zones to reduce fuel and slow fire spread:

Tip: Think of defensible space as a firebreak that protects not just your home, but your neighbors’ too.

Treat all vegetation and flammable materials in your yard with our Fire Resistant treatment.

🧱 2. Harden Your Home

Make your structure resistant to embers, radiant heat, and direct flame:

• Roofing: Use Class A fire-rated materials (metal, tile, fiberglass asphalt).
• Siding: opt for stucco, fiber cement, or metal.
• Vents: Install ember-resistant vents with 1/8″ mesh screens.
• Windows: Use tempered glass and noncombustible frames.
• Decks & Fences: Build with ignition-resistant materials; isolate fences from the house.

🧹 3. Maintain Regularly

Wildfire resilience is a year-round commitment:

• Clean gutters, roofs, and under decks.
• Remove dead vegetation and leaf litter.
• Store firewood and propane tanks 30+ feet from structures.
• Keep irrigation systems functional and vegetation hydrated.

🚪 4. Improve Access and Emergency Readiness

Help first responders protect your home and others:

• Ensure visible address signage.
• Maintain clear driveways and turnarounds.
• Install exterior hose bibs with long hoses.
• Prepare an emergency kit and evacuation plan.

🤝 5. Coordinate with Neighbors

Wildfire doesn’t respect property lines—collective action matters:

• Share defensible space strategies.
• Organize community clean-up days.
• Encourage Firewise USA® participation.
• Advocate for fuel reduction on adjacent public lands.

Wildfires can tear through neighborhoods with alarming speed and unpredictability, especially in areas known as the wildland-urban interface (WUI), where homes meet undeveloped vegetation. Here’s how the process typically unfolds:

🔥 Key Mechanisms of Wildfire Spread in Neighborhoods

• Ember Attacks (Spot Fires):
  • Burning embers can travel miles ahead of the main fire front, carried by wind.
  • Embers land in landscaping and crawl across yards as the heat dries out green vegetation and ignites it creating more traveling embers.
  • These embers land on flammable landscaping, rooftops, in gutters, or near igniting new fires far from the original blaze.
• Radiant Heat:
  • Intense heat from nearby flames can ignite structures without direct contact.
  • Homes close together are especially vulnerable, as one burning house can radiate enough heat to ignite its neighbor.
• Direct Flame Contact:
  • If vegetation or flammable materials are close to a home, flames can directly reach and ignite the structure.
  • Wooden fences, decks, and mulch are common ignition points.
• Hopscotch Spread:

• Fires often leap from one structure to another in a “hopscotch” pattern, bypassing some homes while destroying others.
• This pattern depends on wind direction, fuel availability, and building materials.

🏡 Factors That Influence Fire Behavior in Neighborhoods

• Construction Materials:
  • Homes built with fire-resistant materials (e.g., metal roofs, stucco siding) are less likely to ignite.
• Landscaping and Vegetation:
  • Dense vegetation, dry brush, and flammable landscaping increase risk.
  • Defensible space—cleared zones around homes—can slow fire spread.
• Neighborhood Layout:
  • Densely packed homes allow fire to spread more easily.
  • Isolated homes may be more vulnerable to ember attacks but less likely to ignite neighboring structures.
• Topography and Wind:

• Fires move faster uphill and with the wind.
• Neighborhoods on slopes or in wind corridors face higher risk.

Researchers are now using advanced models to simulate these dynamics, helping communities better understand and mitigate wildfire risks.

626-298-7198

firehardening@gmail.com

Here’s a comprehensive checklist to help you fire-harden your home near the forest and improve its chances of surviving a wildfire 🔥🌲:

Fire Resistant Treatment

We apply our specialized environmental safe, plant, and pet safe, fire-resistant treatment to all combustible materials, including landscaping and trees. We then take other measures to block embers from entering your home, making your property ember/fire resistant

🏠 Structural Hardening

Focus on making your home resistant to embers, heat, and flames.

