Protect Your Home From Wildfires Print
House with Surviable Space More and more Idahoans are choosing to live in wildland-urban interfaces (areas where wildland vegetation meets urban development). Unfortunately, along with the trees, wildlife, and recreational opportunities available at the edge of these wildlands, wildfires also come with the territory.

When the smoke cleared from the 349 wildfires that blackened Idaho last year, Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company of Idaho customers living in these interface areas emerged relatively unscathed.
House with Surviable Space
Two examples of homes with a survivable space.		 According to Gordon Crystal, Vice President of Claims for Farm Bureau Insurance, "Our customers were very fortunate. Althought they suffered some losses to crops, livestock, and outbuildings, no homes or lives were lost to wildfires."

One reason homeowners living on the edge of Idaho's wildlands were so fortunate was the heroic efforts of thousands of firefighters. However, interface residents shouldn't expect firefighters to serve as their first line of defense against wildfires. Jim Smalley, Manager of Wildland Fire Protection at the National Fire Protection Association, says on the NFPA's website, (http://www.nfpa.org/) that "If the expectancy is that firefighters will arrive in sufficient time and number with a sufficient quantity of hose, water and equipment to protect one's structure when as many as 100 or more structures are burning, the interface resident would be well advised to understand how the management procedures and resources are best deployed during widespread interface fires."

Instead of relying on firefighters to protect their property, interface residents should also take action to help ensure their property has a better chance of surviving a wildfire. What can you do to protect your home and property from wildfires?
The institute for Business & Home Safety (http://www.ibhs.org/) offers the following tips to help reduce an interface home's vulnerability to wildfires:
  • Your first line of defense should be a "survivable space" around your home that can slow down the wildfire and possibly redirect it around your home. To create this survivable space you must remove the fuel fire needs to reach your home. This fuel can be your landscaping, woodpiles, decks, etc. Take the following steps within 50 feet of your home if you live in a heavily forested area, or 100 feet if your home is on a hillside.
  • Plant more native vegetation.
  • Space trees at least 10 feet apart.
  • Keep trees and shrubs pruned. Branches should be a minimum of six feet from the ground and shrubs under trees should be no more than 18 inches high.
  • Mow your lawn regularly and dispose promptly of cuttings and debris.
  • Maintain your irrigation system.
  • Clear your roof, gutters and eaves of debris.
  • Trim branches so they do not extend over your roof or grow near your chimney.
  • Move firewood and storage tanks 50 feet away from your home and clear areas at least 10 feet around them.
  • Use only non-combustible roofing materials.
  • Box in eaves, fascias, soffits and subfloors with fire-resistant materials like treated wook, reducing the vent sizes.
  • Apply 1/4" noncombustible screening to all vent or eave openings.
  • Install spark arresters in chimneys.
  • Enclose the underside of decks with fire-resistant materials.
  • Cover exterior walls with fire resistant materials like stucco, stone, or brick. (Vinyl siding can melt and is not recommended.)
  • Use double-paned or tempered glass for all exterior windows.
  • Install noncombustible street signs.
  • Make sure your street address is visible from the street.

While there are no guarantees that a home will be fiireproof, creating a survivable space and taking the other steps above can increase the chances that your home will withstand a wildfire.
 
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