Simple
wildfire prevention ideas. Remember, a brick house with a
tile
roof surrounded by 300 foot of bare ground can still burn down.
Be realistic.
A
tanker dropping fire retardant. Fire is a natural occurrence in
California. It used to be that when the interval between fires
(160+years) is right for
your plant community, fire provided a 'rebirth' of the plants. Now that
we've seeded and/or introduced weeds into much of the California
wildlands (weedlands?) fire can occur at any time, winter,
spring, summer or fall and is as bad for the wildland as it can be for
your house. Do you live within 3-4
blocks of wildland (or avocado orchards, if you're in Fallbrook). This
is called the urban interface. Do you live in the wild? Do you live on
more than a 1/4 acre? Does your house have wood shingles or exposed
wood trim?If you answer yes to any of those you need to think about your fire safety. Even if you don't think you should worry about fire, put some thought into fire safety.
In most areas you need to have a 30 foot area around the structures that passes the "mental match test." Pretend (please do not do this other than in your mind) that you are walking around your house when it's 100 F., the wind is blowing 100 miles an hour and you're throwing lit matches out. The house needs to not burn. Mulch will pass this test as long as there are no weeds in it and it is not against wooden walls, posts, or fences. Mulch burns, but on the ground (little or no flame) and poorly. (Large leaves, like avocado leaves, do burn and the wind moves them around.) Our plants even in the non-watered mode will pass this test in most spots as long as there are no weeds to light it up and the mulch is in place. Remember your yard is at greatest risk when you are on full water rationing and have no water to water the hillside. If you are in a bad area you might want to take what little water you have to hose the plants down every week or so. When smell smoke, it is too late.
On
a hill push out your 'managed'
area. At the top of a hill with brush and annual grass you may need a
300-foot clearance. Do not destroy the site! Protect it! Go through it
carefully and remove the dead stuff and thin back the brush to where it
is still covering the area but lightly. This usually needs to be done
by hand. You can't do selective brush removal with a bulldozers. Be
careful and not mess the dirt up more than needed or you will have
weeds. Weeds burn hot and fast. A hillside with weeds can burn in
seconds.No vegetation next to the house if you are in a fire area and on a hill. Patio with no flammable overhang. Also, replace your fiberglass screens with aluminum ones.
Lavender burns well during a drought, this was taken in March. In a bad area you can run rotors like the MP-3000 or Mp-2000 or Rainbirds 15 minutes every two weeks. This will wash the dust off of the natives and keep their water content up.(see Fire Retardant List for specific information) They will still burn, but much, much slower and with less heat. With this little water and a little cleaning they are generally less flammable than most non-native plants, (particularly under drought stress). Use them as expendable heat shields, hopefully giving time to get out or for fire fighters to save your house. Firemen can't save houses that have not saved themselves. A watered apple tree or Indian Hawthorne burns better than an unwatered Ceanothus, with just a little water Salvias(Sages) are harder to light than a watered fruit tree.
Remember that the worst fires occur with wind and it is common to have 300 acres burning in a matter of minutes. There are more structures than there are fire engines or even water. It is common for the house higher on the hill to have no water during a fire because the lower houses take it all. If you have your own well one of the first things that goes in a wildfire is the power. When one of these urban interface fires starts in your area you need to have yard work done, water storage in place, and a safe place to be. Hopefully your place!! Weed-eating your weeds in a 50 mile/hour fire storm (as one of our neighbors did) is a little late. If you do everything right, your house will have about a 95% chance of surviving, if you do not do anything you'll not have much of a chance.
The Santa Margarita Nursery has been through three of them so far....
Basic rules for fire safety.
Less plants. Each bush should not be able to burn bush next to it.A little overhead water every week or two.
Metal Screens.
No flammable material next to house. Shade cloth, wood pile, furniture, etc. Stupid things burn real well.
Good hygiene in the yard. NO WEEDS, no dead material.
for more information see
What to do if you are in a fire area. , Leaf burn times, Planting seed or plants for erosion after a wildfire.
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