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Defensible Space
In a wildfire hazard zone a defensible space is an area where the selection, location, grouping, and maintenance of combustible materials and vegetation are conducted to minimize the opportunities for the ignition of a subject structure and its attachments. Defensible spaces can be considered to have 3 zones: Non-combustable Zone (0-5 feet), Fire Break Zone (6-30 feet), and the Reduced Fuel Zone (31-100 feet).
What's the Purpose?
Clearing a Defensible Space around your home in a high wildfire danger area is intended to:
1) Protect life and property from wild land fire.
2) Reduce the potential for fire on improved property spreading to wild land fuels.
3) Provide a safe working area for firefighters protecting life and improved property.
1) Non-Combustible Zone (0-5 feet from house)
The space 0-5 feet away from the house should be kept free and clear of all combustable materials. Items and materials that are combustible such as stacks of firewood, flammable lawn chair cushions, and dead tree droppings should be removed from this zone to prevent ignition from the spread of embers. Combustable items in this zone that ignite and significantly more likely to spread fire to the home. Tree crowns and branches in this zone should not touch or overhang the roof or be positioned within 5 feet of the house and within 10 feet of the chimney. Some combustable attachments to the house within this zone such as wood fences and gates, decks, and shade structures also perform better in high wildfire danger zones when they are converted to a non-combustable material such as metal.
2) Fire Break Zone (6-30 feet from house)
Fuels in this area such as dead tree trunks, fire wood, dead and dry brush, fallen tree limbs, and other readily combustable items should be removed from this zone. Landscaping in this zone should be done so in such a way that is thinned and spaced out to prohibit the spread of wildfire and accommodates access to the house by emergency firefighting personnel. Trees and plants that can constructively be considered fire resistive should be used for landscaping in this zone. Tree crown spacing in this zone should be at a distance of 18 feet apart from edge of crown to the edge of the neighboring crown.
3) Reduced Fuel Zone (31-100 feet from house)
Dead trees, bushes, and branches should be removed from this zone. Wild gasses in this zone should be cut to 4 inches or less. Tree crown spacing in this zone should be at a distance of 10 feet apart from edge of crown to the edge of the neighboring crown. Large trees should be delimbed at least 6 feet up from the base of the tree.
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Do you have questions about your defensible space? Below is a link to a survey of questions that I ask myself while I am on-site inspecting a defensible space.
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