Get Inspected

About an hour.

You will receive a multi-page report with risk scores, issues found, and recommended actions.  Issues found will be accompanied by pictures and diagrams.  Walking the property with the inspector gives you the added advantage of seeing the issues first-hand and being able to ask questions.

Yes, it can, at least if you resolve any issues found in your report (the report gets updated when you document fixes you've made).  The FAIR plan, for example, offers a 10% discount for properties that meet certain home-hardening standards and another 5% discount if the property meets defensible-space standards (see requirements here).  A solid report from the Fire Department is a great piece of evidence when claiming these discounts.  It worked for this writer. 

That is an understandable concern.  The resident writing this spent a long time discussing this concern with Maria Marsh of the Fire District, who gave assurances that these are informational inspections, with no enforcement or fines.  She pointed out that there are no laws requiring home hardening for existing homes, so any issues found with the structure itself must be information-only.  There are state laws that require defensible space standards to be met, and those laws are stricter for us now that we are in the very-high-hazard category.  But Maria said that there are no citations or fines for properties that don't meet those standards.  Even for home sales, for which Truckee requires inspections, the only enforcement requirement is that the inspection needs to be disclosed to the buyer. Any fixes are to be negotiated between buyer and seller.

Of course, laws and ordinances can always change.  That said, there is a major enforcer already on the scene that you probably have to worry about more than the Fire District.  It's your insurance company.