Fire-Wise Landscapes Can Help Keep Your Home and Property Safe
Choose fire-resistant plants and materials and create defensible areas using these design strategies
Eileen Kelly
30 August 2023
Houzz Contributor. Award-winning landscape designer and owner of Dig Your Garden Landscape Design, a Northern California-based residential landscape design firm. Eileen creates unique landscape and garden designs that compliment the lifestyles of homeowners throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. She excels at designing outdoor living spaces that provide functionality and appeal throughout the seasons, while incorporating drought-tolerant plants and a focus on sustainability. She enjoys sharing her knowledge and experience on various landscape and plant topics pertinent to the California landscape and beyond through the stories written for Houzz. More info at http://www.digyourgarden.com and on her Houzz profile page http://houzz.com/pro/digyourgarden/
Houzz Contributor. Award-winning landscape designer and owner of Dig Your Garden... More
Firescaping incorporates the design of the landscape and property surrounding a home to lessen its susceptibility to fire. This can be achieved through a well-thought-out landscape design plan that specifies less combustible plants, incorporates fire-resistant materials and follows the advice and guidelines determined by fire-safe organizations.
In this article I’ve identified several landscape design strategies as well as some of the guidelines I’ve gathered from various professionals and fire-safe organizations in California. These methods will help keep your property and home safe without having to sacrifice having a beautiful and thriving landscape. For specific guidelines in your area, please refer to your state, county or local fire safety organizations.
In this article I’ve identified several landscape design strategies as well as some of the guidelines I’ve gathered from various professionals and fire-safe organizations in California. These methods will help keep your property and home safe without having to sacrifice having a beautiful and thriving landscape. For specific guidelines in your area, please refer to your state, county or local fire safety organizations.
Planning Your Landscape
Protect your home and property by working with a designer to incorporate fire safety guidelines and “buffer zones,” called defensible spaces, during the landscape design planning stages and beyond. These guidelines usually include the use and proper placement of fire-resistant plants and trees and other fire-resistant materials that you can incorporate into the landscape areas surrounding your home. Creating defensible spaces is also critical for safe access by firefighters.
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Protect your home and property by working with a designer to incorporate fire safety guidelines and “buffer zones,” called defensible spaces, during the landscape design planning stages and beyond. These guidelines usually include the use and proper placement of fire-resistant plants and trees and other fire-resistant materials that you can incorporate into the landscape areas surrounding your home. Creating defensible spaces is also critical for safe access by firefighters.
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Graphic from Cal Fire
Create and maintain defensible space. This infographic shows the recommended defensible space surrounding a home in California. Two zones make up the guidelines for the 100 feet of defensible space, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire).
Zone 1: The home defense zone is within 30 feet of the house. Within this zone you want to remove all dead or dry vegetation, as well as any dead or dying plants, and keep tree branches at least 10 feet from your chimney and other trees. Relocate wood piles into Zone 2.
Zone 2: The reduced fuel zone is 30 to 100 feet from the home, or to the property line. Within this zone make sure you cut or mow annual grass down to a maximum height of 4 inches. Create horizontal spacing between shrubs that are two to six times the shrub’s height, depending on the ground’s slope. Space trees 10 to 30 feet apart, depending on the ground’s slope. Remove all tree branches less than 6 feet from the ground. If shrubs are growing underneath a tree, allow clearance space of at least three times the shrub’s height to the tree’s lowest branch.
These guidelines were created for some regions in California. Check with your local fire jurisdiction to determine the guidelines and laws in your area.
Create and maintain defensible space. This infographic shows the recommended defensible space surrounding a home in California. Two zones make up the guidelines for the 100 feet of defensible space, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire).
Zone 1: The home defense zone is within 30 feet of the house. Within this zone you want to remove all dead or dry vegetation, as well as any dead or dying plants, and keep tree branches at least 10 feet from your chimney and other trees. Relocate wood piles into Zone 2.
Zone 2: The reduced fuel zone is 30 to 100 feet from the home, or to the property line. Within this zone make sure you cut or mow annual grass down to a maximum height of 4 inches. Create horizontal spacing between shrubs that are two to six times the shrub’s height, depending on the ground’s slope. Space trees 10 to 30 feet apart, depending on the ground’s slope. Remove all tree branches less than 6 feet from the ground. If shrubs are growing underneath a tree, allow clearance space of at least three times the shrub’s height to the tree’s lowest branch.
These guidelines were created for some regions in California. Check with your local fire jurisdiction to determine the guidelines and laws in your area.
Incorporate nonflammable hardscape materials. This strategy will create fire-safe zones adjacent to your home and help keep your home safe should a fire approach.
Nonflammable materials include gravel, concrete, stone, steel, decomposed granite and other fire-resistant materials.
Use these materials for walkways, patios, retaining walls, planter edging, driveways or planter bed mulch.
