May is Wildfire Awareness Month and, since Saturday May 3rd was Wildfire Community Preparedness Day (#WildfirePrepDay2025), what better way to keep the activities going than to learn what to do around your property just prior to an evacuation (the pre-evacuation stage)? These are the steps that will hopefully help reduce damage to your structure but, very importantly, will also support the responding firefighters.
 
Days-to-Hours Before Evacuation:
If you anticipate an evacuation alert, or if you choose to evacuate on your own and there is time after you’ve packed everything in your vehicle:

• Check on Zone 0 (refer to Week 4’s tips). Clear away anything combustible in that 0-to-5-foot zone around your house. This includes any dry or dead plants, toys, patio furniture, doormats, trash cans, grills, and propane tanks.
• Remove debris from your roof and gutter.
• If you have vent screens, remove any debris buildup.
• If you do not have screens, cover all outdoor vents with duct tape, metal, or pre-cut plywood – the goal is to block embers from entering the building. Remove the covering after the threat of embers and wildfire passes.
• Seal dryer vents and wall-mounted make-up air openings for furnaces with metal tape or duct tape.

 
Hours-to-Minutes Before Evacuation:
If you only have a little time to do a few things after the vehicle is packed, here is what is recommended:

• Shut off the gas supply to your home. Shut it off at the meter and turn off pilot lights.
• Close all doors and windows to prevent embers from entering your house. But leave the doors and windows unlocked in the event firefighters need to enter to put out flames ignited by embers that made it indoors.
• Remove flammable curtains and window coverings. Close any metal shutters.
• Move any flammable items away from the windows and to the centers of the rooms.
• Turn off attic fans, whole house fans, and air conditioning, if you have them.
• Place a metal (not wooden) ladder near your home so that firefighters can access your roof faster, if needed.
• Connect garden hoses to the spigots. Do not turn the water on.
• Turn off sprinklers. Leaving water on negatively affects the water pressure and decreases the volume of water available to firefighters.
• Leave buckets of water around your home.
• Leave any gates unlocked.
• Close the garage door.
• Leave your indoor and exterior lights on so firefighters can see your home under smoky conditions.

 
Cost: $0 - $$$$ (Depending on the supplies you need to buy now, such as hoses, a ladder, buckets, and materials to cover vents)
Frequency: Check your supplies annually, but you’ll only need to take the listed steps if you prepare to evacuate.
 
Even though this isn’t a particularly long list, this is a lot to remember if you’re experiencing a great deal of stress due to the potential threat of wildfire. What tips do you have to remember what to do when it officially becomes pre-evacuation time? For example, will you create a checklist and tape it to a door or include it in your “In Case of Emergency” binder? Do you have a mnemonic or a song that helps you remember the important steps? Let me know in the Comments.
 
References:

• CAL FIRE. “Go! Evacuation Guide.” Link: https://readyforwildfire.org/prepare-for-wildfire/go-evacuation-guide/
• Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (2021) “Be Wildfire Ready – A guide to help you protect your property from wildfire. Home Pre-Evacuation Checklist” Link: https://disastersafety.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Wildfire-Home-Pre-evacuation-Checklist.pdf
• Nader and Smith (August 27, 2019) “What You Should Do Before Evacuating Your House.” Surviving Wildfire. Link: https://surviving-wildfire.extension.org/what-you-should-do-before-evacuating-your-house/
• Severn, Garces, Peterson, and Stryker (June 2, 2024) “Fire Evacuation: What Actually Happens? And How Can You Plan?” KQED, NPR, PBS. Link: https://www.kqed.org/news/11834901/fire-evacuation-what-actually-happens-and-how-can-you-plan
• Sievertson (January 8, 2025) “Cheat sheet: A short guide to giving your home a fighting chance if you need to evacuate.” LAist. Link: https://laist.com/news/climate-environment/short-guide-how-to-leave-your-house-if-you-evacuate

 
Important Disclaimer: I am not a fire preparedness professional. I am merely sharing my research, opinions, and what I find that applies to my geographic and personal situations in hopes that it will help others. Please make sure that whatever steps and advice you follow are what is best for you.

