We do not fight fires. We do not present ourselves as a vegetation crew or a public-safety agency. Napa Home Watch is a home watch practice. During wildfire season the walk-through simply pays closer attention to the things an empty house cannot report for itself.
Owners who live elsewhere often hear about wind, smoke, or an order to leave long before they can get to the valley. The value of a local visit, in those weeks, is a current account of the property and a person who can meet a vendor you trust.
What we look for
The standard is the same one that governs every visit: obvious issues, seen with our own eyes. Around the house that often means leaves in the gutters, plants or debris against the walls, a woodpile too close, a gate that no longer latches, and an approach that has become cluttered. We photograph what we find and we say, in ordinary words, whether it looks as it did last time.
Inside, the same route continues. A house closed up in a hot week can tell on its HVAC, its refrigerator, and its water heater. Those are not wildfire systems. They are part of keeping the property sound while the weather is hard on it. They belong in the same report.
What we will do if you ask
Some owners want only the observation. Others want a crew. If you choose a vendor for gutter cleaning, brush, or irrigation, we can schedule them, meet them, stay through the work, and lock up. That time is concierge, billed at the published hourly rate, not assumed inside the monthly walk-through. We will not hire someone in your name without asking.
You may also tell us, before the season, how you want to be reached and whether anyone else has authority to make a decision at the house. We would rather have that conversation in June than invent it on a windy afternoon.
If an evacuation is ordered
If an evacuation order covers the property, we respond. We look, we document, and we keep you informed of what we were able to see. We do not drive toward a fire, and we do not override an order. “Respond” means a prompt, practical effort within the conditions on the ground and the instructions you have given us. It is not a promise of a particular minute, and it is not a guarantee that we can reach every lane.
Before you leave for a long stretch
A few agreements make the season quieter:
- The dates you will be away, and the dates you will be in the house. Visits pause while you are in residence.
- How to reach you if something should not wait for the report.
- Whether the weekly or the twice-monthly cadence is the right one for those months. Many owners tighten the rhythm in late summer. Both rates are on the pricing page.
- Which edges of the property you want in the route, especially on a hillside lot in Calistoga or a deeper garden in St. Helena.
- The vendor, if you have one, you want us to call for gutters or dry vegetation.
None of this replaces your own preparation of the house, or the guidance of the fire agencies. It sits beside those things: a regular pair of eyes, a written record, and a phone that is answered.
The rest of the year
Wildfire season is not a separate product with a separate personality. It is the same walk-through, read against the weather. Winter has its own quiet risks, mostly water. We watch those too. The point of a single practice, rather than a seasonal panic, is that the person who comes in August already knows the house from March.