Photos of a few homes still upright amid the Los Angeles wildfire are still making the social media rounds. Take the home of Michael Kovac and Dr. Karina Maher, which withstood the Palisades fire. Kovac, an architect, told reporters that when he and his wife designed the house in 2010, they “were acutely aware that at some point in the house’s life there would be a serious fire, nearby at the very least. So, we designed the house to be both fire resilient and sustainable.” Their wildfire safety precautions succeeded at “hardening” their home.
It’s not just Californians who should plan to manage possible wildfire damage. While most wildfires occur in the western states, they also wreak havoc all over the U.S. Wildfires burned more than 14,000 acres in the Carolinas in March 2025, according to the South Carolina Forestry Commission and the North Carolina Forest Service. Two of the biggest fires in North Carolina were responsible for at least half of that, reported "USA Today." A month later, a wildfire burned 15,200 acres in New Jersey. Although there were no deaths or loss of homes, about 5,000 residents were evacuated. The Environmental Protection Agency reports that wildfires each year have burned an increasing area since the 1980s.
The monetary effects are staggering. The U.S. government spends about $2.5 billion each year on fire suppression in federal lands alone, and the 2025 LA wildfires caused up to $53.8 billion in property damage. In addition to the direct costs, the damage extends to loss of business, severe effects on vegetation, poor air quality, and respiratory and health issues.
Typically, “wildfire season” runs from May through November, but at this point, there doesn’t seem to be a wildfire season. Experts say we can’t prevent all wildfires, but homeowners can reduce the damage and mitigate spread. Here’s how to prepare your home for wildfire and improve wildfire safety.
Top-Down Strategies for Wildfire Safety and Home Protection
Concentrate on the most vulnerable areas, such as the roof; vents, siding, doors, and other exterior components; and the first five feet from the exterior of the home. “You want to make the house itself more resilient by using fire-resistant materials,” says Steven Hawks, senior director for wildfire at the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety. “In the surrounding area, reduce the number of combustible things that can burn and expose the home to fire.”
“It’s less expensive to build a new, fire-resistant home from scratch, and there are challenges to hardening an existing home,” says Nick Cammarota, a former builder and current senior vice president and general counsel for the California Building Industry Association. Nevertheless, you can make smart choices to support wildfire safety in existing homes.
Those choices can lead to insurance savings. Home insurers consider your preventive measures when they write policies, says Janet Ruiz, spokesperson for the Insurance Information Institute. The amount varies by state, your risk, and your insurer. For example, “roofs are always taken into consideration in homeowners insurance because they are vulnerable to all types of weather.” Ruiz directs homeowners to an IBHS website that describes the organization's designation program to help homeowners protect against wildfire. “Many insurers do give a discount if you’re certified from IBHS. It’s well recognized in the industry,” she says.
Wildfire Safety Tips for the Roof
“When it’s time to replace your roof, you’ll want a Class A roof, which offers the highest resistance to fire,” Cammarota says. This includes roofs made of concrete or clay tiles, asphalt composition shingles, or metal. A cedar shake roof has the worst fire rating. If you’re retrofitting an existing roof to limit fire damage, a roofer should be able to tell you which roofs have a Class A rating. Remove any vegetation or debris from the roof or its underside. When you replace your roof, make sure to include noncombustible gutters.
Kovac and Maher had a high-performance Class A roof and a “green, planted roof.” Environmentally friendly, the green roof helps with “water reclamation, is a natural habitat, and has the benefit for fire [safety] of having four and a quarter inches of earth and small volcanic stones,” Kovac told reporters. “Even if the plants burn off, we have this soil-protecting layer on top of the roof.”
Costs: A new roof on a 2,500-square-foot, single-story, single-family home averages $21,810, according to a study by the IBHS and coauthored by Headwaters Economics. A wildfire-resistant roof including vents, fascia, soffits, and gutters costs about $27,670. Many wildfire-resistant roof materials have a longer lifespan and need less maintenance needs than typical materials.
