Protect Your Home with Budget-Friendly Defensible Space Strategies

SHARE NOW
Low-Cost Ways to Create Defensible Space and Enhance the Effects of a Hardened Home
1. Regularly clean your roof, gutters, decks, and the base of walls to avoid the accumulation of fallen leaves, needles, and other flammable materials (see Defensible Space Webpage for more details).
2. Ensure that all combustible materials are removed from underneath, on top of, or within five feet of a deck.
3. Remove vegetation or other combustible materials that are within five feet of windows and glass doors.
4. Replace wood mulch products within five feet of all structures with noncombustible products such as dirt, stone, or gravel.
5. Remove all dead or dying grass, plants, shrubs, trees, branches, leaves, weeds, and pine needles within 30 feet of all structures or to the property line.
6. Ensure exposed firewood is stored at least 30 feet away from structures or completely covered in a fire-resistant material that will not allow embers to penetrate. Additionally, make sure you have 10 feet of clearance around your wood piles.
7. Be sure to store combustible outdoor furnishings away from your home when not in use.
8. Remember to properly store retractable awnings and umbrellas when not in use so they do not collect leaves and embers.