Fire - Safe Landscaping

At a glance..

The USFA encourages people to keep the fire safety at the forefront by learning how to landscape and maintain your property to minimize possible fire damage and slow fire if they start.

The details..

Wildfires can destroy homes and acres of land every year across the country. Fire-safe landscaping is an effective tool that creates a zone of protection between your home and flammable vegetation that protects against devastating fires. This book emphasizes the importance of keeping fire safety at the forefront by learning how to landscape and maintain your property.

The book explains that dead trees, shrubs, leaves, plant parts, low-hanging branches surrounding a house act as fuel for fire during wildfires. Therefore removing such flammable vegetation reduces the threat of fire. The author suggests basic rules like removing all dead plants from site; reducing excess leaves; replacing dense flammable plants with fire-resistant ones etc., which are crucial elements in any defensible space landscaping plan.

In addition to these rules, this guide also offers some useful tips for creating a safe landscape perimeter: thinning trees within 30 feet around one's home; eliminating small trees growing under larger ones (as they allow ground fires to jump into tree crowns); placing shrubs at least 20 feet away from structures etc.

Finally, it advises readers on choosing materials wisely - using rock walls or patios as effective barriers against wildfire spread; selecting high moisture plants close-to-ground with low sap content or resin content instead of 'fire-proof' varieties etc.; Maintaining well-pruned green landscapes through regular watering & trimming grass up to 100ft surrounding one's house.