What To Do When Wildfire Season Hits
The Wildland/Urban Interface Problem wildfires occur regularly. Whether started by humans or by lightning, they are part of a natural cycle that helps to maintain the health of our forests. Today, more than ever, people are moving into remote areas, with the desire to "get back to nature," without addressing the dangers that exist around them. A tremendous wildfire danger exists where homes blend together with the wildland, creating the wildland/urban interface. The addition of homes there interrupts the natural cycle of wildfires. Ultimately, this contributes to a dangerous build-up of old vegetation, leading to an uncontrollable wildfire. In a wildfire, your local fire department has two priorities – to remove you and your family from harm’s way and to stop the progression of the wildfire. If your home happens to be in the wildfire’s path, they may or may not be able to protect it – there are simply no guarantees. Consequently, you must take action before a fire starts.
How Your Home Catches Fire
Conditions must be just right for a wildfire to start and spread. Specifically, fuel, weather and topography work together to determine how quickly a wildfire travels and at what intensity.
Fuels
The two basic fuel types in the wildland/urban interface are vegetation and structures. Vegetation Fuel in its natural form consists of living and dead trees, bushes and grasses. Typically, grasses burn more quickly and with less intensity than trees. Any branches or shrubs between 18 inches and 6 feet are considered to be ladder fuels. Ladder fuels help convert a ground fire to a crown fire (tree tops) which moves much more quickly. one structure to another.
Weather
High temperatures, low humidity, and swift winds increase the probability of ignitions and difficulty of control. Short and long- term drought further exacerbates the problem.
Slope
Slope is the upward or downward incline or slant of terrain. For example, a completely flat plain represents a 0% slope and a hillside that rises 30 feet for every 100 feet horizontal distance represents a 30% slope. Hot gases rise in front of the fire along the slope face, pre-heating the up-slope vegetation, moving a grass fire up to four times faster with flames twice as long as a fire on level ground. There are three ways that the wildfire can transfer itself from the natural vegetation or other burning homes to your home – through radiation, convection or firebrands.
Radiation
Wildfires can spread to your home by radiating heat in the same way a radiator heats your rooms in the wintertime. Radiated heat is capable of igniting combustible materials from distances of 100 feet or more.
Convection
Contact with the convection column (flames) may also cause the wildfire to ignite your house. Typically, the convective heat column rises vertically, within the smoke plume.
Firebrands
Firebrands are burning materials that detach from a fire during strong convection drafts in the burning zone. Firebrands can be carried long distances – more than a mile – by the winds associated with the wildfire.
In all cases, your home’s building materials and design play a significant role in establishing the level of exposure that can be endured before ignition from radiation, convection, firebrands or any combination of these three.
Taking Inventory – Is Your Property at Risk?
The first step in establishing your risk is to assess your property. The table below lists numerous factors and issues that you should consider. This assessment will give you a good sense of your property’s wildfire risk.
Assessing Your Property
- Have wildfires occurred in your area? If so, under what conditions?
- Do you have seasons when wildfires are more likely to occur?
- Do you live in hilly or flat country? Are there areas around your home that are more susceptible to a wildfire?
- Do you border wildland?
- Have you used native vegetation in your landscaping?
- Is there a substantial amount of tall vegetation crowded in around your home?
- Do tree limbs extend over your home? Are the trees in good condition or are they dying?
- Do you have a woodpile in close proximity to your home?
- Do you have any fuel tanks nearby?
- Is a wood fence attached to your home?
What You Can Do To Reduce Your Risk Homes in a wildland/urban inter- face area can be designed and maintained to increase the chances of surviving a wildfire without the intervention of the fire department.
Wildfire Protection Checklist Before, During and After
- Be Completely Prepared You will give yourself and your family a better chance of escaping harm during a wildfire by taking as many of the precautions outlined in this brochure as possible. But, these steps are only the beginning. To protect you as completely as possible, here are some added suggestions:
- Know where your gas, electric and water main shut-off controls are and how to turn them off if there is a leak or electrical short. Also, know how to use a fire extinguisher.
- Make sure all adult and teenage members of your family know how to shut off each utility and to use the extinguisher.
- Become familiar with your community’s disaster-preparedness plans and create a family plan. Know where the closest police, fire and emergency medical facilities are located.
- Plan several different escape routes from your home and neighborhood and designate an emergency meeting place for the family to reunite.
- Establish a contact point to communicate with concerned relatives.
- Put together an emergency kit that includes at least a three-day supply of drinking water and food that needs no refrigeration and, generally, no cooking; emergency cooking equipment, if required; a portable NOAA weather radio; first aid supplies and medications; basic tools, such as a wrench, a flashlight and gloves; portable lanterns and batteries; credit cards and cash; and important.
- Talk to your neighbors about wildfire safety. Plan how the neighborhood could work together before, during and after a wildfire.
- Make a list of your neighbors’ skills such as medical or technical. Consider how you would help neighbors who have special needs such as elderly or disabled persons.
- Make plans to take care of children who may be on their own if parents can’t get home.
- Review your homeowner’s insurance policy with your Cascade Farmers Mutual agent or company to make sure that, if you are the victim of a disaster, you have enough coverage to rebuild your home and life.
During a Wildfire
- If you are warned that a wildfire is threatening your area, listen to your portable radio for reports and evacuation information.
- Follow the instructions of local officials. Back your car into the garage or park it in an open space facing the direction of escape.
- Shut car doors and roll up windows.
- Leave the key in the ignition or in another easily accessible location. Close garage windows and doors, but leave them unlocked.
- Disconnect automatic garage door openers.
- Confine pets to one room. Make plans to care for your pets in case you must evacuate. Arrange temporary housing outside the threatened area.
- When advised to evacuate, do so immediately.
- Wear protective clothing – sturdy shoes, cotton or woolen clothing, long pants, a long-sleeved shirt, gloves and a handkerchief to protect your face.
- Take your emergency kit. Lock your home.
- Notify your relatives and the local officials that you have left and where you can be reached.
- Follow the evacuation route that your local officials have identified. If no official route exists, choose a route away from fire hazards.
- Watch for changes in the speed and direction of the fire and smoke.
After a Wildfire Strikes
- Listen to and follow the advice and recommendations of the local aid organizations, including the emergency management office, the fire department and the utility companies.
- Check for hazards such as gas or water leaks and electrical shorts. Turn off damaged utilities.
- Have the fire department or gas and electric companies turn the utilities back on when the area is secured.
- Check for injuries and administer first aid as needed.
- Check your food and water supplies.
- Do not eat anything from open containers near shattered glass.