Sometime back between the Napa-Sonoma fire and the recent fire which destroyed the town of Paradise in Butte County, I had an opportunity to attend a seminar, presented both by Fire Safe Sonoma and the Master Gardeners of Sonoma County, on protecting our homes against wildfires.  Now, I can hear you now: “I live in a town, not out in woods!”; but the many people who lost their homes in Napa and Sonoma Counties, especially the people living in Santa Rosa thought the same thing.  Listening to the various speakers, I realized I thought I knew everything, BUT knew nothing about the danger fire presents to those of us who live in a town. 

It used to be that people lived in towns and cities which were separated from “the wilderness” miles away; most of the surrounding lands were not a forest, with large and small trees growing thickly together but separated by grassy lands.  A lot of us in California now live in what is referred to as the WUI OR Woodland Urban Interface, that is, where the woods meet the houses.  The trend for quite some time has been for people to move out farther and farther away from the large towns and cities to “quaint” areas where wildlife is often seen from the house windows.  This means that your home is actually farther and farther away from large fire departments and closer to larger “fuel loads” (more unprimed and unkempt shrubs and trees that are dry and will burn extremely hot and fast).  Did you know that even with a light breeze that a fire burning a grassy area will move faster than a man can run?  Think about that fact: A FIRE WILL BURN AND MOVE THROUGH AN AREA FASTER THAN YOU CAN RUN!

What can we do to help save our homes at this time?  Plenty!! You can start by taking a good hard look at your home and yard.  Is there a “defensible” space between the planted areas of your yard – on all sides—meaning a cleared area with no plantings just empty space?  If you have any trees in your yard, are there branches hanging over the roof or on it?  What kind of trees are they?  Eucalyptus and palms are the worst trees to have as they both go up like tiki torches in fires.  The palm because their fronds are very flammable and they allow a fire to climb up them and act as “candles” to ignite other trees on fire.  The Eucalyptus are almost worse as they hold on to their dry leaves and branches which burn hot and fast; these trees also have a lot to oil which helps them ignite quickly and easily.  The reason not to have trees close to the house is that roof will not burn easily (if you have a wooden shake roof, then yeah, that roof will burn quickly) but that the wood trim on the house can (and will) catch fire and direct the fire up through the soffits and into your house!  This then is Zone 1.

Zone 2 is the space around the home to watch make note of is what kind of siding you have.  Wood siding will burn quite nicely, while the vinyl siding will melt and expose the inner walls to ignition. The vinyl will also release fumes as well. A stucco siding will keep fire at bay UNTIL, the soffits are breached allowing flames to reach rafters and the roof sheathing. Also, keep the roof clear of debris such as leaves, pine needles, and small pieces of branches which fall quite regularly (Zone 3).  For even better roof protection (Zone 4) use Class A roofing materials for the best protection.

Zone 5 is the gutters and downspouts which, if full of debris, will allow those leaves, etc, to be ignited by wind-blown embers.  If you use gutter covers, make sure the covers are non-combustible.  Zone 6 is the fencing surrounding your home which can generate embers and cause direct flame contact to the house.  Remember to use non-combustible fences and gates; this is hard in towns like Suisun which do NOT allow metal fencing like chain-link.  A mini note here: you are concerned with YOUR fence, not the neighbors. Zone 7 is the vents under the eaves, and in certain areas, at the base of the foundation.  Use 1/8” metal mesh to cover these to keep the embers out!  Also “box in” open eaves to create a soffit eave area.  Zone 8 is the windows which should be multi-pane, tempered glass windows, and close them if and when a fire is near the house.  Zone 9 includes decks and other “outbuildings”, attached to the wall of the house or just against them.  Don't store any combustibles on or under the deck and maintain defensible around it as well.  Finally, Zone 10 which continues from the 5' defensible space in zone 1 and goes 100' around the entire property.  Remove shrubs from under trees to prevent “candling” up into the trees, prune overhanging branches over the roof line, thin trees, and remove dead vegetation.  Move trailers, RVs or build defensible space around these and storage sheds.  We can't keep our homes safe and sound from everything, but we can make it a little harder for a fire to devour our homes!

Learn more at DisasterSafety.org/Wildfire.  This was a presentation of the Master Gardeners of Sonoma County and was an eye-opening seminar!