$80 billion of insurance losses in just 6 months
2025’s disaster losses hit $80 billion in just 6 months. That’s double the 10-year average. Here’s what changed: 2001: The worst terrorist attack in US history. Within 2 months, America…
News
California FAIR Plan Home Insurance Rate Hikes
Insurance costs will rise for most of FAIR plan’s more than 550,000 homeowners. Governor Newsom signed a bipartisan package of bills to aid in the rebuilding and recovery efforts in…
OPFSC October 2025 Update
Fire Station 36 Open House Saturday, October 25th, 10 am – 3 pm Fall is upon us and with it, fire season becomes top of mind. It’s a great time to be…
Improve Home’s Survivability by 40%
Home hardening alone raised survival to 25%. Hardening and clearing defensible space closest to the home up to 5 feet improved survivability to 40%. CBS News By: Kenny Choi CBS…
Zone Zero is Not Optional
By: Todd LandoBattalion Chief, Wildfire Hazard Mitigation Specialist – Central Marin Fire Department September 25, 2025 The debate around California’s Zone Zero regulation has reached a critical point. What began…
This Home is Wildfire Ready – Is Yours?
This homeowner created a five foot Zone 0 buffer using smart landscaping and noncombustible materials—and they still have a yard with grass, trees, and flowers spaced out with nothing flammable…
Sellers Be Aware: New Disclosures
As of July 1, 2021, California Assembly Bill 38 (AB 38) states that the seller of a residential property located in specified zones must submit documentation of compliance with locally adopted…
Santa Ana Wind Season
September is National Preparedness Month. It’s an annual observance sponsored by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to remind everyone to prepare for emergencies and disasters. For years, we have been…
OPFSC August 2025 Update
Education=Action. Your Oak Park Fire Safe Council continues to work toward educating our community on how best to prepare for wildfires and protect our homes. Thank you to all of you…
Will Trash Cans Burn
Will your trash cans burn? Watch the video to see if your guess is correct. Trash cans should always be moved at least 5 feet away from the house and…
Model Hardened Home in Oak Park
This home received a Wildfire Prepared Home Designation Certificate. When Janet Jackson moved to Oak Park from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1998, she unwittingly began the process of hardening her home…
Let’s Talk Defensible Space
What is Defensible Space? CAL FIRE defines Defensible Space as the buffer between your structure and the surrounding area. Adequate defensible space acts as a barrier to slow or halt…
The Tale of Two Homes
One home burned and the other did not In a recent article by LA Times, staff writer Jack Flemming, writes about a home hardening demonstration put on by the Insurance…
Judge Rules California FAIR Plan’s smoke-damage policy is illegal
In a landmark decision, judge rules California FAIR Plan’s smoke-damage policy is illegal. A Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge said Tuesday, June 24, 2025, that the California FAIR Plan Assn.’s policy…
Home Assessments
IS YOUR HOME FIRE SAFE? Find out with a FREE assessment. With wildfires seemingly a year-round reality in California, staving off devastation with home hardening strategies has become as common…
OPFSC June 2025 Update
Board Updates – Chipper Day, Friday May 30th We hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable Memorial Day weekend. As we finish out National Wildfire Awareness Month, we look ahead…
Lessons from the 2025 LA Fires
“In both the Eaton and Palisades Fires, I did not see many homesthat survived without evidence of some type of defensive action.” Lessons from the 2025 Los Angeles Wildfires By…
Home Hardening and Defensible Space Videos
The Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains Community Resilience team, with a grant from CAL FIRE, created a series of videos to help communities become more wildfire-resilient. The…
OPFSC May 2025 Update
May is National Wildfire Awareness month!! It’s time to start focusing on the upcoming fire season (it’s always fire season) and ways you can protect your home and our community!…
May Is Wildfire Awareness Month
May is National Wildfire Awareness Month. It’s a time to focus on prevention and preparedness for wildfires, especially as warmer weather and drying vegetation increase the risk of wildfires. The…
Community Wildfire Mitigation Training
