PLACERVILLE, Calif. – April is Wildfire Awareness month in El Dorado County and leaders have kicked off an awareness campaign bringing together state, local and federal partners in a roundtable that discussed wildfire preparedness and mitigation on Friday, April 4 in Placerville, Calif.

“We know we’ve experienced devastating wildfires here in the county over the last several decades and the next one we know is coming,”  Ken Pimlott said of the county’s Office of Wildfire Preparedness and Resilience. “We just don’t know when.”

It’s only April and fire crews across the state have already responded to over 600 wildfires. It’s something State Fire Marshal Daniel Berlant revealed along with Pimlott and other officials and representatives in a roundtable debriefing.

Berlant explained the state’s wildfire strategy comes from an action plan with key focuses that include forest health and wildfire response. He noted the significant investments the state has made in its resources for wildfire response, such as fire engines and replacement helicopters.

“But the truth is,” he said, “we’re not going to respond our way out of this crisis. We’ve got to double down on the efforts in wildfire mitigation and that starts, again, at home.”

Community hardening is the another key focus within the state’s action plan and he explained it includes defensible space and home hardening. He pointed to the Los Angeles fires and how they highlight the importance of Zone Zero, a five foot non-combustable zone that disallows ignitable objects like plants, bark and mulch around structures.

“LA Fires have only reiterated that embers can travel a mile ahead of a fire,” Berlant said, “even more land on these combustible items, ignite that item on fire, including plants, rose bushes and others and then it spreads to the home—taking down the home.”

He stated their data shows that homes with hardening and defensible space, including a Zone Zero, stand a significantly better chance of making it through a wildfire.

Deputy Insurance Commissioner, Michael Soller, also provided an update and informed that the California Department of Insurance is implementing new regulations to bring insurance companies back.

“We know that folks are afraid,” he stated. “They’re afraid of—are they going to be able to get insurance? Are they going to be able to afford insurance? And are they going to be able to protect their homes?”

In December, Commissioner Ricardo Lara announced enforcement of the new regulations which call for major insurance companies to increase writing policies in wildfire distressed areas, and use catastrophe models that account for mitigation efforts by homeowners, businesses, and communities.

Soller also highlighted new policies being proposed at both the state and federal level that could provide grants for home hardening and defensible space. He encouraged homeowners to do their part in making their homes safer.

For more information and resources on how to do so, visit readyforwildfire.org.