Want to fireproof your house? Here’s where to start

During wind-driven wildfire storms, the embers and small flames from the fire can cause a home to ignite, according to the National Fire Protection Assn.

Embers are burning pieces of wood or vegetation that the wind can carry for miles. Any place embers land can ignite into what are called spot fires. These spot fires can grow into infernos that engulf your home.

The key to defending your property is to reduce the fuel that embers can ignite, create fuel breaks that prevent spot fires from growing and to keep fire that does start on the ground to reduce more embers from exploding outward.

That’s your assignment this weekend.

Experts recommend maintaining the structures (house, garage and shed) and the landscape on your property year-round.

Regular maintenance is important because California’s fire season is now starting earlier, ending later and getting drier than ever in between, the Western Fire Chief’s Assn. says.

It’s a recipe for drier vegetation into the late fall and winter months “increasing the likelihood of extreme, late-season wildfires,” the association stated.

Minimize fire damage on your property

You can take steps to minimize the destruction of wildfire embers and flames within the three zones of your property. If you need help visualizing the three zones, Los Angeles Times staff created an interactive 3D model of the zones.

Zone 1 is the immediate area around your home, within a 5 feet distance. This distance applies to any structure on the property including a shed or garage. These structures are vulnerable to embers.

What you should do in this zone:

• Remove dead leaves, debris and pine needles from roofs and gutters.
• Replace or repair any loose or missing shingles or roof tiles.
• Install a ⅛ inch mesh screening on eave vents.
• Repair or replace damaged or loose window screens.
• Cover your chimney and stove pipe 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.
• Remove any flammable material — including mulch, flammable plants, leaves and needles, firewood piles, patio furniture — away from wall exteriors.
• Maintain trees whose branches are within this zone by pruning them and ensuring they don’t overlap with the house.

By taking these steps you’re preventing embers from entering the home or latching onto combustible materials.

Zone 2 is the intermediate area within 5 to 30 feet of your home or any structure on your property. This zone is specific to the landscaping of a property and creating fuel breaks that can help influence and decrease fire behavior.

Zone 2 covers anything within 5 to 30 feet of a structure.

(Kyle Kim)

What you can do in this zone:

• Clear vegetation from stationary propane tanks.
• Create fuel breaks with driveways, walkways, patios and decks. These are strips or blocks of land in which vegetation and debris have been reduced to control or stop the risk of the spread of fire crossing it.
• Keep your lawn mowed to a height of four inches.
• Remove vegetation from under trees.
• Prune trees up to 6 to 10 feet from the ground; shorter trees should not exceed ⅓ of the overall tree height.
• Trees should have a minimum of 18 feet of space between them.
• Trees and shrubs in this zone should be limited to a few, small clusters.

If you do have plants, choose those that are more fire resistant.

You’ll want high-moisture, low-growing plants said Times Staff writer Jeanette Marantos. She spoke with an official from the Los Angeles County Fire Department’s Fuel Modification Unit on fire-safe landscaping that can be found here.

You can also check out the department’s plant selection guidelines, which lists plant names and the safest zone to plant them in.

Zone 3 is the extended zone within 30 to 100 feet of your home. Your goal in this zone is to interrupt the fire’s path, keep flames smaller and on the ground instead of jumping to your home.

Zone 3 is the final zone and covers anything within 30 to 100 feet of a structure.

(Kyle Kim)

What you can do in this zone:

• Dispose of heavy accumulations of ground litter and debris.
• Remove any dead plant and tree material.
• Get rid of small conifers growing between mature trees.
• Remove any vegetation adjacent to storage sheds or any other structures in this zone.
• Trees 30 to 60 feet from the home should have at least 12 feet between canopy tops.
• Trees 60 to 100 feet from the home should have at least 6 feet between the canopy tops.

Safe guarding your home is most effective when the whole community works together

Neighboring homes and zones often overlap. If your property is fireproofed properly but your neighbor’s is not, you’re still at risk.

(Kyle Kim)

For example, if you live in a neighborhood where the homes are close together, there is an increased risk of building-to-building ignition because heat and flames can easily jump from one home to another, according to the California Fire Safe Council.

Neighbors whose homes are farther apart face another risk: The vegetation and other combustible materials in between properties can fuel a wildfire.

Wildfires are getting more intense. This seven-part newsletter course will teach you everything you need to know to prepare.

Whether you’re a couple of feet away from your neighbor or hundreds, you should be working together to make your homes defensible against wildfires.

Get the conversation started by getting your block to sign up for this newsletter series and work on your preparedness assignments together.

Look for the next installment of In Case of Fire, the L.A. Times’ newsletter guide to wildfire readiness and resilience in your inbox.

You’ve got your first preparedness assignment, the next will be preparations you can do inside the home in the event of an evacuation.