Anyone who has lived in Placer or Nevada County for any length of time is most likely knowledgeable about how to maintain a defensible space around their home as described in Part 1 of the Preparing for Fire Season Series: Protecting Your Land. Although preparing your land plays an extremely important role in fire safety, it’s not the only measure you can take to be ready for fire season.
Next up in this 3 part series is Part 2: Preparing Your Home. In this section, we’ll take a look at some immediate and low cost ways you can mitigate fire danger, as well as some home hardening tips that can be done when building or retrofitting your home.
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- Part 1: Preparing your Land
- Part 2: Preparing Your Home
- Part 3: Preparing Yourself
Part 2: Preparing Your Home
It’s important to look at the fundamental elements of fire safety when it comes to preparing your home for fire season and safety, in general. While there are more thorough projects you can take on to harden your home, there are also a plethora of immediate and cost effective options that you can do today.
No Cost Fire Prevention Tips
These tips may sound like no-brainers, but chances are you’ve overlooked them because of their simplicity. Take a quick second to review these simple and free tips to prevent fires from starting in your home.
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- Never leave the kitchen when cooking. Cooking is the #1 cause of fires in the US.
- Keep oven mitts, towels and any other flammable objects away from the stove.
- Never use a stove or oven to heat your home.
- Store matches, candles and lighters up high away from children’s reach.
- Remember to blow out candles before leaving the house or going to bed.
- Space heaters should be placed on a level, hard and non-flammable surface away from children and pets.
- Keep all potential sources of fuel (i.e. paper, clothing, bedding, rugs, etc.) at least 3 feet away from space heaters, stoves or fireplaces.
- Portable heaters and fireplaces should never be left unattended. Turn off space heaters and extinguish all fires before leaving or going to bed.
- Have wood and coal stoves, fireplaces, chimneys and furnaces professionally inspected and cleaned once per year.
- Clean out dryer vent regularly to prevent buildup.
Low Cost Fire Prevention Tips
Implementing proactive measures that will help slow or stop the spread of fires in your home can not only save the house itself, but more importantly, your loved ones. Below is some basic information on smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors and fire extinguishers and how these low cost items can help save lives.
Fire Extinguishers
Installing fire extinguishers throughout your home could help put out a fire, or at the very least, slow it down until everyone can get to safety. The most common installation locations are close to an exit and in the following spots: kitchen, laundry room, garage, other out-building, near patio or grill.
Fire extinguishers should be located no higher than 5 feet off the floor and should be visible and easy to remove. It’s not simply enough to have one, but all household occupants should know how to use it, as well. The graphic below from Safewise.com provides a great visual aid and tool to help explain how fire extinguishers should be operated.
Smoke Detectors and Carbon Monoxide Detectors
Per the California Residential Code, smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors should be installed throughout your home to alert occupants to danger. Because carbon monoxide is odorless and tasteless, it’s imperative that this prevention device be installed, where needed.
Smoke detectors should be installed as follows:
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- In each sleeping room
- Outside each separate sleeping area in the immediate vicinity of the bedrooms
- On each additional story of the dwelling, including basements but not including crawl spaces and uninhabitable attics
- Smoke detectors should have a minimum 10-year rated battery life
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Carbon monoxide detectors should be installed as follows:
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- Outside of each separate dwelling unit sleeping area in the immediate vicinity of the bedroom(s).
- On every level of a dwelling unit including basements.
- Where a fuel-burning appliance is located within a bedroom or its attached bathroom, a carbon monoxide alarm shall be installed within the bedroom.
- Carbon Monoxide alarms are not required in dwellings which do not contain fuel-burning appliances and that do not have an attached garage.
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- All detectors shall be located a minimum of 20ft away from cooking appliances.
- All detectors shall be located three (3) feet away from openings into bathrooms, mechanical supply/return registers and ceiling fans.
Home Hardening Tips
As with last week’s blog post on the topic of preparing your land for fire season, Cal-Fire has some great home hardening tips that are clear and easy to understand. The information below is taken from their website, www.readyforwildfire.
