Two factors have emerged as the primary determinants of a home’s ability to survive a wildfire – quality of the defensible space and structural ignitability. Together, these two factors create a concept called the Home Ignition Zone (HIZ), which includes the structure and the space immediately surrounding the structure. To protect a home from wildfire, the primary goal is to reduce or eliminate fuels and ignition sources within the HIZ. This is what wildfireRx does.

Our methodology for prioritizing actions around your house is based on knowledge of our area's land/weather patterns, experience, fire science, and probability of risk.

When we think about this, we "think like an ember"  to stay focused on the vulnerabilities of a structure so we can address those vulnerabilities.

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​A Focus on the Threats to your Home

Embers are the most common cause of structure fire from wildfire, so protecting structures from embers is priority. Protecting from radiant heat is also important but the protection from this tends to lie more in the building materials of your structure as well as thoughtful thinning and pruning of the surrounding vegetation (within 30', and 100' of the structure).

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​Assessing and Addressing the Risks to Your Home

We methodically review the whole structure and surrounding 100' to provide a list of vulnerabilities and actions to eliminate and manage those vulnerabilities. If interested, we can provide a proposal for us to implement the solution, for a fee.

• Our priority is on the structure itself and the 5' perimeter around it. We ensure that there is virtually nothing combustible within the 5' perimeter of the structure.

• Secondarily, we address the highest risk combustibles (fencing, debris, trees/branches, brush, sheds, etc.) within 30', and 100' of the structure.  This area is what wildfireRx' parent company Metau Resilient Forests specializes in.

• Big Picture Risk Variables that we take into account when we assess your property include:

  • Fuels- The type, continuity, and density of surrounding vegetation and structures

  • Weather- wildfireRx' knowledge of historic wind, relative humidity, and atmospheric stability during our fire season informs our risk assessment for your home.

  • Topography- The steepness and aspect (direction it is facing) of slopes in relation to your home and property are very important to your risk.

 

wildfireRx provides more than just an assessment

wildfireRx understands that a typical assessment can be overwhelming in scope with over 25 items that could be improved upon to reduce your risk.

This is why we go one step further, and prioritize the actions to reduce your risk with our proprietary wildfireRx Risk Priority Score. This score is meant to guide you in your prioritization of actions to take, by taking multiple variables into account to ensure you're aware of the actions that give you the biggest bang for your buck.

This score is unique to wildfireRx and is based on a unique set of experiences including:

• building and renovating

• firefighting and fire management experience 

• fire science and forest stewardship education

• 6 years' experience working in over 100 acres of forests and hills of the Leavenworth/Lake Wenatchee area, during all seasons and all weather 

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Your Feedback is Important

Please note: We take your desires into consideration with regards to how strictly we adhere to the specifications shown in the diagram on this page. For instance, if you have trees or brush that you like/love that technically should be removed per Firewise specifications, we'll discuss that, and the risk/reward tradeoff decision of keeping them, will be yours.

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