Deschutes County Is Requiring Home Hardening for Wildfire — Here's What Bend, Sisters & Sunriver Homeowners Need to Know

It's November, and most of us aren't thinking about wildfire season. But right now, while you're not worried about smoke in the air, is exactly when you need to prepare.

Deschutes County commissioners recently directed staff to advance new building hardening standards to the planning commission. These requirements are based on Section R327 of the Oregon Residential Specialty Code, and they will likely become mandatory for new construction and major renovations in the coming months. A public hearing is expected before the end of the year.

Here's what's changing and what you can do now to protect your home and your investment.

What the New Standards Will Require

Section R327 isn't hypothetical. It's already part of Oregon's building code for high-risk wildfire zones, and Deschutes County is moving to adopt it locally. The requirements include:

• Fire-resistant roofing materials (most modern roofs already meet this standard)
• Gutter protection to prevent ember accumulation
• Exterior wall requirements (non-combustible or ignition-resistant materials)
• Tempered glass or fire-resistance rated windows
• Non-combustible deck materials within 10 feet of the home

If you're planning any major renovation or addition, you'll likely need to meet these standards soon. But even if you're not, there's a compelling reason to act now.

Why This Matters for Every Homeowner in Central Oregon

The Flat Fire in June 2025 burned 3,300 acres northwest of Sisters and destroyed four homes. The Euston Fire that same month started in cheatgrass and burned 36 acres and came within two miles of Sisters. These weren't abstract threats, they were fires that reached private property and forced evacuations in our immediate area.

Additionally, Fire Factor ratings are now appearing on MLS listings. According to Zillow, properties in our region in the last ten years have experienced 58 large wildfires within 20 miles. This data is increasingly influencing insurance underwriting decisions and home valuations.

For homeowners considering selling in the next few years, properties with documented wildfire mitigation are commanding higher values and maintaining insurability. For those planning to stay, proper hardening can mean the difference between a home that survives and one that doesn't.

Fire mitigation works! In a November 6 roundtable discussion, Deschutes County Commissioner Phil Chang said, "One of the key lessons from the Flat Fire was we can prepare for fires and mitigate the worst impacts. The reason that we did not lose more homes, besides heroic efforts by firefighters, was because we had done the work across the landscape. There were hundreds of homeowners who had put defensible space around their homes."

The Real Vulnerability: Embers, Not Flames

Most homeowners assume their property will burn because flames reach it directly. Research tells a different story.

According to the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS), embers are responsible for up to 90% of home ignitions during wildfires. These burning fragments can travel over a mile ahead of the fire front—in extreme wind conditions, embers have been documented traveling up to 5 miles from the source fire.

A study by the USDA Forest Service found that during the 2017-2020 California wildfire seasons, approximately 80% of destroyed homes ignited from the inside out after embers entered through attic vents, under eaves, or accumulated in gutters.

If your home was built before 2008, it almost certainly has standard attic and crawl space vents, which provide embers with direct access to your attic. Once embers penetrate the building envelope, you're no longer dealing with a wildfire—you're dealing with a structure fire.

The solution is straightforward. Ember-resistant vent screening, properly installed to current code standards, eliminates this primary ignition pathway. It represents one of the highest return-on-investment measures available for wildfire defense.

What You Can Do Right Now

You don't need to wait for Deschutes County to finalize these standards. Here's what I recommend based on our team's 15 years of wildfire mitigation experience and my background managing large-scale operations.

Priority 1: Protect Ember Entry Points

• Install ember-resistant attic and crawl space vent screening that meets the 1/8" mesh requirement
• Install gutter guards designed to prevent pine needle and debris accumulation (we're certified BrandGuard resellers for ember-resistant systems)
• Screen all soffit and gable vents with 1/8" metal mesh rated for ember resistance

Priority 2: Clear Zone 0 (0 to 5 feet from your home)

Zone 0 is the most critical defensible space area and is now mandated by Oregon law as of 2023. This zone must be maintained as a non-combustible or low-combustibility buffer.

