|
Many of us choose to live off the land or in close harmony with the land, or as I call it living "in the woods." This scenario is what rural firefighters term a Wildland/Urban Interface This interface can be as simple as a lone farm or as complex as a rural or suburban subdivision.
Many times when wildfire threatens these homes, the fire chief is required to make hard decisions regarding which homes can be saved. Determining where to make a stand and fight a fire may include sacrificing some structures in order to save others. A primary consideration in these decisions includes the projected survivability of the structures. If your home will involve several men or crews and has a low chance of survivability, the officer in charge may choose to make a stand at a location that is a more efficient use of his limited resources (crews, equipment and water).
Preliminary actions on your part, will make your home more capable of surviving a wildfire. These steps will also make your homestead more inviting as a good investment of firefighting manpower. Protecting your home by undertaking the following procedure is known as making your home "Fire-Wise." Fire-wise your farm long before a fire threatens. These procedures should become part of your farm's strategy and daily consciousness.
The concept here is to make your home less inviting to a fire. Consider fire as a living, breathing creature. It consumes fuel and oxygen and gives off heat and light. The more fuel and oxygen it has to consume, the bigger it will grow. Bigger fires create bigger problems. If you reduce the available fuel to the point that it can no longer sustain itself, the fire will go out, or at the very least will become small enough to be more easily managed and extinguished.
Fire-Wise steps:
1) Seal all openings, (gables, soffits, under decking) with 1\8" or smaller wire mesh.
Doing so will keep out cinders/ firebrands, that can ignite materials on which they land.
2) Remove all burnable debris within a thirty to sixty foot radius around structures.
Removing leaves, firewood, trash, scrap lumber to a distant location will reduce the heat, radiant light and direct flame contact threat to the structure.
3) Remove tree limbs below six feet and within a thirty to sixty foot radius around all structures. Remove limbs that overhang or come in contact with the structure.
Fire will climb lower limbs of trees and shrubbery into the upper level of the trees. This is known as a crown fire. Crown fires are extremely hard to combat and will create a great deal more heat and cinders than brush or grass fires.
4) Remove all dead limbs and overgrown shrubbery near buildings. Remember to clean dead leaves from under foundation plantings.
This may seem a redundancy of item number 2, but is often overlooked and is important enough to be repeated. Landscaping next to homes should be kept short and clean of dead material, leaves and limbs. Dead limbs in trees and shrubbery will provide additional fuel. Resinous and waxy plants are more susceptible to burning, even when green, and should not be used next to the home. Foundation plantings need to be short. As the distance from the home increases, the height of plants can more safely be increased. Use sidewalks and gravel pathways close to structures to provide a natural firebreak. Taller shrubs can be planted in island beds away from buildings and surrounded by walkways or short grass.
5) Clean leaves and pine straw from gutters and roof.
Firebrands will ignite any ready material.
6) Skirt under homes and decks.
Eliminate the ability of the fire to burn under the structure. Fire under decks, flooring and even soffits will create a heat trap. This heat trap can increase in temperature until the exposed materials reach ignition temperature.
7) Install non-flammable roofing and siding.
Non-flammable roofing materials such as metal, tile, clay and slate, all provide superior roofing. Not only do they not burn, they resist wind and hail damage. Shake or wood roofing does have an appealing rustic look. However as a firefighter it is my opinion the appearance of flammable roofing does not warrant its risk. Fireproof, rustic-looking, roofing materials are available.
Fireproof siding is important as well. Vinyl siding is convenient but will not stand up to low burning grass fires. Wood siding is better than vinyl but the thinner and coarser the material, the shorter period of time it will protect against direct flame contact. Metal, brick, stone, or any non-combustible siding is far superior to any that will burn.
Soffit openings and vents will allow the upward rising heat from nearby burning materials to be trapped, enter the attic and ignite.
8) Clearly mark the septic tank.
If your location is chosen as the site to make a stand against an advancing fire, or if fire crews are trying to extinguish an existing fire, it would indeed be a shame to remove from service a much needed piece of equipment when it crashes into the tank. We fenced around ours as part of our dog yard.
9) Locate firewood, LPG tanks (liquefied petroleum gas), diesel, gasoline and other fuel at least fifty feet away from buildings.
Keep grass cut short and remove leaf drifts around fuel storage areas. Even better, place a concrete slab or gravel under and around the tank and fuel storage areas.
10) Install thermally insulated double pane windows.
Radiant heat (light) will enter through the windows and ignite flammable materials such as curtains and furniture. Double pane windows will protect the home against some forms of fire attack, and reduce operational energy cost.
11) Keep grass cut around structures.
Short grass burns cooler and may not even burn at all. It is generally known that longer cut lawns are healthier and withstand drought conditions better than short cut. However during the dry season when the grass crunches underfoot, mowing it short near buildings will reduce the speed and amount of heat in which it will burn. Note the difference between lawns and fields. Tall grass and hay fields, when burning and driven by a stiff breeze, can burn faster than a man can run.
12) Keep 100 feet of water hose readily available at each faucet.
Available water hoses provide a speedy method of supplying water to areas around structures. Small fires can be slowed, retarded and even extinguished with timely placement of even small quantities of water.
|
