Who can do a defensible-space assessment

A free defensible-space walk is real in Oregon as education. The Oregon State Fire Marshal and partner fire agencies offer a free, education-focused visit. Do not confuse that office with California’s OSFM listing program. You can also download Version 1 and score the yard yourself, then ask the local fire agency for help. Firewise USA wants a community wildfire risk assessment with a local wildfire expert, updated at least every five years. IBHS Wildfire Prepared wants a paid application, eligibility photos, and a qualified third-party evaluator who documents the lot and does not tell you what to plant. None of those walks is Oregon R327, California AB 38 sale documentation, or the carrier’s underwrite.

You are in the driveway. Someone in a vest is circling the first five feet with a tablet. Ask which document they are filling. If the answer is “OSFM education,” you will leave with tips. If the answer is “IBHS,” they are photographing for a designation file and are not supposed to coach. If the answer is “Firewise,” they may be looking at the neighborhood, not your vents. If the answer is “the building department,” that is a construction inspection where adopted code applies.

This page is the roster. The Oregon defensible-space checklist is what Version 1 asks on the lot. IBHS does not replace adopted code. Do not treat a courtesy walk as a permit.

Why it matters

People collect one walk and expect every desk to stamp it. The fire district’s education visit does not bind the AHJ. The IBHS evaluator does not write a punch list. The Firewise committee’s five-year PDF does not inspect Zone 0 on your lot. Mixing those files produces a rejected upload and a still-wrong yard.

How it works

Name the job before you name the person.

The paths

1. Oregon, if you want help and no certificate. Open OSFM’s defensible space page. Request the free assessment (the live form is an ArcGIS Experience). Download the Version 1 checklist and walk it first if you want a list in hand. Page 1 of Version 1 says: questions, help completing your assessment, or more about defensible space — contact your local fire agency or OSFM at oregondefensiblespace.org. That visit is education. It is not R327. The three-agency split still holds: BCD stamps construction; OSFM owns this walk and the model code; ODF owns forest protection.

2. Firewise, if the neighborhood is organizing. NFPA’s become-a-site page wants the board to collaborate with a local wildfire expert on a community wildfire risk assessment. Emphasis is general conditions of homes and related home ignition zones, not a punch list for one address. Update that assessment at least every five years. See Firewise USA site recognition. A volunteer hour on your gutter is site investment. It is not this assessment.

3. IBHS, if the carrier named the designation. Complete the work first. Pay the fee. Upload eligibility photos of all sides, key features, and the 0–5 foot noncombustible zone. After those photos pass, a qualified third-party evaluator comes on site to verify materials, confirm the work, and collect verification photos. IBHS’s About page says that evaluator does not provide wildfire mitigation advice and does not determine whether the home qualifies. The Audit Team reviews the file. If no evaluator is available, IBHS may require an approved self-inspection app with no additional fee. Evaluations cannot occur with snow on the ground. The 2025 Technical Standard §1.1.4 names applicable locations as California or Oregon. Confirm the current page before you apply.

4. California sale, if you are in a high or very high FHSZ. Civil Code 1102.19 is documentation at transfer. Where no local ordinance requires the paper and an inspection is available, the inspector is a state or local agency, other government entity, or qualified nonprofit. That is not OSFM’s Oregon education visit. CAL FIRE’s LE-100 inspection form was not opened this session (official URLs returned HTTP 403) and is not quoted here.

5. The insurer, if the score is the problem. California 10 CCR 2644.9 lets you ask for a revised wildfire risk score after you finish listed mitigation. CDI’s insurer FAQ says how they verify is the process the company filed. The company may inspect, or it may accept the application answers. That inspector works for the carrier. They are not OSFM and they are not IBHS unless the carrier named IBHS.

6. The permit, if you are building. R327 inspection sequence is ORSC Chapter 1 plus whatever extra look the official requires. Keep WUI work exposed. Do not hand the official an OSFM education sheet as the inspection card.

What people mix up

• Treating a free OSFM visit as an IBHS designation.
• Treating the IBHS evaluator as a coach. The opened About page says they document; they do not advise; they do not decide qualification.
• Treating a Firewise community assessment as a house inspection.
• Treating a Firewise volunteer hour as the five-year community assessment.
• Treating Version 1’s 5-foot vegetation line as California or IBHS Zone 0. See Zone 0 in California, Oregon, Firewise, and IBHS.
• Treating an R327 construction look as defensible-space education, or the reverse.
• Treating AB 38’s “qualified nonprofit” as any contractor with a clipboard.
• Treating a carrier inspection as OSFM.
• Treating a grant crew’s site visit as a designation.

How to check

1. Ask the person in the driveway which document they are filling, and who signs it.
2. Oregon education: open OSFM defensible space. Confirm the free-assessment request and the checklist PDF. If the visitor cannot name OSFM or the local fire agency, they are not this program.
3. Firewise: open the become-a-site page. Confirm a community assessment date not older than five years, a local wildfire expert, and a three-year action plan. A house-level clipboard is not that file.
4. IBHS: open About and the FAQ. Confirm the fee, the photo-then-visit sequence, and that the evaluator does not advise. Confirm applicable locations on the current Technical Standard before you pay.
5. California sale: read Civil Code 1102.19 and the AB 38 page. Name the agency or qualified nonprofit.
6. Insurer: ask the carrier which packet it filed. CDI does not publish one statewide photo list.
7. Permit: ask the building official. Adopted code is the stamp.

Limits

This page does not schedule an assessment. It does not list every fire district’s courtesy program. It does not reprint Version 1’s drawings. It does not open CAL FIRE LE-100; official fire.ca.gov and osfm.fire.ca.gov URLs returned HTTP 403 this session, so that inspection walkthrough is not invented here. FireApproved is not OSFM, NFPA, IBHS, or CDI.

The 2025 Wildfire Prepared Home Technical Standard §1.1.4 lists applicable locations as California or Oregon and names manufactured homes as non-qualified. The live FAQ on 25 August 2026 lists HUD-code manufactured homes built after July 1994 among eligible dwelling types. Confirm the current IBHS page before you apply. The $125 fee is the figure on that FAQ that day. It can change.

Private contractors may offer a free evaluation as marketing. That walk is not OSFM, not Firewise, and not IBHS unless the contractor is the authorized third-party evaluator on an IBHS file. Ask which document they are filling.