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Protect Your Home

Once you understand your wildfire risk, the next step is taking practical actions to prepare for fire and reduce the risk of fire spreading around or to your home. What you should focus on depends on how close nearby homes or structures are to yours. This guidance follows the NIST Hazard Mitigation Methodology, which helps residents prioritize actions based on separation distance.

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If a Wildfire Happened Tomorrow, Would You Be Ready?

No matter where you live, these actions help protect your family and increase your preparedness:

What To Focus on At Your Home

Home Ignition Zone

Use the suggestions for each zone below to get started. Prioritize work nearest your home, then work away from the home.

Remember, embers are more likely to ignite you home in a wildfire than direct flames. It is very important that you consider both natural fuels like trees and shrubs as well as man-made fuels like sheds, equipment, and vehicles, as you follow these spacing guidelines. 

Immediate Zone

The immediate zone is 0-5 feet from the home. ​

  • Clean roofs and gutters by removing dead leaves, debris and pine needles that could catch embers.

  • Move any flammable material away from outside walls – mulch, flammable plants, leaves and needles, firewood piles – anything that can burn.

  • Move anything stored underneath decks or porches. 

  • Replace or repair any loose or missing shingles or roof tiles to prevent embers catching.

  • Install 1/8 inch metal mesh screening on all vents to prevent embers landing inside.

  • Repair or replace damaged or loose window screens and any broken windows

  • Screen or box-in areas below patios and decks with wire mesh to prevent debris from accumulating.

​Intermediate Zone

The intermediate zone is between 5 and 30 feet from the home.

  • Clear vegetation 10 feet around stationary propane tanks. Tanks should be at least 30 feet from the home. 

  • Create fuel breaks with driveways, walkways/paths, patios, and decks.

  • Keep lawns and native grasses mowed to a height of four inches.

  • Remove ladder fuels (vegetation under trees) so a surface fire cannot reach the crowns.  Prune trees up to six to ten feet from the ground; for shorter trees do not exceed 1/3 of the overall tree height.

  • Space trees to have a minimum of eighteen feet between crowns with the distance increasing with the percentage of slope.

  • Tree placement should be planned to ensure the mature canopy is no closer than ten feet to the edge of the structure.

  • Tree and shrubs in this zone should be limited to small clusters of a few each to break up the continuity of the vegetation across the landscape.

Extended Zone

The extended zone is between 30 feet to 100 feet from the home.

  • Dispose of heavy accumulations of ground litter/debris.

  • Remove dead plant and tree material.

  • Remove small conifers growing between mature trees.

  • Remove vegetation adjacent to storage sheds or other outbuildings within this area.

  • 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.*

    *These distances should be greater on sloped terrain

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