Following these simple steps can dramatically increase the chance of your home surviving a wildfire!

• Create a DEFENSIBLE SPACE of 100 feet around your home. The area closest to your home is the most important.
• Try to get 10 to 15 feet of spacing, both vertically and horizontally between shrubs, large plants, and trees. If you have 4 foot high brush underneath larger trees with limbs, limb up the tree at least 14 feet. Breaks like this in the vegetation help to slow down an advancing fire and gives firefighters a fighting chance.
• Plan your landscape to eliminate a continuous path of vegetation. Do not have any combustible fuel within three feet of your home.
• For landscaping purposes, use of irrigated fire resistant plants is encouraged. Green lawn, rock, stone, and other materials can be used to create an attractive and fire safe landscape.
• Clear all vegetation and other flammable materials from beneath your deck. Enclose undersides of elevated decks with fire resistant building materials, or with screen mesh with openings no greater than 1 /4 inch.
• Keep trees trimmed at least 10 feet from your chimney and trim all dead limbs hanging over your house or garage.
• Clean all needles and leaves from the roof, eaves, and rain gutters.
• Maintain your landscaping with regular watering and weeding to keep it fire safe. More than 1,700 structures are destroyed by wildfire each year. Don't become a statistic.
• Be Fire Safe! Contact your local fire department, or Fire Safe Council for tips and assistance. http://www.fire.ca.gov.