Legislation To Make Exterior Sprinklers, Home Hardening & Defensible Spaces Mandatory In Wildfire Risk Areas In All States
To All Fire Safety Advocates and Families Everywhere
What has prevented mandatory Home Hardening, Defensible Landscaping & Exterior Sprinkler legislation in light of all the destruction and devastation over the last 20 + years ? Could it be special interest groups, politicians and other fire agencies & companies within the fire safety industry that influence those who make decisions about fire codes have put PROFIT$ over public safety? A group of fire insurance companies established the NFPA in 1896 and kept indoor sprinklers out of homes for over a century and Realtor Groups and National Home Builders Association lobbied against indoor sprinklers after California became 1st State to make sprinklers mandatory in 2009 that prevented home sprinkler legislation in 48 States. The articles below and the sheer number of homes burned down and lives lost in both wildfire risk areas and homes everywhere over last 100 + years certainly suggest it is the reason ! See cost figure comparisons below of adding Home Hardening, Defensible Landscaping & Exterior Sprinkler which would of been a small fraction of total losses from recent wildfires !
https://www.propublica.org/article/the-fire-sprinkler-war-state-by-state
https://www.propublica.org/article/fire-fight-the-homebuilding-industry-war-on-sprinklers
My name is Dennis Fox Founder of WildfireSafeHomes.org and 8 years ago, 39 years after majoring in fire science in college, I came across startling information about dangerous ionization smoke alarms in approximately 90% of homes. After learning about this consumer fraud I joined the effort of a group of Fire Protection Engineers, Fire Chiefs and Parents who lost children who died of smoke inhalation to get ionization alarms banned & recalled. This type of alarm does not detect smoldering smoke and was sold for over 50 years without a warning label. I am now focusing my efforts on getting this proposed legislation passed in order to save as many homes and lives as possible going forward. For your family safety sake see Smoke Alarms page for more info.
In light of all the recent wildfire devastation and destruction please consider joining this effort to get California and other States Legislators to make exterior sprinklers, home hardening and defensible spaces mandatory in California and all States for wildfire risk areas. Despite there being building and exterior sprinkler codes in place for wildfire risk areas less than 1% of homes in Los Angeles and Paradise had rooftop sprinklers and majority did not have fire resistant hardened homes or defensible landscaping ! It is painfully obvious that without mandatory legislation in place the majority of home and business owners did not protect their properties efficiently and the agencies and organizations that oversee and make decisions on fire prevention codes. rules and regulations failed to make the best solutions mandatory.
This resulted in the losses just in the Paradise Camp Fire, Pacific Palisades and Eaton wildfires of approximately 32,000 structures that burned down. Los Angeles total wildfire losses estimated to be $30 billion ( insured losses ) to as high as $275 billion all losses combined including medical & health related and environmental clean up costs etc which is just $ 1.25 B less than entire 2018 wildfire losses of $400 B. (See Accuweather est.) If Paradise, Pacific Palisades and Eaton home / business owners of those approximate 32,000 structures had spent an average of $50,000 on hardening their homes and businesses and installing exterior sprinklers & defensible landscaping, it would of cost only a fraction of the total losses, $1.6 billion. It seems FEMA who has approved grants in the past to help pay for exterior sprinklers, home hardening and defensible landscaping should be able to convince the Federal government to boost their funding efforts especially considering as of September 30, 2024, the U.S. Ukraine response funding totaled nearly $183 billion which funding has recently been suspended. Also according to Feb 6th Newsweek article the recent fraud and 100's of millions of dollars stolen and or unaccounted for the DOGE Commisson had discovered, "DOGE has so far claimed to average about $1 billion a day in savings based on budget cuts." That said the costs compasisons below seem to be affordable especially when compared to total losses and how the increased costs of everthing especially insurance is always passed down to consumers and on top of those increased expenses it is our tax dollars paying for all the funding. American tax payers need to support this proposed legislation and help stop the mismanagement and misapproiation of funds and fraud that DOGE Commission has exposed recently.
According to Insurance Information Institute "Homes at Risk for Extreme Wildfires, By State, 2024 California ranked #1 with 1,258,748 homes at risk." In comparison if hypothetically $50,000 on average was funded to make that many homes fire safe in California per proposed legislation it would only be $62,937,400,000 B over 90% less vs the losses just from wildfires in 2018 of $400B and bewteen $250 to $275 B in 2025 so far, total of $650B per AccuWeather estimates. The funding costs would likely be lower when only low income households would likely qualify for FEMA funded grants should proposed legislation be approved. Also cost of installation would come down once legislation is passed to make these solutions mandatory as to meet demand more companies will step up to offer all 3 services that will create competition which will lower prices and many homeowners will do their own home hardening and defensible landscaping. Similar tax incentives offered to those who installed solar panels in California should also be considered and insurance companies should offer deep discounts to home and business owners when implementing all 3 solutions considering the extreme premium rate hikes for insurance over the last 8 years in wildfire risk areas and insurance companies canceling coverage in some wildfire areas. The Trump Administration & Federal Government should be motivated to endorse and fund FEMA and cafiresafecouncil.org Grants considering all the tax revenues lost with all the businesses and homes burning down in these wildfires and lives lost.
