Buy in this order
Ranked by impact per dollar, not by price. A house with screened vents and a clean Zone 0 survives more fires than a house with an expensive sprinkler system and pine needles in the gutters.
- 01
Get warned, get masked
Put a wildfire alert app on every phone, buy a weather radio with SAME alerting, and buy NIOSH respirators for everyone in the house. This is the cheapest and most important tier.
- 02
Close the ember gaps
Screen or replace vents, screen under the deck, install metal gutter guards, cover the propane tank, and clear Zone 0 of everything that burns. Add a 10 lb extinguisher to the garage.
- 03
Treat and thin
Spray long-term retardant on fences, decks and mulch. Limb conifers to 2 m. Rake needle litter. Pack the go-bags while you still have a calendar, not a countdown.
- 04
Add the active layer
A gutter-mount sprinkler kit, then a pump and water storage so it keeps running when the hydrants drop. A jug of gel for the last hour before you leave.
- 05
Clean the indoor air
One HEPA purifier per bedroom (or a Corsi-Rosenthal box), a MERV-13 furnace filter, and a PM2.5 monitor so you know when it's working.
What we deliberately left off: permanently installed whole-house systems and structure wrap. Both work, both are covered in their categories, and neither belongs on a priority list until everything above is done.