Dana Rene Bowler / Star staff A man sprays foam on the roof of producer Jeffrey Katzenberg near Pacific Coast Highway on Sunday. One insurer is offering fire mitigation services to its high-end customers.

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When the flames from a wildfire are licking at your backyard, or glowing embers are drifting into the shrubs that ring your property, an extra layer of protection can't hurt — if you can afford it.

Some property owners and even an insurance company are finding new ways to protect homes in fire-prone areas like Ventura County, either by purchasing personal fire-retardant systems or by hiring private crews that come out and add supplemental foam shields in advance of the flames. Some of the services can cost thousands of dollars.

Such efforts can be worth the investment, said Capt. Barry Parker, public information officer for the Ventura County Fire Department, particularly if the products are applied properly and well in advance of the fire.

"It does do some good if you're willing to pay the price," he said. "If they want to place it on their house, that's up to the homeowner. The key is to do it long before the fire is in their area" so the individual or crew is not in danger or in the way of firefighters.

Protecting pricey homes

Insurance company AIG sent crews to Malibu on Sunday to foam down multimillion-dollar homes of clients in the wealthy enclave in advance of the fast-moving Canyon fire.

AIG has been offering its Mobile Wildfire Protection Unit service to Private Client Group customers in parts of California and Colorado since 2005, said Dorothy Sarna, vice president of the Private Client Group and national director of risk management services. A similar hurricane service is offered in parts of Florida.

The service comes at no cost to qualified clients, who generally are insuring homes worth $1 million or more, pay thousands in premiums for the coverage and live in designated wildfire-prone areas, including large swaths of central and eastern Ventura County.

"The reason we've chosen certain areas is primarily because of where we have a concentration of risk," Sarna said. "That's where our clients live."

In addition to the emergency response to apply fire retardant if a wildfire threatens the home, AIG clients who enroll in the program can get an on-site consultation by wildfire mitigation specialists and even pre-treatment of perimeter brush with fire retardant.

Enrollment in the program is encouraged so that crews hired by AIG can get necessary authorization to enter property, Sarna said, but the crews have been sent to AIG-insured properties not enrolled in the program if fires are near.

Reducing company's losses

AIG contracts with a company called Firebreak Rapid Response, which provides staffing for five response trucks stationed throughout California, including one based in Simi Valley. Trucks were dispatched earlier this year to Beverly Hills, Lake Tahoe, Sun Valley, Idaho, and nearby Santa Barbara and Montecito when wildfires threatened clients in the communities, Sarna said.

The measures are provided as a mitigation tool to reduce losses for clients and ultimately, the insurance company, Sarna said, but there are no guarantees it will prevent a client's house from being damaged in a fire.

"It's just one layer of protection," she said. "It's great for the consumers."

For anybody not covered by AIG's service, Kris Brandini of Simi Valley, owner of Firebreak Protection Systems, has a truck that can pretreat homes with Phos-Chek, a safe, colorless fire retardant that won't stain or damage the home, is considered environmentally friendly and is used by the U.S. Forest Service. The protection can last up to 6 months as long as there is no heavy rain, he said.

Portable retardant systems

Brandini also installs fire-retardant spray systems that can be turned on remotely via cell phone and will spray down homes and yards with Phos-Chek much like an irrigation sprinkler would. The custom systems start at $10,000.

For those with smaller pocketbooks, Brandini sells a portable, 25-gallon pump, trailer and Phos-Chek combination for about $995. When filled, the 25-gallon pump will cover about 800 square feet, he said.

Brandini, who also operates a sprinkler system business, said when he began offering the services last year, business was slow, but this year, more and more people are expressing interest. He has appointments for bids on two of the custom systems next week, he said.

"People are starting to realize there are more things you can do," he said. "It's catching on very, very rapidly."

For more information on Firebreak Protection Systems services, call 584-6800.

For more information on the AIG program, visit www.aigpcg.com.