Cal Fire's total base wildfire protection budget has nearly tripled over the past 10 years (from $1.1bn in 2014‑2015 to $3bn in 2023‑2024), according to a March analysis by the Legislative Analyst's Office before the 2024-2025 budget was approved. Preserving wildfire and forest resilience the budget builds on $2.5 billion in wildfire and forest resilience activities in recent years by proposing an additional $1.5 billion in spending over multiple years from the voter-approved Climate Bond. The 2025 /26 $322 Billion budget plan was submitted by Gov. Newsom on Jan 10th this year with $2.5 billion going toward wildfire and forest resilience activities in recent years by proposing an additional $1.5 billion in spending over multiple years from the voter-approved Climate Bond. This $4 billion in total funding will go toward projects to protect communities, keep wildfires from growing larger and more dangerous, and aid firefighters in combating wildfires. Considering wildfire experts like Jack Cohen retired U.S. Forest Service Research Fire Scientist and others have for decades informed all fire prevention agencies and organizations "that the wildfire issue is a home ignition problem and not a wild fire control problem" funding is better spent on making homes fire resistant, with exterior sprinklers and defensible landscaping vs. controlled burns of large areas that causes growth to come back even more over time.
California was 1st State to make fire sprinklers in new homes mandatory in 2009 and only Maryland and DC also passed legislation. All 48 other States did not because special interest Realtor groups and National Home Builders Association donated millions to politicians to vote no on legislation and or veto legislation already in place. (See Indoor Fire Sprinklers page) In the U.S. this has placed over 300 million lives and over 100 million homes at risk and must be prevented should this proposed wildfire exterior sprinklers and home hardening mandatory legislation move forward. Approximately a 3rd of U.S. homes are located in wildfire risk areas.
Exterior Sprinklers along with home hardening and defensible landscaping are the best solutions to keep homes in wildfire risk areas from burning down and to save lives. That said, as wildfires over the last 10 to 20 years have proven, if these life & home saving solutions do not become mandatory in wildfire risk areas more wildfire devastation and destruction will surely occur again and again.
Insurance companies need to make insurance more affordable for homeowners that make their homes fire safe in wildfire risk areas but according to this article from April 2024 Consumer Watchdog wants mandatory coverage for wildfire-safe homes "A consumer advocacy group in California is pushing for reforms that would require insurance companies to provide coverage to homeowners who have taken steps to mitigate wildfire risks to their properties. .... The deal was introduced as a way to expand coverage in wildfire-prone areas, but Balber said Consumer Watchdog has obtained documents indicating that this plan will not require insurers to offer coverage to single new homeowners. “Insurers could instead meet their commitment by offering bare-bones FAIR Plan-equivalent policies, leaving consumers no better off than they are today,” she said.
In light of many global warming scientists and advocates for over last 20 years warning climate change is a key contributor to the increase and severity of wildfires, unfortunately we now have a President who has claimed global warming is a hoax and somehow gained the support of Elon Musk who has taken a 180 degree turn on his opinion on climate change and spent millions on his campaign to get Mr. Trump elected which seems to be backfiring in light of recent TSLA news and stock price recently. Due to lack of response from Gov. Newsom's office here in CA and dozens of others I sent this Proposed Legislation link to since early February, including more recently to DOGE Commission, President Trump & Elon Musk, this morning I came across article below describing how climate change advocates were met with resistance from officials in Australia which also has been experiencing extreme wildfires for over a decade. Coincidently, Greg Mullins a retired Fire Chief who was interviewed in this article also campaigned for a ban and recall of ionization alarms in Australia and also experienced a wall of opposition as FPE Richard Patton and a few other Fire Chiefs in U.S. had for decades. I have reached out to Mr. Mullins to discuss how we and his team can break down the walls of resistance to bring mandatory legislation to prevent more communities from burning down in the near future.
The 60 Minutes video below and article linked below reveals how toxic smoke from wildfires are. "In a new study published in the journal Science Advances, we found that wildfire smoke likely contributed to more than 52,000 premature deaths across California alone from 2008 to 2018, with an economic impact from the deaths of more than US $430 billion".... "These findings suggest that society needs to invest in coordinated forest management, wildland-urban interface management and climate change mitigation, all of which could yield significant public health benefits through reducing the frequency and severity of wildfires and smoke exposure." For full story see Wildfire smoke linked to thousands of premature deaths every year in California alone
In a recent article titled Wildfires are ravaging the West. Can new bipartisan legislation help? there is a Bill called Fix Our Forests Act sponsored by Senators John Curtis, R-Utah John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., Tim Sheehy, R-Mont., and Alex Padilla, D-Calif that has the support of several organizations The Nature Conservancy; National Wildlife Federation; Environmental Defense Fund; National Audubon Society; Citizens’ Climate Lobby; Rural Voices for Conservation Coalition; The Stewardship Project; the Federation of American Scientists; CAL FIRE; the International Association of Fire Chiefs; Alliance for Wildfire Resilience; Megafire Action; the Association for Firetech Innovation; Climate & Wildfire Institute; Tall Timbers; Bipartisan Policy Center Action (BPC Action); and Hispanics Enjoying Camping, Hunting, and the Outdoors (HECHO). See full story at https://www.deseret.com/utah/2025/04/11/curtis-strives-for-better-forest-management-with-bill/ In the article it mentions "Create a single interagency program to help communities in the wildland-urban interface build and retrofit with wildfire-resistant measures, while simplifying and consolidating grant applications. " I reached out to the Senators and others mentioned in the artcle to see if exterior sprinklers are included as one of the wildfire-resistant measures. So far I only received auto responses and the Alliance for Wildfire Resilience news update below.
