Before Santa Ana season, close the ember gap under your garage door with a bottom seal that meets the floor, test the opener's backup battery, practice the manual release with the door closed, wipe dust and ash off the safety sensors, and photograph the door and opener for insurance. Leave springs, cables and brackets to a technician.
Key takeaways
- Embers get into garages through gaps. California's wildfire building code limits garage door gaps to 1/8 inch in designated fire areas.
- SDG&E can shut off power in high fire-risk areas during strong winds, so test the opener's backup battery before the season.
- Practice the manual release once with the door closed and the power on, so you are not learning it during an evacuation.
- Ash and dust on the safety sensors can stop the door from closing. Wipe the lenses with a soft, dry cloth.
- Photograph the door, the opener label, the battery and your receipts now, while everything works.
Santa Ana winds blow hot, dry air off the deserts in fall and winter, and a fire that starts during them spreads fast. The garage door is one of the weak points of a house in a wildfire. A few checks before the season make it much less of one.
The county has seen what happens. The 2003 Cedar Fire destroyed over 300 homes in south Scripps Ranch. In 2007 the Witch Creek Fire, pushed by Santa Ana winds, destroyed hundreds of homes in Rancho Bernardo.
Safety first
Read this before the checklist. Never unwind, adjust or remove a torsion or extension spring, a lift cable, a cable drum or a bottom bracket. Never run the opener with a broken spring or a snapped cable, and keep people out from under a door that is crooked or jammed.
The checks below are the safe ones: looking, cleaning, the battery, and the release cord with the door closed.
Why does the garage door matter in a wildfire?
Wind carries embers well ahead of a fire, and they get in through any opening they find. The UC ANR fire network advises filling or plugging gaps around the garage door and adding weatherstripping at the top and bottom, because those gaps are entry points for embers.
Inside, embers land on cardboard boxes, rags, paint cans and the car. That is why the gap under the door matters more than its size suggests.
Is there an ember gap under your door?
On a sunny afternoon, turn off the garage lights and look at the bottom of the closed door. Any line of daylight is a gap embers can use, and so is light at the sides or across the top.
For homes in designated wildfire areas, the 2025 California Wildland-Urban Interface Code limits gaps at the bottom, sides and top of a garage door to 1/8 inch (section 504.9.2). It allows three ways to get there: weatherstripping that passes fire and weathering tests, door overlaps onto the jambs and header, or metal flashing on the jambs and header. The code is written for buildings in those areas, but 1/8 inch is a good target for any door near open land.
Most gaps come from a worn or flattened bottom seal. Others come from a settled slab or an opener set to stop short of the floor. The gap at the bottom page explains how to read the shape of the gap, and bottom seal and weatherstripping covers the fix.
Will the opener work when the power is off?
SDG&E can turn off power in high fire-risk areas when strong winds, low humidity and dry brush line up, in what it calls a Public Safety Power Shutoff. It usually gives 24 to 48 hours of notice. That is exactly when you may need to leave in a hurry.
California has required battery backup on every residential opener sold or installed since July 1, 2019, and the Wildland-Urban Interface Code repeats that rule for homes in wildfire areas (section 504.9.1). If your opener has a backup, test it now. Unplug the opener for a moment and run the door once from the wall button. If it will not move on battery power, the battery is due, or the opener has no backup at all.
Our battery backup law guide covers battery life and what the law asks of older openers.
Do you know how to open the door by hand?
SDG&E’s own shutoff advice is to learn how to open your garage door manually before you need to. Practice now, with the power on, the door closed and the springs intact. Pull the emergency release cord, lift the door by hand, lower it again and reconnect the trolley. Our manual opening guide walks through each step.
Two rules matter. Do not pull the release with the door open, because a door with a weak or broken spring can drop. And do not try to muscle up a door that feels very heavy. A heavy door means a spring problem, which calls for spring replacement, not more effort.
Are the safety sensors clean?
Dust, ash and smoke residue film over the lenses of the photo-eye safety sensors, which sit about six inches off the floor. A dirty lens can stop the door from closing, which is the last thing you want on the way out. Wipe both lenses with a soft, dry cloth and check that both lights glow steadily. A blinking light means the beam is blocked or out of line; see sensor light blinking.
Is the door ready for Santa Ana winds?
