Preparation

Preparation

There is not much that can be done about a home’s exterior construction without exorbitant costs, but a few simple actions may help save your structure.

• Clean the roof and gutters on your home or RV. Dried leaves and pine needles are perfect materials to catch on fire quickly. • Clean out flammable materials underneath your deck and RV. • Make sure there is no vegetation touching any structures. • Consider your out building construction type and what is stored in it. Think of combustibles inside that once ignited will make the fire go from small to explosive. LP tanks, gasoline, lawn chemicals, or fertilizers are all potential significant fire hazards. • Have your house number easily visible from the street so that emergency services can find you both during the day and night. • Keep 50-100 feet of hose readily available at a faucet away from the structure.

• Have tools such as a shovel, rake, handsaw, bucket, and fire extinguisher easily assessable.

Your Landscaping: Lean, Clean, and Green

The goal of Firewise landscaping is to create and maintain a minimum of a 30-foot safety zone around the home or RV.

This “defensible space” safety zone increases the likelihood that a home or RV will survive a wildfire, even in the absence of firefighters.

Remember, that you must have written permission to remove any living shrubs or trees beyond your property line. Contact CSA if you have questions about removal and consult the Architectural Review Board before making landscape changes.

This 30-foot defensible space does not need to be devoid of shrubs and trees, but should be wisely landscaped with plants known to be less-flammable, separated by walkways and grassed areas.

The defensible space breaks up the continuity of any vegetation that might otherwise bring fire from adjacent wildlands to the structure. This space also provides room for firefighters to safely work to defend a structure.

• Defensible space should extend 30 feet outward from the home or RV.

• Remove any “ladder fuels”. Ladder fuels are vines and shrubs that can carry a ground fire up into the treetops. • Remove downed branches, dead palm fronds, and pine needles to the curb for CSA pickup. • Prune tree limbs so the lowest branches are more than 6 to 10 feet from the ground. • Remove large groupings of highly flammable plants especially if the plants are close to the home or RV, adjacent to decks or porches, or under eaves or overhangs. See the tables on the next page for comparisons of plant flammability. • Use lava stone or coarse gravel around any shrubbery next to the structure instead of flammable mulch like bark or wood chips.

LESS-FLAMMABLE SHRUBS Agave* Aloe*

Anise* Azalea* Beauty Berry* Camellia Century Plant* Coontie* Hydrangea Indian Hawthorne Oakleaf Hydrangea* Oleander Philodendron Pittosporum Pyracantha Red Yucca* Viburnum*

LESS-FLAMMABLE TREES

Ash* Basswood* Black Cherry* Blue Beech* Catalpa* Citrus Crepe Myrtle Dogwood* Elm* Green Button* Gumbo-Limbo* Hawthorne* Hophornbeam* Jacaranda Loquat Magnolia* Mahogany* Maple* Oaks* Peach Pecan* Persimmon* Pigeon Plum* Plum* Red Bay* Red Mulberry* Redbud* River Birch* Satin Leaf* Sea Grape* Silver Button* Sparkleberry Sweet Gum* Sweet Acacia* Sycamore* Tabebuia Viburnum* Willow* Winged Elm* Pindo Palm Alexander Palm Sago Palm Queen Palm King Sago Palm Pygmy Date Palm

MORE-FLAMMABLE TREES AND SHRUBS

American Holly* Arborvitae Arizona Cypress

Bald Cypress* Boxwood*

Cabbage Palm* Gall berry* Italian Cypress Juniper* Leyland Cypress Melaleuca Pampas Grass Pines* Red Cedar* Saw Palmetto* Wax Myrtle* Yaupon Holly* Yew

*Florida natives that require less care once established