We addressed Zone 0 last week, and your neighbors undoubtedly saw you checking the distances between your home and vegetation, patio furniture, and any other potentially flammable objects. Now is a great time to get them involved in #FirePrepFriday, too!

For Week 6, I encourage you to tell your neighbors what you’ve discovered about wildfire preparedness and how it affects your geographic location. Share why it’s important to work as a community to mitigate and prepare before a disaster and reassure them that, when you take care of a task one week at a time, fire preparedness doesn’t have to feel so daunting.

As a visual learner, I greatly appreciate the Colorado Springs Fire Department’s (CSFD) Wildfire Mitigation Booklet. I attended a City of Colorado Springs event a couple months ago and took CSFD up on their offer to grab a stack of the booklets to share with my neighbors. It succinctly walks community members through the Ready, Set, and Go steps. If each of us shares a similar booklet or online resource with our neighbors, and then they share with their neighbors, and so on, just imagine how prepared a whole neighborhood will be. At the next block party, be sure to bring one of these booklets in addition to the cheese plate, veggie tray, and sparkling beverages.
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Cost: $0
Frequency: Acquire the latest version of your area’s documentation annually.

Are your neighbors aware of the fire risk in your area? Do your local fire department, city, or county services offer a handy booklet or online resource you can share with your community? If so, paste the link in the Comments.

Important Disclaimer: I am not a fire preparedness professional. I am merely sharing my research, opinions, and what I find that applies to my geographic and personal situations in hopes that it will help others. Please make sure that whatever steps and advice you follow are what is best for you.

It’s Week 4 of #FirePrepFriday, and this week I was inspired by the news stories I’m seeing about creating defensible space around the structures where we spend most of our time.

This San Francisco Chronicle article, written by reporter Julie Johnson and originally published on April 10th, is one such example of the reports coming out about Berkeley, CA. The Berkeley City Council met last Tuesday to discuss a proposal to pursue the creation of defensible space around homes in neighborhoods near Tilden Regional Park, an area considered to have high fire danger (Johnson, 2025). The City Council proposal is similar to one being developed by the State of California and, in addition to sharing a lot of good information, writes “Best practice requires removing flammable materials and maintaining vegetation to minimize wildfire exposure, particularly within the critical Ember Resistant Zone (Zone 0) and surrounding Home Ignition Zones 1 and 2. These measures require elimination of all combustible materials from within 5 feet of a structure, including vegetation and accessories” (Berkeley City Council, 2025).

What is Zone 0?
Zone 0, the space between 0 and 5 feet from a structure, is not a new concept. To learn more, I recommend reading through CAL FIRE’s Defensible Space webpage. They write that “The intensity of wildfire fuel management varies within the 100-foot perimeter of the home, with more intense fuels’ reduction occurring closer to your home. Start at the home and work your way out to 100 feet on your property line, whichever is closer. … The first five feet from your home is the most important. Keeping the area closest to buildings, structures, and decks clear will prevent embers from igniting materials that can spread the fire to your home. Why? The majority of homes lost to wildfire are ignited by flying embers. Embers can travel miles ahead of the active fire front of wildfires” (CAL FIRE).

If you’re wondering if the concept of Zone 0 is just a fad or if 5 feet was a random decision, the answer is no. It’s supported by science. Three scientists I greatly admire – Drs. Alexandra Syphard, Teresa Brennan, and Jon Keeley – published the results of their 2014 work and found “Structures were more likely to survive a fire with defensible space immediately adjacent to them. The most effective treatment distance varied between 5 and 20 m (16-58 ft) from the structure, but distances larger than 30 m (100 ft) did not provide additional protection, even for structures located on steep slopes. The most effective actions were reducing woody cover up to 40% immediately adjacent to structures and ensuring that vegetation does not overhang or touch the structure” (Syphard, Brennan, and Keeley, 2014). Several studies have been published by these and other top wildfire science researchers in the field – definitely check out the work being shared by places like the Berkeley Fire Research Lab and the Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory, too. There are many organizations doing incredible work.

