On Any Given Weekend: Simple Things You Can Do to Help Your Home Become "Firewise"

Improving your home's chance of surviving a wildfire can seem like an overwhelming task - one that you may feel is impossible to achieve. Not necessarily so! Research shows that flying embers (firebrands) and creeping surface fire are significant contributors to the loss of homes to wildfires. . . sometimes hours after the fire has passed.

To begin making your home and property "Firewise," start with the structures on your property and move out as time allows. Keep in mind that anything attached to a structure (decks, fences, overhangs. . .) is part of the structure. The following tasks can easily be accomplished in one afternoon:

Keep an area three to five feet around structures free of any material that can ignite. Consider filling in these areas with decorative stone.

• Clean needles, leaves, and branches off roofs and out of rain gutters. This kind of material can easily ignite and spread fire to your home.
• Check all areas that tend to be natural traps for leaves, pine needles, and embers from a fire such as on and under decks, window ledges, and next to foundations. Keep these areas clean.
• If you keep a canoe next to the house, make sure there isn't a pile of leaves or needles hiding underneath!
• Keep 100 feet of garden hose hooked to a faucet. Attach a sprayer and keep a sprinkler close by. You may want to do this on more than one side of your home!
• Is that a hemp welcome mat in front of your door? Consider replacing it with something less flammable.
• Using wood chips or straw in your landscaping provides ideal places for embers to land, smolder, and ignite. If you use these kinds of organic mulches, use them sparingly and never along the sides of your home. Better yet, try less flammable alternatives such as brick chips or decorative stone.

Remember to keep a maintenance schedule to ensure your defensible space is lean, clean, and green before spring and fall - generally the worst times for wildfire in Wisconsin.

After you've done some initial work on the structure, it's time to begin working outward. Look to what may carry a fire to the structure and begin implementing the Three R's of defensible space--Removal, Reduction and Replacement. Here are some ideas:

Fire could easily move to this evergreen should the surrounding grass catch fire.

• Rake all dead grass, leaves, and pine needles away from the base of all structures.
• Remove tree branches that extend over your roof. Create extra space around chimneys. Fifteen feet will do.
• Move that firewood stack at least 30 feet from all structures. Embers have been known to smolder in firewood stacks and catch fire long after the fire itself has passed.
• Remove shrubs, saplings, or any other "ladder" fuels from under larger trees. Left in place, these can carry a ground fire into the treetops.
• Prune the lower 6 to 10 feet of branches off trees in your defensible space. Prune all dead branches you come across.
• Thin out your defensible space. Evergreens are especially flammable and should have at least 15 feet between the branches if they are within 100 feet of a structure. Consider replacing them with hardwoods.
• Remove any dead or downed vegetation within 100 feet of your home.
• The grass is always greener. . .when it is kept watered. Don't allow grass to dry out around structures.
• Create a 10-foot clearance around your propane tank. Keep the grass mowed short or fill in the area with rocks or gravel.
• Talk to your neighbors about becoming "Firewise."