About Firescape

Firescape was born from the ashes of homes and lives that were lost to the ravages of wildfire. While on the scene of the 2003 San Bernardino County and L.A. Basin wildfire siege, Cary Gloeckner, a professional firefighter, listened to local residents who had lost their homes to wildfire despite the many heroic acts of firefighters. It was clear that the lack of defensible space around homes was one of the primary reasons that caused a home to succumb to wildfire. This lack of defensible space hampered firefighters efforts to “get in and around a home” in order to protect it from the approaching wildfire. It was then that Cary decided to build a business that would utilize years of firefighting knowledge and fire experiences to assist homeowners in creating defensible spaces.

Firescape is primarily made up of firefighters. We are a diversified group of part-time paid, volunteer, seasonal and full-time firefighters supplemented by other non-fire personnel. We work year round to identify and mitigate most of the factors that cause a home to be lost to wildfire. We perform a 360 degree external inspection of your home. During that inspection we will note all potential portals of entry for embers, note all structural aspects of the home that should be improved upon and we will assemble a vegetation management plan that will give the homeowner a basic plan for establishing or broadening their defensible space to meet the threat their home faces.

It is during this inspection process that Firescape distinguishes itself from non-fire related landscapers, tree care professionals and others who claim to be capable of providing you with a defensible space yet lack the critical fire experience and knowledge necessary to make sure that your home stands the best possible chance of surviving a wildfire.

Our Firescape inspectors have actual hands-on firefighting experience. What this means to you as a homeowner is that we give you personal examples from wildfires we have fought that show you why it is so important to implement our suggestions. We can show you the information, firefighting field guides and fire codes that we follow in order to create your home's defensible space. In the State of California, we follow PRC 4290 & 4291 standards (Public Resources Code 4290 and 4291) which define the many different facets of creating a defensible space and building features that your home should have. These codes are State Law and must be followed. In some instances, your local county or city codes and ordinances will be more restrictive than 4290 & 4291 standards, however, 4291 & 4290 are the underlying most basic standards.

Firescape can provide insurance agencies with enough information to properly size-up a home's wildfire exposure / risk and then mitigate most of those risks. This will allow the homeowner's insurance company to write a policy that they might not have otherwise written. It is a fact that insurance companies are now re-thinking what they will and will not insure due to where a home is located. I have heard of numerous home insurance policies that have been cancelled in recent years. In some of cases, Firescape was able to educate the insurance adjuster about the wildfire threat specific to that home; what we did to mitigate most of those threats and showed them the defensible space that we created to address the wildfire threat to the home. Often times the result was a policy written for the homeowner that would not have otherwise been written. Some of those homes were in: Mill Valley, Tam Valley, Sebastopol, Santa Rosa, Bennett Valley, Glen Ellen, Cloverdale, Healdsburg, Mendocino, St. Helena, Calistoga, Angwin, Deer Park, Las Posadas and Lake Berryessa area.

Firescape has made the commitment to help as many homeowners as it possibly can in the State of California. We have worked on projects as far south as the Santa Barbara Mountains and as far north as Mendocino. We have also worked as far East as Placerville. Our most frequent counties of operation are: Sonoma, Napa, Marin, Mendocino, Lake and El Dorado. Our general service area is Northern California specifically the Bay Area. However, wherever you are calling from, we will make every effort to get to you as well. After all, placing a call to us may not just save your home, it may save your life!

If your home and family face the threat of wildfire, contact us now before it is too late.

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