San Francisco-based startup Firemaps Inc. today announced the availability of its tech-driven solution to protect California homes against wildfires.

To facilitate the launch, Firemaps raised $5.5 million in seed investment led by Andrew Chen, general partner at Andreessen Horowitz. Uber Technologies Inc. Chief Executive Dara Khosrowshahi and investor Lee Fixel also participated in the round.

Defending a home and property against wildfires is a time-consuming process that involves not only improvements to the house itself but often maintenance to the land around it. This process is known as “hardening” and it is often required by insurance companies to reduce the risk of homes being destroyed by fires.

The vision of Firemaps is simple: provide homeowners a platform that identifies the improvements needed to protect their home and property and then connect them to contractors to complete the work via a marketplace.

“As we speak, there are record-breaking wildfires throughout the western half of the USA, as well as in France, Spain, Turkey, Greece, Russia and Canada,” said Jahan Khanna, chief executive of Firemaps. “Wildfire season is now all year. It will continue to threaten the lives of firefighters and destroy homes and communities.”

When a homeowner calls on Firemaps, first the platform uses satellite imagery to get a preliminary risk assessment. For high-risk homes, a crew is sent out with handheld drones, which then inspect the entire property and home to generate a 3D view of its construction and features.

Once hardening options are identified – such as deck construction, roofing condition, and porch and deck vulnerability – qualified contractors and other tradespeople can bid on the work remotely. The entire process is managed by Firemaps and the homeowner decides from there how to proceed.

After the work is complete, Firemaps can be used to assist with maintenance and routinely dispatch contractors to keep vegetation under control and make certain that the home remains in compliance. The homeowner can also voluntarily share information with insurance agencies and local government agencies in exchange for discounts or tax incentives.

“Firemaps is building a critical marketplace to empower homeowners to take meaningful action to address urgent climate risks,” said Chen. “The Firemaps team is well-equipped to scale their offering into new markets and other climate change problems, such as flooding and storm reinforcements and I’m optimistic about the impact their technology will have.”

Due to continuing fire risk, California has allocated fire defense grants and thus Firemaps may also be able to help some homeowners procure some of that grant money for their own defense depending on their eligibility.

“There are millions of homes in high-risk areas that need complex work done at an unprecedented scale, as quickly as possible,” said Khanna. “We created the Firemaps platform as a way to deal with the effects of climate change for the people who have to live with it.”

Image: Firemaps