Protecting Residences from Wildfires

Recommendations

• Zone for its relative fire hazard severity all land, whether in a city or unincorporated area, that is not already developed for residential, commercial, industrial, or cultivated agricultural use, in addition to land-use or other zoning.
• Require by law that general and specific plans contain an evaluation of fire protection problems and a delineation of the means to cope with them.
• Require all cities and counties having any areas of undeveloped wildlands within their boundaries to review their ordinances on planning, land use, building, and fire for the purpose of making them truly effective in reducing the danger of destruction of residences and other structures by wildland fire.
• Impose standards of building spacing and density for wildfire hazardous areas by local ordinances. Base such standards on a classification system related to vegetative fuels, topography, and known weather patterns.
• Prior to development of any project intended for human occupancy in wildland areas-whether the development be conventional subdivision, planned unit, cluster, lot split, commercial, or industrial provide two or more access routes adequate to allow two-way travel over roads that are not blocked by the fire or the results of the fire (e.g., fallen trees or power lines, vehicle wrecks).
• Authorize permit-granting agencies to require developers, before they build any structures in wildlands, to provide adequate water supplies and the means of delivering them to protect such structures.
• Incorporate perimeter protection from wildland fires into the design of every new subdivision and mobile home park developed in wildland areas.
• Install electric power distribution circuits underground in wildland areas.
• Mark every road at each intersection and identify every land parcel or home in wildfire hazardous areas, in a manner clearly visible from a public road by names or numbers.
• Dedicate structural fire station sites before approving plans for any large, expensive, or high-occupant density development in a wildland area.
• Require all buildings located in wildfire hazardous areas to have roofs with a fire-retardancy commensurate with the hazard classification.
• Cover all exterior attic and underfloor vents with screens that are adequate to prevent the entrance of flammables and firebrands.
• Design all homes and other structures to be located in or near wildfire hazardous areas with as few overhangs and projections as possible and where they are unavoidable protect them from ignition through heat and flame entrapment.
• Design, orient, manufacture, and install all glazed openings, especially large picture windows and sliding glass doors, in a way that minimizes the opportunity for interior ignition from external sources.
• In all structures that may be exposed to danger from wildland conflagrations, construct the exterior walls using fire-resistant material commensurate with the degree of hazard involved.
• Do not install permanent roof sprinklers.
• Design and equip all structures-especially dwelling units-to provide occupants warning of a fire and ready escape routes.
• Design, build, and install mobile homes with the same regard for fire safety as used in any other residence.
• Clear and bottom-prune all native vegetation (except for isolated specimen plants) in chaparral and other wildland areas for a distance from each structure appropriate to the fire hazard severity class and slope class of the site.
• Plant and maintain with fire retardant or low-fuel-volume plants all areas cleared of native vegetation for fire protection purposes, if such areas are not maintained free of flammables (e.g., paved areas).
• Irrigate landscaping plants at least until they become well established, but do not irrigate native vegetation.
• Consider the use of selective herbicides to achieve specific purposes in fire protection landscaping to be both desirable and legitimate.
• Explore the feasibility and economics of fire-retardant chemicals used on surrounding vegetation, native or planted, for home fire protection in wildfire hazardous areas.
• Maintain roofs in a fire safe manner (i. e., clean and made of fire-retardant materials).
• Maintain all yards, gardens, landscaped areas, and fire protection clearances so as to retain their fire safe qualities.
• Do not store uncovered flammable materials against the exterior wall of any building nor close enough to it to cause ignition of the structure by radiated or convective heat should the materials burn.
• Install and equip every swimming pool or other significant water source in wildfire hazardous areas such that the water may be obtained quickly and easily for firefighting purposes both by fire engines and by the occupant.
• Design, construct, and maintain fences so that they do not help wildland fires spread-especially to structures.
• Build and maintain outbuildings to the same standards of fire safety as the residence or other main structure with which they are associated.
• Design and install patios, sun decks, and balconies in ways that enhance the fire safety of the building to which they are an accessory.
• Install private water systems in a way to provide adequate, dependable source of water for fire protection purposes.
• Install storage tanks for hydrocarbon fuels so that they are separated from native vegetation by the same distance required for the residence, provided with a nonflammable heat shield, and separated from other structures by the same distance required for structures.
• Prepare and test a plan for protecting property from fire and have on hand the tools and equipment needed for such an emergency.
• Take special precautionary measures to protect property from fire during very high and extreme fire weather conditions, whether an actual fire is in progress or not.
• When a wildfire becomes a threat to a home or other structure in or near wildlands the occupants should take final protective actions and evacuate all who cannot make a positive contribution to a firefighting effort.
• Establish fire insurance rates for structures located in or near wildfire hazardous areas to reflect the actual probability of destruction by conflagration.
• Adjust the interest rates and other conditions for all real estate or development loans in hazardous wildfire areas so as to encourage fire-safe design and construction.
• Provide tax incentives to persons who meet or exceed minimum fire-safe standards, and apply tax penalties to those who fail to conform to standards.
• Treat and continuously manage vegetation fuels on all wildlands that may become fire threats so as to reduce the conflagration hazard and facilitate fire control.
• Encourage the legislative bodies of states, counties, and cities to conduct a critical review of their laws and regulations relating to wildland fire protection and, on the basis of such reviews, adopt new measures that will provide reasonable fire safety and resolve conflicts of law with other public safety and environmental protection measures.
• Establish fire defense systems in advance on all undeveloped wildlands so located as to pose a fire threat to areas developed for human use and occupancy.
• Enlist the aid of property owners and others with vested interests in homes and other structures located in or near wildland areas, both as individuals and through their organizations and associations, in seeking ways to participate in and improve the Red Flag Fire Alert System.

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