Colorado’s fire season poses some serious risks to homeowners. In 2012, the firefighters evacuated more than 34,000 people from their homes after a wildfire started. Property damage reached into the tens of millions of dollars.
Even though you personally can’t stop a wildfire once it’s started, you can protect your property. To protect your family, use firescaping, a home landscaping technique designed for dry climates prone to wildfires.
We outline five firescaping methods that can mitigate the spread of wildfire on your property this summer. Read on to learn more.
1. Remove Combustible Materials and Keep Up With Maintenance
Colorado has a reputation for its towering pine trees. Despite their awe-inspiring size and girth, most evergreens shed a huge amount of combustible material. Pine needles, fallen bark, and broken branches can form a flammable ground cover that you do not want near your home.
Check the trees and bushes in your yard for fallen debris, and clean your yard regularly in the spring and summer. Also remember to trim branches to leave at least a 10-foot space between any tree and your home. Keep wood piles away from the side of your house where fire could catch. We also recommend that cut your lawn and water your plants regularly. Dry, dehydrated grass and plants can catch fire and allow it to spread quickly.
2. Put Patio, Pool, and Garden in the Most At-Risk Area of Your Yard
Certain sections of your yard get more sun and wind exposure than the rest of your property. Dry plants or wide open areas are prone to wildfire. Plan to build your patio, install your pool, or plant your garden in these dryer parts of your yard.
For each of these measures, you add a non-combustible space into a highly combustible area. If a wildfire blows through your property and hits your pool, it won’t have the space or the fuel to continue in its path toward your home.
3.Build Boundaries from Non-combustible Materials
Use stones, flat rocks, gravel, pebbles, and other non-combustible materials to create walkways throughout your yard. We also recommend using non-combustible materials to build retaining walls and boundaries around your garden.
4. Check for Flammable Trees and Bushes
Some plants are more flammable than others. As fire season approaches, you need to make a decision about the trees and bushes on your property. Will you leave them all? Or will you sort through the most flammable flora and then remove them?
To test for flammable trees and shrubs, pick off a small branch from every plant in your yard. Stick each twig into flame of your gas stove and see how quickly it catches fire. Don’t have a gas stove? Use a lighter.
Highly flammable trees and bushes will catch fire immediately. Fire retardant trees and bushes won’t easily catch fire, but their bark will blacken. Some of the most flammable trees in Colorado include pines, spruces, and Junipers.
Ultimately, it’s your decision to remove flammable trees and bushes from your property. We do recommend removing flammable flora that’s within 10 feet of your home.
5. Plant Fire-Resistant Flora
Fire retardant plants, slow-growing plants with high moisture content, can create a heat barrier around your home. They offer less fuel for wildfire, and they can slow down wildfires before they reach your house.
The Colorado State University Extension published a list of what that organization calls “FireWise plants,” a group of fire retardant plants recommended for Front Range residents. We highly advise that you review the CSU extension’s FireWise plant list when you are getting ready for planting season this year.
We hope these firescaping tips give you peace of mind and, in the case of a bad fire season, help to protect your home and garden. Contact a Denver-based landscaping company for assistance with firescaping your property.