Preparing for Wildfire
Our home on Diamond Mountain in Calistoga, CA was on a ridge line with beautiful views over the Napa Valley. It was an idyllic location; however, after the devastating Tubbs Fire immediately North of us in 2017, it became apparent that the wildfire danger was more serious than we had realized.
Recognizing the wildfire danger, I got involved. I started the Diamond Mountain Fire safe Council along with several neighbors — this is a very active group that has promoted a number of fire safety projects in our area. I also joined the board of The Napa Communities Firewise Foundation. I learned a lot about protecting our home and community.
We did major defensible space clearing for 150-250 feet all the way around the house. We didn’t clear cut the area, but followed the 30-70-100 feet plus CalFire defensible space recommendations, clearing all underbrush, removing smaller trees and limbing up larger ones. We also hardened our house with the latest fire-safe vents and created a hardscape perimeter of an asphalt driveway, concrete patio, and gravel around the entire house.
Our last step in 2019 was to install a WaveGUARD automated wildfire defense system at an all-in cost of over $90,000.
The Glass Fire
The Glass Fire started in the early morning of Sunday September 27, 2020 on the east side of the Napa Valley. Late in the afternoon the fire crossed to the west side of the valley and we evacuated from our home that evening when we saw a rapidly expanding wall of flames on Spring Mountain to the south. We ran the roof cool function of our WaveGUARD system as instructed and then evacuated with 2 days clothes, our iPhones and wallets. We didn’t take much with us because we felt certain that the WaveGUARD system would protect our home and possessions.
Total Destruction
About 5AM on Monday September 28th I was awakened with a call from our alarm company that the heat alarm in the garage and the smoke alarm in the Master bedroom were both going off. Right then I knew that the WaveGUARD system had not protected our house. It was another day until the local fire battalion chief was able to get to our property and confirm that the house and outbuildings were completely destroyed.
We lost everything. Irreplaceable family heirlooms, collectibles from our travels, my classic British Morgan sports car that I had lovingly restored, and much more.
The WaveGUARD system gave me a false sense of security that our home and possessions could survive a wildfire — I now realize, too late, that the system isn’t effective in more severe wildfire situations, like so many wildfires in California over the last several years.
WaveGUARD Customer Service
Before our house burned down I was WaveGUARD’s best friend. The company regularly brought prospective clients to our property to see the installed system.
After the fire, I asked WaveGUARD to refund the cost of our system or, at least, buy back the most expensive component, the controller, which survived the fire intact. That seemed reasonable to me — after all, they could then resell that controller. WaveGUARD said they would consider this, but first wanted to bring a fire specialist to our property to learn from this experience and I agreed. In fact, it appears that WaveGUARD bought a report that their attorney selectively used to try and blame me for inadequate defensible space. Interestingly, in all of WaveGUARD’s many visits to our property, I only ever heard high praise for the significant defensible space work we had done.
WaveGUARD Outcome
WaveGUARD’s attorney accused me of trying to collect from both WaveGUARD and our insurance company. We are not, however, trying to receive two payouts for their system. Rather, WaveGUARD took more than four months to respond to me and in the meantime, I pursued this with our insurance instead. At this point, I am expecting nothing from WaveGUARD and simply want to share my story and my experience using the WaveGUARD Exterior Wildfire Defense System.
Disappointed With WaveGUARD
I trusted WaveGUARD and they disappointed me. Their expensive system didn’t save our house. WaveGUARD management and their attorney have been disrespectful to me, the victim. WaveGUARD is trying to hide the fact that as of the start of 2021 only 2 houses with their system have gone through an actual wildfire and one of them burned to the ground.