A wildfire will find the weak point. My job is to find it first.
Residential wildfire risk assessments on Maui. I walk your property, write down what I find, and tell you what to fix in the order that matters.
Per Gutierrez, founder. Years on federal Hotshot, engine and hand crews before coming home to Maui.
Most homes are not lost to a wall of flame. They are lost to an ember that found somewhere to sit.
Embers travel ahead of a fire and land by the thousand. Almost every one of them goes out. The few that do not are the ones that landed in a gutter, under a deck, or in a shrub grown into the siding. That is what an assessment is looking for.
You are looking at the same house I am.
This is what changes after years on a fireline. Switch the view and walk the property with me. Every marker is a finding, filed to the defensible space zone it sits in.
Illustrative walkthrough. Your report is written from your own property.
Seven findings on one lot
Tap any marker to read the finding. This is roughly what a page of your report looks like: what I saw, why it matters here, and where it sits in the order of work.
Ordered by what buys you the mostA house on a slope, mid afternoon. Nothing here looks like an emergency, and that is the point. Switch back to see the seven things I would have written down before I reached the lanai.
Zones follow the defensible space structure used in NFPA 1144, the standard for reducing structure ignition hazards from wildland fire.
1. Roof valley and gutters. Zone 0, the first five feet.
Dry leaf litter collected in the valley and along the gutter line. This is where a wind driven ember lands and stays. It is the most common ignition point I find and it costs nothing but an afternoon. Do this first.
2. Vegetation against the wall. Zone 0, the first five feet.
Shrubs grown up into the eaves and touching the siding. A plant that touches the wall is a wick from the ground to the roof line. Clear five feet of open wall the whole way around. Do this first.
3. Firewood on the siding. Zone 0, the first five feet.
A stacked cord against a wood wall is a fuel bed somebody built by hand. Move it thirty feet out, or behind a wall that will not burn. Do this first.
4. Wood fence into the house. Zone 0, the first five feet.
The fence is a fuse. It carries fire from the lot line to the wall with nothing to stop it. Replace the last five feet nearest the house with metal or masonry. Do this first.
5. Open lanai and the space under it. Zone 0, the first five feet.
Embers gather under an open deck and burn upward where nobody is watching. Screen the underside and clear out whatever is stored under there. Second pass.
6. Cured grass to the foundation. Zone 1, five to thirty feet.
Unbroken grass running to the wall lets a surface fire arrive at full intensity. Keep it mowed and hold a clean band out to thirty feet through the dry season. Do this first.
7. Continuous fuel upslope. Zone 2, thirty to one hundred feet.
Fire runs uphill and it runs fast. Unbroken fuel above the house is what turns a grass fire into a structure fire. Break it up and keep it broken. Ongoing work.
Two visits, one report, no sales pitch.
I walk the property with you
An in person walk of the whole lot. I look for ignition risks, the vulnerabilities in how the house is built and planted, and the things you are already doing right. You come along and ask whatever you want.
You get it in writing
A clear report with photos, what I observed, and a prioritized list of recommendations. Plain language, no jargon, ordered so you know what to do first and what can wait.
We go through it together
A follow up visit to read the report side by side. Most of the value is here: working out where your time and money actually buy you the most, on your property, not in general.
Real fireline experience, real local knowledge.
I am Per Gutierrez. I was born and raised on Maui, and I founded Kiaʻi Fire Services to help protect homes here from wildfire.
Before coming home I worked on the mainland as a federal wildland firefighter on Hotshot crews, engine crews, and as a squad lead on a hand crew. That is where you learn how fire actually behaves, what it does to a house, and the difference between a property that was prepared and one that was not. I have seen both.
I work directly with homeowners and property managers. I combine national best practice with what I know about this island, so the plan you get fits your slope, your wind, and your fuels rather than somebody else's.
- Federal wildland fire experience: Hotshot, engine and hand crews
- Squad lead on a hand crew
- Assessments structured to NFPA 1144
- Born and raised on Maui
Maui is the ground I know.
Cured fallow grass running downslope into neighborhoods, dry ridges above, and wind that arrives on schedule. Knowing the fuels and the terrain is half of what you are paying for, and that knowledge is local. Currently serving the Island of Maui.
Each assessment varies on complexity and size. Base assessment is priced for a 1,500 sq ft home and a ¼ acre lot.
Book a walkthrough.
Tell me roughly where you are and what the lot is like. I will come back with what it would take and what it would cost.