Maintaining what’s commonly known as defensible space, he explained, can be a matter of life and death. Robert Garant sorts through the collection of axes and saws he has used to clear a defensible space around his Julian home. The approach stems largely from anxiety over drought and invasive beetles, which killed nearly 150 million trees last decade in the Sierra Nevada. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune)It’s unknown exactly how many homeowners in California need financial assistance with home hardening and defensible space. Today, thanks to billions of dollars spent on firefighting, the annual average is roughly 1 million acres, although 2020 saw more than 4.2 million acres goes up in smoke.

Source: Los Angeles Times April 30, 2021 16:07 UTC