Home Evaluations

The Santa Barbara County Fire Safe Council can help you and your family prepare for wildfires.

What is a Home Evaluation?

A Home Evaluation is a free and voluntary review of the vulnerability of your house and landscape to wildfire and ember-ignition. During this assessment, an evaluator will review defensible space and home hardening principles and make specific recommendations based on your property. Additionally, being prepared for wildfire goes beyond hardening the home and creating defensible space – it is also about preparing the people. Evacuation is a huge concern for residents, so this evaluation also reviews your evacuation preparedness so you can be safer and feel more prepared in the event of an evacuation.

Evaluations can approximately 45 minutes, and are performed by SBFSC staff. The homeowner is under no obligation to complete any of the recommendations, though we may follow up to find out if the homeowner decided to do any of the improvements, and if not, what barriers to completion the homeowner encountered. We will use this information to determine what incentive programs might be developed to help homeowners to complete more of these ignition-resisting improvements.

Lastly, there is no regulatory enforcement associated with this evaluation. The evaluation is simply to provide more detailed information to homeowners about how to make their homes and their families more prepared for the next wildfire. No information will be shared with outside organizations or personnel outside of the SBFSC.

How to register for an Evaluation

For homeowner convenience, we have provided a couple options for homeowners to complete an evaluation:

1. Complete the evaluation entirely by yourself – The evaluation is designed to be completed without the assistance of the SBFSC staff. The report will be emailed to you after its completion. This option works best with a laptop or tablet. Click HERE to take the evaluation.

2. Request an in-person expert to evaluate your property – A SBFSC staff member will come to your property and either do the evaluation with you or do it with you absent (permission needed to access your property if you are absent). Click HERE to answer some preliminary questions and schedule a time.

3. Hybrid option – Complete as much of the evaluation as possible by yourself and a SBFSC staff member can finish the report in person with you or with you absent (permission needed to access your property if you are absent). This option works great if are not available during the evaluation times. You can pre-ask any questions in the evaluation and the expert will provide detailed answers after visiting your home. Click HERE start the evaluation yourself and click HERE to schedule a time to have an expert complete the survey.

Contact Information

Please email us at community@SBFireSafeCouncil.org with any questions or comments.