What Can You Do in Your Zone 0?
Have I convinced you to inspect Zone 0 and make some changes? Great! Here are just a few things you can do to get started (this is not an exhaustive list):

• Replace combustible wood chips/bark/mulch with stone, gravel, pavers, or concrete
• Remove all dead and dying plants, weeds, leaves, and needles. (Re)move or replace all adjacent vegetation types that are known to be extremely flammable, such as dry palm tree fronds, cypress, and junipers.
  • Here is additional information about fire-hazardous plants from Fire Safe Marin and here is a resource from Kensington Fire that lists drought tolerant, fire resistant, and highly flammable plants
• Remove all tree branches or decorative features within 10 feet of any chimney or stovepipe outlet
• Relocate firewood and lumber to Zone 2 (30 or 50 (depending on your area)-to-100-feet away from the structure)
• Replace combustible fencing materials with non-combustible alternatives like concrete or metal
• Move parked vehicles away from this zone
• Replace natural fiber doormats, wood or plastic patio furniture, and flammable shades or screens with accessories made from non-combustible or ignition-resistant materials. Choose a heavy rubber doormat and cast aluminum furniture
  • Here are more ideas from Fire Safe Marin
• Request an inspection
  • CAL FIRE offers this tool to submit a Defensible Space Inspection Request for homes in parts of California
  • Check to see what your area offers by searching the Web with a phrase like “[Your City Name] defensible space inspection fire department”

If you live in an apartment or rent your home, you should still advocate for a safer space. Check out everything within Zone 0 of the structure and, if you identify any of the “remove” and “replace” items listed above, contact your landlord, property manager, neighborhood Homeowners Association, etc. It’s also in their best interest to keep their property ready for wildfire. And I encourage you to speak up at your workplace, too.

The 0-to-5-foot buffer from your home isn’t that big of a space, but it’s a critical zone. If you love plants and greenery, your yard will still be beautiful even when it starts 5 feet away. The creation of defensible space is extremely important in the event of wildfire, it’s better for the integrity of the structure (particularly in the case of vines), and it prevents unwanted critters from gaining easy access to your home. “Adequate defensible space acts as a barrier to slow or halt the progress of fire that would otherwise engulf your property. It also helps ensure the safety of firefighters defending your home. Defensible space is the first line of defense for your home against wildfire” (CAL FIRE).

Cost: $0 - $$$$$ (depending on whether anything needs to be removed from Zone 0)
Frequency: Ideally, this is a one-time update to a property. Of course, it's always important to remove any encroaching vegetation or new objects that get added over time.

As this week’s task is focused on Zone 0, you may be wondering about home hardening steps. Don’t worry, we’ll get to those in a future #FirePrepFriday.
 
What does Zone 0 look like around your home or workplace? What changes can you make today to create a defensible space? Let me know in the Comments.

References

• Johnson (April 10, 2025) “Berkeley poised to ban most plants within 5 feet of homes deemed a fire risk.” San Francisco Chronicle. Link: https://www.sfchronicle.com/california-wildfires/article/berkeley-fire-zone-zero-20259566.php
• Berkeley City Council (April 15, 2025) “Proclamation Calling a Special Meeting of the Berkeley City Council.” Link: https://berkeleyca.gov/sites/default/files/city-council-meetings/2025-04-15%20Special%20Agenda%20Packet%20-%20Council%20-%20WEB.pdf
• CAL FIRE “Defensible Space” Link: https://www.fire.ca.gov/dspace
• Syphard, Brennan, and Keeley (October 14, 2014) “The role of defensible space for residential structure protection during wildfires.” International Journal of Wildland Fire. Link: https://consbio.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Syphard_defensibleSpace.pdf. And http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/WF13158
• Fire Safe Marin: https://firesafemarin.org/

 

Important Disclaimer: I am not a fire preparedness professional. I am merely sharing my research, opinions, and what I find that applies to my geographic and personal situations in hopes that it will help others. Please make sure that whatever steps and advice you follow are what is best for you.