Resource Conservation District of Santa Monica Mountains is hosting a Community Wildfire Mitigation Training event at the Calabasas Community Center. Please Join Wildfire Expert Instructor Pat Durland at a FREE…
OPFSC April 2025 Update
Your Oak Park Fire Safe Council has many exciting announcements this month! We are very fortunate to have secured a partnership with the Center for Geospatial Science and Technology from California…
Defensible Space Interactive Map
The Center for Geospatial Science and Technology (CGST) at California State University, Northridge, is an interdisciplinary research center dedicated to advancing the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for real-world problem-solving,…
CAL FIRE – Fire Hazard Severity Zone
On March 24, 2025, CAL FIRE released its revised Fire Hazard Severity Zone for your area. This interactive map lets you see where your home is located on the map.…
OPFSC lays out four major initiatives to the Oak Park Municipal Advisory Council
John Faucher (Chairman), and Ed Reiner (Operations) of the Oak Park Fire Safe Council attended a meeting of the Oak Park Municipal Advisory Committee (MAC) on Thursday evening, 2/27/2025. John…
OPFSC March 2025 Update
Message From the Oak Park Fire Safe Council While we continue to hold those who suffered a devastating loss during the horrific January fires in our thoughts, we remain diligent in creating…
Is your home in a trust? This is an important read
Important information if your home is in a trust Putting your home into a Revocable Trust is an estate planning best practice. One of the many challenges in the spotlight…
Newsom speeds up regulations
California Governor Gavin Newsom, right, surveys damage in Pacific Palisades with CalFire’s Nick Schuler during the Palisades Fire on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025, in Pacific Palisades, CA. (Photo by Jeff…
Welcome Mae Boyar East Firewise Community
Welcome to the Mae Boyar East Firewise Community! If your house is within this area, congratulations! You are now within the Mae Boyar East Firewise Community, certified by the National…
OPFSC February 2025 Update
Message From the Oak Park Fire Safe Council As we reflect on the recent devastation that swept through Los Angeles and Ventura County cities and towns, it’s important to remember…
Home hardening could spare your home during wildfire
Photo: Mario Tama/Getty ImagesWhy do some homes survive wildfires? Like many Californians, I became familiar with the term “home hardening” last year, when insurance companies had finally come to grips…
Experience with my Insurance Agency
In this year-end edition of the Oak Park Fire Safe Council newsletter, we thought it would be helpful for one of our very own OPFSC board members to share his…
OPFSC 2024 Accomplishments
The following are our accomplishments in 2024, with the help of many partners and community residents. Thanks to all of you Oak Park residents who are making our community safer. Firewise…
October Open House
On October 5 we hosted, along with the Ventura County Supervisor and the Ventura County Fire Department, an open house at Fire Station 36. This was a really fun family…
5 Things You Can Do Today To Prepare
Before the rainy season is wildfire season. The Oak Park Fire Safe Council wants you to do some basic things to your home that can make a difference in keeping…
OPFSC November 2024 Update
Here are our major activities and accomplishments in October: Firewise Morrison Sutton and Regency Chambord are the most recent HOAs to receive Firewise USA recognition. This makes five Oak Park…
Oak Park Fire Station 36 Open House
Come out and have some fun! The ice cream truck will be there between Noon and 2 pm. Meet your elected official, fire personnel and more! Share concerns about your…
Defensible Space
DSpace is not Deep Space – DSpace means defensible space! Embers, not the main firefront, are the leading cause of home ignitions during a wildfire. The DSpace around your home offers you…
Oak Park Fire Safe Council October 2024 Update
This month our focus is the October 5th Open House at Firestation #36 from 11-3pm. Here are our major activities and accomplishments in September: Firewise Vents have been ordered pursuant…
Oak Park Fire Safe Council September 2024 Update
We have been awarded an exciting new grant to mitigate the brush and tree fire danger in the Lindero and Medea Creek communities, as we continue to move forward with…
