Health and Safety Receivership is Used to Abate a Wildfire Danger
Officials in a northern California County, prone to dangerous wildfires, contacted CRG after a property owner within its boundaries refused to address serious code violations at their home. Infractions included masses of dried leaves, accumulated junk, and dead shrubbery surrounding the property. Most significant were six large, dead trees, which were clumped together, leaning directly against the house. The unmaintained landscaping had the potential to magnify even a small fire, with the trees providing a potential ladder, helping to push any fire up and into the house. All that was needed for the unkempt property to turn deadly was the strike of a match, or a spark of wildfire. This would have endangered not only the owner, but neighboring properties, as well; the problems on-site reached far across the lot, enabling any fire to spread to the neighborhood.
Defensible Space
"It’s the buffer you create between a building on your property and the grass, trees, shrubs, or any wildland area that surround it. This space is needed to slow or stop the spread of wildfire and it protects your home from catching fire—either from direct flame contact or radiant heat. Defensible space is also important for the protection of the firefighters defending your home."
- CalFire
Image from the County's Fire Prevention Council
Defensible space is the concept of maintaining a sufficient distance between a building and exterior landscaping. It’s one of the most powerful ways to prevent the spread of fire, save lives, and protect property. In another project CRG worked on, a property survived the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in our state's history because it had defensible space—even though neighboring properties were completely destroyed.
16 days after CRG's appointment, the dead trees were removed and other code violations were remedied.
Not only did the code violations on-site at our subject property pose a danger to the owner, but they put the surrounding community at risk of the spread of fire. Neighboring properties in this area are estimated to be worth over $100 million. The County's Fire Protection District petitioned the Superior Court to appoint CRG as the receiver to ensure removal of the trees and abatement of the fire dangers. Within one week we had contractors onsite to bid the remediation work. Days later, the trees were completely removed from the property, remedying the most significant danger.
CRG then worked with the owner to address other hazards on-site including interior hoarding. Our main goal after abating the nuisance conditions was to ensure that the owner was able to retain ownership of the property and pay the receivership costs, which they did. Once the petitioner and court were satisfied that the code violations were remedied, CRG was discharged as receiver. In total, the legal side of this receivership case was less than 8.5 months.
