Fire officials: Defensible space saves homes

UPDATE 6/10/2016 4:15 PM:

During a wildfire, firefighters can’t do their job to protect a house, if a homeowner doesn’t do theirs by building defensible space. It’s their first line of protection. As we reach prime fire conditions, it’s important all homeowners clear space around their property.

KION joined North Monterey County Fire Capt. Joel Mendoza as he surveyed a Prunedale neighborhood’s defensible space. He was asked by a homeowner’s association to see how they could better their odds against a fire.

“Taking into account the fact that we have hills and gullies where trees have fallen over the winter and taken out other trees on their way down and we weren’t sure how to get them out of there,” resident Linda O’Brien said. “He had ideas of how to get them out of there and remove them.”

He showed them ways to improve the defensible space around their homes while protecting the natural land around them.

“We are in what we call the urban interface, the wildland urban interface,” Mendoza said. “The wildland urban interface. And with the weather we’ve had, we’ve had a lot of rain, we’ve had an El Nio, and what we have is grass that’s grown quite a bit this year, and now we’re getting into the dry season so that grass has had a chance to grow so the weeds are going to be a big hazard this year.

O’Brien remembers a close call a few years ago, when a fire burned just a few miles from her home.

“Bombers were dropping the red stuff and helicopters were circling,” O’Brien recalls. “I was home and I was scared stiff.”

So she understands a bit of yard work will help her home withstand a wildfire.

Listed below are tips from Cal Fire, which detail the two zones that make up the 100 feet of defensible space.

Zone 1
Zone 1 extends 30 feet* out from buildings, structures, decks, etc.
• Remove all dead plants, grass and weeds (vegetation).
• Remove dead or dry leaves and pine needles from your yard, roof and rain gutters.
• Trim trees regularly to keep branches a minimum of 10 feet from other trees.
• Remove branches that hang over your roof and keep dead branches 10 feet away from your chimney.
• Relocate wood piles into Zone 2.
• Remove or prune flammable plants and shrubs near windows.
• Remove vegetation and items that could catch fire from around and under decks.
• Create a separation between trees, shrubs and items that could catch fire, such as patio furniture, wood piles, swing sets, etc.

Zone 2
Zone 2 extends 100 feet out from buildings, structures, decks, etc.
• Cut or mow annual grass down to a maximum height of 4 inches.
• Create horizontal spacing between shrubs and trees.
• Create vertical spacing between grass, shrubs and trees.
• Remove fallen leaves, needles, twigs, bark, cones, and small branches. However, they may be permitted to a depth of 3 inches.

ORIGINAL POST:

Having adequate defensible space can make all the difference in whether a house can withstand a wildfire.

KION’s Mariana Hicks joined a captain with the North Monterey County Fire Protection District Friday as he met with neighbors to discuss ways they can improve their defensible space. She’ll show us what homeowners learned tonight at 6.