Prepare Stay Defend (PSD), a California non-profit organization, has launched a Web site that empowers homeowners against wildfires. With this site, PSD hopes to make images of ill-prepared homeowners standing on rooftops dressed in shorts and t-shirts while spraying water with a trickling garden hose a thing of the past. Founders Steve Bowman and Roy Pike want to share their 70+ years of combined expertise in pre-fire mitigation and actual wildfire suppression with the public. PSD reduces the chance of injury and/or death and promises to significantly increase a home's survival if the homeowner stays to defend it.

"I'm tired of seeing hundreds of homes burning with limited protection, and I'm tired of seeing homeowners staying behind to defend their home without training or protective clothing," Bowman says. "It's time to empower the homeowner with knowledge of fire dynamics and the training they deserve and desire."

The Web site offers the same Federal courses administered to professional wildland firefighters. PSD recommends that homeowners evacuate to a safety zone early in the process if unable to expend a high level of physical exertion or are not psychologically prepared for the stresses of firefighting. Homeowners will be encouraged to organize Neighborhood Fire Watch Groups and Fire Brigades. PSD consultants will be available to help with fire law and regulation interpretations, assessing the wildfire suppression capabilities of their local fire department, surveying neighborhood and community infrastructures, help establish and demonstrate new "home hardening" specifications for developers, and consult on other issues. PSD believes that the homeowner should also be trained on how to use their prepared home as a shelter. The site provides information to help homeowners and communities prepare for a wildfire and to establish local safety refuges. It teaches how to conduct pre-fire planning, plan evacuation routes, promote the use of protective clothing and fire suppression equipment and more.