Home Hardening in the Wildland Urban Interface
Maintaining fire insurance in California is becoming increasingly more difficult for homeowners living in the hillside areas of unincorporated Santa Clara County. The California Department of Insurance has established a program called Safer from Wildfires where every action taken to harden a home from wildfire will qualify for an insurance discount.
Home hardening is the term used to describe vegetation management to create a defensible space around a building and the building materials used to resist the intrusion of flames or embers projected by a wildland fire. It can be applied to new construction or for retrofitting an older home. Home Hardening considers the relationship between your home and its exposure to nearby combustible elements such as vegetation, vehicles, accessory buildings, or even miscellaneous structures like a fence.
Refer to the following link for more information and take the home hardening self-assessment to see how prepared your property is for wildfire.
Source: CalFire (https://www.fire.ca.gov/home-hardening)
The California Residential Code (Section R337) and Chapter 7A of the California Building Code provide the materials and construction methods for exterior wildfire exposure.
CALFIRE also provides a low-cost-retrofit list with links to Office of the State Fire Marshal (SFM) approved Wildland Urban Interface products.
To facilitate the voluntary hardening or retrofit of existing homes in the Wildland Urban Interface, the Department of Planning and Development offers online or over-the-counter permits that include, but are not limited to, the following building elements:
- Reroof permits (Weight increase less than 4 psf)
- Siding (Weight increase less than 10%)
- Retrofit windows (No change to existing framing)
- Decking surfaces (no framing or guardrail replacement)
Caulking, installation of gutter shields, and weather-stripping do not require permits.
If your property is in a –d (Design Review), -h (Historical), or -sr (Scenic Road) zoning district, online or over-the-counter permits without plan review may not be permitted. Please refer to the Interactive Property Profile link to determine the zoning of your property. If your property is in one of the zoning districts above, schedule an appointment with a planner to discuss next steps.
The Department of Planning and Development only accepts electronic submittals. Please submit a completed Development (Building and Grading) Permit Application form through the Public Portal to begin the process.
Project descriptions or project scope of work for the building elements listed above shall include the words: ‘FIRE INSURANCE - VOLUNTARY UPGRADE’ to help flag these applications in the County system.
For more information regarding the application process, please contact the Permit Center at
[email protected] or call (408) 299-5700 for assistance.