Nonflammable materials include gravel, concrete, stone, steel, decomposed granite and other fire-resistant materials.
Use these materials for walkways, patios, retaining walls, planter edging, driveways or planter bed mulch.
Slow down or stop a fire in its path. This is an important goal in the initial landscape design phase as well as during ongoing maintenance.
- Break up large planting areas with a combination of fire-resistant plants and noncombustible materials.
- Reduce the quantity and the size of plants to reduce the fuel for fire.
- Plant ground covers and shrubs in clumps or groups, rather than in a continuous pattern, to create breaks between them.
- Avoid plant overcrowding to minimize plant competition for available water and nutrients.
- Boulders, rocks, gravel or stone in pathways and as a ground cover for bare spaces help create an effective fire break.
- Deciduous trees are often more fire resistant than evergreen trees because they have a higher moisture content when in leaf.
- A property on a steep slope with larger vegetation requires greater spacing between trees and shrubs than a level property that has smaller and sparse plantings.
Other landscape design features that can slow down or stop a spreading fire:
- Water features, ponds, streams or swimming pools.
- Driveways, walkways, patios and parking areas composed of nonflammable materials.
- A lawn positioned between your home and other plantings. Since drought-stricken areas present other concerns, there are many alternatives to the water-thirsty traditional lawn that are also very effective in slowing down a fire.
Create a fire-safe zone around wood decking. Although decking products not treated with fire retardant are combustible, some decking is not highly combustible on its own, according to Cal Fire. Typically, other fuel sources, such as plant debris or other combustible materials stored under or on top of the deck, as well as combustible vegetation surrounding it, contribute to deck fires. Keep this in mind during fire season, and maintain your decks to keep them free of easily-ignited materials such as leaves and needles that accumulate between the deck boards, along the home’s siding and below the deck.
If you have your heart set on a new wood deck, look for wood that is treated with a fire retardant or other fire-resistant building material. A fully enclosed deck will offer added protection by eliminating a heat trap below it.
Another good tactic is to isolate the deck from fire by adding noncombustible materials, such as stone, concrete or gravel, along the front sides and below the deck to create a fire barrier.
If you have your heart set on a new wood deck, look for wood that is treated with a fire retardant or other fire-resistant building material. A fully enclosed deck will offer added protection by eliminating a heat trap below it.
Another good tactic is to isolate the deck from fire by adding noncombustible materials, such as stone, concrete or gravel, along the front sides and below the deck to create a fire barrier.
Planting Your Landscape
Choose fire-resistant plants. There are no fireproof plants, but plants that possess a high moisture content are more fire-resistant. Many native plants are considered to be among the most fire-resistant plant for fire-prone regions.
Typically, native trees and shrubs are adapted to their native regions, deep-rooted and proficient at acquiring water from the soil and retaining it in their leaves. There are also many non-native plants that posses fire-resistant qualities. Some characteristics of fire-resistant plants:
Read more about plants native to your area
Choose fire-resistant plants. There are no fireproof plants, but plants that possess a high moisture content are more fire-resistant. Many native plants are considered to be among the most fire-resistant plant for fire-prone regions.
Typically, native trees and shrubs are adapted to their native regions, deep-rooted and proficient at acquiring water from the soil and retaining it in their leaves. There are also many non-native plants that posses fire-resistant qualities. Some characteristics of fire-resistant plants:
- They have moist and supple leaves.
- They have little dead wood and tend not to accumulate dry wood and leaves.
- Sap or resin properties are low.
Read more about plants native to your area
Add succulents. By now, most people are aware of the drought-tolerant and easy-care benefits of succulent plants. Besides these favorable attributes, succulents are also extremely fire-resistant. Succulents and cactuses store water in their leaves, stems and roots, making them some of the top fire-resistant plant choices. Many succulents require frost-free regions to live, but there are also species that survive in low temperatures. Check with your local nurseries for succulent varieties that thrive in your region.
In a conversation I had with author and succulent expert Debra Lee Baldwin, she shared a story recounting how a grouping of succulents had shielded a vulnerable corner of a Southern California home during a devastating wildfire years ago. The homeowner says that the flames came within 6 feet of her home and then stopped.
She attributed the fire’s halt to the succulent Aloe arborescens, ironically called torch aloe, shown here. This aloe can reach 4 to 8 feet tall and wide and grows in USDA zones 9 to 11 (find your zone). Baldwin further explained that the fleshy leaves of succulents may cook in the fire, but they don’t burst into flames or spread the fire, thanks to their juicy water-holding attributes.
She attributed the fire’s halt to the succulent Aloe arborescens, ironically called torch aloe, shown here. This aloe can reach 4 to 8 feet tall and wide and grows in USDA zones 9 to 11 (find your zone). Baldwin further explained that the fleshy leaves of succulents may cook in the fire, but they don’t burst into flames or spread the fire, thanks to their juicy water-holding attributes.