Legislative Activity Fix Our Forests Act (Senate)
The Alliance for Wildfire Resilience a supporter of the this legislation has a 41 page analysis of this Bill linked below. FOFA Analysis and April News
We have completed an in-depth analysis of the Senate version of the Fix Our Forests Act (FOFA) and are back in your inbox today to share that as well as the regular news for the month. As we shared on Monday, a negotiated, bipartisan version of Fix Our Forests Act (FOFA) has been introduced in the Senate. The bill addresses forest management and wildfire risk reduction, primarily by increasing the pace and scale of forest restoration through expedited planning and permitting, improving science and technology delivery to practitioners, establishing a community wildfire risk reduction program, modifying existing forestry authorities, improving post-fire rehabilitation, and improving wildfire response. Key changes have been made in the Senate version of the bill (as discussed Monday); the bill now addresses one-third of the recommendations made by the Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission. AWR is excited to endorse this version of the bill and you can read our full analysis here.
The U.S. Hotshots Association is a supporter of this Proposed Legislation effort. We are honored to have the support of the U.S. Hotshots President Randy Skelton & Hotshots crew members who risk their lives on the frontline of wildfires year after year. Click link above to learn more about their mission and see movie trailer below Only the Brave based on a true story about the Yarnell Hill Arizona wildfire. On June 30 2013 the fire overran and killed 19 members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots, a group of firefighters within the Prescott Fire Department.
Cherobin Azah a Fire Offical who specilizes in Fire Prevention and Fire Risk Assessment from Ghana is also a supporter of this effort and his reply below goes to show this wildfire crisis is a global concern. I have also had correspondence with Fire Safety advocates from UK, Germany, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Germany, Turkey and several U.S. States that agree with this proposed legislation and will be reaching out to policy makers to hopefully get Bills passed in their countries to protect lives and homes in wildfire risk areas.
"Hello Dennis, Thank you for reaching out and for the important work you’re doing in wildfire prevention and home safety. I fully agree that the urgency for legislation on home hardening, defensible landscaping, and exterior sprinklers in wildfire-prone areas cannot be overstated. The data you’ve compiled, particularly following the Camp Fire in 2018, clearly highlights the growing threat and the need for decisive action.
As a fire safety professional I see great value in fostering collaboration between regions like California and Ghana. While our landscapes and fire behaviors may differ, the shared goal of protecting lives and property through proactive legislation is universal. By learning from California’s experience and success stories, Ghana can strengthen its own frameworks—just as California can draw valuable insight from global perspectives.
I am committed to supporting this cause and will certainly share your message with other fire safety experts and stakeholders. Together, we can advocate for policies that prioritize preparedness and resilience, setting a precedent for others to follow.
Let’s continue to build this strong bridge between California and Ghana in the fight against wildfires and to ensure a safer future for all.
Warm regards,
Cherobin"
Please join our effort to make exterior sprinklers / home hardening / defensible landscaping mandatory in wildfire risk area in California and hopefully in all other States. Click Contact Us to leave message & your email address for updates and if you need a referral for a licensed & certified contractor for any of these fire preventive solutions for your home. Thank You !
Will voters say yes to new fire taxes?
By WILL MCCARTHY and EMILY SCHULTHEIS
01/13/2025 Click Title for full article
DRIVING THE DAY: Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday expanded a special Trump-resistance legislative session to include billions of dollars in wildfire spending as catastrophic blazes continue to tear through Los Angeles County. (More on this below.)
THE FIRE PREVENTION NEXT TIME — Last November, dozens of fire-fighting measures — from wildfire prevention bonds to stopgap special taxes — appeared on ballots around the state, part of local governments’ response to the previous decade’s large wildfires that leveled entire towns and burned a quarter of the state’s forestland
Communities around California voted for local bonds and taxes to support wildfire prevention efforts. | John Locher/AP
NEWSOM EXPANDS SPECIAL SESSION: Newsom’s move to add wildfire funding to the Legislature’s special session currently underway, endorsed by Democratic legislative leaders, came as Republicans knocked them for striking a $50 million deal to beef up state and local legal defenses against the incoming White House amid what may be the costliest fires in U.S. history.
