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26 April 2025: Download the California Fire Safe Council's 2025 Fire Safe Vendor List
This free resource is designed to connect communities and homeowners with reputable businesses throughout the state skilled in wildfire resilient products and services. A local business called Blaze Blockers is in the vendor list. Based in Thousand Oaks they provide "expert installation of 1/16-inch stainless steel mesh over vents, which is 98% effective at preventing dangerous embers from entering your home".
7 March 2025: KTLA News: How To Be Part Of A FireWise Community
We helped KTLA news put this story together about Topanga's FireWise Community and steps homeowners have taken to harden their homes. Featuring FireWise coordinator Beth Burnam, local residents and Home Ignition Zone Evaluators from the the Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains - all working together to lessen the threat of wildfire to our community.
19 January 2025: NBC News: The Homes Are The Fire's Fuel
This article is about how important home hardening and community actions are to help lessen the damage from future wildfires. Remember, the Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains has important info and teams of evaluators to help you harden your home . They will come to your home and give you tips on how to "harden" it against wildfire. Sign up today!
12 February 2025: Check out our Home Hardening Talk for the Topanga Town Council
This 45 minute video and Q&A session, recorded in 2024, will give you important information about how to make your home less vulnerable to wildfire. If you live in the borders of Topanga's FireWise Community, use the reporting link to log the time you spent watching it (see below) This will help keep us a FireWise Community.
20 December 2024: Topanga Firewise Community Info:
Because of the work we have done and continue to do to mitigate the risk of wildfire, Topanga has been designated a FireWise Community. This entitles us to a discount on insurance with the California Fair Plan. (Check with your insurance broker for more details). In order to keep our Firewise designation, Topanga residents need to document their fire mitigation activities, such as brush clearing, home hardening and attending educational events.
The goal is to have the equivalent of one volunteer hour (valued at roughly $30) per residential dwelling unit. In Topanga, that would amount to roughly 3,200 hours or $96,000. The list of qualifying items is long and includes such activities as annual brush removal, installing ember-resistant vents, and cleaning debris from gutters. Long-time Topanga resident, Clark Stevens said “I spend at least eight to ten hours every year weed-whacking and trimming trees so I don’t think it will be hard to gather the required hours to keep the designation.” This program is a win-win, creating an opportunity for Topangans to fire-harden their homes and learn wildfire mitigation best practices while collecting/recording the man-hours to maintain the Firewise status.
Here's how you do it:
1) Enter your address on this online map to see if you are in the boundries.
2) Report your activity using the Firewise Activity Reporting link Qualifying activities include time and/or money spent on brush clearance, home hardening, and educational events
That's it!
Every time you do something, please log it in!
Remember, If you watch the YouTube recording of our 2022 webinar you can also log that hour in your activities. The reporting link is quick and easy to use, and it places a premium on privacy. You do not have to provide a street address, phone number, or even any receipts. Any information that you do share will not be made public. The only purpose of the database is to enable us to aggregate community efforts and monitor activity at the Zone level to comply with the program requirements for widespread community access and participation.
For more info visit the Firewise page on OneTopanga.com
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18 October 2022 Los Angeles Times: California to require insurance discounts for property owners who reduce wildfire risk. New rules mandate that insurance companies reward consumers who take wildfire safety and mitigation actions under the state’s Safer From Wildfires framework, the Department of Insurance announced Monday. The framework includes a list of expert-recommended actions that home and business owners can take to better protect themselves from fires.
18 October 2022 Los Angeles Times: California to require insurance discounts for property owners who reduce wildfire risk. New rules mandate that insurance companies reward consumers who take wildfire safety and mitigation actions under the state’s Safer From Wildfires framework, the Department of Insurance announced Monday. The framework includes a list of expert-recommended actions that home and business owners can take to better protect themselves from fires.
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8 August 2022. Bloomberg Law: Billions in Feds’ Spending on Megafire Risks Seen as Misdirected . This article says what we've been saying all along. Put more focus on hardening homes!
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16 and 18 May 2022: Zoom Webinar: We Can All Make Our Homes Less Vulnerable to Wildfire! Beth Burnam and Ryan Ulyate Co-Presidents of the Topanga Canyon Fire Safe Council describe simple steps to reduce the risk to homes from burning embers. If you missed the live Webinar on May 16th, 2022 you can watch a recording of it on our You Tube Channel.
16 and 18 May 2022: Zoom Webinar: We Can All Make Our Homes Less Vulnerable to Wildfire! Beth Burnam and Ryan Ulyate Co-Presidents of the Topanga Canyon Fire Safe Council describe simple steps to reduce the risk to homes from burning embers. If you missed the live Webinar on May 16th, 2022 you can watch a recording of it on our You Tube Channel.
