Building with Privacy in Mind

At Fire Aside, we take user privacy very seriously. We are a proud Californian and American company, and as such, we follow all privacy and other related laws in the jurisdictions in which we operate. 

As we have expanded into new parts of the country, Fire Aside has encountered a few common questions and concerns pertaining to privacy, and so we wanted to clarify our perspective and dispel any misinformation.

Fire agencies, fire safe councils, and homeowners’ associations are our three primary types of customers. But when it comes to data protection and privacy, we treat them equally. Each customer is the legal owner of the data that it collects.

Fire Aside is the means by which inspection or evaluation data is collected. That data typically includes name, address, contact information, types of wildfire hazards observed, defensible space, and other home hardening actions performed, among numerous other types of related records. 

We encrypt that data in transit using industry standard encryption algorithms and best practice configurations to ensure security of data transmissions. Specifically, we use encryption using AES-256, and data authentication using at least SHA1, and handshake encryption using at least RSA-2048. All data and metadata at rest is encrypted using a standard AES-256 encryption algorithm. All data is hosted by Amazon Web Services (AWS) servers, based in the United States, and subject to American laws.

Any and all personal data about a person and/or a specific property has never been and is never sold, disclosed, or otherwise shared with any third party – except with the relevant fire agency, fire safe council, or homeowner’s association that collected it originally – for any reason at any time without a resident’s specific request and explicit consent.

Put another way, a resident’s defensible space inspection or evaluation has never been, is not, and will not be shared with an insurance firm without express and written consent by the resident.

Fire Aside does not now and never has sold, shared, or otherwise disclosed any customer or property owner data to any third party for marketing purposes.

It is worth noting that depending on the agency, the inspection or evaluation data may be shared regionally by agencies for the purposes of wildfire and public safety. After all, there is a longstanding policy of mutual aid among first responders and wildfire doesn’t respect political boundaries. Having the best data possible helps agencies improve their critical prevention work. In these cases, all agencies operate with the same duty of care around data privacy and collection.

In some jurisdictions, wildfire inspections or evaluations are mandatory, and the fire agency is authorized under local laws to perform them. If a homeowner does not wish to grant access to their property to be fully inspected, nor to provide personal information, she or he can decline to do so at their own risk.

However, this person will not be able to receive the interactive personalized wildfire prevention inspection that Fire Aside enables, and additionally she or he may have a responsibility to maintain defensible space under state law. Residents can choose to receive the inspection results sent on paper upon request, but will receive a degraded experience of interactive maps, photos, and resolution resources. 

Fire Aside’s vision is ambitious, but simple: a world where homes are no longer threatened by wildfire.

We seek nothing more, and nothing less. We look forward to working with those who share our vision. For additional information on our policies or for further questions, please contact  privacy@fireaside.com.