For your home
It’s a lot easier for wildfire to catch a home on fire when flammable materials are nearby or touching a structure.
So your best strategy is to make it harder for fire to catch: Add space between flammable vegetation and your home, and then make your home as nonflammable as possible.
Programs are available to help assess your situation, cover costs, and guide your decision-making about protecting your home.
1. Create defensible space
Defensible space is simple: Across your home, vegetation, trees, and property, add space between things so that flames, embers, and even radiant heat can’t jump the gap and spread. Defensible space also gives firefighters a safe area to work if they have to defend your home.
The Oregon State Fire Marshal offers free defensible space assessments and has a useful, easy-to-follow guide on creating defensible space. A pilot reimbursement program can also support your efforts.
Start with your home and work your way out
1. Remove leaves, tree needles, and other debris from the roof and gutters
Cleaning any easily flammable vegetative material from your gutters and roof means embers have less of a chance of sparking into fire.
2. Keep flammable vegetation at least 5 feet from your home
Plants that are close to or touching your house give fire a “ladder” to your home. Consider moving all plants so they’re at least five feet away, and replace any vegetation or mulch in those first five feet with nonflammable materials like gravel.
3. Follow a 10-foot rule for trees
That means maintaining a buffer of ten feet between trees and your home, and from tree to tree. Follow technical guides for limbing lower branches, too.
Some excellent resources:
Creating defensible space
Preparing homes for wildfire
Free defensible space assessment
Defensible space video
2. Control your vegetation
Don’t let a beloved garden or yard be a conduit for fire. With maintenance and thoughtful planting, you can have an enjoyable outdoor space that also helps keep your home safer when wildfire is nearby.
Plant smart around your property
1. Keep your grass mowed to under 4 inches
Tall, dry grass is like gasoline for wildfire: quick and easy fuel with plenty more just a blade away. So keeping your grass short gives it a lot less to feed on. This isn’t a one-and-done task – you’ll want to keep your grass short throughout fire season.
2. Use well spaced, fire-resistant plants
After clearing any plants from within a five-foot border around your home, make sure any plants farther out are resistant to fire and are comfortably spaced so that they can’t touch each other when mature.
Some excellent resources:
Jardín resistente al fuego
Fire-resistant landscaping
Fire-resistant plants
3. Harden your home
Investing in the structure of a residence can be a bigger task, and renters may not be able to make changes on their own. If you own – whether it’s your residence or one you rent out – consider making improvements for everyone’s safety.
Oregon knows that sometimes these improvements can be financially out of reach, so the state’s Fire Hardening Grant Program can offset costs.
1. Don’t let embers inside your vents
Embers are known for causing structure fires during wildfires, so don’t give them a way inside your home. Experts say an inexpensive change to the wire mesh on your vents can help.
2. Maintain your siding (and upgrade if you can)
Rotting or missing siding can provide an entry point for flames and embers. Upgrading siding to fire-resistant materials like stone or cement is worthwhile, but maintaining siding – even wood siding – is a great start.
3. Mind your decks and fences
Combustible objects and debris on a deck – even materials that settle between deck boards – can provide fuel to a fire. So can wooden fences within five feet of the home. But changes to materials can make a difference.
Some excellent resources:
Home hardening training
Home hardening costs
Fire hardening grants
Exterior home protection