Gardening: Early season fires are reminder to use firewise landscaping
Fire season has come early this year.
Our spring has been dry, and the recent heat wave has dried out the greenery even more. There is still time to do some mitigation work to firewise your landscape.
Most of our wildfires here are wind-driven. Trees are blown into electric lines. Burn barrels get out of hand. Embers from a supposedly dead fire reignite and spread.
The reasons are endless. That’s why spending time before a fire happens can go a long way toward making your property more fire resistant. There is no such thing as a fire-proof landscape or house, even in the urban areas.
The first thing to do to prepare your landscape is to clear out debris and fallen needles and leaves close to the house. The wind will concentrate these into places where the wind speed drops. Clear out corners, piles next to a foundation or under trees and shrubs. Check under decks. Remove clutter like branches, household junk and wood piles.
In the 1991 firestorm, a broom left standing against a wall caught fire and could have burned down a house had it not been for some people seeing it and removing it. Remove leaves and pine needles from your roof and gutters so they don’t give an ember a home.
Beyond this general cleanup, evaluate the landscaping around your house, especially within 5 feet of your foundation. If you can, remove anything taller than a foot from this space, especially evergreens like junipers, small pines, arborvitae and alpine firs. These are nothing but Roman candles if embers and flames get close.
Remove twiggy deciduous shrubs and flammable perennials like lavender and ornamental grasses. Lastly, remove bark and woodchip mulches from this 5-foot space.
In the area 5 to 15 feet from the house, remove overgrown and twiggy shrubs and evergreens and leave 5 to 10 feet of space between groupings of less flammable shrubs. Limb up large trees to 12 feet off the ground. Arborvitae hedges are particularly flammable, so look for alternatives if you can.
In the case of wildfires, maintained lawns can serve as a fire break, especially if they are on the southwest and west sides of your property. They should be watered enough to stay green and mowed regularly to keep them short.
Two publications can help you choose alternative plants for these zones. Oregon State University’s Fire-Resistant Plants for Home Landscapes at extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/pub/pnw-590-fire-resistant-plants-home-landscapes and the Washington Department of Natural Resources’ Fire Resistant Plants for Eastern Washington at dnr.wa.gov/publications/rp_fire_resistant_plants_guide_easternwa.pdf.
Both are free for downloading. Both publications offer alternative fire-resistant trees, shrubs and perennials along with their growing requirements and other information on preparing your home.
Once completed, your landscape will look quite different. Use a mix of pavers or stone interplanted with low-growing, fire-resistant plants around your foundation. Create island and berm gardens instead of continuous long beds of shrubs and perennials. It may take some work, but it could save your house.