Tips: Monthly Fire-smart Reminders
Feeling overwhelmed and need a place to start? Check out our monthly tips for actionable, affordable ways to reduce fuel on your property. Our fire-smart landscaping tips are a reminder to homeowners to plan and maintain their homes and landscapes with awareness of the threat of wildfires. Read on for this month's fire-smart tip!
JANUARY: Pruning and Thinning for Fire Safety
Winter is a great time to prune plants for fire safety. All plants can burn, but removing or trimming branches now can reduce potential fuels and create space between plants and plant groupings to slow or interrupt the path of fire to your home during wildfire season.
Before you begin, you should understand how to prune for the health and aesthetics of your trees and shrubs. Knowing when to prune is also important since some plants, including many natives, should be pruned during our dry summer months when they are dormant.
To prune for fire safety, start at your house and work out. Look for:
- Dead and dying branches and plants (remove)
- Branches within 10 feet of your chimney (remove - consult an arborist)
- Tall branches within 5 ft of your gutters increase plant debris on your roof and in your gutters. (Diligently clean the debris and consider consulting with an arborist to create clearance without detriment of the tree’s health)
- Dense branches hide flammable debris in their interior that can easily ignite. (thin the branches to create space within the structure)
- Dense planting groups create a path for fire to rapidly spread to your home (thin/reduce or remove)
- Branches that interfere with your walkways and paths may impact your ability to evacuate (thin/reduce)
Click here for pruning how-to and timing information, including helpful videos.
FEBRUARY: Assessing and Planning Zones 1 & 2
In December, we discussed strategies for assessing and planning Zone 0, 0-5 feet from your home, where the best practice is to remove any combustible materials.
For Zones 1 and 2, focus on plant size and spacing to reduce fire pathways to your home.
Zone 1 – 5 to 30 feet from home
Objective: Reduce heat and movement of flames by creating a “lean and clean” environment and creating space for the fire department to defend your home.
- Allow for ample plant spacing to slow the spread of flames
- Consider the strategic placement of non-combustible materials between plantings such as decorative boulders to slow the spread of flames
- When placing plants, keep low-growing and well-irrigated plants closer to the home and larger shrubs and trees further away
- For mulch, composted wood chips or medium-sized bark nuggets are acceptable in this zone
- Limit mulch depth to 2” and break up mulched areas with hardscaping
Zone 2 – 30 to 100 feet from home
Objective: Decrease the energy and speed of a fire by eliminating plant density.
- Avoid planting trees and shrubs in rows or hedges, which provide a pathway for fire to follow
- For existing hedges, consider breaking them by removing some plants or adding a non-combustible walkway along the hedge to slow the spread of flames
- Keep vegetation under trees low to the ground and sparsely spaced to avoid fire reaching tree canopies
- You may need to collaborate with your neighbors to plan out this defensible zone
MARCH: Remove & Replace Invasive Plants
Invasive plants often increase fire risk due to their rapid growth, high density, and tendency to create excessive fuel for fire.
Zone 0 (0-5 feet from structures)
- Prioritize removing all vegetation from this zone to protect structures from fire
- Remove all invasive vines and climbing plants like ivy from building walls
- Consider installing metal edging to prevent invasive roots from spreading into this zone
- Regularly inspect for and remove any new invasive seedlings, especially after rain
Zone 1 (5-30 feet) & Zone 2 (30-100 feet)
- Remove invasive plants before they set seed and replace with California natives, pollinator plants, or low-water use plants
- Prioritize removing woody and dense invasives such as broom, bamboo, and pampas grass to reduce the amount of fuel available to fire
- Remove invasive vine growth from trees to help prevent fire reaching tree canopies
- When replacing invasives with new plants, use appropriate spacing based on the distance from any structures and the slope of the ground
- Cover bare soil with fire-smart mulch to prevent weeds and other opportunistic plants from establishing
- Continually monitor cleared areas for new growth
APRIL: Mulch With Wildfire in Mind
Mulch is any material spread over soil to retain moisture, suppress weeds, and prevent erosion. For fire safety, inorganic mulches such as rock are a non-combustible option that can be used anywhere in your landscape. Organic mulch is composed of plant materials and is combustible, but also provides many ecological advantages.