When it comes to insurance savings, a wildfire-resistant roof “may get you an insurance discount anywhere from 5% to 20%, but that depends on your state and the type of wildfire risk you have,” Ruiz says. If you own a home in California, following the Safer from Wildfires protocols can help you qualify for insurance discounts.
Wildfire Safety Tips for Vents
“During wildfire, the majority of homes are ignited by flying embers, which get into homes through vents and other openings,” Hawks says. Cover or replace any vent that isn’t exhausting gases and has mesh gaps more than one-eighth inch wide. Look for products with the term “ember (or fire) resistant” or “fire stopping.”
Wildfire Safety Tips for Windows
In planning to contain wildfire damage to windows, think about the framing material and the glass itself. Radiant heat and direct flames can cause windows to fail if the frame burns and the glass breaks or falls out, allowing fire to enter the home. As for the glass itself, the extreme temperature difference between the heat of wildfire and the interior can cause the glass to break.
In fire-prone areas, you’ll want “tempered glass,” Cammarota says. It’s heat treated to make it stronger and more durable than standard glass. Dual paned windows, with at least tempered glass on the interior, will provide more protection than a single paned window.
Cost: Tempered glass will add approximately $1 per square foot to the cost of your window, according to University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources.
Wildfire Safety Tips for Siding
“[Use] noncombustible siding, particularly the first six inches at the base of a wall where debris can accumulate and embers can ignite debris that often collects there,” Hawks says.
Kovac and Maher’s home is clad in a fiber cement product made with recycled newsprint and a cement binder. Kovac said it was “one of the most sustainable and resilient features” on the home. There are many fiber cement products on the market such as HardiePlank or GAF WeatherSide. They mimic the look of wood and can even be painted.
Cost: Fiber cement siding costs $3.31 to $6.03 per square foot for a new home and about $7.26 per square foot for replacement siding, according to Fixr. The average cost to install vinyl siding is $7.05 to $12.05 per square foot, according to Homewyse.
Wildfire Safety Tips for Sprinklers
A roof sprinkler system may sound like a no-brainer, but with the typical high winds of a wildfire, who knows where the water will end up? Also, it’s important to “have passive mitigation strategies to address vulnerabilities,” Hawks says. “An external sprinkler system is an active strategy that requires other systems like a water supply and power to function as designed. We saw in Altadena and Paradise the water supply stopped working and power was shut down for life safety.” Firefighters need all the water they can get.
Kovac and Maher have sprinkler nozzles on their home’s chimney, which sprayed PHOS-CHEK, the bright pink fire retardant that planes spew during a wildfire. The sprinklers are an on-demand system, which the couple triggered once they knew the house would be enveloped in flames, according to Kovac.
Mitigating Wildfire Damage Outside
The “home ignition zone” includes the house and a buffer of up to 100 feet, Hawks says. “Embers can travel very long distances and have enough energy to ignite combustible items when they land,” he says.
Here are three areas that require preventive action:
- First five feet out: This perimeter of “defensible space” should not have anything combustible in it — such as landscaping, fences, or sheds. Many homeowners fill the space with gravel. Clear the area around the house, including under a deck, of any vegetation and debris.
- Five to 30 feet out: Create horizontal and vertical spacing between shrubs and trees to slow the spread of the fire toward the house. Remove dead plant material, bushes, and trees.
- 30 to 100 feet out: You don’t want fire spreading to the tops of trees or shrubs. Remove dead plant material and items like plastic garbage cans and lawn furniture.
While homeowner’s insurance typically covers wildfire damage, people often don’t have enough coverage to rebuild a home at today’s value. And because of increased wildfire activity, some insurance companies have determined it’s too risky for them to write policies. Check if your state has insurance plans to cover you.
When it comes to wildfire safety, homeowners need to be as prepared as possible. Sign up for alerts with your local fire department or municipality. They will issue fire updates, including evacuation warnings and orders. In addition, you can fortify your home by learning from the experience of homeowners like Kovac and Maher and protecting vulnerable areas from top to bottom.