Every year, the North County Fire Protection District inspects thousands of properties in Fallbrook to ensure owners are creating defensible spaces around their homes and taking other steps to reduce the risk of fires in populated areas.

It’s a task that is especially important in Fallbrook which, surrounded by wildlands, remains one of the most fire-prone areas in San Diego County.

NCFPD Fire Marshal Dominic Fieri said the fire district inspects 5,914 individual properties in its local responsibility area in central Fallbrook; Cal Fire San Diego handles areas further out, though they re...