Making Your Facilty Fire Safe

Where forest lands or the native desert and urban development overlap is the interface zone. Your local department will help you with specifics and there is no charge for this service.

YOUR HOME -- ACCESS TO YOU

First of all, to help you, we have to find you. Mark your driveway clearly with your house number. We may like the privacy of living up a nearly overgrown, narrow drive, but clear it out to give adequate access for a fire engine.

Do not pile firewood against your house or garage. At best, you will find it scattered and thrown as far as we can throw it. At worst, it will become a seat for an intense fire.

Now, if a fire is approaching, don't just sit and wait for the evacuation order.

1)   Clean, clean, clean as suggested above and keep the debris piles far away from structures.
2)  Turn off AC and any air intakes from outside into your home.
3)  Close doors and windows.
4)  Ladder your roof. We will have a hoseline there for protection.
5)  Put all combustibles like lawn furniture inside 
6)  Park you cars heading out, packed with irreplaceable belongings.
7)  Pull heavy drapes and remove thin curtains from the windows. Radiant heat through glass can ignite these.
8)  If there is still electric power, leave your lights on.

Around your structures there should be a minimum of 30 feet clearance, 100 feet is better. This can be bare ground, cinders, irrigated lawn. (what we call the green fireman)or other noncombustible material.  Remember if a tree is 30 feet high, the flames will go three times that distance, hence the 100 feet is better.   

Limb up your trees as high as you can reach so that surface fire does not find it's way to the canopy. Remove brush (ladder fuels) from under trees for the same reason. Thin or remove thick brush entirely.

Remove all debris from roofs and gutters, around your foundation, under decks, etc. Do not allow tree limbs to overhang your roof. Roof and foundation vents are designed to draw in air. They will also draw in firebrands. Therefore, you need to have hardware cloth (1/4 inch wire mesh) backing your vents.

If you are building or reroofing, avoid shake shingles. Much of the fire spread in thickly populated areas is due to the fire jumping from one shake shingle roof to another.

Also, if you are building or re-siding, opt for a noncombustible material such as stucco or hardy plank.  Stucco will withstand a fire better than brick. 

If you can supply a water source for us to use by drafting, that is wonderful. This can be a storage tank or a swimming pool is excellent, as long as we have access.

The object is to keep intense fire as far from your home as possible. Remember, we can only fight fire that is on the ground. Once it is running canopies, it is beyond our control. It then becomes an air show and air resources are not abundant and will be in great demand during a fire.

YOUR HORSES - SAVING THEM

Everybody needs to have a well organized plan:

1)  Make up a list of emergency phone numbers, that includes farms or locations in different areas of your county.
2)  Prepare and then have a emergency bag or pack with the following items:

• map or Thomas Guide
• bandanas
• rain coat or jacket
• gloves
• chapstick
• a knife and rope that can be cut into make shift rope halters with leads or leashes grease pen (write your phone number directly on the side of your animal if you have time)
• wire cutters
• first aid kit
• canteen for water.

3)  Have an extensive first aid kit. EVERYONE IN THE FAMILY AND ALL EMPLOYEES ARE TO BE MADE AWARE WHERE THIS FIRST AID KIT IS KEPT.  (The vets will be swamped and may not be able to come for hours or days.) Banimine for colic, to give me a little more time if the vet can't make it for hours, saline solution (the stuff you buy for cleaning contact lenses is great), KY Jelly is good for road rash it helps lift the dirt and debris out of the wounds, vetwrap, gauze, betadine, duct tape, and anything else you can think of.

With these guidelines, you can look at your property from a fire risk standpoint and you will see what can be done to lessen the risk of fire. I hope you will all give some thought to this. We firefighters are frustrated at people's attitudes of "it wont happen to me". It may not but sure can and you will be glad for the preparedness.

So these are some things you can do to give the best odds that your home will be standing after the fire front passes. I will not risk the lives of my people trying to defend an indefensible structure. The preparedness is up to you.

So you will know the parameters we use to determine salvageability, the negatives are fire in the interior, openings like broken windows that cannot be covered and over 1/4 of the roof on fire. What I have said here is very general. There may be more stringent requirements in your area. Know what they are and put them into use. Good luck. Keep safe.

Battalion Chief Sharon, 4206