Did you know there’s a free service offered by SDPD that lets you know about crime in your area (or any area in San Diego)?
Neighborhood eWatch is designed to automatically alert you via E-mail of recent crime activity in your selected neighborhood(s). Crime activity information will only be returned for City of San Diego addresses. Other cities in the San Diego region are not included at this time.
This free subscription service will act as a “cyber” neighborhood watch, providing citizens with information to help reduce crime in their neighborhoods and to increase interaction between neighbors and the Police Department.
To sign up for eWatch notifications, go to this URL: http://apps.sandiego.gov/ewatch/

Create Safety Zones Around Your Home or Building.

Begin with a 30-foot safety zone around any structure.
Keep the volume of vegetation in this zone to a minimum. Clear further to the east as this is the direction the strongests Santa Ana winds come from. If you live on a hill, extend the zone on the downhill side. Fire spreads rapidly uphill.

In this 30 foot zone, you should also do the following:

Move shrubs and other landscaping away from the sides of the house.
Prune branches and shrubs within 15 feet of chimneys and roof.
Do not trim trees or bushes as to create a fire “funnel” toward your house. Some bushes and low branches on trees 30 feet from a building can work to slow the wind near your house, and this reduction in wind speed will greatly reduce chance of flying embers starting a fire
Replace highly flammable vegetation such as pine, junipers and fir trees with lower growing, less flammable species.

Create a second zone of at least 100 feet around the house.
This zone should begin about 30 feet from the house and extend to at least 100 feet. In this zone, reduce or replace as much of the most flammable vegetation as possible. Fan Palm trees on the eastern side of a house can be problematic, as they catch fire easily in a Santa Ana wind/fire conditions and create wind borne fire balls.

Remember – clear all combustibles within 30 feet of any structure.

Ask the power company to clear branches from power lines.
Stack firewood 100 feet away and uphill from any structure.
Store combustible or flammable materials in approved safety containers and keep them away from the house.
Keep the gas grill and propane tank at least 15 feet from any structure. Always use the grill cautiously but refrain from using it all during high risk times.

Protect Your Home

Clear leaves, trash and other combustible materials away from underneath decks and porches.
Enclose all eaves to reduce the ability for an ember to start a fire. This is one of the simplest things you can do to make your home less likely to catch fire from an ember.
A San Diego Based company that does this very well is Best Rate Repair.
Cover all openings and vents with 1/4 inch or smaller corrosion-resistant wire mesh.

Use fire resistant materials in the siding of your home, such as stucco, metal, brick, cement shingles, concrete and rock.
Install non-combustible awnings to shield windows and use shatter-resistant glazing such as tempered glass.

Have and use a fire safe. Since you don’t know when a fire may start, store important keepsakes, papers and documents in a fire proof safe. A real fire safe has a testing label, such as UL, that will describe the length of time in fire protection it may provide. In Southern California a home should have AT LEAST a 1 hour, 1200 degree rated safe. An ideal safe would be rated for 90 minutes or more. Home fires that are fully involved can burn up to 2,000 degrees. A safe professional can help you select a safe that will work well for both burglary and fire protection. Visit or call the folks at Grah for more information.

If there is a fire:

Gather those items you will need to evacuate and have them ready to go. Insurance papers, prescriptions, phone numbers, cell phones, photo albums, etc. Remember most of your stuff is just that, stuff, and can be replaced. Take only those items you need or that can not be replaced easily.

If you are evacuating, leave early and have a destination in mind before you get in a vehicle. Do not panic, use common sense and be part of the fire solution, not the problem.

1. Determine what exactly you would like to store in the safe
2. Learn about fire ratings and what you may need based on your house design and location
3. Determine where you would like to install the safe
4. Will your floor support the weight of the safe?
5. Do you need different kinds of protection such as paper, or money?
6. Do you need the security of a burglary rated safe?
7. Do you have special needs for storage, such as guns or digital media?
8. Who should have access to your safe?
9. Will you need a delivery service and installation?
10. Is a Fire Proof File more appropriate for your needs?

Contact a safe profession to help with your specific needs as there are many things sold as fire protection that are not up to the task.