Once a wildfire is moving toward your property, there’s not much you can do to defend your home. You’ll need to get yourself and your family to safety instead of trying to set up a wildfire home defense at the last minute.
The good news is there are things you can do now that will help protect your home from potential wildfire damage if a fire reaches your neighborhood. Follow these three main tips to defend your home from wildfire damage and get a better understanding of what causes wildfires and how the area around your home can help slow the spread of a fire.
1. Decrease Your Home’s Structural Ignitability
Want to know how to fireproof your home from wildfires? While you probably won’t be able to completely fireproof your home, you can reduce the structural ignitability. The structural ignitability of a building is the likelihood that the materials will catch fire. A home built with lots of flammable materials is more ignitable than a home built of fire-resistant materials.
Ideally, you would use fire-safe materials when designing and building your home. This gives you the chance to incorporate fireproof materials throughout the interior and exterior structure. However, even existing structures can be evaluated to lower the ignitability.
Some ways to lower the ignitability of your home include:
- Check that your roof has a Class A fire rating. If not, be sure to install a Class A-rated roof when it’s time to repair or replace your existing roof.
- Keep gutters, decks and the roof clear of flammable debris like plant litter and leaves.
- Replace any flammable fencing or gates that are within five feet of your home with fire-resistant materials.
- Make sure there are at least six inches of vertical clearance between the ground and the siding on your home.
- Use two or more panes of tempered glass in all of your windows.
- Install metal mesh screens on all exterior roofs and attic vents to prevent embers from entering your ventilation system.
2. Create a Defensible Space Around Your Property
With your home’s ignitability reduced, it’s time to focus on the property around your home. Known as defensible space, there are two zones to know:
- Zone 1: The first 30 feet around your home.
- Zone 2: From 30 feet to 100 feet from your home.
Depending on your location, local ordinances may affect the exact required length of defensible space. For example, some areas of California require Zone 1 to be 50 feet instead of 30 feet.
Wildfire defensible spaces are areas that form a buffer between a wildfire and your home. By reducing flammable materials in the defensible space, it makes it more difficult for a fire to reach structures on your property.
In Zone 1, you want to make sure there is little to no fuel for a wildfire to consume by using the following tips:
- Remove any dead vegetation like plants, grass or weeds.
- Get rid of plant litter such as dead or dry leaves, pine needles and broken branches.
- Trim trees so their branches are 10 feet away from other trees and remove any branches that hang over your home.
- Keep items that could catch fire — such as patio furniture and woodpiles — away from one another.
- Install hardscaping and fire-resistant plants to reduce the chance of fueling a fire. This might include using gravel or pavers for pathways, installing a stone retaining wall and planting fire-resistant native plants in your garden.
Keep your home safe in Zone 2 by following these guidelines:
- Mow grass to 4 inches or less.
- Leave plenty of horizontal space between trees and bushes.
- Remove buildup of dead leaves, branches and other plant litter that’s over 3 inches off of the ground.
- Place woodpiles on bare soil with at least a 10-foot radius.
- Trim lower tree branches to create vertical space between ground vegetation and trees.
3. Work with Neighbors to Create a Wildfire Plan
Whether you live in a densely populated neighborhood or a more rural area, you should work together with your neighbors to help keep all of your homes safe from wildfires. Just one person not following proper wildfire defense guidelines could provide the fuel a wildfire needs to enter your neighborhood.
Hold a community meeting to come up with a wildfire plan for your neighborhood. Some ideas to help you plan for and protect your neighborhood from wildfires include:
- Planning a wildfire defense day where neighbors can help one another clean up debris and improve fire-safe landscaping throughout the neighborhood.
- Making a wildfire evacuation plan for you and your nearby neighbors. Be sure to include a plan for pets if you’re not home when an evacuation takes place.
- Setting up check-ins for elderly or disabled residents to make sure their homes are protected from wildfires.
How to Prepare for a Wildfire
Being prepared is your best wildfire home defense. Conditions like drought and high winds can turn a small fire into a raging wildfire in almost no time at all. Take the time now to plan your home’s defense against wildfires. Start by using fire-resistant landscaping, updating home materials for a more fireproof house, and working with your neighbors to reduce the risk of wildfire damage in your neighborhood.
Even the best wildfire defense isn’t completely fireproof, however. You want to make sure your home and belongings are protected against the damage wildfires can cause if they make it through your defenses. Get in touch with your Wawanesa agent to make sure your homeowners insurance or renters insurance has the coverage you need to replace belongings destroyed by fire or repair fire damage to your home.
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