Living in a Natural Fire Environment
Examples of Local Fire Behavior
Frequently Asked Questions About Defensible Space
Creating an Effective Defensible Space
Firescape - Fire Safe Landscape Design
Other Considerations in Making Your Home Survivable
Photo courtesy CDF
- Your roof is the most vulnerable part of your house in a wildfire. If you have a wood shake roof consider replacing it with class C or better fire resistant roofing.
- Remove dead branches hanging over your roof.
- Remove any branches within 15 feet of your chimney.
- Clean all dead leaves and needles from your roof and gutters.
- Cover your chimney outlet and stovepipe with a nonflammable screen of one-half inch or smaller mesh.
- Build your home away from ridge tops, canyons and areas between high points on a ridge.
- Build your home at least 30 feet from your property line .
- Box your eaves.
- Use fire resistant building materials.
- Enclose the underside of balconies and above-ground decks with fire resistant materials.
- Limit the size and number of windows in your home that face large areas of vegetation.
- Install only dual-paned or triple-paned windows.
- Consider sprinkler systems within the house. They may protect your home while you're away or prevent a house fire from spreading into the wildlands.
- Stack woodpiles at least 30 feet from all structures and clear away flammable vegetation within 10 feet of woodpiles.
- Locate LPG tanks (butane and propane) at least 30 feet from any structure and surround them with 10 feet of clearance.
- Remove all stacks of construction materials, pine needles, leaves and other debris from your yard.
- Contact your local fire department to see if open burning is allowed in your area; if so, obtain a permit before burning debris.
- Where burn barrels are allowed, clear flammable materials at least 10 feet around the barrel; cover the open top with a non-flammable screen with mesh no larger than one-quarter inch.
- Maintain an emergency water supply that meets fire department
standards through one of the following:
- a community water/hydrant system
- a cooperative emergency storage tank with neighbors
- a minimum storage supply of 2,500 gallons on your property
- Clearly mark all emergency water sources and notify your local fire department of their existence.
- Create easy firefighter access to your closest emergency water source.
- If your water comes from a well, consider an emergency generator to operate the pump during a power failure.
- Identify at least two exit routes from your neighborhood.
- Construct roads that allow two way traffic.
- Design road width, grade and curves to allow access for large emergency vehicles.
- Construct driveways to allow large emergency equipment to reach your house.
- Design bridges to carry heavy emergency vehicles, including bulldozers carried on large trucks.
- Post clear road signs to show traffic restrictions such as dead-end roads, and weight and height limitations.
- Make sure dead-end roads and long driveways have turnaround areas wide enough for emergency vehicles. Construct turnouts along one-way roads.
- Clear flammable vegetation at least 10 feet from roads and five feet from driveways.
- Cut back overhanging tree branches above roads.
- Construct fire barriers, such as greenbelts, parks, golf courses and athletic fields.
- Make sure that your street is named or numbered, and a sign is visibly posted at each street intersection.
- Make sure that your street name and house number are not duplicated elsewhere in the county.
- Post your house address at the beginning of your driveway, or on your house if it is easily visible from the road.
- Designate an emergency meeting place outside your home.
- Practice emergency exit drills regularly.
- Make sure that electric service lines, fuse boxes and circuit breaker panels are installed and maintained as prescribed by code.
- Contact qualified individuals to perform electrical maintenance and repairs.
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Contact:
Brian
Ballou
Oregon Department of Forestry
(541) 665-0662
Last update: Jan. 24, 2006