Why a Checklist Isn't Enough for a Legal Record
The difference between a Firewise checklist and a scored HIZ assessment is the difference between an advisory visit and a defensible document. When a structure burns and a post-fire investigation is conducted, or when an insurer reviews a community's fire resilience program, the checklist that says "yes/no" to 20 items produces a qualitative record. A scored assessment that produces a total out of 120, with calculated subtotals by zone, produces a quantitative record — one that can be compared against the same property in a prior year, compared across properties in a community program, and used to generate risk band classifications that drive prioritization decisions.
The Jackson HIZ template implements this scoring architecture with four calculated zone subtotals — Zone 1 (0-5 feet, 45 points), Zone 2 (5-30 feet, 25 points), Zone 3 (30-100 feet, 10 points), and Structure Design (30 points) — plus an Area score (10 points) that accounts for cover type and neighbor defensible space. Total Points out of 120 is calculated automatically from the field entries, with no manual arithmetic required.
How the Point Distribution Reflects Real Fire Behavior
The weighted distribution is not arbitrary. Zone 1 carries 45 of the 120 points because the immediate 0-to-5-foot structural envelope is where ember cast causes the most concentrated ignition events. Structure Design carries 30 points because the roof and vent system are the primary entry points for ember-driven ignition of the interior. These two categories together account for 75 of 120 points — 62.5% of the total risk score — which is consistent with the fire science literature on structure survival in WUI events.
The roof item alone carries 20 points out of 30 for Structure Design, which reflects the documented performance difference between non-combustible roofing (metal, tile, Class A composition) and combustible roofing (cedar shake, unrated wood) in ember accumulation conditions. An assessor who records a combustible wood shake roof on a property with otherwise excellent Zone 1 and Zone 2 conditions should see a total score that reflects the outsized risk the roof represents — and the 20-point weight makes that visible.
Zone 2's 25 points weight the items where ladder fuel management is controllable: mowed lawn, firewood placement, outbuilding Firewise status, and tree pruning height and crown separation. These are the items homeowners can address without structural replacement, and the scoring makes their relative contribution to total risk score explicit.
The Driveway Access Audit Is the Fire Department's Score
The driveway questions — width at least 15 feet, height clearance at least 13 feet, adequate turnaround, grade — are not part of the 120-point scoring total. They're a separate pass/fail access audit that reflects a different question: not whether this structure can survive ember cast, but whether the apparatus can reach it if suppression is attempted.
A property that scores 105 out of 120 on the structural and defensible space assessment but fails the driveway grade item because the access road exceeds 12% slope has an excellent structural profile and a suppression access problem. These two pieces of information need to be in the same record, and they serve different audiences: the homeowner cares about the 105/120 and the mitigation items. The fire department cares about the driveway grade and the turnaround dimension.
Fire number visibility — whether the structure address is legible from the main road — is the access item that saves lives in structure fire and medical response, not just wildfire. A visible, properly maintained fire number sign is a 30-second installation that reduces response time under stress conditions when dispatched crews are scanning driveways in low-visibility smoke.
The cover type field — Hardwoods (5 points), Oak (3), Red or Jack Pine (0) — reflects the regional fire behavior of the surrounding vegetation, with conifer-dominated stands producing zero area credit because of their ignition potential and fire spread characteristics relative to deciduous and mixed hardwood covers.