UNDERSTAND WILDLAND VS URBAN FIRE

Hardening your home is the most important thing you can do to protect it from wildland/urban fire. This is a five foot noncombustible bubble around, above, and even below your home! Things to look out for include: modern roof, covered gutters, double pane windows, no firewood on your deck, etc. For (sub)urban homeowners who don't have defensible space, home hardening will be your top priority.

This is your lawn and garden space. In this zone, you still want to avoid highly flammable plants or mulches that could have a tall flame within reach of your home. If you have excitable plants like junipers, just keep them in the outer edges of this zone. Keep this area trimmed up and free of unnecessary hazards like wood piles, trash cans, stacked construction materials, or vehicles/boats. 

*Unlike these images, keep potted plants away from the sides of your home.

Few homeowners in western states have a home on a half acre lot - the size you need to ensure the perfect amount of defensible space (assuming you're right square in the middle of the lot with equal spacing all the way around).

On your average one acre lot, or city block, you have 4-10 homes. In high density urban areas, it can be 20 homes. That doesn't give you the space you need to protect you from anything, let alone jumping flames and radiant heat.

Technically defined as 1-250 structures (cars, homes, sheds) per square mile, which equates to 1 home , these homes now have the advantage. It is much easier to remove some plants than it is to remove some neighboring houses.... 

Homes in this zone can harden their homes and have adequate defensible space, allowing them a significantly higher chance of survival. Less cooperation is needed between neighbors.

60,000+ communities and approximately 115 Million Americans live in the wildland urban interface. 

Technically defined as 30-250 structures per square mile, and/or communities within 1.5 miles of wildlands, it was incorrectly assumed to only apply to rural forest communities for many decades. We are now realizing that more communities are risk than we ever thought possible. Cooperation between neighbors, and community stakeholders, is essential.

Though still part of the Wildland Urban Interface, high density urban areas were always considered safe from wildfire because they were "in town" and not part of the "wild" or "rural" areas.

Early fuel and fire behavior models always showed fires magically stopping at the urban boundaries, leading us to this false sense of security, when the reality is, in extreme fire events, houses are still fuel, response teams get overwhelmed, and these areas become our most dangerous infernos.

Mogollan Rim (Ponderosa Pine Savannah) 

5-20yr fire return interval

Flagstaff, Payson, Show Low, Prescott

Sonoran Desert (Lowland Scrub Desert) 

100-1000+yr fire return interval
Phoenix, Tuscon, Casa Grande, Marana

increasing fire return with invasive species like cheatgrass, buffelgrass, and saltcedar.

Sky Islands (High Elevation Forests) 

10-50yr fire return interval

Mt. Lemmon, Chiricahua Mountains, Coronado National Forest area

Coastal Range ( )

Crescent City, Fort Bragg, SF

Cascades & Klamath ()

Yreka, Redding, Chico

Eastern Cascades ()

Modoc Plateau, Mammoth, Alturas

Sierra Nevada ()

Lake Tahoe

Central Coastal Mountains  & Central Foothills ()

Napa, San Jose Bay Area, Monterey

Central Valley ()

Sacramento, San Joaquin Valley, Fresno, Bakersfield

Central Basin ()

Bridgeport, Bishop

Northern Basin ()

Ft Bidwell, Menlo Baths

SoCal Mountains ()

Ojai, Santa Clarita, Big Bear, Palm Desert

Baja Coast ()

LA, Santa Ana, San Diego

Mojave Basin ()

Death Valley, Ridgecrest, Victorville, Vidal

Sonoran Basin ()

Blythe, Ocotillo, Salton Sea

Wyoming Basin ()

x

Colorado Plateau ()

x

Southern Rockies ()

x

Arizona/New Mexico Plateau ()

x

High Plains ()

x

Southwestern Tablelands ()

x

Southern Coastal Plain ()

Panama City Beach, Jacksonville, Fort Myers, Port St. Lucie

Southern Florida Coastal Plain ()

Miami, West Palm Beach, Everglades, Fort Meyers

Southeastern Plains ()

Tallahassee, Pensacola, Crestview

Columbia Plateau ()

x

Blue Mountains ()

x

Snake River Plains ()

x

Northern Rockies ()

x

Idaho Batholith ()

x

Middle Rockies ()

x

Northern Basin ()

x

Northern/Canadian Rockies ()

x

Eureka, Whitefish, Kalispell, Missoula

Idaho Batholith ()

x

Middle Rockies ()

x

Glaciated & Great Plains ()

Billings, Great Falls, Cut Bank, Plentywood, Glendive, Colstrip

Ridge & Valley ()

x

Northeastern Highlands ()

x

Northern Piedmont ()

x

Altantic Coastal Pine Barrens ()

x

Middle Atlantic Coastal Plains ()

x

Colorado Plateau ()

x

Southern Rockies ()

x

AZ/NM Plateau ()

x

AZ/NM Mountains ()

x

Chihuahuan Desert ()

x

High Plains ()

x

Southwestern Tablelands ()

x

High Plains

Southwestern Tablelands

South Central Plains

Ouachita Mountains

Arkansas Valley

Boston Mountains

Ozark Highlands

Central Irregular Plains

Coast Range

Willamette Valley

Cascades & Klamath Mountains

Eastern Cascades

Columbia Plateau

Blue Mountains

Northern Basin Range

Chihuahua Desert

High Plains

Southwestern Tablelands

Central Great Plains

Cross Timbers

Edwards Plateau

Southern Texas Plains

Laredo, Hondo

Blackland Prairies

Dallas, Austin, San Antonio

East Central Texas Plains

Western Gulf Coastal Plains

Houston, Corpus Christie

Southern Central Plains

Central Basin Range

Wasatch & Uinta Mountains

Colorado Plateau

Coastal Range

Puget Sound

Cascades & Eastern Cascades

Columbia Plateau

Northern Rockies

Northern Cascades

Middle Rockies

Southern Rockies

Wyoming Basin

High Plains

Northwestern Great Plains