Danger in Plain Sight – Episode 3

by

Home Hardening

In May of 2025, we headed to Los Angeles for a week and rode e-bikes around, looking at the recent fire areas and checking out wildfire hazards across the edges of the City with a few of our most-experienced wildland firefighter/fire behavior analysts friends. We were there to try to make sense of the recent fires, and to share lessons we’ve learned across several careers spent working on large fires in California.

This is the third of our five-part ‘Danger in Plain Sight‘ series. In this episode, we look at wildfire hazards in the neighborhood around our vacation rental, in Hollywoodland, right below the Hollywood sign, in Los Angeles. We talk about why it is important to cut back dense brush adjacent to homes, and about the importance of treating landscaping plants as if they were flammable brush. In the second half of the episode, we do a detailed inspection of the home, and areas directly around it, and share tips with the homeowner on the small things they can do to reduce the likelihood of their place catching on fire during a wildfire event.

This episode features home inspection software from our sponsor, Fire Aside.

Watch Episodes 1 and 2, and read our series notes, here: 

Episode 3

Episode Summary

The episode discussed wildfire threats in Southern California, emphasizing the need for vegetation management and home hardening to reduce the likelihood of ignition during wildfires. Zeke Lunder, Dennis O’Neil, and Tim Chavez highlighted the lack of defensible space and the resilience of vegetation in areas around structures in the Hollywood Hills, noting that 80-foot flames are common in tall brush during wildfire conditions. Jason Brooks from Fire Aside introduced software to assess fire hazards, which identifies over 50 fire-related structure vulnerabilities. Dennis O’Neil and Brooks advised homeowners to create non-combustible zones and maintain the trim, paint, and general upkeep of structures in high wildfire risk areas. A vacation rental property was assessed for wildfire vulnerabilities, revealing issues with combustible materials and vegetation. The team stressed the importance of continuous home and property maintenance to prevent losses during wildfires.

Standing at an Overlook over Hollywood Reservoir

  • Zeke Lunder discusses the importance of understanding wildfire movement at the landscape-scale.
  • Dennis O’Neil and Tim Chavez discuss the age and dryness of the brush, noting that it hasn’t decayed in 60-80 years.
  • Zeke Lunder and Tim Chavez talk about the lack of transition areas between the observed wildland and urban areas, emphasizing the need for vegetation management near homes.
  • Dennis O’Neil and Tim Chavez discuss the potential flame lengths in Santa Ana winds, highlighting the importance of a buffer zone between homes and wildlands.

Challenges of Vegetation Management in Urban Areas

  • Zeke Lunder points out that none of the homes in sight have adequate defensible space due to the dense vegetation.
  • Tim Chavez explains that even after mastication or burning, the vegetation would quickly recover due to its resilience.
  • Lunder mentions the difficulty of convincing conservancies to cut chaparral for development purposes.
  • Zeke Lunder and Dennis O’Neil discuss the high costs of vegetation management and the lack of budgets for state agencies and conservancies.

Opportunities for Homeowners to Mitigate Fire Risks

  • Dennis O’Neil talks about the opportunities for homeowners to work with fire safe councils and adjacent landowners to manage fire risks.
  • Zeke Lunder emphasizes the need for homeowners to understand their constant relationship with vegetation management.
  • Tim Chavez highlights the serenity of living in wildfire areas but warns about the associated risks.
  • Dennis O’Neil stresses the importance of rethinking people’s relationship with their environment, especially in wildfire areas.

Introduction of Fire Aside Software for Fire Risk Assessment

  • Zeke Lunder introduces Jason Brooks from Fire Aside, who will use their software to assess fire hazards at the team’s vacation rental.
  • Dennis O’Neil explains the overwhelming nature of fire hazard assessments for homeowners and how Fire Aside’s software simplifies it.
  • Jason Brooks discusses the importance of understanding fire hazards to make informed decisions about landscaping and home improvements.
  • The rental hosts introduce themselves and their property, which is unique and high up in the Hollywood Hills with a nice view.

Detailed Fire Risk Assessment of Vacation Rental

  • Dennis O’Neil explains the three primary zones for fire risk assessment: Zone Two (30 feet to 100 feet), Zone One (5 to 30 feet), and Zone Zero (0 to 5 feet).
  • Dennis O’Neil and Jason Brooks discuss the importance of reducing fuel loads and removing combustible materials in Zone Two.
  • Dennis O’Neil emphasizes the need for proper spacing and removal of dead material in Zone One to prevent fires.
  • Jason Brooks and Dennis O’Neil highlight the importance of non-combustible materials in Zone Zero to prevent embers from catching fire.

Structural Vulnerabilities and Recommendations

  • Dennis O’Neil discusses the structural vulnerabilities of the rental property, including the wood deck and tree limbs.
  • Jason Brooks and Dennis O’Neil recommend replacing the wood deck with a non-combustible material and removing vegetation underneath it.
  • Dennis O’Neil advises bringing tree limbs at least five feet away from the house and regularly cleaning up leaves.
  • Jason Brooks and Dennis O’Neil discuss the importance of non-combustible materials for flashing and other structural elements to prevent embers from entering the house.

Final Recommendations and Conclusion

  • Dennis O’Neil and Jason Brooks recommend replacing combustible materials like wood with non-combustible options to reduce fire risks.
  • The rental host expresses concern about the challenge of maintaining a clean environment around the house.
  • Dennis O’Neil and Jason Brooks emphasize the importance of regular maintenance and sealing gaps to prevent embers from entering the house.
  • Zeke Lunder compares maintaining a fire safe house to maintaining a wooden boat, highlighting the need for continuous care to prevent ember intrusion which could ‘sink the house’.