20 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY JUNE 26-JULY 2, 2025 www.montereycountynow.com these zones, agencies encourage actions like thinning vegetation, pruning trees and spacing out flammable plants. “We really want to stress the importance of you as community members, property owners, homeowners,” Monterey County Regional Fire Chief David Sargenti said at the town hall, “being resilient and doing your part.” The sense of urgency isn’t lost on many residents. But often, the challenge is overcoming the obstacles to doing their part. Back at Perez’s home inspection near King City, the woman explains the issue with the troublesome branch. Her husband, who once handled the yard work, now has dementia, and hiring help is more than they can afford. Atop of the rolling hills along Highway 68 across from Laguna Seca, Bob Seidel, who’s somewhat of a poster child when it comes to fire prevention work, walks through the steps he’s taken to protect his home. He’s in a very high fire hazard area—in red on Cal Fire’s map— something he’s known since moving to the area in the 1980s and compounded by watching firsthand the wreckage of the River Fire in 2020. Some of his investments: $1,400 on Cal Fire recommended fire-resistant vents (he did the labor himself), $2,500 to trim the oak trees in December, plus $2,500 for a masticator (machine and labor), which he shared with a neighbor. He replaced his patio with fire-resistant TimberTech decking, also recommended by Cal Fire, and keeps bundles of firewood about 20 feet from the house. He plans to install a standby generator for power outages. He built the home and chose stucco “because I was concerned about fire,” he says, and selected a tile roof to fireproof it even more. Such fire-resistant luxuries are perhaps easier to obtain when one starts the process in the ’80s. Since then, inflation, in addition to increasing wildfires, have driven up costs. For example, the Tubbs Fire caused lumber prices to spike by 50 percent within just a few months, according to construction consultant Currie & Brown. To enact such changes today, especially all at once, is costly. Living further out into Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) areas is often more affordable, although it doesn’t mean a homeowner can retroactively afford even some of the more simple fire-proofing actions. Some funding opportunities to help homeowners are emerging. In the Monterey Fire Department’s response area, eligible residents can receive grant-funded landscaping services following an inspection. The Fire Safe Council for Monterey County is monitoring potential funds for home hardening and defensible space. Though no program has launched locally yet, Cal Fire is piloting a home hardening initiative for low-income, high-risk communities in Shasta, Lake and San Diego counties, with plans to expand. If there’s one industry that might understand climate change best, it is insurance—often a driving force behind why homeowners are taking next steps to protect their properties. And people are already feeling the pressure, especially as new fire hazard maps place them in higher-risk zones. “We’ve been having this conversation for a very long time,” says County Supervisor Kate Daniels, whose district includes some of the county’s most forested residential areas: Carmel Valley and Big Sur. “Even before the Palisades and Altadena fires, we were facing the insurance crisis—that also has this situation top-of-mind for the county.” While the message at town halls has emphasized that California’s insurance market will stabilize and become more accessible, Monterey County residents still report being dropped, often for reasons that seem arbitrary. One emerging solution may serve both insurance interests and neighborhood-level safety: Firewise groups. Dense vegetation blankets much of Monterey County. This same earthly splendor is likely what drew many to live here in the first place. There’s an unspoken bargain: accepting the threat of wildfire in exchange for unspoiled beauty. Of course, this bargain is tested in times of fire—and in just the last five to 10 years, many have felt that test firsthand. The Soberanes Fire in 2016 burned over 130,000 acres and destroyed 57 homes. It lasted nearly three months and at the time, was the most expensive wildfire response in U.S. history, costing $260 million to suppress and consumed an area four times the size of San Francisco. Then came the summer of 2020, one of the worst wildfire seasons in California’s history. The River, Carmel and Dolan fires spread concurrently, forcing thousands to evacuate and Top: Bob Seidel walks through his backyard off Highway 68, explaining how he’s invested in fire-proofing his house since moving to the area in the 1980s. Middle: Seidel has delimbed his trees, trimmed hedges and removed bushes from his front yard, as well as invested in a fire-resistant deck. Bottom: Fire-rated circular air vents are used to block embers and flames from intruding into his home during wildfires, while allowing for attic ventilation. “IF YOU DON’T ALREADY HAVE A PLAN, THAT’S WHEN THE PANIC SETS IN.” PHOTOS BY DANIEL DREIFUSS
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