3 Tips to Make Your Home Resilient Against Wildfires

Wildfires may threaten your home and wildland areas across many parts of the United States. These dangerous fires spread quickly and can devastate not only wildlife and natural areas but also communities. 

From Jan. 1 – March 27, there’s been 29 Fire Management Assistance Grants approved to assist firefighting costs against ongoing wildfires in different parts of the country. The Fire Management Assistance Grant Program is available to states, local and tribal governments, for the mitigation, management and control of fires on publicly or privately owned forests or grasslands, which threaten such destruction as would constitute a major disaster.

Without taking the proper precautions, those we care about and the items we cherish may be in jeopardy. Now is the time to prepare. Here are three tips to help make your home resilient against wildfires. 

Create a Defensible Space

A defensible space is the buffer between your structure and the surrounding area. Adequate defensible space acts as a barrier to slow or halt the progress of fire that would otherwise destroy a home and makes it safer for responding emergency service personnel.

 

Improving the landscape and creating defensible space consists of three areas or zones that can improve the survivability of homes when done along with other improvements to your home, fence, decks and more.

Research shows that properly maintaining this area can improve the chances of your home surviving a fire.

Zone One: In the closest zone to your home, often 0-5 feet, you should remove any materials that could fuel a fire, such as dry or dead vegetation, outdoor furniture, garbage or recycling containers or anything easily combustible. 

This may be as simple as cleaning your roof and gutters. Remove any combustible material like wood, mulch, dead or dry vegetation and leaves or pine needles. This zone also includes the structure such as your home or garage; deck, patio and balcony; other outside entertaining space; fencing that is attached to the home and the immediate landscaping from the home to 5 feet away.

Zone Two: The next zone, between 5-30 feet, should be clean and green. Make sure to keep this area well maintained and watered during a hot, dry summer. Stack wood piles on bare or gravel areas or in an enclosed shed at least 30 feet from the home.

Zone Three: The last zone, often 30-100 feet away from your home, requires reducing fuels by thinning and spacing vegetation vertically and limbing up trees horizontally to interrupt the fire’s path and keep flames small and on the ground.

It’s important to follow any applicable laws or ordinances where you live. You can search your local area’s building codes online or visit Building Code Adoption Tracking | FEMA.gov. To learn more about creating defensible spaces, visit USFA.FEMA.gov.

Harden or Retrofit Your Home

Hardening or retrofitting your home involves understanding your risks and taking steps to mitigate your house against fires. You can do this by following Wildland Urban Interface, building codes, wildfire codes and other recommendations. Be sure to also consider reducing risks posed by vegetation, outbuildings like sheds, attachments like decks and fences and the location of vehicles and wood piles.

During a wildfire, homes can often catch fire from embers or radiant heat, or heat from a fire that is next to a structure. Using fire resistant construction materials like concrete, board siding, vents and assemblies – which could be roof assemblies and may include all components of a roof such as flashing and shingles  - can improve the home’s survivability during a wildfire event.

When hardening your home, consider: 

• Using fire-resistant materials such as stucco or concrete board.
• Covering your vents with at least an eight-inch of galvanized metal mesh to prevent embers from entering your home.
• Installing gutter guards to reduce the accumulation of combustible materials.
• Sealing gaps and cracks in walls, roofs and eaves where embers or sparks could enter. 

Visit Reducing Wildfire Risk to Your Home, the Hazard Mitigation Methodology or the Wildland Urban Interface for more tips on how to harden your home. 

Help Those Close to You

Sometimes, we need help – this may be especially true if you are a person with disabilities, an older adult or a caregiver. Start a conversation with your friends, family or neighbors to check on how they are doing with their wildfire prevention actions. Remember, wildfires spread fast; and if your neighbor is at risk, so are you. Helping those close to you can increase everyone’s resiliency to wildfires. 

You can also help others by collaborating with local authorities, such as your local fire department, to create wildfire prevention plans in your area. Fire departments are uniquely positioned to know their communities’ fire risks better than most organizations.

Learn more about helping your local area by visiting the U.S. Fire Administration's Wildland Urban Interface.