In addition to their drought-tolerant benefits and striking architectural beauty, succulent plants, along with noncombustible ground covers and hardscape materials, can serve as an effective and attractive “living safety shield” and offer added protection against fire to a home and its surroundings.
See more Houzz guides to growing succulents
See more Houzz guides to growing succulents
You can see the eucalyptus trees shredding bark and the debris scattered beneath — deadly fuel for a fire, left. Juniper is shown, right, with unmaintained tall dry grass — two unwanted fire fuel companions.
Avoid highly flammable plants. Shrubs and trees that contain resins or oils in their stems, leaves or needles are highly flammable. Some of the offenders include juniper shrubs and eucalyptus, pine, spruce and fir trees.
Tasmanian blue gum eucalyptus (Eucalyptus globulus) is one of the most flammable trees and is capable of releasing a flammable gas that sends out fireballs during a fire.
Juniper shrubs (Juniperus spp.) also contain flammable, volatile oils and accumulate dry leaves and needles, and they burn fast in a fire.
Check with local fire-safe resources for the fire-prone plants and trees to avoid using in your region.
Consider Avoiding These Plants to Help Keep Your Garden Fire-Safe
Avoid highly flammable plants. Shrubs and trees that contain resins or oils in their stems, leaves or needles are highly flammable. Some of the offenders include juniper shrubs and eucalyptus, pine, spruce and fir trees.
Tasmanian blue gum eucalyptus (Eucalyptus globulus) is one of the most flammable trees and is capable of releasing a flammable gas that sends out fireballs during a fire.
Juniper shrubs (Juniperus spp.) also contain flammable, volatile oils and accumulate dry leaves and needles, and they burn fast in a fire.
Check with local fire-safe resources for the fire-prone plants and trees to avoid using in your region.
Consider Avoiding These Plants to Help Keep Your Garden Fire-Safe
Maintaining Your Landscape
- Prune all trees so that the lowest limbs are 6 to 10 feet off the ground.
- Remove dead branches and debris in trees and shrubs and around all plantings.
- Remove dead and dying plants.
- Use a fire-resistant mulch material or gravel in planting beds to help retain the moisture in the soil.
- Keep your irrigation system well-maintained.
- Familiarize yourself with local fire-safe regulations and recommendations regarding vegetation clearances.
- In low- or no-summer rain regions, be sure to keep plants irrigated. For native trees and shrubs that are not on a scheduled irrigation cycle, deep irrigate at least once per month, or as needed.
Other Fire-Wise Maintenance Practices
In the event of a fire, you can reduce how quickly the fire spreads and increase the survival of your home, your landscape and your family. There is a wealth of valuable information available through countless fire-safe organizations worldwide to further guide you.
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Read more landscape design guides
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Work with a landscape contractor in your area
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- The roof is one of the most vulnerable structures of a home during a wildfire. Fire-retardant roofing materials are of prime importance for protection and fire prevention.
- Keep tree limbs at least 10 feet from rooftops, chimneys, power lines and other structures.
- Keep leaves and other debris off of roofs and eaves.
- Keep your home’s gutters free of leaves and needles, as they can easily ignite.
In the event of a fire, you can reduce how quickly the fire spreads and increase the survival of your home, your landscape and your family. There is a wealth of valuable information available through countless fire-safe organizations worldwide to further guide you.
More on Houzz
Read more landscape design guides
Browse thousands of outdoor photos
Work with a landscape contractor in your area
Shop for outdoor products
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Just ran across this article. Thanks for an excellent checklist of to-dos and reminders for the run-up to wildfire season in Southern California. ( Well, EVERY season is wildfire season in SoCal.)
Very pertinent topic even up here in the no-longer-so-wet-and-rainy Pacific Northwest. Our local fire dept will freely come out to assess properties and suggest fire defensible buffers. I’m curious but haven’t yet asked my agent if home insurers give discount for fire reduction improvements. I need to reroof and will be asking contractors about fire resistant materials. Following a home remodel, I hope to focus on my landscape. It seems I‘ll have to find some balance between my desire to create a wildlife friendly habitat (which is now some years in process) and being fire smart. Thank you for an informative article. I hope we’ll see updates and further suggestions here.
Take it from an Aussie who has been through many bushfires as we call them. Gum (eucalyptus) trees do indeed turn into flame throwers! Our governments, both state and local, now have in place for new builds especially very similar rules to what was highlighted in this article. Old builds need to be up to standard with fuel (leaves, bark etc) to be raked up regularly. Homes themselves are encouraged by our BAL rulings (a rating of where you live and how the risk of fire is) to replace flyscreen mesh with steel instead of fibreglass, and so many other home issues. So, take heed!