Defensible Space
Keep your property lean and green to help protect your family and home
Creating defensible space is essential to improve your home’s chance of surviving a wildfire. It’s the buffer you create between a building on your property and the grass, trees, shrubs, or any wildland area that surround it. This space is needed to slow or stop the spread of wildfire and it protects your home from catching fire—either from direct flame contact or radiant heat. Defensible space is also important for the protection of the firefighters defending your home.
![Defensible Space zones](https://streamline.imgix.net/ec68dbb6-0447-428e-8091-748a242ed453/7b3f75a4-afbe-4523-a2fe-626b6791c003/Defensible%20Space%20Zones.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1680%2C607%2C2520%2C1890&auto=format%2Ccompress&w=2000&h=2000&fit=max&or=0&s=123a3abfeee00f9efc145afae5956f47)
Request a Defensible Space Survey
Each year, Wildland Specialists with Montecito Fire Protection District conduct approximately 200 Defensible Space Surveys with private property owners.
Our Wildland Specialists can help you harden your home now, before a fire starts by recommending ember-resistant building materials and proper landscaping techniques.
The surveys focus on vegetated or landscaped zones around structures, the structures themselves, access to the property and the existing topography in the area.
The Wildland Specialist will walk the entire property with the homeowner, document the entire inspection, and provide the homeowner with a Defensible Space Survey Report documenting follow-up work if needed to achieve a defensible space for their home.
To schedule a complimentary Defensible Space Survey, please contact fill out the contact form below.