As the weather warms up and the hillsides dry out, some homeowners in rural Napa County said their house is being threatened by flammable vegetation on their neighbors' properties, and they are questioning the county's commitment to fire prevention in an area that has become known for its wildfire risk.

Chris and Karey Frasset are a bit obsessed with wildfire prevention, but for good reason. In 1981, not long after they bought their Napa County home, there was a fire the day after they had cleared weeds from their property.

"My husband left when the hoses on the neighbor's property up front started to melt," Karey  Frasset said.  "And when he left, he said, 'I'm sorry, Karey, the house is gone.'  But it wasn't. So, from that point on, for the last 45 years, we've been fire-hardening the property. Every year we've done something."

Actually, they've pretty much done everything possible. Their wooden house has been stuccoed, with all plants removed near the walls. They have 6,000 gallons of water in tanks, feeding three pumps with fire hoses for each.  

There is a box with instructions for firefighters and a turnaround at the top of their driveway. And the property has been completely cleared, down to bare dirt, of any low-lying vegetation that could send flames up into the trees.

So, when the 2017 Atlas Fire tore through their neighborhood, guess whose house the firefighters were able to save.

"And God bless them," Karey Frasset said. "Because they parked in my driveway, pulled onto my property, and said, 'We've nicknamed your house The Clean House. We can defend this.'"

But that doesn't mean they're out of the woods when it comes to fire danger. That's because, on the other side of the fence, the neighbor's property looks very different.

"This is a 5-acre parcel, so there's a wooden barn and a wooden house, and the whole front end of it is in weeds," Karey said. "I don't think they care. In 45 years, I haven't seen any improvement."

The back side of the lot is even worse. There is a solid 8-foot-high wall of highly flammable scotch broom about 40 feet from the Frasset's home. By law, there's supposed to be a 100-foot defensible space, so Karey said they called the county. 

"And when I said, 'Well, gee, the code enforcer didn't show up.' He said, 'He's a very busy man.'  That was it," Karey Frasset told KPIX.

That busy man was Deputy Fire Marshal Erick Hernandez, who for a long time was the only property inspector in the entire county.

"For three or four years it was myself," he said. "Then we went to, last year we had four. And the reality is this: We're doing the best we can."

But another reality is that after years of the Frasset's complaining, the neighbors' weeds still haven't been removed.  

"He was a good guy," said Chris Fasset about Hernandez. "But it's limited when you have one person doing it. So, I don't think that they're really doing a good job because I'm looking around and seeing not a good job done. You know, nobody's enforcing anything, because that's a mess."

Hernandez said this year, Napa has increased its staff to six fire inspectors to cover the 789 square miles of the county's rural areas. And he said the county has worked hard to remove fuels from the open areas, but getting people to remove vegetation from private property is another matter.

"We facilitated a process where people submit a complaint via our website. If it's something that, in our opinion, is going to warrant an abatement warrant, then it gets brought to my attention, and we'll execute it," said Hernandez.

CBS News Bay asked Hernandez how many times in the last year they forced someone to abate their property.

 "Oh, my God, from the top of my head, I don't have an actual number, but it was in the 10s," Hernandez said. "The beauty of this is sometimes when people reach out to us and we issue the notice, and we certified mail that copy, the property owners are getting back to us."

But that doesn't mean they're actually clearing the brush, at least not next to the Frasset's house.

"I mean, maybe I am obsessed with it," said Chris Fassett. "But, you know, I've been through three fires here,  and there's more to come — guaranteed more to come —so you might as well be ready for it.  Because if you're not, you could lose your home."

• Napa County