Think FIRE Before You Build in Forest or Grassland

[MountainDon]

Sometimes I keep my mouth shut when I see things others do here on the forum. Other times I don't. 

We had a recent brush with forest fire.  Over the past year or so I've noted a few projects, that to me, needed some ground clean up to be fire safe. Maybe I'm more aware as I've spent a couple decades living near and traveling in dry desert and mountain regions in the southwest.

The first thing we did when we got our mountain property was to begin cleaning it up. It took us 2 years, but the work paid off big time starting at noon this past Friday and for the next 6-7 hours. I complained mightily and frequently at the endless number of trailer loads we hauled from our land to our friendly neighbors nearby gravel burn pit. However, we were both smiling big time when we got up there and were greeted by the sight of blackened ground right up to the property line, while our side just smelled bad. The smell will pass fairly soon, the potential loss of a building or two, plus RV could be harder to recover from.

So I'm not going to name names right now. However, in the future I'll not hesitate to be helpfully critical. Take a good look around your place. To paraphrase PEG, "think like fire".

Defensible space info

and here...
http://www.losalamosnm.us/emo/Pages/WildFiresDefensible.aspx

http://aces.nmsu.edu/defensible_zone/protect/zone.html



Several years worth of pine needles will easily flame up 3-4 feet. Ditto grasslands.

Forests are a natural place to use un-natural cement fiber board siding and metal roofing.

[Beavers]

Sometimes I keep my mouth shut when I see things others do here on the forum. Other times I don't.

IMO one of the best things about this place is the advice of the more experienced folks here.

If I'm doing something stupid or unsafe I would be grateful to have someone tell me about it, before it comes back to bite me in the ass! 

[MountainDon]

My thoughts on cleaning up the building site are also applicable to keeping the site free from an accumulation of construction debris as you build as well. You know, all those 2x cut offs, scraps of OSB or plywood, that sort of stuff. 


Clean up at the end of each work day.

[John Raabe]

Good reminder Don!

I need to remind myself that encroachment happens just by living in the woods.

There is more flammable material closer to the house each year.

In 1949 a devastating fire went through right where I stand...

[waggin]

Like Don said, "Think like fire."  Did you know that a significant percentage of fires start when something airborne (and burning) comes to rest on a structure or goes up under an eave?  Screening on soffit vents is critical.  If you have gutters or valleys that collect leaves & needles, keep them cleaned out.  Also, a wood fence attached to a building might as well be a fuse if it goes into an area w/burnable material.  Stacking firewood against the structure is a big no-no.  Storing lumber underneath your cabin?  Not such a great plan.  What's under your wood deck or porch?  Remove trees close to your structure.  Out farther, keep trees spaced out and limbed up.  Beyond the structure itself, think siting of the structure on the land.  SW slopes are drier.  Steep slopes and even the approximately 100' back from the top can be a hazard zone. 

Your area may have a rural stewardship program.  If it does, check to see what kinds of classes and resources they offer.  Odds are, you can get some priceless education and assistance for little or no money.

Unfortunately, my site is going to be right at the top of a steep slope, so I will have to employ all the fire-wise management of the land that I can, plus build something as fire-resistant as possible.

[MountainDon]

Here in NM the state forestry department will come out to your property to offer advise. Ditto the US Forest Service if you have land near forest service land.

There may be a program available to assist with the cost of having land professionally thinned.


I actually considered building the cabin with no overhanging eves because eves are a fire catcher. Instead I decided to use cement fiber soffit and fascia materials in addition to the wall siding. I did reduce the amount of end overhang but made the side overhang generous for rain, snow and sun shading reasons.


Slopes will cause a fire to lean in the uphill direction of the slope making for self drafting fires. In our location the predominant winds also blow up the slope from the south although northerlies are also common.

[MushCreek]

That's great advice! We're planning on pushing the woods back from our build in SC, mostly because ice storms pose a real risk of dropping a big tree on your house, but it's safer from a fire standpoint as well. I've already decided to go fiber cement and metal roofing from a maintenance angle, but the fire proofing is important, too. When I walk through my woods on a dry winter day, I wonder what it would look like if the foot of dry leaves was ignited....

[bayview]

   Sorry to hear about the fire . . .   

   Was glad that none of your buildings - RV were damaged.

/

[diyfrank]

Good stuff Don.

I have a lot to do on my place, it'll take some time to get there.