Zone 0 (0-5 feet from structures)
Use only non-combustible mulch like stone, gravel, or decomposed granite in this critical area around your house and wooden structures. These materials reduce the risk of ember ignition, offering extra protection for your home.
Zone 1 (5-30 feet)
Composted wood chips work well here, but follow these guidelines:
- Keep combustible mulch depth to 3 inches or less
- Create fuel breaks by dividing areas of combustible mulch and plant groupings with non-combustible mulch or hardscaping
Zone 2 (30-100 feet)
Larger wood chips or bark nuggets (composted or non-composted) work well in this area up to 3 inches in depth.
Materials to Avoid
Do not use hazardous mulches like shredded western red cedar ("gorilla hair") or pine needles. Avoid any fine, stringy mulch materials, as they ignite easily and burn faster than larger wood chips.
MAY: Lean & Clean Exit Routes
In case of a fire, know your best escape routes and keep yourself, your family, and firefighters safe by maintaining a clean and lean landscape around your property’s exit routes.
- Keep vegetation around your exit routes pruned for clearance and hydrated for optimal plant health.
- Remove combustible materials such as jute door mats, wood planters and furniture, etc. from your exits.
- Remove dead plant material and debris from exit routes, and all plant material growing near doors and windows.
- Replace wood gates, arbors, or trellises near exit routes with metal.
- Have evacuation signs ready to post at home exits. These signs will inform fire personnel that you have left the property. Check with your local fire department for signs.
JUNE: Clean up Zone Zero - Within 5 Feet of Your Home
Zone 0 is the area within 5 feet of your home and is a critical area to keep clean of any combustible materials in order to better protect your home from fire.
- Remove dead or dry leaves and pine needles from your yard, roof, and rain gutters.
- Clean-up areas where wind eddies deposit leaf and plant litter along the perimeter of your home.
- Replace plants within 5 feet of the home with potted plants that are easy to move away from the home during a fire threat.
- Remove combustible mulch within 5 feet of the home and move it to another location in your garden. Click here to learn more about mulch guidelines for a fire-smart landscape
- Move common combustible fire hazards away from the area immediately surrounding your home including brooms, rakes, plastic waste bins, wood furniture, furniture cushions, wood piles, and natural fiber door mats. Click here to learn more about how to manage these common fire hazards
JULY: Water Wise Strategies
Maintaining healthy plants through the summer is a fire-smart strategy. Well-hydrated plants have been found to be more resistant to embers and ignitions. Use these important fire-smart & water-wise landscaping strategies:
- Help your soil maintain moisture by using compost and appropriate fire-smart mulches outside of Zone 0.
- Learn how much water your plants need and give them the right amount. This will help keep your plants healthy and happy.
- Water your plants in the early morning, applying water to the base of the plant within its dripline.
- OVER IRRIGATION IS COMMON. Consider using flow meters, soaker hoses, drip irrigation, and irrigation controllers for more efficient administration and monitoring.
- Use fertilizers sparingly. They make plants grow quickly and require more water to support new growth.
- Avoid planting new plants during the hot summer months. They need more water to establish themselves and thrive.
- Remove invasive plants and weeds which take water from other plants.
- Reduce the size of your thirsty lawn.
- On days with Red Flag warnings, avoid changing your irrigation schedule or using more water. Using excessive water for irrigation reduces the water available to our fire personnel.
Learn more about irrigation here.
Learn about prioritizing plants for water conservation here.
AUGUST: Maintaining a Fire-Smart Zone 0
As we get deeper into fire season, now is a good time to assess your landscape for immediate fire risk and take action. When evaluating fire risk, think lean, clean, and green, and start at the house and work out.
With these principles in mind, we’ll focus on Zone 0, the first 5 feet surrounding your home. Next month we will focus on Zone 1.
A Clean Zone 0
Remove any combustible materials that are within 5 feet of your home. This includes (but not limited to) wood-based mulches, leaf litter and woody or dead plant materials, wood piles, and furniture. Clean under raised decks and in wind eddies that trap debris.
Also, remove any plant debris from your roof and gutters.
A Lean & Green Zone 0
It is best practice to remove plants from Zone 0. However, if you have plants in this area, consider removing woody plants, keeping plants low to the ground, and keeping plants away from windows, doors, and combustible siding. Having ample space between plants will help slow the spread of fire, and properly irrigate your plants to keep your plants green and healthy through the summer.
