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Modoc Country Living - Wildfire ProtectionWildfire protection must always be a top consideration while enjoying the peace and quiet of country living. Wildfires are near the top of the danger list and the need for adequate wildfire protection is paramount. Just about any country environment normally provides ample amounts of two of the three sides of the fire triangle, oxygen and fuel. The other leg of the triangle that is needed to produce fire is heat. Remove any one of the legs of the triangle, and fire is extinguished. As its difficult to smother larger fires to remove the oxygen leg, effective wildfire protection focuses on mitigating or removing the other two triangle legs. Fuel and heat are the two components of any fire that are capable of being managed by man. Of the two, fuel elimination or management is the one an individual property owner can most easily control. Of course heat can also be readily managed by man, but often is not within an individual property owner's control. This page is intended to provide information, tips and guidelines on wildfire protection and prevention for property owners enjoying country living. Follow this link to more details on wildfire basics and see the necessity to make wildfire protection a high priority for enjoyable country living. Protection from wildfires starts with using common sense and practicing fire prevention efforts. Like many folks who relocate to the country from a metropolitan area, I view open burning as a valuable tool in helping me carve my niche out of the countryside. Also, being able to burn tree trimming debris and yard waste has brought back fond childhood memories of growing up in a semi-rural area of the Sacramento Valley. The smell of leaves burning in the fall just smacks of country living! Being able to incinerate paper waste in a burn-barrel or burn tree cuttings and leaves gave me a new sense of the freedom of country living. With that country living freedom also comes responsibilities. Not everyone assumes those responsibilities effortlessly. A close friend of mine recently related the following to me. My witnessed a new neighbor as he was cleaning up his home site after construction of a new manufactured home. The gentleman had limbed up a lot of juniper trees on his few acres near his new home (a very smart move), and prepared to burn the debris. It was January in the off-season for burning. Even though its very cold, the winter of 2006-2007 has been a dry one, and dry vegetation, especially juniper trees burn easily; no they explode! A few minutes after lighting the pile that was dangerously close to dry grass, other trees and a power pole, it ignited and quickly built with flames climbing almost as tall as the pole. This guy had no water source and only a few hand tools to control the fire. About the time my friend was going to go warn this guy, the rural fire department trucks roared up, sirens wailing. The firemen chewed the guy out, got his fire under control and gave him a warning. If it happens again, it's going to cost him. As a word of caution, if you weren't raised here or are otherwise unsure, check with the local fire department or the CDF before commencing any kind of burning. Open burning is usually allowed during the off-season generally between October and April as long as it's done safely and with wildfire protection in mind. Burn restrictions including permits are required from April to July, and open burning is banned from July until it starts getting wetter, usually around October or November. If you don't use common sense and break the rules, an innocent act of burning dry leaves could cost you endangered lives, lost property and money. If the fire authorities cite you for unsafe or illegal burning, they could fine you and charge you for the cost of their services. Fire is an integral part of the forest ecosystem, and is used by nature to clean up a forest's natural debris. When immigrants first started settling in the Americas, they quite understandably viewed wildfire as a danger to life and crops rather than one of nature's tools. Early settlers attempted to completely eliminate fires when they started, no matter where they were burning. They extinguished fires as soon as they could, and yes, they did practice wildfire protection techniques. This mindset and method of dealing with wildland fires continued well into the twentieth century. Many forestry managers, scientists and environmentalists now realize the value of managing wildland fires rather than trying to eliminate them completely. Today, wildfires burning in uninhabited areas are most likely allowed to burn themselves out rather than risking firefighters' lives extinguishing them. This practice saves lives, time and money while at the same time allowing nature to run its course in managing forestlands. Wildfire protection practices and fire management efforts become important and are pursued in the urban-rural or wildland-urban interface. These areas are rural or forested in nature but settled and populated by people. Wildfire protection and prevention in these areas is mandatory, and any active wildfire must be extinguished or diverted.
As seen in these photos (courtesy of U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency [FEMA]), a wildfire can be devastating to anything in its path. When only wildlands are in its path, a wildfire is a beneficial act of nature, ridding forests of natural debris. If people are living in its path, the results can be deadly. Wildfire protection in nature is provided by nature itself in the form of bodies of water, rocks and other non-combustible areas. In the wildland-urban interface man is responsible for wildfire protection.
Remember the fire triangle. Although a combustible material is needed as fuel to combine with oxygen and heat to start a fire, once a wildfire starts it takes on a life of its own. During a fire, what actually burns is not the grass, trees, bushes, or other combustible material. Rather, the extreme heat causes a chemical reaction between the heat and fuel that produces a gas. The gas is what actually fuels a wildfire and keeps it on its destructive path. Grass, trees and brush are not necessarily the only combustible material in a fire's path through the wildland-urban interface. Almost all dwellings and buildings are constructed of combustible materials, so they too can be fuel for a wildfire. This is where wildfire protection becomes personally critical to individual homeowners.
Protection from fire in public areas such as National Forests and parks is the responsibility of official agencies. In California, the California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection or (CDF) is the lead agency for wildfire protection in public areas. They also usually spearhead most wildfire fighting efforts in California. On privately owned property, the landowner assumes the primary responsibility for wildfire protection and prevention. CDF takes over in fighting any active wildfire on private land. As fuel is the leg of the fire triangle most easily managed by individuals, wildfire protection efforts are primarily focused on managing potential fuel sources closest to dwellings and adjacent outbuildings. To come up with an effective wildfire protection project, start with planning first. Country living usually means having larger areas around your home to protect. Our property size is 20 acres, and while I would like to make the whole parcel fire-safe, it's unrealistic to think I can manage that large an area. While not impossible, it is also extremely difficult to clear all potential combustibles on adjacent private or public land. You will achieve your best results if you simply follow accepted guidelines and concentrate on the areas closest to your home. Adequate wildfire protection is an integral and necessary part of country living. The Modoc country living environment provides two of the three sides of the fire triangle in abundance. The other leg, heat, is potentially always at hand. Put them all together, and you have the danger of a devastating wildfire. An effective wildfire protection plan removes much of the fuel from your protected area, and lessens the danger of the third, heat. This page should start you on your way to forming a wildfire protection plan, and creating your own defensible space.
Prevention of fire and protection from it are not unique to any one location. The same techniques work well no matter where in the world you live. Follow this link to see how similar practices work in other parts of the world. Read on for details on creating a defensible space around your country home as part of your wildfire protection plan. With an effective wildfire protection plan in place, you can continue to enjoy peaceful country living.
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