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Hundreds sometimes thousands of
homes across the US are lost each year to the
ravages of wildfire. Although we see it all
the time, splashed all over the news in the western
states, here in the east there still seems to be a
high level of complacency in this regard. This
is not just a western problem; whenever and wherever
homes are built in forested areas this is the risk
we take. This area is known as the Wildland
Urban Interface or WUI. Homes and businesses
in the WUI are always at risk no matter what their
geographical location. The simple fact is, fire has
no conscience and it also does not discriminate.
Fire is an equal opportunity destroyer. Fire
views your home and its surroundings as one thing
and one thing only - FUEL. The good news is,
there is something we can do to help prevent this
loss. We can make our homes and businesses
Firewise. The most basic principle of
Firewise is "Defensible Space". For
some this conjures images of a stark, barren,
unpleasant landscape devoid of any and all trees and
other vegetation. Why; because they confuse the term
defensible space with open space. This is
simply not the case and is in fact contrary to the
very heart of what it is to be Firewise.
To start with, no vegetation
means no root mass to stabilize topsoil and prevent
erosion. When the soil erodes, it exposes
nearby root systems killing that vegetation and dead
vegetation equals fuel. Heavy fuel loading,
even on the perimeter of your property can actually
present an increased risk of losing your home to a
wildfire. Such fuel loading tends to cause
large firebrand (ember) storms. We will
discuss this in more depth later.
Live, green, healthy vegetation
that has been carefully selected and spaced
correctly provides both aesthetically pleasing
surroundings and a barrier against an approaching
wildfire, while at the same time giving the
aforementioned stability to the topsoil to prevent
erosion.
The Minnesota Department of
Natural Resources has an excellent video on their
website that shows very well how homes and
businesses can benefit from Firewise practices.
Click to view the video; this will open a new
browser window. Hint: For
those with slower connections, you may want to right
click on the video link of your choice and select
"Save Target As..." from the right click menu and
then save it to your desktop. This will allow
you to download the entire video making it possible
to view even the high res video without
interruption. Also, if you have a Windows
based computer, select the WMV file; if you have a
Mac, select the MP4 file.
This article by Tabitha Suukhai
of This Old House Online shows us just how to
incorporate Firewise landscaping practices in
and around our homes and businesses.
Click to read article; this will open a new
browser window.
Just
because one may not have a great deal of money to
spare does not mean he or she cannot do things to
make their home Firewise. Many of the changes
are very simple things that you could do yourself
and these simple changes can have some of the
greatest impact. It all starts however, when
we stop and view our homes and properties the way a
fire does, as fuel. For fire to exist, three
things need to come together in the right ratio,
heat, fuel, and oxygen. Take away any one of
these and the fire goes out.
Anything that can burn is fuel in
the eyes of an approaching wildfire. It is
important to understand however that a wildfire is
not a tsunami of fiery doom as is often depicted in
the media, but rather a series of ignitions.
The heat of a single flame ignites neighboring fuels
and those invite a few friends to the party, and so
on. In order for a fire to continue on its
path, there has to be more fuel to ignite.
Where there is no fuel there is no fire, so by
creating breaks (defensible spaces) in the available
fuel, we can actually affect the path and behavior
of a fire.
This is not the end of the line
however, because the vast majority of home ignitions
do not result from direct contact with or radiant
heat from the main fire, but rather firebrands cast
out ahead of the fire. Yes, remember those
firebrands we mentioned earlier? These
firebrands are carried by the same wind that is
pushing the fire along, so if the fire is being
pushed toward your home, the firebrands will be as
well. Now, where will these firebrands go?
Are they just going to rain down randomly as the
rain falls all around? Actually, YES and NO!
Remember, firebrands are carried by the wind; the
same as falling leaves are carried by the wind.
These leaves do fall out randomly landing in all
kinds of places, but have you ever noticed how
leaves seem to gather in certain places around your
house? This is because your house creates eddy
currents (dead spots) in the wind. This means
that firebrands will tend to settle out in the very
same locations, so cleaning up all those piles of
leaves around your house is very important in
preventing home ignitions during a wildfire.
Don't just check on the ground though; clean your
rain gutters at least twice a year, and check the
valleys in your roof and around dormers.
Anyplace that can cause a break in the wind is a
place you should be looking.
Other Firewise Links:
Firewise Video Links:
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