A client has a beautiful home in the Santa Cruz Mountains, just above Silicon Valley in California. A direct writer had doubled the cost of the insurance, and we were able to insure them with an A-rated insurance company at a reasonable price. Once the policy was written, the carrier sent out an inspector to review the home, take pictures, and make loss control recommendations.
Among the recommendations was a requirement for “vegetation management” around the home. We must show that it has been done or the policy would be non-renewed at the first anniversary.
What is meant by vegetation management? The carrier said they want a defensible area around the home of 150 feet, even though state law only mandates 100 feet. Their logic is that they insure many high-valued homes, and with so much at stake, they have a more stringent requirement.
The client asked why the property passed inspection with the local fire department, but not the carrier. My glib response was that the local fire department doesn’t have to pay claims!
Part of managing the vegetation is to have trees on the property within the 150 feet “limbed up.” This means that tree limbs should be pruned below 8 feet.
Equally, if not more important is the plants below the trees should be no higher than 12 to 18 inches, and that dead plant material be assiduously removed. The low level dead material is the fuel that a fire loves.
The need to trim, prune and remove is essential to have a defensible space to survive a fire. It often reduces privacy from the neighbors, and detracts from the “natural beauty”, but could make the difference of losing the property in a fire.
An arborist is often an important asset in determining what and how to prune and trim, and which plants are fire-resistant, and which are oily and more flammable. The oleander is beautiful, but not good within that 150 feet.
Bottom Line: One of the realities of living in god’s country, is the work and expense of defense against god and nature.
Much has been learned from the experience of the Oakland foothills fire and other catastrophic events of the last 25 years in the Bay Area. It’s hard to argue with carriers that have taken those lessons to heart.
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