Tools, contacts, and reference material for California wildfire law, property compliance, and the insurance landscape
What you’ll find here
The resources section collects the practical tools that don’t belong on a single law page or community page — the contact directories, reference guides, and lookup tools that property owners, buyers, sellers, and real estate professionals need when navigating defensible space compliance, real estate transactions, and the fire insurance market. If you need the number to call, the agency to contact, or the term to look up, start here.
Available now
Official Resources — Agencies, Inspections & Insurance
The contacts and phone numbers that are genuinely hard to find, organized by what you need to do rather than by agency. Covers who to call for a defensible space inspection in your specific jurisdiction, how to reach the California Department of Insurance, how to access the FAIR Plan, the current market posture of major carriers, and emergency notification resources. Includes contact information for CAL FIRE San Diego Unit, Heartland Fire & Rescue, North County Fire Protection District, Escondido and Poway city fire departments, Riverside County Fire, and more.
California Wildfire Glossary
Definitions for the fire science, legal, and regulatory terms that appear throughout this site — organized by topic so related concepts appear together rather than in an A-Z list that mixes ember cast with evacuation orders. Nine categories covering fire science and behavior, terrain and topography, ignition and structure vulnerability, defensible space, California law and regulation, insurance and real estate, agencies and programs, fire events and history, and preparedness and response. Approximately 100 terms drawn from both the assessment and compliance sides of wildfire mitigation.
→ [Glossary]
More Coming soon
- Defensible space inspection checklist — What CAL FIRE actually looks at, presented as a pre-inspection self-assessment tool
- Real estate transaction checklist — Step-by-step AB 38 and Civil Code 1102.19 compliance guide for sellers, with timeline
- Insurance navigation guide — What to do if you’re dropped, non-renewed, or can’t find coverage in fire-country communities
- Zone 0 implementation guide — The five-foot perimeter in practical terms: materials, common mistakes, and what inspectors look for
- Home hardening overview — What hardening actually involves, what materials qualify, and where to start
Quick links
The most commonly needed tools and contacts, in one place.
- FHSZ Viewer — Look up your property’s fire hazard designation by address
- CAL FIRE defensible space inspection request — fire.ca.gov/dspace
- CDI Consumer Hotline — 800-927-4357 — Insurance questions, complaints, risk score disputes
- California FAIR Plan — cfpnet.com — 800-339-4099
- Alert San Diego — alertsandiego.org — Register for evacuation alerts
- Watch Duty — watchduty.org — Real-time fire maps and alerts