I lived in California for 30 years. I’ve been through fire storms. One issue unique to CA are the types of oil based trees native to CA. They are the eucalyptus, pines, and manzanita trees. Manzanita is everywhere and is extremely dense being 20x stronger than oak and is extremely oily. Its roots can burn underground for weeks and pop back up as a blaze. Our water lines that came in from the street melted 15” underground it burned so hot.
What happens is a bush or tree near your house catches fire from embers and that catches the trim on your house on fire. It usually gets in the air vents in your eaves or can melt the frames of your windows and the glass breaks or falls out. Another issue is potted plants on porches that catch fire.
Our house survived a fire storms up in the sierras but there was a fire engine unit stationed there keeping the fire burning through the forest away from the house. The house had no vegetation within 30’ and had stucco walls, metal trim and metal roof. It was made to resist fire but most likely wouldn’t have survived without the firefighters there. The forest as far as you could see burned 360 degrees around us.
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