Wildfires can be one of the most dangerous natural disasters to not just plant life, but human life as well. There are numerous examples of wildfires raging through acres of beautiful land all the way to destroying many homes in their blaze. There are certain times of the year that wildfires are more of a risk and as such you should know how to perform fire mitigation to reduce risks with these tips.
Know Your Risk
Knowing your area and the risk for wildfires is one of the most important things to do when preparing your home. By knowing the landscape and the history of wildfire in your area you can analyze the potential for a wildfire and its possible frequency. Analyze your community’s response to wildfires is also vital. Look at your landscape by asking questions like are there wide enough roads to allow for firefighting vehicles to get through and see your home from the road? Consider when it could be time to evacuate and where to call or tune it to know when to evacuate.
Build Your Home to Reduce Risk
Another way to mitigate risk is to build your home with materials that reduce fire risk. This means purchasing siding that is stucco, metal, or cement. While you can have wood, be sure it its treated with chemicals to be fire retardant. Also, covering house vents with wire mesh can reduce the risk of spreading embers. The roof is one of the most vulnerable places, use fire retardant material when building the home here as well, and maintain the gutter and roof from debris that can catch fire easily.
Start a Defensible Space
Beginning your fire mitigation means analyzing your home for risks, this means removing certain vegetation to create a safe zone around your home. If you live on a hill, consider extending the zone since fire spreads quickly and can cause a massive amount of damage. Follow these steps in your mitigations area
- Remove vines and shrubs away from the side of the house- these can be areas where the fire will spread and easily reach your home, remove these to clear the area
- Prune the shrubs and branches away from stovepipes or chimneys to reduce risk of fire embers reaching you surrounding plants
- Remove and replant highly flammable vegetation with less flammable vegetation, you can check your local garden store for tips
- Cut the lawn often to avoid overgrowth
- Clear all of the dead tree limbs within fifteen feet of your home as well as dead leaves and debris from fallen trees
At Front Range we can do this service for you, offering to create a defensible space. We help to protect your family and property by following the maintenance above. We get ahead by creating purposeful breaks in vegetation to create natural barriers. This slows the loss of vegetation and allow firefights to easily move about in case of emergency. We will create three zones in your fire mitigation plan
Zone One: This is the removal of all vegetation within 15 feet of your building. This includes grass, shrubs, and trees which can all be overtaken by a fire.
Zone Two: This is where we have zone two which extends about 75-125 feet from the property. Here dead and diseased trees are removed. While surrounding trees are thinned to leave space between trees.
Zone three: This part of the zone protects and enhances the surrounding forest. This promotes healthy growth and reduces the risk of dead limbs and leaves that can easily spread fire.