Videos
Watching the following videos will help you better protect your family and property in Calabasas
As more and more community members watch the videos and implement the recommendations on this website, the entire community will be afforded a higher level of protection. Additionally, any hours spent watching videos are captured as “volunteer” hours that apply toward our Firewise Certification, which can also reduce your homeowners insurance rate.
Home Insurance Shopping?
United Policyholders (UP) mission is to be a trustworthy and useful information resource and a respected voice for consumers of all types of insurance in all 50 states. In this video, experts discuss the current insurance crisis. It is a little over an hour long but gives you a deep understanding of your options, particularly if you have gotten a letter.
Ready! Set! Go!
In California, wildfires aren’t a question of if, but only a question of when. If you choose to live near a natural area of the state, you are at risk for wildfires and it’s your responsibility to prepare yourself, your family, and your home. And that preparation starts with three simple steps: READY, SET, GO!
Ready! Set! Go! Your Wildfire Action Plan
Los Angeles County Fire Department gives a quick overview of the Ready! Set! Go! program provides vital information to the citizens of Los Angeles County with a wildfire action plan.
Harden Your Home
An in-depth look at ways in which you the homeowner can safeguard, or ‘harden’, your home that will increase the chances of it surviving a wildfire.
– Presented by the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
Jack D. Cohen, Research Physical Scientist, U.S. Forest Service
No one has done more to define the wildland-urban interface problem and empower homeowners to reduce their risk of wildfire than Jack Cohen. His post-fire field examinations and laboratory-based research on fire dynamics led to the concept of the home ignition zone, a phrase he coined. Cohen also co-developed the U.S. National Fire Danger Rating System and contributed to the U.S. fire behavior prediction systems.
How do homes burn in a wildfire?
Contrary to popular belief, most homes do not burn down from direct contact with wildfire flames or radiant heat. Misconceptions about wildfires are too often perpetuated in media as massive walls of flame that scorch everything in their path. In fact, most structures lost in a wildfire are destroyed by wildfire embers. These embers are usually small burning pieces of debris that are spit away from the wildfire. Embers land on your property, pile up, smolder, and then ignite. These small ignitions on roofs, decks, porches, and other areas of your property are often the main cause of a home being lost to wildfire.
IBHS Research Center Ember Storm Test Highlights
This important video is from the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety’s Research Center. The video highlights how small wildfire embers can ignite homes.
IBHS shows us the importance of the 0-5 Feet Zone
This video is from the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety’s Research Center. The video highlights the importance of wildfire-resistant construction and maintaining a hardened 0-5 feet zone.
IBHS Research Center Ember Storm Test Longer Version
This video is from the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety’s Research Center. You can clearly see the plastic gutters burn and the embers coming through the attic vents.
New Videos from the Resource Conservation District
The Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains Community Resilience team, with a grant from CAL FIRE, created a series of nine videos to help communities become more wildfire-resilient. The videos cover wildfire preparedness, fire ecology, and how-to’s for home-hardening and defensible space!