• Roof: Use Class A fire-rated materials (metal, tile, asphalt shingles).
• Vents: Install ember-resistant vents with 1/8-inch mesh.
• Gutters: Keep clear of leaves and debris; install metal guards.
• Eaves & Soffits: Box in with non-combustible materials.
• Siding: Use ignition-resistant materials like fiber cement or stucco.
• Windows: Install dual-pane tempered glass; use metal screens.
• Doors: Solid core or metal doors with tight-fitting frames.
• Decks & Porches: Use fire-resistant materials; keep clear underneath.
• Fences: Replace wooden fences with non-combustible materials near the home.

🌿 Defensible Space Zones

Create buffer zones to slow or stop wildfire spread.

Zone 0 (0–5 feet from home)

• Remove all combustible materials (mulch, plants, furniture).
• Use hardscaping (gravel, concrete) instead of vegetation.

Zone 1 (5–30 feet)

• Trim trees and shrubs; space plants to prevent fire spread.
• Keep grass short and green.
• Remove dead vegetation and debris.

Zone 2 (30–100 feet)

• Thin trees and brush.
• Create fuel breaks with driveways, paths, or lawns.
• Maintain spacing between tree canopies.

🔧 Additional Measures

• Accessory Structures: Harden sheds, garages, and other outbuildings.
• Combustible Items: Store firewood, propane tanks, and vehicles away from the home.
• Emergency Access: Ensure your driveway is accessible for fire trucks.
• Water Supply: Install hoses, sprinklers, or water tanks if possible.
• Signage: Clearly mark your address for emergency responders.

You can also take CAL FIRE’s Home Hardening Self-Assessment to get personalized recommendations.

Would you like help prioritizing these tasks or finding local services to assist with fire hardening?

Are you Prepared? Call us and we will come out and give you an assessment!

626-298-7198

La Canada Flintridge is the Severity Zone. Are you prepared?

With all the rain this winter comes a lot of new vegetation growth that we need to manage!

After your Trimming and Clearing needs we treat the areas with our fire retardant treatment.

