Every year, Californians find themselves contending with wildfires. These fires burn thousands of acres of land annually, often destroying homes, as well, but there are fire prevention steps that people can take. While there is no absolute way to prevent your home from standing in the path of an oncoming wildfire, the proper preventative measures can increase the chances that your home will not become a statistic.
Protecting Your Home
Having enough home insurance in California is one of the most important things you can do to protect yourself from wildfires. But there are steps you can take around your home to help keep approaching fire at bay, or at least to prevent it from rapidly spreading. Start by keeping the following tips in mind:
• Always follow California law by having 100 feet of defensible space around your home. This will help protect your home, and also makes it easier for firefighters to get close to it with their trucks and equipment.
• Make sure that there is at least three feet of open space immediately surrounding your home. If you have bushes or other plants, cut them back to ensure they are not up against your home. Also, avoid having any vines on the walls.
• Keep your lawn mowed on a regular basis.
• Provide spacing between plants, which can be very effective in stopping or slowing the spread of a wildfire as it approaches your home. The ideal space between plants will depend on the slope and size of the plant.
• If you have large trees, avoid letting them become a vertical “fire ladder” by keeping their bases free of any other plants.
• Keep your gutters and roof free of any pine needles, leaves or debris.
• Tree limbs should be trimmed back at least 8 – 10 feet from your home.
• Twice a year, you should have your chimney inspected.
Keeping at It
It is also a good idea to have water sources in mind so that, if you see a small fire, you can try to put it out. Keep buckets and a hose in a familiar place, and make sure all family members know why those items are there.
To protect your home from wildfires, insuring your property in California is the first place to start. Then, look around at what you can do to your home and land to help make it less flammable. Small efforts that you put forth today can make a huge difference tomorrow, should a fire come your way.
if I lived in a fire prone area, I’d already be installing iceplant for as far as I could. As ugly as it is, I’d consider the following to be bad omens:
A) we had a measly 9″ of rain this year
B) SB has already had a solidly large fire – in APRIL/MAY!
How about this for protection?: don’t buy a house in a dry climate surrounded by kindling. Or at least don’t pay a high price for one.
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