There are three ways your home can be exposed to wildfire: direct flames from a wildfire or burning neighboring home; radiant heat from nearby burning plants or structures; and flying embers. Flying embers from a wildfire can destroy homes up to a mile away and are responsible for the destruction of most homes during a wildfire.
Taking the necessary measures to harden (prepare) your home can help increase its likelihood of survival when wildfire strikes.
Roof
The roof is the most vulnerable part of your home. Homes with wood or shingle roofs are at high risk of being destroyed during a wildfire.
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- Build your roof or re-roof with materials such as composition, metal, clay or tile. Block any spaces between roof decking and covering to prevent embers from catching.
- Remove accumulated vegetative debris from the roof.
Vents
Vents on homes create openings for flying embers.
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- Cover all vent openings with 1/16-inch to 1/8-inch metal mesh. Do not use fiberglass or plastic mesh because they can melt and burn.
- Use Ember and flame resistant vents (WUI vents).
Eaves and Soffits
Eaves should be boxed in (soffited-eave design) and protected with ignition-resistant* or non-combustible materials.
Windows
Heat from a wildfire can cause windows to break even before the home is on fire. This allows burning embers to enter and start fires inside. Single-paned and large windows are particularly vulnerable.
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- Install dual-paned windows with one pane of tempered glass to reduce the chance of breakage in a fire.
- Consider limiting the size and number of windows that face large areas of vegetation.
- Install screens in all usable windows to increase ember resistance and decrease radiant heat exposure
Walls
Wood products, such as boards, panels or shingles, are common siding materials. However, they are flammable and not good choices for fire-prone areas.
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- Build or remodel your walls with ignition resistant* building materials, such as stucco, fiber cement wall siding, fire retardant, treated wood, or other approved materials. This is especially important when neighboring homes are within 30-feet of the home.
- Be sure to extend materials from the foundation to the roof.
- Smaller spaces, such as the roof-to-wall area, should have their siding relaced with a noncombustible material.
Decks
Surfaces within 10 feet of the building should be built with ignition-resistant*, non-combustible, or other approved materials.
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- Create an ember-resistant zone around and under all decks and make sure that all combustible items are removed from underneath your deck.
- If a deck overhangs a slope, create and maintain defensible space downslope from the deck to reduce the chances of flames reaching the underside of the deck.
Rain Gutters
Keep rain gutters clear or enclose rain gutters to prevent accumulation of plant debris.
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- Install a corrosion-resistant and noncombustible metal drip edge for additional protection of the combustible components on your roof’s edge.
- Use a noncombustible gutter cover to prevent buildup of debris and vegetation in the gutter
Patio Cover
Use the same ignition-resistant* materials for patio coverings as a roof.
Chimney
Cover your chimney and stovepipe outlets with a non-flammable screen. Use metal screen material with openings no smaller than 3/8-inch and no larger than 1/2-inch to prevent embers from escaping and igniting a fire.
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- Close the fireplace flue during fire season when the chimney is not being used.
Garage
Have a fire extinguisher and tools such as a shovel, rake, bucket, and hose available for fire emergencies.
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- Add a battery back-up to the garage door motor so that the garage can easily be operated if power is out.
- Install weather stripping around and under the garage door to prevent embers from blowing in.
- Store all combustible and flammable liquids away from ignition sources.
- Treat windows and vents in the garage the same way as if it was a part of the house.
Fences
Best practice is to separate your fence from your house or upgrade the last 5-feet of the fence to a noncombustible material to reduce the chance of the fence from bringing fire to your home.
Driveways and Access Roads
Driveways should be built and maintained in accordance with state and local codes to allow fire and emergency vehicles to reach your home. Consider maintaining access roads with a minimum of 10 feet of clearance on either side, allowing for two-way traffic.
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- Ensure that all gates open inward and are wide enough to accommodate emergency equipment.
- Trim trees and shrubs overhanging the road to allow emergency vehicles to pass.
Address
Make sure your address is clearly visible from the road.
Water Supply
Consider having multiple garden hoses that are long enough to reach all areas of your home and other structures on your property. If you have a pool or well, consider getting a pump.
Useful Links
Check back next week for Part 3, the last in the Preparing for Fire Season Series: Preparing Yourself!
