Rancho Palos Verdes wildfire fair spotlights home-hardening, evacuation steps and vendor options

Rancho Palos Verdes hosted a wildfire resource event at the UCLA South Bay campus where city partners, the RPV Council of Homeowners Associations and vendors offered demonstrations and advice to help residents harden homes and prepare for evacuations.

"This event is an excellent opportunity for our residents to learn more about fire safety," said Maria So, who opened the program, urging people to create defensible space and to sign up for Alert South Bay. "When a major fire comes through, having a community that does defensible space and hardens homes can literally save not just their homes, but the entirety of our community."

A representative of the RPV Council of Homeowners Associations said the group helped recruit vetted vendors on site and will share information about state and local grants to help homeowners pay for upgrades. The representative pointed attendees to the California Fire Safe Council as an initial resource for vetted contractors and peer referrals.

Vendors at the fair showcased products and systems meant to stop ember intrusion and reduce wildfire behavior. An ember-mesh vendor described a stainless-steel 1/16-inch mesh as an upgrade from quarter-inch rodent mesh and said the finer mesh is intended to prevent embers from entering attics. A portable-equipment dealer demonstrated Water Axe pumps that can draw from a residential pool to create a self-contained suppression system, calling the setup "a little micro fire engine in your backyard" that homeowners can operate when responders cannot reach every address.

"You put a suction line in the pool, connect it to the pump, fill the pump head and start the engine," the dealer said, adding the systems can be manual or key-start and are intended to preserve municipal fire resources for higher-priority calls.

A vendor and installers emphasized zoning, automation and appearance, noting copper piping can be painted to match a house and that systems are normally only activated in emergency conditions. Vendors also said many products on site have been reviewed by the state fire marshal for sale to the public.

Kaylin, community services liaison for the Los Angeles County Fire Department, urged residents to practice basic extinguisher technique using the PASS acronym — pull, aim, squeeze, sweep — and to attend county training. "Practice makes perfect," Kaylin said, describing extinguisher maintenance and the importance of knowing evacuation warnings versus evacuation orders.

Sergeant Tina McCoy of the Lomita Sheriff's Station described the sheriffs role in evacuations — traffic control and community safety — and encouraged residents to learn how to use the Genesis app and to follow official instructions when an evacuation is ordered. She also noted that local Red Cross disaster action teams respond after home fires to provide short-term assistance.

West Basin Municipal Water District staff described water-conservation programs and rebates for grass removal and said the district provides free classes and tours of its water-recycling facility. The district introduced Douglas Kent, who leads fire-escaping (fire-resistant landscaping) classes; Kent summarized principles such as the 5T/30-foot guidance for creating defensible landscape zones designed to reduce structure vulnerability.

Organizers closed by encouraging residents to carry a basic emergency kit, maintain alarms and extinguishers, and visit rpvca.gov for more resources and contact information. The event combined hands-on demonstrations, technical briefings and vendor panels to give residents multiple practical steps for home hardening and evacuation readiness.