Are You Defending Your Home?

When you hear the phrase “spring cleaning” you may think of dusting book shelves, polishing windows, and packing up winter coats. But spring cleaning should be more than that, it should also be getting your home ready for fire season. Creating defensible space is essential to improve your home’s chance of surviving a wildfire. Keeping the area around your home clear will create a buffer zone between the fire and your house. Defensible space is also important for the protection of the firefighters defending your home. Defensible space is divided into two zones; zone one being a 30-foot radius immediately surrounding the home, zone two being a 70 foot radius around zone one. The total defensible space should be 100 feet. Check with your local fire department for any additional defensible space or weed abatement ordinances. Keeping plants pruned and maintained is an important fire protection tool. Proper landscape maintenance can dramatically improve the fire safety of a yard. The closer the plants are to the house, the more care that needs to be taken. Keep low-growing plants within 30 feet of the home; remove dead and dying vegetation and keep plants properly spaced. Trees and shrubs are acceptable as long as they are widely spaced and do not provide a continuous path of fuel for a fire to climb from the ground to a tree crown or roof. Fire safe landscaping doesn’t have to be unattractive. Keep these tips in mind when creating your defensible space: • Create fire-safe zones with stone walls, patios, swimming pools, decks and roadways; • Use rock, mulch, flower beds and gardens as ground cover for bare spaces and as effective firebreaks; • Choose fire retardant plant species that resist ignition such as rockrose, ice-plant and aloe; • Make sure there is horizontal and vertical separation between plants. If a fire occurs, this will help minimize the spread of fire from your plants to your home; • Do not completely remove all vegetation leaving the ground bare. Some vegetation is necessary to prevent erosion. When native vegetation is removed for fire control, the bare soil is particularly vulnerable to soil erosion. San Bernardino County Fire encourages residents to be prepared for a wildland fire and know what to do when asked to evacuate. The READY! SET! GO! Program provides important preparation information. The goal of this program is to educate and engage residents in reducing the risk in their communities, which will help save lives and property.