Oak Park awarded $623,000 Fire Prevention Grant
The Oak Park Fire Safe Council has just received a $623,000 grant from Cal Fire that provides funding to reduce the fire hazard along Medea and Lindero Creeks in Oak…
Firewise Certificates
Oak Park has a number of Firewise USA® recognized communities. California has enacted “Safer from Wildfires” requiring insurance companies to recognize Firewise USA® designated communities by providing discounts to property…
Oak Park Fire Safe Council August 2024 Update
Oak Park Fire Safe Council continues to move forward with Firewise communities. We are also putting a strong focus on how Firewise communities can help at-risk residents and are beginning…
Special Assistance
Special assistance for those who need it during evacuation Are you an “at-risk resident,” disabled or elderly, who may need assistance in the event of a wildfire? The Oak Park…
Southern California Edison Thomas Fire Settlement
Southern California Edison to pay the federal government and additional $80 million for expenses related to the 2017 Thomas Fire Southern California Edison has agreed to pay the federal government…
Redefining the Urban Wildfire Problem in the West
(Above) The Wildfire Disaster Sequence: severe wildfire potential and extreme conditions will quickly overwhelm wildfire suppression resources. Vulnerable structures will ignite and lead to an urban conflagration and fire disaster.…
Becoming Firewise
Why do you want your community to be a Firewise USA community? You have seen in our newsletters much discussion about becoming Firewise recognized. So, what are the benefits to…
Oak Park Fire Safe Council July Update
One of the best ways to deal with California’s current homeowners insurance problem (as evidenced by the cancellation letters many Oak Park residents have begun to receive), is to become…
Oak Park Fire Safe Council June Update
We have had many residents share with us their stories of insurance cancellation letters. This problem is very real right now, and engaging us for a free Home Wildfire Assessment…
Lindero Canyon Road Water Project
Those who drive on Lindero Canyon Road north of Thousand Oaks Blvd. have been exposed to some construction over the past year. While this has been inconvenient at times, the…
3 Import Home Insurance Steps
Insurance companies are moving to a fire prevention model, which puts the onus on homeowners to improve their properties and is leading to many insurance cancellation letters. We have three…
Oak Park Fire Safe Council May Update
April was another big month for us as our second and third HOAs, Canyon Cove and Country Meadows, received Firewise USA recognition. That new recognition leads off the following list…
CA Department of Insurance Webinar
On April 4th, 2024, the CA Department of Insurance held a webinar, “Wildfire and Disaster Insurance Online Town Hall,” hosted by Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara, Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin, and the…
The Woolsey Fire Remembered
The Woolsey Fire, which ravaged parts of Ventura and Los Angeles Counties in November, 2018, left a lasting impact on Oak Park and surrounding communities. Here are some of its…
Oak Park Fire Safe Council April Update
March was a huge month for us as our first HOA, Country Glen, received Firewise USA recognition. There was a lot more, including the following major activities and accomplishments in…
What to do about Home Insurance Cancellation
Many homeowners in our community have received letters from their insurance companies either canceling their insurance or giving them a short amount of time to address a list of wildfire-related…
Oak Park’s First Firewise Community
Congratulations to Oak Park’s first Firewise USA community. In an article in last month’s newsletter, we discussed the National Fire Protection Association’s (NFPA) Firewise Program, which was specifically developed to…
Oak Park Fire Safe Council March Update
February’s council agenda focused on further developing the projects identified in our January Strategic Planning Session, including the following major activities: We held a first annual Firewise meeting for three…
Required Insurer Discounts
CDI Guidelines Require Insurers to Reward Firewise homeowners for wildfire preparation. The following excerpt from California Department of Insurance regulations became effective on October 14, 2022, dictating that insurers are…
CERT Training
