Helpful Tips On Fire Prevention For Your Home
Short-Term Tactics
Defensible Space: Defensible space is the area around a home, which is planted and maintained to provide a buffer zone against wildfire, and to provide firefighters access and room to protect the home. The width of acceptable defensible area depends on the steepness of the slope and the type of vegetation adjacent to the home. The steeper the slope and the heavier the vegetation the wider the defensible space needed. Under optimum conditions the minimum width should not be less than 30 feet. In some extreme instances this width could be as much as 300 feet. Fire departments and local nurseries can provide more detailed information and a list of fire-resistant plants for landscaping needs.
Home Maintenance: Maintaining the exterior of your home can greatly reduce the risk of fire. Roofs and gutters should be cleaned regularly. Trees and shrubs should be kept pruned, and dried vegetation and debris should be cleared away from foundations and underneath decks.
Smoke Alarms: Interior smoke alarms are one of the most inexpensive ways to protect family and home from fire. Smoke detectors should be installed on every level of the home, next to bedrooms and tested monthly.
Long-Term Tactics
Eaves: Eaves should be enclosed with fire-retardant soffits, non-combustible materials or one-hour fire resistant construction. Fire advancing on a home can easily be trapped under the eaves and other overhangs until it gains access to the attic or other interior spaces. Attic vents should be relocated from under the eaves to gable or roof areas. Prefabricated attic vents for gable roof applications are available.
Windows: Radiant heat can pass through windows and ignite combustible materials inside the home. Double- or triple-paned windows not only help to insulate a home and reduce heating and cooling expenses, they also act as a barrier to fire penetrating the interior of a home.
Chimneys: Chimneys should include an approved spark arrester and be located at least 30 feet from tree limbs. Regular maintenance and cleaning is also important.
Sprinklers: Automatic, quick-responding residential fire sprinklers have proven to be more than 90 percent effective in residential fires by controlling them while they’re still small and in many cases extinguishing them. When a wildfire is threatening a home, sprinklers have helped deny it any foothold. This is partially accomplished by keeping combustible interior construction features and furnishings wet and cool. In recent years, residential sprinkler systems have become an affordable option for homeowners.
Siding: Fire-retardant siding is one of the best investments homeowners can make to protect their home while greatly enhancing its appearance. There are many fire-resistant siding materials on the market including brick cladding and concrete shingles.