If the wind blew a burning ember to your door, would your home burst into flames, or would it stand the heat?
The City of Orinda and the Moraga Orinda Fire District (MOFD) will make it easier for homeowners to get the right answer, as the two public agencies are offering a total of $2,500 in grants to make Orinda homes less vulnerable to wildfire.
An increased grant of up to $1,500 was approved by Orinda on April 7 as a part of the existing Fire Fuels Reduction Incentive Program. Combined with a $1,000 grant offer from MOFD, homeowners now can offset the cost of creating a zone of “defensible space” for home fire protection, acquire home-hardening devices (such as gutter guards) and even sign up for a chipper to reduce flammable material to a manageable size.
To be eligible for the city grant (application here bit.ly/4fnll3H) residents must either have had a Fire Adapted Community Assessment completed within a year prior to the work being done; received a compliance notice from MOFD on or after Aug. 16, 2022; or be in a Firewise
community.
Firewise communities are a program that works to organize homeowners to prepare for wildfires. The Moraga Orinda Firewise Network currently has 40 recognized Firewise neighborhoods.
The City of Orinda grant will help defray the cost of the total removal of eucalyptus, Monterey pine and dying or dead trees. Similarly, removal of shrubs, juniper, bamboo, vegetation in certain zones, and other hazardous material all qualify.
homeyou, an online platform to connect homeowners with local professionals, places an average cost of $605 to $820 per tree removal in Orinda, though this cost varies depending on the size and condition of the tree, and how much labor is required for its removal.
The city will also offer up to $10,000 for neighborhood-scale fire-protection projects of vegetation management, while the $1,500 grant is for individual homes only.
Fire Safe Moraga-Orinda (FSMO), a non-profit organization, will implement this addition to the program, and residents may expect a more “formal” release of the grant this year, mid-summer.
Orinda Mayor Brandyn Iverson decided to support the expanded grant offer because pilot programs showed that homeowners were bearing significant out-of-pocket costs despite public spending on home-hardening and required vegetation projects.
The city grant and some of the MOFD grants are provided through a reimbursement program. Home-hardening devices, such ember-resistant vents and gutter guards, are available directly from MOFD (bit.ly/4db0FdV) for free, though costs of installation are not included and will not be reimbursed.
“Orinda is a difficult city to evacuate given the narrow roads, so slowing the ability of a fire to spread from structure to structure, if it does reach our city, gives people the time they might need to evacuate safely,” Iverson said. “Home hardening is more than just protecting one’s own home – it is what we must do to create a kind of herd immunity to save lives and property in a worst-case scenario.”
The improvements provided by the grants could also impact homeowners’ insurance options and pricing in the future, according to Iverson.
Cole Haselip, assistant to the city manager, added that vegetation management and home-hardening efforts could improve the risk profiles generated by insurers, especially in high-fire risk areas.
Some homeowners, however, are concerned that home-hardening will detract from both the pleasure they take in their gardens, trees and lawns, as well as the curb appeal of their property – but that’s not necessarily the case.
Beautiful Moraga Orinda is a relatively new organization that offers homeowners attractive home-hardening options that will lessen the esthetic impact of removing a lot of vegetation.
Fire Chief Jeff Isaacs encouraged the founding of the organization, which is designed to help make uncertain homeowners more comfortable with making their homes more wild-fire resilient.
“We need people to see that wildfire resilient yards can be beautiful, affordable and doable,” said Paula Reinman of Beautiful Moraga Orinda.
And once they do, that’s one less obstacle to making Orinda as safe as possible during fire season.
“Wildfire is a team sport – 80% of homes in a neighborhood need to have defensible space for any one home to be safe,” Reinman said. “It’s a marathon. I encourage people to pick a project, get started and keep working on it, piece by piece.”
