18 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY JUNE 26-JULY 2, 2025 www.montereycountynow.com One spring afternoon, Luis Perez, a forestry technician and firefighter, hops in a truck at Cal Fire’s King City station and heads out to conduct a home inspection near King City. On the drive out, at first glance the terrain looks highly flammable: rolling hills covered in crunchy, dry grass. Yet, there are nuances, Perez explains, in how firefighters view the landscape. Trimmed vegetation near the road, check. Mowed lawns and fields, check. De-limbed trees and metal roofs, check. Same goes for the home inspection. He and one other Cal Fire inspector knock on the door, and a woman who looks to be in her 70s answers. She is welcoming, she knows who they are, and she is already aware of the danger fire poses to the area, making the inspection a relatively smooth one. “The main danger that we see is people not being aware, not being educated,” Perez says. “Normally, when people get all the information that we have, they’re proactive. They get excited to know that changing a few things in their home, it’s going to increase their chance of survival.” He walks with a clipboard around her house, noting that the bundles of firewood are at least 10-15 feet away from the house, in addition to a good amount of clearance from any brush or plants. The biggest concern: “See that branch hanging down on your roof?” Perez says, pointing to a branch sprinkling detritus onto the house. “We’ve got to take care of that.” Zone Zero—the first line of defense within 0-5 feet around a home’s foundation—has been the focus of local and state fire departments in recent months. The push is to guide homeowners to remove flammable material, like mulch, leaves and bark that could become ignited by embers and light fire to someone’s home. It’s an effort that was ramped up by the fires that destroyed tens of thouZONE OF INTEREST Preparing for the worst takes a lot of work. Monterey County agencies and residents are zeroing in on defensible space. By Katie Rodriguez DANIEL DREIFUSS KATIE RODRIGUEZ
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