Defensible space — the buffer you create between a building on your property and the grass, trees, shrubs, or any wildland area that surround it.
When we built our first house we were told the space should be 25 feet from the house. That didn’t work very well:
July 18, 2011
So we, especially Torben, have been working towards 50 feet instead of 25. He has been building slash piles to burn in bonfires when they come in winter.
November 23, 2013
November 23, 2013
Unfortunately that hasn’t worked for the past two years, the first year because it was too dry to burn safely, then this year because we were snowed out. So some slash piles are still waiting.
Also, the new suggestion seems to be that 50 feet isn’t enough, it should be more like a hundred because all the fallen trees have greatly increased the fuel load,
And the fire season has already started. There was a small fire on Cochiti Mesa, the mesa across the valley from us, Sunday — even though they had snow and hail the day before. The La Cueva Fire Department (about 30 miles/over 50 minutes away) sent 5 or 6 trucks to put it out.
As usual, fingers crossed!
April 16, 2019
It makes a lot of sense to give yourself some room, especially if there is a lot of fuel loading.
Too many rural homes have too little buffer from wildland vegetation here in the Ozarks. The potential problem is two-fold here, fires and storms. Fortunately, we’re usually have enough precipitation that we don’t have to worry about wildfires. We see more homes damaged from trees and branches downed by wind or heavy ice burden. One year, the ground was so saturated that a windstorm combined with shallow roots toppled seven of our large pines.
Over time, we’ve reduced our vulnerability significantly. A little over a year ago, we had a tree service come in and remove several trees that I wasn’t comfortable with cutting down myself. Most were too big and had too much of lean for me to keep from hitting the house or power and phone line. One was simply too close and too big for me to try to cut with my chainsaw. (Yes, I do still use one, bit not as often as Andy, from what I can tell.)
Good for you for taking precautions.
It’s sad seeing big, live trees uprooted. All of our trees except one burned in the fire, but the windstorm a few weeks ago toppled a lot of beautiful old ones along our drive up. There’s something about the roots sticking up in the air after all those years of growing …. 🙁
I never thought about it but that does make sense.
It sounds as if you are safe, which is great!
It sure sounds like a lot of work, but in this case it sounds like more is better. We hope you are always safe from the dangers of fire.
Woos – Lightning, Misty, and Timber
Thank you!
I hadn’t considered that gap either but when you look at the dead trees, it does remind you that they are like dry kindling – something that gets a fire going…
It makes me nervous just looking at it!