Fire-resistant landscapes
My most vivid memory of the 1991 firestorm was watching a piece of a burned book float out of the dust and smoke and land in a juniper next to my house.
Fortunately it was a cold ember.
Many homeowners live in an area where a wildfire easily could take off, so here are a few suggestions for creating a fire-resistant landscape:
Plan on a 30-foot fire-resistant buffer between your house and the wild land surrounding you.
•Keep your landscape as well watered as your water supply will allow. Green vegetation does not burn as well as dry vegetation.
If water is limited, water at least around buildings and other structures.
Keep drier outlying grass areas well mowed.
•Thin out dead branches and twiggy growth from shrubs and small trees, and remove small trees that reach into the branches of taller trees.
Prune vegetation along access roads and driveways so you have a clear escape route and fire vehicles can locate and access your property easily. Clearly mark your house number at the road entrance.
•Remove resinous plants such as low conifers and junipers, especially those close to building foundations.
Limb large conifers such as pine and Douglas fir to a height of 10 to 15 feet above the ground, and thin conifers so there is 10 to 15 feet between individual canopies.
Remove dead or dying trees.
•Don’t plant plants with fuzzy, hairy leaves; loose or papery bark that peels, or any plant that tends to create a lot of debris. This is tinder for a fire.
•Plant low-growing herbaceous (nonwoody) plant material like ground covers, perennials, bulbs, annuals and lawns or conservation grasses. The more water the leaves and stems hold, the better.
•Use bark and pine needle mulches in beds away from structures. Use gravel and hardscape material close to buildings
•Keep areas under and around wooden decks clear of plants and debris.
•Keep wood piles well away from structures, and don’t stack them against trees.
•Remove weeds, especially taller ones like knapweed. Many of them burn easily.