Required actions:

• Remove all flammable trees and shrubs within 5 feet of your home's exterior walls and deck
• Clear pine needles and organic debris from your gutters, roof and against your foundation.
• Replace bark mulch with rock, gravel, pavers, or other non-combustible hardscape materials
• Relocate woodpiles, propane tanks, and other combustible materials to at least 30 feet from structures and provide 5 feet of hardscaping around these if permanent.
• Remove all vegetation in direct contact with siding, deck surfaces, or under eaves.

If you choose to maintain plantings in Zone 0:

While a fully hardscaped Zone 0 provides maximum protection, you can include carefully selected fire-resistant native plants if properly maintained. Central Oregon offers numerous beautiful, low-flammability native species:

Fire-resistant flowering options:

• Penstemon (beardtongue) – drought-tolerant with vibrant tubular flowers
• Buckwheat (Eriogonum) – low-growing with white to pink blooms
• Stonecrop (Sedum) – succulent groundcover with yellow or pink flowers
• Blanketflower (Gaillardia) – bright red and yellow daisy-like blooms

Fire-resistant foliage plants:

• Mahonia (Oregon grape) – evergreen with holly-like leaves and yellow spring flowers
• Kinnikinnick – low evergreen groundcover with small white flowers and red berries
• Sage varieties – aromatic, silver-green foliage

Critical requirements for Zone 0 plantings:

• Plants must be low-moisture, low-resin species (avoid all conifers and junipers)
• Maintain plants as individual specimens—no continuous hedges or masses
• Keep foliage trimmed away from all walls, windows, and vents
• Irrigate regularly during fire season to maintain high moisture content
• Remove all dead plant material immediately

When in doubt, consult the Oregon State University Extension Service's fire-resistant plant guide for Central Oregon. The guide provides specific recommendations based on our climate and fire conditions, see here: https://extension.oregonstate.edu/forests/fire/fire-resistant-plants 

Priority 3: Create Defensible Space (5 to 100 feet)

• Remove ladder fuels (low branches that allow fire to climb into tree canopies)
• Trim all branches to at least 8 feet in height (we recommend 10 feet).
• Space trees and shrubs according to slope-appropriate fire-resistant guidelines. The steeper the slope the more space should be maintained.
• Maintain grass at under 4 inches in height
• Use fire-resistant native species such as bitterbrush, Idaho fescue, and wax currant

Don't Wait Until It's Too Late

Here's what most homeowners don't realize: wildfire mitigation contractors book up early.

By April, we're typically fully scheduled through the entire summer season. Currently, in November and December, we have availability to assess your property, develop a customized mitigation plan, and schedule you for spring installation.

Once fire season begins and smoke conditions develop, inquiry volume increases dramatically. By that point, we're committed to existing clients, and new projects are pushed to the following year.

The optimal time to protect your home is when wildfire isn't an immediate concern.

Expanding Services: Full Property Wildfire Defense

SafeHaven Fire Defense to offers comprehensive wildfire hardening services beyond vents and defensible space maintenance and include general contractor services and native plant landscape design.

Our expanded services include:

• Complete Zone 0, Zone 1, and Zone 2 mitigation
• Deck and fence modifications for fire resistance
• Gutter and soffit system upgrades
• Native plant landscape design
• Roof and exterior wall consultations for retrofit compliance with Section R327
• Annual maintenance and recertification services

If you've been waiting for a single contractor capable of managing your entire wildfire mitigation project, that's precisely the service model we're building.

Schedule Your Free Ember Risk Assessment

I'm offering complimentary on-site assessments for properties in Bend, Sisters, Sunriver, La Pine, and Redmond. We'll evaluate your property from Zone 0 through Zone 2, identify specific vulnerabilities, and provide you with a detailed scope of work, transparent pricing, and realistic timeline. No template solutions—just tailored protection for your property.

Contact me directly at (541) 241-6157 or email info@safehavenfire.com.

If you're thinking "I'll address this in spring," that's understandable. But reach out now to secure your place on the schedule. Once April arrives, our capacity is generally fully committed.

Don't wait for the smoke. Protect your home while you have time.

About SafeHaven Fire Defense
We specialize in residential wildfire mitigation for Central Oregon homeowners. Licensed, insured, and locally operated in Bend, OR.

Sources:

• Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS), "Wildfire Research"
• USDA Forest Service, "Home Survival in Wildfire-Prone Areas"
• National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), Firewise USA Program