Page 10 - Sonoma County Gazette September 2019

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Hardscaping our Properties
There are still people who must be wishing and hoping that these fires will not return. Human beings are very good at imagining the reality we want instead of the one that potentially faces us. But messages from the California Fire Safe Council are determined to educate us on how to protect ourselves and our property...just in case. It would be wise to heed their message.
Basic Rules of Defensible Space
What people ask all the time is do they need a “moonscape” in order to feel safe. The 30’ of defensible space around a home makes people throw their hands up in the air in frustration. We have 5 feet to the fence line and if we’re lucky, we have 20’ to the back fence and 20’ to the sidewalk.
The key word is DEFENSIBLE. Can this space be defended? And the key measurement is 5’ from structures...your house. Keeping that 5-foot perimeter free of flammable material is key to surviving a fire.
Radiant Heat will catch an object on fire when it’s hot enough and close enough. It creates it’s own wind so flames will go up and out in unpredictable ways. JUST the heat is enough to catch objects on fire, especially if they are dry and flammable...like decking, lawn furniture, propane BBQ tanks, shrubbery with dead wood, dry grass, leaves on roofs and in gutters, etc. Even a straw broom propped up against the house will catch a whole house on fire when it ignites. Stacked firewood under the deck? Gotta go. Lawn mower with gas in the tank...store it in a safe place!
If you live where privacy fences run 5-feet between homes and butt up against your home...create fire breaks with metal gates, and sections of fence made of metal as well. Corrugated metal fences are safer than wood. Consider using them in the sections of fence that separate buildings.
Ember Storms are small pieces of hot material that fly through the air during fires. We see little ones drift above a camp fire. Consider millions of them flying all at once. Embers are responsible for the majority of damage during wildfires! This happened in the October 2017 fires. Singed pages from books were found miles from home.
Landscaping bark caught fire and flew, catching other things on fire wherever the embers landed. We’ll post a link on our website to the flammability of mulches test, but know that rubberized mulches, large bark and Gorilla Hair mulches are the worst.
If the landscaping mulch is composted or very dense and damp, it’s better. Right up against your house, consider pebbles, gravel, bare dirt during fire season. You can always mulch it with compost when the rains start.
Dry leaves falling from trees? Rake, rake and rake again. REMOVE them from your property! That green bin should be full every trash day! They not only catch fire at your house, they turn into ember storms and catch other homes on fire. Be a good neighbor...rake ‘em up!
Direct Flame. This is the scariest one of all. The house next to yours is
on fire...now what? If you have prepared YOUR home with a safe 5-foot perimeter, you may make it through. Stories of people who installed sprinklers on their homes and turned them on before evacuating...worked in some cases.
We published a story of a Coffee Park home owner who saved his house while homes around him burned to the ground. Getting out the garden hose before you evacuate? Don’t risk your life to do it, but consider wetting down your property if fire is off in the distance if you feel safe taking the time to do it. Your life is far more valuable than your home!
Make sure there is NOTHING flammable up against your house! Change your vents to have less than 1/8” spaces for air so that embers cannot get sucked into your vent and therefore your house. So many people reported roofs catching on fire from the INSIDE! Those ember storms!
10 - www.sonomacountygazette.com - 9/19
FIRE cont’d on page 12