Marin fire agencies offer assistance for home wildfire defense

Homeowners can apply for grants or request inspections to help them reduce the risk of destruction and insurance cancellations.

Dutch Knapp heard bad news soon after Independence Day.

He has owned his Corte Madera home for 50 years and his insurance provider informed him that his homeowners’ insurance was not being renewed because of the wildfire risk.

“That woke me up,” he said.

Knapp learned he could regain his insurance if his home was certified for fire protection. The work included clearing vegetation within 5 feet of his house, replacing a part of his redwood fence with metal fencing and installing gutter guards to keep out leaves.

“I used to get up there three or four times a year and blow out the gutters,” Knapp said. “But I’m 81 years old and I don’t want to do it anymore. I definitely got to get gutter guards.”

To help his efforts, Knapp recently secured a $2,500 grant authorized by the Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority.

The grant, funded by Measure C parcel tax revenues, is offered every year to Marin County property owners who seek reimbursement for creating a “defensible space” on their properties or reducing the risks of wildfires igniting their houses or yards. Applicants can be awarded up to $2,500 per parcel.

“I could never have done it without them,” Knapp said, noting that he lives on a fixed income and his wife is retired. “Without that program, I would not be able to bring my house up to an insurable state.”

Josh Hampshire, the fire agency’s grant specialist, worked with Knapp on securing his grant. Hampshire said the funding is meant to “lower barriers” for residents.

“For some residents, the barriers are financial,” Hampshire said. “For others, it’s decision paralysis. People just don’t know where to start.”

Examples of home projects that are eligible for the grant include replacing a combustible fence with a metal one, installing house vents that can block embers and placing gutter guards on the roof, Hampshire said. Homeowners also can be reimbursed for the removal of yard vegetation that’s less than 30 feet from the home.

The grant does not pay for homeowners’ equipment, but the funds can reimburse them for hiring contractors. Recipients must provide proof they completed a wildfire defense project before they can be paid. In order to be eligible for grant funding, applicants must first have their home property fully evaluated by a Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority inspector.

The program’s initial round of grant awards of $433,000 was already maxed out at its budget limit a few weeks after the grant was renewed in early July. Hampshire said more funds were reserved for October and residents can apply then.

“I’d say it’s a good thing we have so much traffic now that the program is getting tapped right away,” Hampshire said. “That’s a reflection of how engaged people are in preparing for wildfire in Marin County.”

While residents have to wait until October to apply for the agency’s grant, Novato and San Rafael offer similar programs.

Quinn Gardner, San Rafael’s deputy director of emergency management, said the city has a “direct assistance” program that offers free vegetation removal for residents. She said the program has cleared highly flammable plants such as Italian cypress, bamboo and juniper from more than 500 properties.

In Novato, property owners can request free fire risk assessments from the fire district. They can also apply for a maximum $1,000 grant for vegetation removal or up to $2,500 for home hardening.

Yvette Blount, wildfire mitigation specialist at the Novato Fire Protection District, said the staff’s home inspection reports only go to the homeowners and not insurance companies.

“Some people get worried that there is an ulterior motive to these assessments, and really, truly, we’re trying to build community and to get them to understand how fire will affect their home and the improvements they can make,” she said.

On Wednesday, a team of Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority inspectors visited the Camino de Herrera neighborhood in San Anselmo. They carried computer tablets to record each property’s fire hazards or positive practices that can mitigate fire dangers. Their reports were posted on a website for homeowners to access via codes that were written on door hangers left for them.

Inspectors also informed residents about the agency’s grant program.

David Glenn, a wildfire mitigation specialist for the agency, said it has performed more than 8,000 fire defense inspections this year. He stressed that the inspectors are only giving recommendations to property owners on how to lower the impact of wildfires on their homes, and they are not penalizing them for having fire hazards.

“It’s up to the person if they want to remove it or fix it,” Glenn said.

Two inspectors visited the front yard of John Beuttler’s 1950s-era hillside house.

“We’re not asking anyone to remodel or to change their home,” inspector Sydney Knudsen told him. “We’re saying if you’re going to remodel, here are some things you might think about.”

One inspector reviewed a house vent that had a mesh that was small enough to prevent embers from entering his house. The vent counted as a “resilient feature” on his home report.

“Oh good, there’s a win,” Beuttler said.

The inspectors looked at a stack of firewood close to the house. Knudsen recommended it be moved at least 30 feet away from the home or to a burn-resistant space.

The house is close to Hillcrest Court, where a resident died in a house fire in March. Beuttler said he was thankful that 15 fire vehicles arrived at the fire.

Beuttler described his neighborhood as a “tinderbox” and said there’s only so much he could do to mitigate fire risks in his yard.

“It’s great to be reminded,” he said about the yard inspections. “I need it, but everybody needs it. Not everybody is compliant with what you’re supposed to do and we all become vulnerable.”