Santa Margarita Fire Consulting, LLC, provides professional Wildland Fire Defense Planning with an innovative and cost-effective approach that minimizes the amount of native vegetation disturbance while maximizing overall fire protection to the parcel and surrounding areas.
Our Mission is to provide innovative and cost-effective methods that minimizes the amount of native vegetation disturbance while maximizing overall fire protection to the home and surrounding areas.
About Santa Margarita
Sid Morel started Santa Margarita Fire Consulting, LLC, (SMFC) in 2015 and partnered with Dave Bacon of Wildfire Mitigation Strategies. Dave and Sid bring a combined 100 years of experience to the Fire Protection Plan design. Both were on the front lines fighting major wildland fires and were instrumental in developing the first guidelines for how Fire Protection Plans should be written in San Diego County. Santa Margarita Fire Consulting, LLC, specializes in:
- Fire Protection Plans
- Community Wildfire Protection Plans
- Fuel Management Zones
- Lithium-Ion battery storage facility technical reports
- Fire Protection plans specific for individual homes that have lost their insurance.
- Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) consulting and compliance.
How We Work
Santa Margarita Fire Consulting, LLC uses a comprehensive approach to creating an effective Fire Protection Plan. The plan incorporates fuel modification zones including strict landscaping as well as fire resistive construction to prevent the home from burning in a wildland fire.
For instance,
Why did this condominium burn in the Rice Fire of 2007? Notice the surrounding vegetation is not burned.
Innovative fire plans for difficult projects
Sid Morel (then Fire Marshal at North County Fire Protection District) and Dave Bacon, (then working for Firewise 2000) met working on the Los Willows Wedding and Event Estates Fire Protection Plan. Los Willows had to change their Major Use Permit which required a Fire Protection Plan. Los Willows had a Dead-end Road issue to overcome, and Sid and Dave created a first of it’s kind plan using internet technology and the ability to shut the event down to get the plan approved. Los Willows had implemented approximately half of the recommendations when the Rice Fire of 2007 burned over the site. The site survived without any fire department intervention.
Sid and Dave have written and reviewed over 150 fire protection plans. Their background as wildland firefighters and contractors give them a great understanding of what your homes vulnerabilities are and their experience makes them a great choice for your custom fire protection plan.
Sid and Dave have written and reviewed over 150 fire protection plans. Their background as wildland firefighters and contractors give them a great understanding of what your homes vulnerabilities are and their experience makes them a great choice for your custom fire protection plan.
These condos more than likely had embers penetrate the attic burning the home from the top down left to right. Sid Morel along with Cliff Hunter, Rancho Santa Fe Fire Marshal were two California Fire Marshals invited to the Institute for Business and Home Safety’s wildland fire ember testing facility in Chester County, South Carolina. The ember testing proved that embers could enter attics via vents and ignite the structure. Photo courtesy of Patricia Koch.
For years exterior home fire sprinklers were denied as an effective Wildland Fire protective measure. Modern technology and advancements in sprinkler design have resulted in effective exterior home sprinkler systems. Frontline’s second–generation wildfire sprinkler system is powered by Frontline’s fire tracking software and turns on automatically when fire is within seven miles of your home – more than 100x faster than traditional sensor-based systems. Once active, the system saturates your property with water and biodegradable firefighting foam, creating an environment that is too wet to burn. Frontlinewildfire.com
Innovative fire plans for difficult projects.
Sid Morel (then Fire Marshal at North County Fire Protection District) and Dave Bacon, (then working for Firewise 2000) met working on the Los Willows Wedding and Event Estates Fire Protection Plan. Los Willows had to change their Major Use Permit which required a Fire Protection Plan. Los Willows had a Dead-end Road issue to overcome, and Sid and Dave created a first of it’s kind plan using internet technology and the ability to shut the event down to get the plan approved. Los Willows had implemented approximately half of the recommendations when the Rice Fire of 2007 burned over the site. The site survived without any fire department intervention.