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Welcome to WildfireList: Find the Wildfire Mitigation Pros

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Welcome to WildfireList

WildfireList is a California directory that connects homeowners with the contractors and suppliers who do state-recognized wildfire mitigation work. It's for anyone who owns or looks after a home in wildfire country and wants to know who can do the work. It's free for homeowners: you can search, browse, read the guides and ask to be matched with pros at no cost.

This first post explains why we built it, what's on the site today and what's coming.

Why WildfireList Exists

California has written down what wildfire mitigation looks like. The Department of Insurance's Safer from Wildfires framework rests on a regulation, 10 CCR section 2644.9, that names 12 specific measures for a home and its community. Insurers' rating plans must take each one into account.

Two other sets of rules shape the same work. The state's wildfire building standards, long found in Chapter 7A of the building code and Section R337 of the residential code, now live together in the California Wildland-Urban Interface Code, Title 24, Part 7, in effect since January 1, 2026. And Public Resources Code section 4291 requires anyone with a building in the state responsibility area, where the state handles wildfire protection, to maintain 100 feet of defensible space, up to the property line.

Knowing the rules is one thing. Finding a qualified person to do the work is harder. Roofers, vent installers, landscapers and defensible space crews rarely describe their services in the regulation's terms, and you shouldn't have to translate. WildfireList sorts businesses by the measures they perform, so you can start from the work your home needs.

Homes on a hillside at the edge of Kelseyville, California, sit next to a wide field of brush and chaparral, where a fuels crew and a thin line of smoke are visible in the distance.
Homes beside brush and chaparral on the edge of Kelseyville, California, where a fuels crew worked to reduce wildfire risk in 2024. Photo: Andrew Avitt, USDA Forest Service (public domain)

The 12 Measures, plus Certified Specialists

The regulation groups its 12 measures into three parts. Here they are in plain language, linked to our guide for each one where a guide exists.

Diagram of California's 12 wildfire mitigation measures in three groups: five for the structure, five for the immediate surroundings and two for the community, plus a note that certified wildfire mitigation specialists are an advisory category on WildfireList.
The 12 measures named in California's Safer from Wildfires regulation. Source: 10 CCR section 2644.9(d)(1). Diagram: WildfireList

Your Structure

Your Immediate Surroundings

Your Community

No contractor performs these two. Neighbors earn them together.

We also have guides for two related upgrades, noncombustible decks, patio covers and porch surfaces and fire-resistant exterior wall siding. The state's wildland-urban interface building standards cover both, but neither is one of the regulation's 12 measures.

Certified Wildfire Mitigation Specialists

WildfireList adds a 13th category that isn't one of the 12 measures: Certified Wildfire Mitigation Specialists. Earning the NFPA CWMS credential takes passing an exam and completing wildfire risk assessments on four homes. A certified specialist can walk your whole property, show you how the measures work together and help you decide what to do first. It's a knowledge credential, not a contractor's license, so the work itself still goes to a licensed contractor. Always confirm a specialist's current status with NFPA before you hire.

How the Site Works

  • Search by ZIP. Enter a five-digit California ZIP on the home page, and we work out your city and county.
  • Browse by measure. Browse the directory and filter by the work you need.
  • Read the guides. Each measure guide explains what the work is and who does it.
  • Take the quiz. Our six-question quiz walks your property the way a specialist would, starting at the walls and working outward.

We want to be clear about where the directory stands. It's growing. We don't publish a list for a ZIP until at least three businesses serve it, so right now many searches show a "Not enough listings here yet" notice. When that happens, you can ask to be matched for free, and we'll pass your request along as we verify businesses in your area. We're inviting providers now. When a listing says "Verified," it means one thing: we confirmed an active California contractor license and insurance on file. It doesn't mean we inspected the work.

For Contractors and Suppliers

If you do any of this work in California, listing and claiming your page is free. Tell us your business name, your license number, the measures you perform and where you work. Badges come from your license, insurance and credentials on record, and they're never sold.

A crew member in a yellow fire shirt and helmet cuts a dead branch with a chainsaw while two coworkers feed brush into a red wood chipper among oak trees.
A fuels crew clears brush for a fuel break near an elementary school in Lower Lake, California, in February 2024. Photo: Andrew Avitt, USDA Forest Service (public domain)

What This Blog Will Cover

We're starting with a series of in-depth posts, one per measure. Each will cover what the measure is, the California rule behind it, why it matters and what the work actually involves. After that come practical guides on hiring the right pro and on seasonal work, so you know what to plan for and when.

If you'd like a sense of where your home stands first, two related free tools can help. The Home Hardening Score looks at the building, and the Defensible Space Score looks at the ground around it.

What We're Working Toward

WildfireList is built by the Loss Prevention Solutions team at AACI Group. Our larger goal is to gather the evidence to show insurance carriers that mitigation lowers wildfire risk, and to make the case that lower risk should mean better insurability and lower premiums for California homeowners. That's the goal we're working toward, and the evidence is still being built.

Here's what's true today: California regulation requires insurers to recognize qualifying mitigation measures. How that plays out on a given policy depends on the carrier.

Get Started

Find pros in your ZIP. Search WildfireList for contractors and suppliers who serve your area, or ask to be matched for free.

Check your coverage. If you're a California homeowner, Five Bays Insurance Agency can review your coverage and help you see how mitigation may affect your insurability. Five Bays is a licensed California insurance agency and a sister company of WildfireList; both are owned by AACI Group. Hiring a contractor and talking to Five Bays are separate choices, and neither requires the other.

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