Marin County Fire Department Defensible Space Inspections

The Marin County Fire Department is conducting defensible space inspections throughout our area. Some (most, all?) of you may have already received a notice in your mailboxes titled “NOTICE OF DEFENSIBLE SPACE INSPECTION”. If you have not yet received such a notice, you may receive one soon. Included with it is a pamphlet titled “Homeowner’s Guide to Wildfire Preparedness in Marin County” and a “Ready Set Go! Wildfire Evacuation Checklist”.

Some residents who have already received this notice may have been disturbed by the stern official-sounding report as well as possible discrepancies between what the report states and the status of their property. To be clear, this review of your property is for your benefit and is intended to be the start of your consideration regarding making your property wildfire defensible. It carries no official mandate. If, in fact, you were not present or the inspectors could not otherwise gain entry to your property, it is a cursory review of your property from the street. As such, it cannot be a thorough analysis of the defensible condition of your property and may have inaccuracies.

Its primary intent is to initiate a more thorough analysis by the resident of their property from a wildfire defense point-of-view. The Marin County Fire Department encourages you to contact them to conduct an on-site review and discuss the actions you might take to make your property more defensible in the case of a wildfire. It also gives the Fire Department the opportunity to record the status of your property so that they will know what to expect should they be called to your property in the event of a wildfire.

You should contact the Marin County Fire Department’s Wildfire Hazard Program at 415-473-2207 to discuss your property’s wildfire defense situation, and possible schedule a visit by a Department representative to further review and analyze your property. It would be to your benefit as well as that of your neighbors.

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