How PRECEDE works
EmberCheck is powered by PRECEDE, the wildfire-risk engine our parent company builds for counties, emergency managers, and insurers. Here's what it actually does for your home — in plain language.
It watches the window before a fire starts
Most wildfire tools tell you about a fire that's already burning. PRECEDE looks at the quiet window before ignition — when the brush has dried out, the humidity has crashed, and the wind is about to come up. Those are the conditions that turn an ordinary spark into a fast, hard-to-stop fire. PRECEDE reads them continuously and turns them into a single risk score for a location.
What goes into the score
For your address, PRECEDE combines two things: the live weather and fuel-dryness conditions in your area, and the fixed characteristics of your site — its fire-hazard-zone rating, the vegetation around it, and the slope and direction of the land, which affect how fire would move. The result is a 0–100 reading of how primed conditions are right now. It describes conditions; it is not a prediction that a specific fire will occur.
Where it works
EmberCheck monitors wildfire conditions across 11 western states: California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming. Coverage describes where we monitor — it is not, on its own, a promise of detection or accuracy for any specific place or fire.
How it was validated
PRECEDE's pre-ignition approach has been evaluated most rigorously in California, where the historical fire record is richest. Any accuracy figures we publish are specific to that California evaluation. We don't claim the same numbers for other states or for every location within a state — coverage and accuracy are different things, and we keep them separate on purpose.
What it is — and isn't
EmberCheck is an early heads-up to help you prepare while there's still time to clear brush, pack a bag, or leave. It is supplemental — not an evacuation or emergency-response system of record. Always follow official orders from CAL FIRE, local authorities, and emergency services.
For government & enterprise
The full PRECEDE platform for counties, utilities, and insurers lives on our parent-company site. PRECEDE for government & enterprise → precedefire.com