OAK PARK COMMUNITY EMERGENCY RESPONSE TEAM TRAINING WHAT: CERT In-Person Course – Oak Park WHEN: Monday nights from 6:30 pm to 9:30 pmStart Date: April 08, 2024End Date: May 13, 2024…
CA Insurance Crisis
The following article was contributed by Mike Thayer, CWMS, Property Risk Specialist for Allied Disaster Defense & Restoration, which gives us a unique perspective of how we got into the current home insurance…
Oak Park Fire Safe Council February Update
December/January was again a busy time for the Oak Park Fire Safe Council (OPFSC). This article will be a mixture of a 2023 year-end review, and share a bit of…
Medea Creek Wildfire Brush Mitigation
The Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District (RSRPD) was just awarded a grant by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy to enhance the defensible space along Medea Creek. These open-space riparian…
Firesafe Council November Update
October was again a busy time for the Oak Park Fire Safe Council (OPFSC). We continue the Firewise process with several HOAs, and we continue to do more and more…
5 Quick and Easy Tips for Fire Season
Fire season is upon us (really, when isn’t it!) So, we thought we would provide a few quick and easy actions that you can take to better prepare your home…
Firewise Community Strategies and Best Practices for Success
The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) developed the Firewise program specifically to protect communities from wildfire. The program improves the wildfire resiliency of the community and the individual homes and…
California Fire Safe Council
The California Fire Safe Council (CFSC) plays an important role in improving wildfire resiliency in California and more specifically in Oak Park. Several of the grants that the Oak Park…
Wildfire Planning, Coordination and Evacuation Coordination
The subject of evacuation and what to do in case of a wildfire comes up regularly in our interactions with Oak Park residents. There are many aspects to these challenges,…
Firesafe Council October Update
September was a very busy month for the Oak Park Fire Safe Council (OPFSC). Along with our annual townhall, we have begun the Firewise process with several HOA’s, and we…
Firesafe Council September Update
There is a lot going on in the fire world nationally, statewide, and locally here in Oak Park. This month, the Lahaina, Hawaii tragedy reminded us again of wildfire’s devastating…
Firewise Success Stories
The national Firewise USA recognition program provides a collaborative framework to help neighbors in a geographic area get organized, find direction, and take action to increase the ignition resistance of…
Wildfire Preparation Checklist
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) has developed a simple, four-question survey to help California residents prepare and then plan for what to do in the…
Firewise
Firewise was developed by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and is a cooperative effort among local, state, federal and private agencies and organizations to promote fire safety in the…
Home Wildfire Assessments
The Oak Park Fire Safe Council (OPFSC) is working closely with the Ventura Regional Fire Safe Council (VRFSC) and the Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains (SMMRCD) to…
Welcome to OPFSC
The Oak Park Fire Safe Council is excited to share our inaugural Newsletter with you. Since it is our first, we thought we would take the opportunity to share a…
2023 Oak Park Wildfire Town Hall
On September 6th, 2023, our third annual town hall event is tentatively scheduled at 6:00 pm at the Oak Park Community Center. Please mark your calendar. The focus will be…
Volunteer Opportunities
The Oak Park Fire Safe Council (OPFSC) is a 501(c)(3) Tax Exempt organization created in December, 2021, that depends upon volunteers to accomplish our mission. We have accomplished a lot in…
Our Partners and Associates
A primary function of the Oak Park Fire Safe Council is to work with partner agencies to bring programs based on Oak Park-specific requirements to our residents. These programs are…
Resources Section
One of the primary functions of the OPFSC website is to provide a clearinghouse of information for Oak Park residents to educate themselves regarding prevention and protection from wildfire. We…
2022 Oak Park Wildfire Town Hall
On October 6th, 2022, the Oak Park Fire Safe Council held our second annual town hall meeting at the Oak Park, California Community Center. This was an opportunity for residents…