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Landscaping
Fire Safety
Fire-safe
Landscaping Can Save Your Home: A Factsheet on Rural Fire Safety and Prevention
Wildland fires destroy hundreds of homes and acres of land
every year across the country. Fire-safe landscaping is an effective tool
that creates an area of defensible space between your home and flammable
vegetation that protects against devastating fires.
The Apple Valley Fire Department encourages you to keep fire safety at
the forefront by learning how to landscape and maintain your property
to minimize possible fire damage and slow fires if they start. Remember,
fire safety is your personal responsibility... Fire Stops With You!
Defensible Space
Works
During the 1993 raging Malibu fires, a number of homes were saved as
a result of the owners' careful pruning and landscaping techniques that
protected their homes. In a fire situation, the dead trees and shrubs
surrounding your home act as fuel for fire. Removing flammable vegetation
reduces the threat of fire. Follow these basic rules to create defensible
space that works.
- Remove all dead plants, trees and shrubs from the
site.
- Reduce excess leaves, plant parts and low-hanging branches.
- Replace dense flammable plants with fire-resistant
plants.
The choice of plants, spacing and maintenance are crucial elements in
any defensible space landscaping plan.
Tips for a Fire-safe
Landscape
- Create a defensible space perimeter
by thinning trees and brush within 30 feet around your home.
- Beyond 30 feet, remove dead wood, debris
and low tree branches.
- Eliminate small trees and plants growing
under trees. They allow ground fires to jump into tree crowns.
- Space trees 30 feet apart and prune
to a height of 8 to 10 feet.
- Place shrubs at least 20 feet from
any structures and prune regularly.
- Plant the most drought-tolerant vegetation
within three feet of your home and adjacent to structures to prevent
ignition.
- Provide at least a 10 to 15 foot separation
between islands of shrubs and plant groups to effectively break-up continuity
of vegetation.
- Landscape your property with fire-resistant
plants and vegetation to prevent fire from spreading quickly.
Choose Fire Resistant
Materials
- Check your local nursery or county extension service
for advice on fire resistant plants that are suited for your environment.
- 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.
- There are no "fire-proof" plants. Select
high moisture plants that grow close to the ground and have a low sap
or resin content.
- Choose plant species that resist ignition such as rockrose,
iceplant and aloe.
- Fire-resistant shrubs include hedging roses, bush honeysuckles,
currant, cotoneaster, sumac and shrub apples.
- Plant hardwood, maple, poplar and cherry trees that
are less flammable than pine, fir and other conifers.
Maintain Your Home
and Surrounding Property
- Maintain a well-pruned and watered landscape to serve
as a green belt and protection against fire.
- Keep plants green during the dry season and use supplemental
irrigation, if necessary.
- Trim grass on a regular basis up to 100 feet surrounding
your home.
- Stack firewood at least 30 feet from your home.
- Store flammable materials, liquids and solvents in
metal containers outside the home at least 30 feet away from structures
and wooden fences.
No matter where you live, always install smoke alarms on every level
of your home. Test them monthly and change the batteries at least once
a year. Consider installing the new long-life smoke alarms.
Content updated on:
28-Dec-2007
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