626-298-7198

firehardening@gmail.com

Defensible Space
Frequently Asked Questions

What to know if you receive a clearing notice

• Why am I receiving a notice? Your property is located within a fire hazard severity
  zone (FHSZ) identified by the Department of Forestry and CAL FIRE FHSZ Viewer
  (ca.gov), or has been historically identified with a potential fire hazard by the Los
  Angeles County Fire Department.
• What are the Very High, High and Moderate Fire Hazard Severity Zones and who
  determines these zones. FHSZs indicate the potential fire hazard on an area of land,
  based on several factors, including vegetation, topography, worst case weather
  conditions, fire history, predicted flame lengths, burn probability and ember cast. CAL
  FIRE is mandated to classify all lands within the state by California Public Resources
  Code 4201-4204.
• Where does the Fire Department get the authority to conduct defensible space
  inspections? The California Public Resources Code 4291 (PRC 4291) defines
  requirements for inspections as, “A person who owns, leases, controls, operates, or
  maintains a building or structure in, upon, or adjoining a mountainous area, forest covered lands, shrub-covered lands, grass-covered lands, or land that is covered with
  flammable material…”.
• There is no brush around my property, why am I being inspected? If your property
  is located within a designated FHSZ, an inspection is required. Due to ember cast, this
  includes structures inside developments without open land (native vegetation)
  immediately adjacent to the structure.
• Why is this the first time I am receiving this notice? Available GIS technology and
  mapping programs allow the Fire Department to identify all parcels within FHSZs. Prior
  to integrating GIS technology within the inspection program, structures were identified
  through fire history and visual identification. The new technology allows greater accuracy
  and some structures have been identified for the first time.
• When will my property be inspected? Depending on the property’s location,
  inspections will start in April for desert areas, May 1 for inland areas, and June 1 for
  coastal areas.
• Do I need to be home when the inspection is conducted? You do not have to be
  home for the inspection to be completed.
• Will the fire department make an appointment with me to inspect my property. If
  you would like an appointment, please call your local fire station to set up a convenient
  time. If you missed the inspection, received a violation, and would like additional
  information, there will be a phone number to call the local station at the top of the
  inspection form in the “Contact Number” box.
  Defensible Space Annual Notice
  Frequently Asked Questions
• If I have locked gates, how will the Fire Department complete the inspection? The
  inspector will only use unlocked gates and areas with reasonable access. If there are
  locked gates and the inspector must see behind them to complete the inspection, the
  inspector may come back later when someone is home or try to call or email the
  occupant to gain entry. If no contact was possible, the Fire Department may write an
  inspection warrant to gain entry and confirm defensible space compliance.
• Can I call someone if I need clarity on requirements? Yes, prior to your inspection,
  please call the Defensible Space Inspection Unit at (626) 969-2375. After your
  inspection, please call the phone number listed on your inspection report.
• Will I receive a report showing if my property is in compliance? Yes, property
  owners will be mailed a Compliance Letter (meaning you passed the inspection) or
  receive an inspection report showing the violations that need to be corrected.
• How much time will I have to make corrections? Owners have 30 days to complete
  corrections.
• Do I need to remove trees? Most likely, the answer is no, but all trees should be free
  of dead wood and limbed up to 6’ or 1/3 the tree’s height.
• Why is there an inspection fee? The County of Los Angeles Agricultural
  Commissioner Weights & Measures Department has been charging an inspection fee
  since 1989. The Auditor/Controller reviewed, and the Board of Supervisors approved the
  Fire Department’s implementation of the inspection fee on December 7, 2021. The fee is
  required to make the defensible space program cost neutral. The Auditor/Controller
  approved the $151 inspection fee. The Fire Department phased in the fee: it was $50 in
  2022, $100 in 2023, and $151 in 2024.
• How will I be billed for the inspection fee? The inspection fee will be assessed
  annually and will be on the November property tax bill. There is a one-year delay from
  the inspection to seeing the assessment on your property tax bill. (Example: if an
  inspection is conducted in June 2024, the property tax assessment will be reflected on
  the November 2025 property tax bill).
• What is the purpose of the Referee ‘protest’ hearings? The primary purpose of the
  protest hearing is to allow an owner to contest whether the property is in a FHSZ and
  should therefore receive an inspection. Owners may also discuss defensible space
  requirements as desired.
  Defensible Space Annual Notice
  Frequently Asked Questions
• Have there been State law changes impacting the requirement to ensure
  defensible space? Yes, the State is very concerned with saving lives and property and
  has reviewed and verified fire science that indicates structure loss can be reduced when
  homeowners harden their home and reduce vegetation closest to the home. The
  legislature approved two critical laws to address structure loss: Assembly Bill 3074 and
  Assembly Bill 38.
• What is Assembly Bill 3074 (AB 3074)? AB 3074 introduced “Zone 0” as a 5’ ember
  resistant zone. When officially adopted by the State Fire Marshal, this law will require a
  5’ ember resistant zone around all structures in a FHSZ.
• When does AB 3074 take effect? AB 3074 became law on January 1, 2021; however,
  it has not been enforced. Enforcement will occur when the State Fire Marshal approves
  vegetation clearance requirements. This is anticipated in 2025. Full enforcement on
  existing structures will not be required until one year after the State Fire Marshal
  approves final requirements. Full enforcement on new construction will take effect
  immediately upon approval of final clearance requirements.
• What is Assembly Bill 38 (AB 38)? AB 38 requires all real estate sellers with
  structures in a FHSZ to ensure compliance with defensible space requirements.
  bit.ly/AB-38Inspections
• When does AB 38 take effect? The requirement for real estate defensible space
  compliance inspections took effect on July 1, 2021.
• Link to LA County Fire – Fire Hazard Reduction Programs:
  https://fire.lacounty.gov/fire-hazard-reduction-programs/