After the Fire: A Step-by-Step Guide to What Comes Next
If you're reading this because a wildfire just took your home, or damaged your property, we're sorry. There's no version of this that isn't hard.
This guide exists for one reason: in the weeks after a fire, you'll be asked to make dozens of decisions while you're exhausted, displaced, and grieving — and the order you do things in genuinely matters. This page lays out the whole path, in order. What to do. What not to do. Who to call first. What to watch out for.
Home Hardening
California's official guide to reducing ignition risk with better materials, vents, windows, decks, and ember-resistant zones around the home.
Hardening Your Home
A practical homeowner-facing guide covering roofs, vents, walls, decks, windows, and ember-resistant upgrades in wildfire-prone areas.
Ignition Resistant Homes
A plain-language resource explaining home ignition zones, ignition-resistant assemblies, and the 0–5 foot noncombustible zone around the home.
Home Builder's Guide to Construction in Wildfire Zones
A foundational guide for designing and building in wildfire-prone areas, including siting, materials, roofs, decks, windows, vents, and access considerations.
Resilience Guide for Builders — Volume 3: Fire
A builder-oriented wildfire resilience guide with practical above-code construction strategies for residential buildings and accessory structures.
Wildland-Urban Interface Code
An overview of the model code used to address wildfire risk in WUI areas through land-use, defensible-space, and ignition-resistant construction requirements.
WUI Handbook
A technical reference for deeper research into wildfire behavior, WUI fire risk, mitigation, and design considerations for engineers and architects.