Landscaping for Fire Prevention

Here in Hill Country in the summer, one of the greatest threats is grass fires. While we all want to keep our neighborhood as natural as possible, it is only prudent to protect our homes from wildfire. One important step is to landscape appropriately.

The Texas Forest Service has a lot of great information on line (http://texasforestservice.tamu.edu).

Here are some ideas that I gleaned from their site:
· Keep a zone of at least thirty (30’) feet around your home that is defensible. Keep this area irrigated and green. Use plants that are fire resistant and well spaced. This is a great place for green lawn. Also consider how sidewalks, stone mulches, driveways, masonry walls, etc. make the area defensible. Keep brush piles, firewood, highly flammable trees and shrubs (Pines, Juniper and Cedar), dead trees and branches out of this area.
· Select open branched , high moisture, easy to care for trees like oaks and maples. Plant small trees and shrubs away from the larger trees.
· Put down gravel or stone mulch under propane tanks.
· Have a secondary zone that goes out another 30 or so feet that has low growing, green vegetation. This area should have some irrigation to keep plants healthy.
· Keep extra feet of hose around on your property. You want to be able to reach as much of your property line as is reasonable until the fire trucks arrive. You may be fighting the fire by yourself for 15 minutes or so.
· In the natural areas that are further out, remember that cutting the wild grasses will help prevent the uncontrollable, rapid spread of fire. You may want to selectively thin and cut shrubs and trees in even this natural area to make it easier to control fires.