Napa County homeowner in high fire risk area finds new way to protect property

By Kenny Choi

As wildfire risk and rising insurance costs put increasing pressure on California homeowners, some residents in high-risk areas are looking for new ways to protect their properties.

In the Napa County mountain community of Angwin, burn scars from past wildfires remain visible.  They’re reminders of what happened and what could strike again.

The 2020 Glass Fire ravaged parts of Napa County, destroying homes and vineyards. For Diane and Philip Steinschriber, the fire came frighteningly close.

“It looked like an atom bomb. It was a mushroom cloud,” Diane Steinschriber recalled.

As the flames moved closer to their home, the couple realized they had to evacuate.

“We could see the fire was coming up the woods behind us,” she said. “Phil said to me, ‘This is close. We gotta go.'”

Their home survived, but the Steinschribers believe another wildfire could eventually threaten their property.

They have since added a personal wildfire defense system designed to pull water from their swimming pool and distribute it through sprinklers positioned around their home.

Nick Faulkner, founder of Response Ready Fire Systems, engineered the system. He said homeowners can store the equipment in a garage and deploy it in less than an hour when a wildfire threatens.

“With the wildfire crisis, all of the craziness with insurance premiums spiking, people are looking at ways to protect themselves,” Faulkner said.

The system uses propane to power an engine-driven pump, meaning it does not have to rely on municipal water pressure. Water pressure and supply have become concerns during some major California wildfires.

“When we can come out and put a 360 coverage zone around someone’s house and run it for eight to 10 hours, we’ve gotten an excellent response,” Faulkner said.

The Steinschribers understand that a personal fire suppression system provides an additional layer of protection, and not a guarantee that their home will survive a wildfire.

At the same time, rising homeowners insurance costs have led Philip Steinschriber to consider an even bigger financial decision.

“I’m toying with the idea of paying off our mortgage and going without,” he said.

Most consumer advocates and insurance experts strongly discourage dropping homeowners insurance solely to save money, even when a house is paid off. Without insurance, homeowners can be left responsible for the entire cost of rebuilding or replacing their property after a disaster.

For Diane Steinschriber, having another tool to defend their property provides at least some sense of control while living with wildfire risk.

“You don’t want to live under that cloud,” she said. “You want to feel like you have a road to protect yourself and that you’re doing the best you can.”