Protect Your Home from Wildfire
The time to plan for a fire emergency is now. Take a few minutes to discuss withyour family what actions you will need totake if a fire occurs.
Creating a fire-resistant home doesn’t have to be overwhelming. With some simple, practical steps, you can significantly reduce the risks and better protect your property, your home, and your loved ones. Whether it’s clearing debris, choosing the right materials, or setting up essential resources, every small action counts.
Below, we’ve outlined key measures you can take to fireproof your home and enhance your peace of mind.
Areas where homes meet the wildlands arecalled the wildland/urban interface. A home in a woodland setting is surrounded by flammable forest fuels. You can help minimize a fire threat to your home and family by following a few safety tips tomake your home ignition resistant.
An Ignition Resistant home has:
Defensible Space
Do you have at least 30 feet of space surrounding your home that is Lean, Green and Clean?
The objective of Defensible Space is to reduce the wildfire threat to your homeby changing the characteristics of the surrounding vegetation.
- Lean – Reduce volume and continuityof vegetation around your home. Prune shrubs and cut back tree branches,especially within 15 feet of your chimney.
- Clean – Remove all dead plant material around your home, including dead leaves, dry grass, and stacked firewood.
- Green – Plant fire-resistant vegetation thatis healthy and green for most of the year.
Ignition Resistant Exterior Walls
Materials that can resist heat and flames include cement, plaster, stucco, andconcrete masonry. Double pane glass windows can make a home more resistant to wildfire heat and flames.
Ignition Resistant Roof Construction
Ignition resistant roofing materials include Class-A asphalt shingles, metal, cement, and concrete products. A fire-resistant sub-roof adds protection.
Ignition Resistant Attachments
Attachments include any structureconnected to your home, such as decks,porches, or fences. If an attachment to ahome is not fire-resistant, then the home as a whole is not ignition resistant.
Ignition Resistant Landscaping
Trees should be pruned so that thel owest branches are at least 6 feet highto prevent a fire on the ground from spreading up to the tree tops. Within the defensible space, remove or thin flammable plants that contain resins, oils, and waxes that burn readily, such as eastern red cedar, pine, and rhododendron.
Although mulch helps retain soil moisture, when it is dry it will become flammable. Consider using alternative ground covers such as rock orpea gravel.
Emergency Access
Identify your home and neighborhoodwith clearly marked reflective numbers and street names so that first responders can quickly locate the emergency.
- Access - Your driveway should be at least 12 feetwide with a vertical clearance of 15 feet to allow emergency vehicle access.
- Contact - Post the phone number to the local fire department in an obvious location.
- Evacuation - If you must evacuate, decide where you will go and how you will get there. Two escape routes out of your home andneighborhood are recommended.
- Tools - Keep a shovel, rake, axe, handsaw, and a 2-gallon bucket readily available.
- Pets - Have a plan for your pets in case of emergency. A leash and/or crate should be easily accessed if evacuation is required.
- Practice - Practice family fire drills to prepare for a fire emergency.
Evacuations for a wildfire can occur without notice. When wildfire conditions exist, BE ALERT!
Protecting your home takes a little effort but has a big impact when it counts. Here are five steps to get you started on making your home a wildfire fortress.
1. Clear Out Those Gutters
Dry leaves and debris in your gutters are an invitation for disaster. Use gloves and a stable ladder to clean out gutters regularly, especially during fire season. Consider installing gutter guards to prevent debris buildup in the first place.
2. Trim Overhanging Branches
Tree branches that hang over your roof or come within 10 feet of it are a wildfire's bridge to your home. Cut back branches to maintain a safe buffer zone around your roofline. Focus on trees closest to your house and remove “ladder fuels” (like low-hanging branches) that could allow fires to climb up.
3. Create Defensible Space
A defensible space acts as a protective barrier between your home and nearby vegetation. Remove dead plants, leaves, and other flammable materials within 30 feet of your house. Replace ultra-dry landscaping with fire-resistant plants such as lavender, yarrow, or succulents. Maintain a 5-foot “non-combustible” zone around your exterior walls by using gravel, paving stones, or bare dirt.
4. Fortify Your Home Exterior
Your home’s walls, roof, and deck are its armor against fire—but they need to be strong. Inspect your roofing for cracked, missing, or vulnerable areas that could invite sparks. Upgrade to fire-resistant materials like metal, clay tiles, or asphalt shingles when possible. Replace siding with non-combustible options like fiber-cement or stucco.
5. Provide an Emergency Water Source
When seconds count, having water ready can save your home. Install an external water pump or have access to a nearby pool, pond, or water tank. Keep a sturdy garden hose long enough to reach any area around your house. Have fire extinguishers placed strategically both inside and outside your home.
It might look like just another quiet day in your yard, but danger could be lurking in places you least expect. Wildfires often spread through a combination of small, overlooked fire hazards. Here are the most common culprits:
- Clogged Gutters: Dry leaves and pine needles piled up in your gutters act as kindling for airborne embers.
- Overhanging Branches: Tree branches close to your roof can act as "fire ladders," giving flames an easy way into your home.
- Flammable Vegetation: Shrubs and plants near your walls can ignite quickly, creating a pathway for fire.
- Weak Siding and Roofing: Vulnerable materials can’t stand up to the heat or flying sparks.
- Lack of Emergency Water Source: Without water on hand, you may lose valuable time trying to protect your home.
Fortunately, there are practical low cost ember preparedness measures you cantake to protect your home.
- Keep your roof, rain gutters, decks, andfoundation areas of your home freeof leaves, needles, or other flammablematerials.
- Clean-up flammable debris, such asleaves and needles, that collects aroundthe foundation of your home.
- Seal all vents with at least 1/8” metalscreening to minimize ember intrusion.
- Seal any gaps, joints, or seams in theexterior of your home with a good qualitysealant.
- Select metal window screening asopposed to nylon window screens.
- Use fire resistant soffit materials orcompletely box-in the eves.
- Residents should store firewood and other combustible materials at least 30 feet from a home and never under the deck.
- Replace wood or rubber mulch withdecorative gravel, concrete pavers, orother non-burnable material.
- Remove wooden flower boxes frombeneath windows if a wildfire isthreatening.
Wildfires generate large volumes of embers. An ember is a glowing, hot coal made ofgreatly heated wood, leaves, needles, pinecones, or other carbon-based materials. Embers can glow very hot, sometimes a shot as the fire which created them. During a large fire embers can be lofted and blown far ahead of the fire front, starting spot fires sometimes over a mile away. Embers can bombard your home collecting in vulnerable areas and cause your home to ignite.
You can minimize the threat of direct flame contact and radiant heat to your home by maintaining 30 feet of defensible space around your home and utilizing fire resistant construction and landscaping materials. This seperation from flammable fuels around your home, coupled with fire resistant building materials, will protect it from direct flame contact and damage from radiant heat. If allowable, reducing flammable fuels out 100to 200 feet from your home is even better.
Homeowners often picture large walls of fire that move through a neighborhood igniting home after home. The fact of the matter is that many more homes are damaged or destroyed by small creeping ground fires or windblown burning embers!
It is very important to have a five foot wide buffer around your home where nothing can ignite. Embers will follow wind currents and collect in the same areas windblown leaves collect around your home. Wind can force embers through vents or gaps in your homes walls. Windblown embers, direct flame contact, and radiant heat are three ways a wildfire can damage or destroy your home.