A 16 foot door catches a lot of wind across its face. It usually has one or two struts across the top section to stiffen it. From the floor, look for a bent or missing strut, loose hinges and rollers that wobble in the track. On red flag days, keep the door closed when you are not using it.
Clopay says a standard door meets code for most California homeowners, and it recommends its wind-rated doors where Santa Ana winds or wildfire risk are significant. A wind-rated door is a new door, which is a job for a licensed contractor, and we say so. Keeping the door you have in good shape is our part.
What should you photograph for insurance?
Take ten minutes now, while everything works:
- The door from outside, closed, and from inside with the springs, cables and opener in view.
- The opener’s model label and the backup battery.
- Any door maker’s label on the inside of the door.
- Upgrades you paid for, such as new springs, a new bottom seal or an insulated door, with receipts.
- The garage contents, shelf by shelf.
Keep copies off your phone, in cloud storage or an email to yourself. What a policy covers is between you and your insurer. The photos simply make a claim easier to document, whatever the damage; our guide to a garage door hit by a car shows how the same records help after an accident.
Pre-season checklist
| Check | What to look for | Who |
|---|---|---|
| Bottom seal | No daylight under the closed door, seal soft and uncracked | You look, we replace |
| Side and top weatherstrip | No light at the jambs or header | You look, we replace |
| Backup battery | Door runs from the wall button with the opener unplugged | You |
| Manual release | Practiced once, door closed, power on | You |
| Safety sensors | Lenses clean, both lights steady | You |
| Springs, cables, struts | No gap in a coil, no frayed cable, no bent strut | You look, we fix |
| Photos | Door, labels, battery, receipts, contents | You |
The rest of the year, the garage door maintenance checklist keeps the door in shape.
Across San Diego
Canyon-edge neighborhoods are where this matters most: Scripps Ranch, Rancho Bernardo, Poway and Rancho Santa Fe, and farther east in Ramona and Alpine. In those places a bottom seal that meets the floor also keeps out the dust and dry leaves that Santa Ana winds push under any gap.
Next step
Book a tune-up and safety inspection before the wind season, and ask us to check the bottom seal and weatherstrip at the same visit. If daylight already shows under the door, book bottom seal replacement directly.
Rather have a technician look at it?
We repair garage doors across San Diego County, same day in most cases, with the price agreed before we come out.
Frequently asked questions
How big a gap under a garage door is allowed in a wildfire zone?
For homes in designated wildfire areas, the 2025 California Wildland-Urban Interface Code limits gaps at the bottom, sides and top of a garage door to 1/8 inch (section 504.9.2). Gaps are controlled with weatherstripping that passes fire and weathering tests, door overlaps onto the jambs and header, or metal flashing. It is a sensible target for any door near open land.
Is a wind-rated garage door worth it for Santa Ana winds?
For most homes, a standard door already meets code, and Clopay says the same about most of California. Clopay recommends its wind-rated doors where Santa Ana winds or wildfire risk are significant. A wind-rated door is a new door, which is a job for a licensed contractor. On an existing door, sound struts, tight hardware and good rollers help it ride out gusts.
Can smoke or ash stop my garage door from closing?
It can. Ash and dust settle on the lenses of the safety sensors near the floor, and a filmed lens can break the beam, so the opener refuses to close the door or reverses it. Wipe both lenses with a soft, dry cloth and check that both sensor lights glow steadily. If one keeps blinking after cleaning, the sensors may be out of line.
What should I photograph on my garage door for insurance?
Photograph the closed door from outside and from inside, with the springs, cables and opener in view, plus the opener's model label, the backup battery and any door maker's label. Add receipts for upgrades such as new springs, a new bottom seal or an insulated door, and the garage contents shelf by shelf. Keep copies off your phone, in cloud storage or email.
Are glass panels in a garage door a wildfire risk?
They can be. The UC ANR fire network notes that glass in garage doors and single-pane windows can break in a wildfire, and it recommends replacing glass elements with fire-rated glass. It also advises fire-resistant vents and doors made of non-combustible or ignition-resistant material. Replacement sections are measured and quoted, and a new door is a job for a licensed contractor.
Sources
- California Wildland-Urban Interface Code, Exterior Doors and Garage Door Gaps (504.9), GoCodeBook
- Garage, UC ANR Fire Network, University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources
- Public Safety Power Shutoffs, San Diego Gas & Electric
- Do I Really Need a WindCode Garage Door? A Location Guide, Clopay