Fire safety: Homeowners must make ‘defensible’ space

Special to the Green Valley News

As more people choose to build homes, operate businesses and recreate in areas that border wildlands, the threat to private property from fires increases.

Creating “defensible” or “survivable” space around structures can make the difference between returning to an intact home or a smoldering pile of ashes if a wildfire moves through the area. If you own a home in a fire-prone area, there are a few simple steps you can take to make your property more defensible.

First, it’s important for homeowners to understand that firefighters count on you as part of the fire management team. It is critical that private home and landowners take steps on their own to protect their property. Wildland-urban interface fires tend to be more damaging, are often more difficult to control, and behave differently than urban structural fires. When these fires occur saving people and structures must take priority, often at a devastating expense to natural resources.

Creating defensible space around your home is one of the most important and effective steps you can take to protect you, your family, and your home from a catastrophic wildfire. Defensible space is the area between a structure and an oncoming wildfire (or between a burning structure and wildland vegetation) where nearby vegetation has been modified to reduce a wildfire’s intensity and ability to spread.

Ways to create “Defensible Space” (many of these can be viewed on www.firewise.com or the forest service website www.fs.fed.us)