What can you do to keep your home safe during wildfire season?
FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – As California prepares for another wildfire season, Cal Fire is urging homeowners to do everything they can to protect their property.
“Don’t let your guard down, prepare your home for wildfire, prepare for any type of fire around your home, “said Seth Brown, who is the Battalion Chief of Cal Fire. “Cal Fire is taking the steps, we are increasing staffing, we’re taking this fire season very seriously, and we want homeowners to do that as well.”
During wildfire season keeping your home safe means doing the extra work by creating defensible space, which is the buffer between your home and the vegetation around it, such as the grass, brush and trees.
“We’re looking for homeowners to create that defensible space so that’s going to increase the survivability of your property and your home,” Brown said.
Defensible space is made up of different zones, which require different actions and improvements.
In zone zero, which is zero to five feet from your property, all combustible materials such as bark or flammable vegetation should be completely removed.
Zone one is 30 feet out from your property, any dead or dry vegetation should be cleared, and trees should be spaced out. It’s also important to constantly clear dead or dry material.
In zone 2,100 feet away from the property, cut or mow grass down to a maximum height of four inches, remove fallen leaves, and clear areas surrounding propane tanks.
It’s a lot of work, but homeowners say it’s the cost you must pay to protect your home.
“We spend three to four months on the mower and with the weed eater spraying, it’s quite a lot of work and you’re going to have to want it to live here,” said Melanie Doherty, who owns a home in Prather.
Every year, defensible space inspections go out to hand out educational materials and inspect homes.
“We arrive, we try to make contact with the homeowner if they are there. If not, we do our inspection, its 100ft around the home, we are looking for things like grasses being cut down, trees limbed up, spacing between fuels, access to the property and making sure addresses are posted and things like that,” said Meghan Gaines, who is a defensible space inspector with Cal Fire.
Cal Fire says they have been training all winter and have increased staffing to make sure they are prepared for wildfire season.
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