The strategic measures below are key indicators towards the creation of defensible space and home hardening, and the associated reduced risk and flame length. Marin Wildfire tracks progress on a monthly basis, as illustrated on our Goal 5 dashboard.
The following provides detailed information on the assumptions and calculations behind each measure.
For more information about the importance of defensible space and home hardening, please visit our story map.
Evaluation and the identification of fire hazards is the first step towards fire adaptation. Our inspectors canvas each neighborhood and use the Fire Aside software to provide residents with an actionable Wildfire Risk Report, itemizing all issues, resources to help mitigate them, and any grants available.
This measure tracks the evaluation of residential parcels (our member agencies evaluated other parcels but these are not included here). There are 87,324 residential parcels to be evaluated across Marin Wildfire's 5 zones (Novato, San Rafael, Central Marin, West Marin and Southern Marin).
Each agency or zone sets its own target number of parcels to evaluate annually. This provides agencies with flexibility regarding their evaluation roll-out strategy. Usually zones set their target at one-third of all residential parcels, so that each parcel is evaluated at least once every three year. In high-risk areas, repeat inspections might occur (but they are not included in this measure).
100% on Measure 5a does not mean that all residential parcels were evaluated. It means that 100% of the parcels the Fire Department determined were a priority have been evaluated at least once. Residents can also make an appointment to receive a free evaluation.
After each evaluation, inspectors leave a door hanger with a code to access the Wildfire Risk Report. It can also be mailed upon request.
The Wildfire Risk Report contains information about defensible space violations, which should be addressed within 30 days. It also contains resources and information about available grants.
Marin Wildfire tracks the number of residents who open their Wildfire Risk Report within 15 days of receiving an evaluation. We send reminders and follow-ups by email and regular mail. If you have lost your code, please visit https://www.marinwildfire.org/dspace.
Measure 5c tracks progress towards the implementation of defensible space violations.
After a violation is identified during an evaluation, the resident can let us know they have resolved it through their Wildfire Risk Report by submitting a photo. Sometimes inspectors will mark issues as "resolved" during a re-inspection.
As an initial step towards meaningful fire adaption, Marin Wildfire believes residents need to mitigate at least 50% of all defensible space violations found on their parcel.
As an example, if there are 20,000 defensible space violations identified, and 2,000 are mitigated, the percentage of year-to-date defensible space violations resolved will be 20% (2,000 / (20,000*50%)).
For each fire hazard identified during an evaluation, a score is calculated to assess that hazard's
-potential to generate embers, if it caught on fire
-combustion intensity (how hot it would burn and whether heat and flames might threaten other nearby homes)
-whether the issue creates a continuous path for fire to travel closer to a structure
-how resistant to flame and embers the structure is (if applicable)
Because environmental conditions (wind, fuel moisture) vary spatially, one issue on one parcel might be a different risk from the same issue on another parcel.
Our partner Willow Labs uses GIS data provided through the Fire Aside software to calculate the risk of each issue identified through our wildfire evaluation program. These issues are then ranked County-wide.
High-risk issues designates the top 20% of risk. This measure calculates the number of evaluated parcels without any high risk issues.
Flame length of 4’ of less, particularly within 0-30’ of structures, keeps the fire low to the ground and prevents or limits fire spread to structures or nearby vegetation. It increases the chances that a structure might withstand a fire event.
This measure counts the number of evaluated parcels for which all remaining fire hazards have a projected flame length of 4ft or less.
