California FAIR Plan Wildfire Discounts: Do You Qualify? (Step-by-Step)

If your home is on the California FAIR Plan, you may be paying more than you need to. The FAIR Plan offers 12 wildfire mitigation discounts on the wildfire portion of your premium, worth up to about 16% combined. Most policyholders have done some of the work and aren’t getting credit. This step-by-step check shows you which ones you may qualify for today.

Already a Gold Insurance Solutions client on the FAIR Plan? Walk through the steps below, take photos, and email them to team@gold.insure. We’ll review them and request the discounts you qualify for.
Not a client yet? Book a free Gold Walk-Through.

How FAIR Plan wildfire discounts work

  • There are 12 discounts in three groups: your structure, your immediate surroundings, and your community.
  • Each one you meet adds to your discount. Meeting all 10 structure and surroundings items earns an extra “property-level completion” discount.
  • Combined, they can reach up to about 16.4% of the wildfire portion of a dwelling fire premium.
  • Discounts are requested through your licensed broker, and you may be asked for photos or other proof.

Step-by-step: which FAIR Plan discounts do you qualify for?

Walk around your home with your phone and photograph each item you meet.

Step 1: Your structure (5 discounts)

Wood shake roof and clogged plastic gutter guard don't qualify; Class A tile or asphalt shingle roof with clean metal gutter qualifies
Ember-resistant vents: open louvers or torn screens let embers in; fine 1/8-inch metal mesh qualifies for wildfire discounts
Open eaves with exposed rafters vs. enclosed eaves with a solid soffit panel for wildfire mitigation
Windows for wildfire discounts: single-pane doesn't qualify; dual-pane with at least one tempered pane qualifies for Mercury Enhanced and Elite
Bottom 6 inches of exterior walls: wood siding to the dirt doesn't qualify; stucco or concrete base with gravel qualifies for wildfire mitigation discounts
  • ☐ Class A fire-rated roof: composition shingle, stone, concrete or clay tile, or metal
  • ☐ Enclosed eaves
  • ☐ Ember- and fire-resistant vents with approved wire mesh
  • ☐ Multi-pane windows or functional shutters
  • ☐ Noncombustible material on the bottom 6 inches of all exterior walls

Step 2: Your immediate surroundings (5 discounts)

The first 5 feet around a California home: bark mulch, shrubs and wood fence touching the house don't qualify for wildfire discounts; gravel, low plants and a metal gate do
Decks and wildfire discounts: stuff stored under the deck doesn't qualify; clear underneath with 5 feet of gravel around qualifies
Trees and defensible space: branches over the roof and ladder fuels don't qualify; canopy 10 feet above the roof and trimmed limbs qualify
Mercury wildfire discount grows with distance from your home to the nearest structure: about 10 ft, 10 to 30 ft, or 30+ ft
  • ☐ Clear under decks: no vegetation or debris
  • ☐ Clear the first 5 feet: no vegetation, debris, mulch or other combustibles
  • ☐ Only noncombustible materials within 5 feet, including fences and gates
  • ☐ Sheds and outbuildings more than 30 feet from the home (or as far as you can control)
  • ☐ Defensible space: trees trimmed, brush and debris removed, meeting state and local rules such as Public Resources Code 4291 (see our ladder fuels guide)

What are ladder fuels? Ladder fuels are the plants that let a small ground fire climb into the trees: tall dry grass, shrubs growing under trees, young trees, and low-hanging branches. CAL FIRE describes fire moving “from the ground to the brush to the treetops like a ladder.” Break the ladder by trimming tree limbs 6 to 10 feet off the ground (on smaller trees, only the lower one-third), keeping a gap of at least 3 times a shrub’s height between the shrub and the branches above it, and mowing grass to 4 inches. See our complete ladder fuels guide.

Ladder fuels explained: tall grass, a shrub under a tree and low branches let wildfire climb into the canopy; trimming limbs 6 to 10 feet up and clearing shrubs breaks the ladder

Step 3: All 10? (1 bonus discount)

☐ If you checked every item in Steps 1 and 2, you may also qualify for the property-level completion discount.

Step 4: Your community (1 discount)

  • ☐ Your home is in a Firewise USA site in good standing, or a Fire Risk Reduction Community listed by the Board of Forestry. Meeting both earns a larger discount.

Step 5: Send it to us

  1. Clients: email your photos to team@gold.insure with your address and which boxes you checked. We’ll review them and request the discounts.
  2. Want us to check it with you? Book a free Wildfire Insurability Walk-Through (we call it the Gold Walk-Through). We come to your home, confirm every item and document it on a signed validation form.

The bigger opportunity: getting off the FAIR Plan

The same work that earns FAIR Plan discounts can qualify your home for a standard admitted policy. Mercury, our top carrier in the California home insurance market, now rewards well-mitigated homes with discounts of 12.5% to 45% on the wildfire portion of the premium. See the Mercury discount check and how to get off the FAIR Plan.

Mercury Insurance Authorized Agent logoGold Insurance Solutions is a Mercury Insurance Authorized Agent.

See which discounts you qualify for: Book your free Gold Walk-Through · Get a quote

General information based on the California FAIR Plan’s published discount schedule (applicable as of 11/15/2025 and subject to change). Discounts apply to the wildfire portion of the premium, are subject to FAIR Plan guidelines, verification and underwriting approval, and amounts vary by policy type. This page is not a FAIR Plan publication and is not a guarantee of any discount. Phil Irwin, LUTCF, CLCS, President, Gold Insurance Solutions · CA License #0G50873 · Agency License #6000540.

Sources: California FAIR Plan: Discounts for Dwelling Fire and Commercial Policies · CDI: Safer from Wildfires