Native Americans have used fire to influence landscapes for millennia. But following Euro-American settlement all fires were quickly suppressed and the use of beneficial fire ceased to occur. Without fire to maintain a healthy balance, forests have become overly dense and even unhealthy. We now recognize the important ecological role that both wildfire and prescribed fire play in maintaining healthy ecosystems throughout Oregon. As present day population continues to increase, and homes and communities expand to new areas intermixed with wildlands (called the "Wildland Urban Interface, or WUI"), we are faced with a complex challenge of how best to live with fire. This article provides resources for what you can do to protect what you care about most before a wildfire occurs in your area.
What to do BEFORE a wildfire:
Is your property at risk from wildfire? No matter your rating, it is important to prepare for wildfire.
The "Home Ignition Zone, or HIZ" includes structures and their surroundings out to 100-200 feet depending on slope. Creating defensible space within the HIZ can help prepare you for wildfire.
- The Oregon State Fire Marshal has created a defensible space checklist to help you prioritize. Following these recommendations can increase the likelihood that your structure - like your home or business - will survive a wildfire.
- Do you own land? A Land Manager's Guide for Creating Fire-Resistant Forests is a must-have publication. This publication provides an overview of how various silviculture treatments affect fuel and fire behavior, and how to create fire-resistant forests. Get information on reducing hazardous fuels by thinning, pruning and other treatments.
- Oregon State University Extension provides information on Keeping Your Home and Property Safe from Wildfire: A Defensible Space and Fuel Reduction Guide for Homeowners and Landowners. This guide is a comprehensive primer for homeowners and landowners to prepare and respond to wildfires. Other great, comprehensive resources are The Home Ignition Zone: Protecting Your Property from Wildfire and a video from The Oregon Department of Forestry on How to Make Your Home and Property Fire-Safe.
- While creating defensible space around your structures think about proper plant selection and placement, Fire-Resistant Plants for Home Landscapes: Reduce Wildfire Risk with Proper Plant Selection and Placement. Need more tips for around your home? Check out Firewise information aimed at wildfire readiness in communities.
Don't forget about home hardening. Hardening a home/structure is the process of reducing a structure's risk to wildfire by using non-combustible building materials and keeping the area immediately around your structure free of combustible materials and organic debris.
- Home hardening addresses the most vulnerable components of your house with building materials and installation techniques that increase resistance to heat, flames, and embers that accompany most wildfires. Oregon's Building Codes Division has created a fire hardening guide to assist with proper selection and techniques.
- Watch the recording of Prioritizing your home hardening approach presented by OSU Extension's Fire Program.
Make a plan! Planning, preparing, and practicing can make leaving for an evacuation quicker, easier, and safer for residents and first responders.
- Register for your local emergency alert system at OR-Alert (available in multiple languages) or go directly to your county sheriff or county emergency management website.This will help you stay informed of real-time hazard information.
- Be Ready, Be Set, Go Now! are Oregon's evacuation levels. The Oregon Department of Emergency Management has created a wildfire evacuation checklist.
- Don't forget to make an evacuation plan for your animals, too! Check with the Oregon Department of Agriculture website for shelter options and other resources.
- Make a go-kit. Visit Ready.gov or American Red Cross for recommended emergency kit items.
- Care for your mental health. OSU's Fire Program developed a preparedness booklet for Spanish speaking communities called Our Future in Our Hands that covers mental health (available in both English and Spanish).
- Finally, find out about your county's Community Wildfire Protection Plan. CWPPs help communities address wildfire response, community preparedness, and structure protection.