Ongoing maintenance of Zone 0 is critical.
SEPTEMBER: Maintaining a Fire-Smart Zone 1
After cleaning Zone 0 (0-5 feet from home) of any combustible materials (see August’s Fire-Smart tips), this month we’ll focus on applying the Fire-Smart Landscaping principles of “think lean, clean, and green”, and “start at the house and work out” to Zone 1 (5-30 feet from home).
A Clean Zone 1
Remove any dead vegetation and dry grasses from the landscape to reduce potential fuel. Regularly prune trees and shrubs to remove dead branches, and remove dead flowers to reduce flammable material from your landscape.
A Lean & Green Zone 1
Regularly inspect plants for drought stress and water appropriately to keep plants healthy. Plants will need less water as we enter cooler weather in the fall months.
Prune trees and shrubs to reduce canopies' density and maintain appropriate space between plants to slow down the spread of fire from plant to plant. Remove low-hanging branches from trees to create space between lower vegetation and reduce the risk of ladder fuels.
And remember, ongoing maintenance of Zone 0 (0-5 feet from home) is critical during fire season.
OCTOBER: Fire-smart Plant Considerations
There are no fire-resistant plants since all plants can burn. But there are aspects to consider when selecting plants to include in your fire-smart landscape. Plant spacing, size, and maintenance are important considerations.
Consider:
- Plants that have a higher moisture content, lower resin or sap content, and less volatile oils.
- Low-growing plants and plants that don’t produce excessive amounts of dry, combustible vegetation that can act as fuel for fires.
- California native plants that are well adapted to your climate and ecosystem which will be more likely to thrive without excessive watering and maintenance, reducing fire risk.
- Horizontal and vertical spacing between plants and hardscape features that separate plant groupings to break up the path of fire.
Avoid plants that:
- Tend to build up dead thatch inside or under a green surface layer.
- Produce and shed excessive dead, dry, or fine debris.
- Create fire ladders such as vines or shrubs that grow beneath trees and create vertical pathways for fire to climb.
- Are Invasive.
NOVEMBER: Plant Spacing in a Fire-smart Landscape
When considering plant spacing, you need to be mindful of how close the plants are to structures, the mature size of the plants, the steepness of slopes, and the vertical and horizontal spacing of plants.
Horizontal spacing:
- It is ideal to remove all plants within 5 feet of structures.
- Plant density can increase the further away from structures you get.
- Separate groups of plants with hardscaping to help slow down or prevent the spread of fire.
- On a mild slope (0-20% slope), space trees at least 10 feet apart from their dripline and space shrubs 2x their height from each other.
- On a medium slope (20-40%), space trees at least 20 feet apart and shrubs 4x their height.
- On a steep slope (over 40%), space trees at least 30 feet apart and shrubs 6x their height.
- Avoid planting trees in rows or hedges.
Vertical spacing:
- Remove tree branches that are within 6 feet from the ground on trees that are 18 feet or taller.
- If shrubs are under a tree, maintain a vertical clearance of 3x the shrub’s height between the top of the shrub to the lowest branch of the tree.
- When creating vertical space under trees, prioritize the tree's health by ensuring that the upper two-thirds of the tree has branches.
DECEMBER: Assessing and Planning Zone 0
As we enter the winter months, now is a great time to assess your landscape and plan for any adjustments you want to make to help protect your home from fire.
Zone 0 is the area within 5 feet of your home and any attached structures such as a deck.
The objective of Zone 0 is to create a fire-resistant barrier by removing combustible materials.
Remove plants in Zone 0
Instead, consider adding visual interest with designing hardscapes or rock pathways, or planting in containers that can be moved at least 5 feet away from structures in the event of a red flag warning or high wildfire danger weather.
Replace combustible mulches in Zone 0
Use non-combustible mulches such as rocks, decomposed granite, and gravel or install hardscaping such as concrete, brick, or pavers.
Replace combustible fencing adjacent to structures
Wood fences can act like a wick for fire. Consider replacing wood fencing that connects to your home with a non-combustible material such as metal or Hardie Board.
These steps will help protect your home from fire pathways like direct flame, radiant heat, and embers.
Plan Your Fire-smart Landscape
Maintain a Fire-smart Landscape
A quick list of fire-smart landscaping tips (and in Spanish):
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