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10 July 2022: The Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS) launched a new program called the Wildfire Prepared Home. "Wildfire Prepared Home™ is a voluntary, research-based mitigation program designed to meaningfully reduce wildfire risk." If you want to take the next step, this is worth checking out!
10 July 2022: The Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS) launched a new program called the Wildfire Prepared Home. "Wildfire Prepared Home™ is a voluntary, research-based mitigation program designed to meaningfully reduce wildfire risk." If you want to take the next step, this is worth checking out!
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7 October 2021: Update on Wildfire-Focused Legislation in California. Here's the another article about SB63 from the Canyon Chronicle * (* Please note If you want a Home Ignition Zone Evaluation, don't email us, just click here to go directly to the RCDSMM website
7 October 2021: Update on Wildfire-Focused Legislation in California. Here's the another article about SB63 from the Canyon Chronicle * (* Please note If you want a Home Ignition Zone Evaluation, don't email us, just click here to go directly to the RCDSMM website
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13 May 2022: Los Angeles Times (subscription required) Why Laguna Niguel fire was so destructive: Flying hot embers, huge homes, dry brush
13 May 2022: Los Angeles Times (subscription required) Why Laguna Niguel fire was so destructive: Flying hot embers, huge homes, dry brush
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4 May 2022: University of California: Wildfire Preparation : Great concise information on this website!
4 May 2022: University of California: Wildfire Preparation : Great concise information on this website!
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2 May 2022: Fire Safe Marin 2021 Webinar (90 minutes) Zone Zero: Ground Zero when Protecting Your Home from Wildfire (with Stephen Quarles and Jack Cohen). A deeper dive into wildfire and home hardening featuring nationally recognized experts.
2 May 2022: Fire Safe Marin 2021 Webinar (90 minutes) Zone Zero: Ground Zero when Protecting Your Home from Wildfire (with Stephen Quarles and Jack Cohen). A deeper dive into wildfire and home hardening featuring nationally recognized experts.
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1 May 2022: New CFSC Video (25 minutes): Home Design and Retrofitting Techniques for Wildfire Defense . Good, detailed, state of the art home hardening info.
1 May 2022: New CFSC Video (25 minutes): Home Design and Retrofitting Techniques for Wildfire Defense . Good, detailed, state of the art home hardening info.
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Read the "Near-Building Noncombustible Zone" report from IBHS on why it's so important to keep the first 5' around your house free of combustible material
Read the "Near-Building Noncombustible Zone" report from IBHS on why it's so important to keep the first 5' around your house free of combustible material
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29 Nov 2019: L.A. Times Editorial: "California will never control raging wildfires if it doesn’t stop building in high-risk areas"
29 Nov 2019: L.A. Times Editorial: "California will never control raging wildfires if it doesn’t stop building in high-risk areas"
October 2019: Fire Adapted Communities: Building for Wildfire Summit: Understanding How Homes Burn and How to Build Better
3 October 2019: L.A Times: "Fireproof" Your House Guide
L.A. Times: Sept 11 2019: Forest thinning projects won’t stop the worst wildfires. So why is California spending millions on them?
L.A. Times: Sept 11 2019: Forest thinning projects won’t stop the worst wildfires. So why is California spending millions on them?
December 2018: Los Angeles Times: A Million California Buildings Face Wildfire Risk (With Topanga interviews)
December 2018: Los Angeles Times: A Million California Buildings Face Wildfire Risk (With Topanga interviews)
Mashable, November 2018: How A Quiet California Town Protects Itself Against Against Today's Megafires
Mashable, November 2018: How A Quiet California Town Protects Itself Against Against Today's Megafires
L.A. Times, November 2018: Camp Fire and Evacuation Stories
July 2018: "Built To Burn": How scientist Jack Cohen changed the way we look at wildfire
Check out our new Emergency Notifications page!
Get Fire Wise with Tips & Plants to Protect Your Home
Behind Most Wildfires, a Person and a Spark: ‘We Bring Fire With Us’
Scientists Racing to Develop a Deeper Understanding of Wildfires
Home and landscape wildfire defense: lessons learned from the 2017 California wildfire season
The Lesson of How One California Home Survived Last Year's Historic Wildfires
Fire-wise Gardening - Embrace Natives, Not Embers!
You Can Make Your Home Less Vulnerable to Wildfire! -Topanga Library Presentation On Dec 4th 2017
October 9th 2017: Wildfires in Northern California Kill at Least 10 and Destroy 1,500 Buildings
June 2016: "Old Fire": Luckily the winds calmed down and Topanga was spared!
Great Online Article: Fighting Fires: You're Doing It Wrong!
Home Ignition Zone Evaluations: Praise From a Homeowner
Take simple steps today to Be Ember Prepared
For more detailed info, download and and follow the Wildfire Home Assessment & Checklist
Create Defensible Space
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