Fire safety isn’t just a buzzword; it’s a crucial subject, especially as we gear up for the summer months when wildfires can turn a backyard barbecue into a full-blown disaster quicker than you can say ‘hot dog’. Eric G takes us on a deep dive into creating defensible spaces around our homes, which is basically a fancy way of saying, ‘let’s make our houses harder for fire to reach.’ He breaks down the concept into zones, starting with the immediate area around your home—Zone Zero—where the goal is to eliminate any potential fuel sources. Think gravel instead of mulch, and a lot less clutter. Eric emphasizes that even if you live in a seemingly safe area, the winds can carry flames faster than a rumor in a small town. We chat about the sobering fact that a whopping 70% of wildfires are human-caused, which means we can do something about it! The episode is packed with practical advice like maintaining green grass and using metal fences to keep those fiery embers at bay. Plus, Eric stresses the importance of a solid emergency plan, just in case things go south. So, if you want to keep your home safe and sound (and maybe avoid becoming the neighborhood cautionary tale), tune in and take notes!
Takeaways:
- Creating defensible space around your home is crucial for fire prevention, especially in drought conditions.
- Zone zero, the area closest to your house, must be ember resistant and free of combustibles like mulch and dead vegetation.
- Keeping your grass green and short can significantly reduce fire risk, as dry grass is a major fire hazard.
- Regularly clearing roofs and gutters of debris like leaves and pine needles can prevent ignitions from embers during wildfires.
Links referenced in this episode:
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Transcript
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Speaker B:The House with Eric G. Your go to source for everything home improvement.
Speaker B:Whether you're a DIY enthusiast or just looking to make your space shine, Eric.
Speaker C:G. Is here to guide you through.
Speaker B:The latest tips, tricks and trends.
Speaker B:So grab your toolbox, put on your thinking cap, and let's get to work right here on around the House with.
Speaker C:Eric G. Welcome to the around the House show, your trusted source for everything about your home.
Speaker C:Thanks for joining me today.
Speaker C:I'm Eric G. This is our midweek show.
Speaker C:This is that special that we do that doesn't cover the stuff that we touched on last weekend.
Speaker C:Of course, what we're not going to get to this coming weekend.
Speaker C:And today, since we are creeping up closer to the Fourth of July, I wanted to talk about this subject because I think it's really important for homeowners across the country.
Speaker C:We have such dry areas in certain places.
Speaker C:Could be down in the south, it could be in the Pacific Northwest, it could be in California.
Speaker C:But I want to talk about a little bit about doing some yard work and making the most defensible space around your house for fire because really we're seeing this as a nationwide problem right now.
Speaker C:It doesn't matter where you are.
Speaker C:If the neighbor's house catches on fire or something two or three doors down and you've got a wind going, you've got a problem.
Speaker C:And so I wanted to talk a little bit about that today.
Speaker C:So, for instance, here in my area, 70% of our wildfires here are human caused.
Speaker C:So that's a big issue.
Speaker C:And we're right in the middle of a drought out here.
Speaker C:Just because we didn't get any snow this last year, really, we got some, but we hadn't, we have not had enough by any means.
Speaker C:And that's gonna really cause some issues for us as we get deeper into summer and other places.
Speaker C:When I was down in Florida in February, man, they were in a drought.
Speaker C:It was a mess.
Speaker C:I feel bad for them because they had a lot of fuel from all the freezes that was going to cause some issues there.
Speaker C:So really, let's talk about the zones around your house real quick and just make sure that you've got that dialed in where it needs to be.
Speaker C:So your first zone is zone zero.
Speaker C:That is from zero to five feet around your home.
Speaker C:This is where you need to have an ember resistant, no fuel area, gravel, pavers, concrete, sorry guys, mulch.
Speaker C:That's going to be a problem.
Speaker C:That is something that's going to catch on fire.
Speaker C:So no molts around there Use some decorative rock, come up with something that's going to look great and then remove all dead vegetation, debris, plants, firewood, furniture, all that other stuff and clean out under decks and porches.
Speaker C:So zero to five feet you're going to try to get rid of everything that's combustible there.
Speaker C:And then zone one, which is five to 30ft from there, you want to be lean, clean and green.
Speaker C:Keep the grass short.
Speaker C:Remove any dead dry plants, spaces around those trees and shrubs, prune low branches and maintain a horizontal spacing between canopies.
Speaker C:This is something what you want to do here is just keep that from being another place that a fire can start.
Speaker C:So keep it as cleaned up.
Speaker C:And if you're not watering your grass, you need to keep that green because that's going to be its own problem.
Speaker C:White grass or brown grass that catches on fire easy and that's going to be fuel right up to your house.
Speaker C:Now one thing here too that you noticed, if you've got a fence coming up to the house, a fire will chase that fence if it's wood.
Speaker C:So you always want to put in metal.
Speaker C:You could go steel, you could go chain link.
Speaker C:There's a lot of different things you can do for that zone zero.
Speaker C:But you'd never want that wood fence coming up to the house.
Speaker C:Change over to a metal gate, do something to mix that up so you're not just doesn't look like one big wick heading to your house.
Speaker C:Because I tell you what, I've seen more house fires where that's that fence took the house down.
Speaker C:And then zone two, reduced fuels fuel, thin your trees and shrubs, give nice spacing around stuff and then remove all the dead material and that will slow the fire spread.
Speaker C:And then the one that always gets forgotten is clearing those roofs and gutters of pine needles leaves.
Speaker C:Whether it's a palm tree or pine tree, get that stuff out of there because that is just like trying to start a campfire.
Speaker C:Take those garbage bins, vehicles, RVs, keep away from the house.
Speaker C:Now one thing I did learn with the Pacific Palisades fire, I had friends that we talked about their remodel.
Speaker C:He's been on the show before.
Speaker C:He did all the class A fire rated stuff.
Speaker C:He had all of those pieces and it still didn't matter when they had a 30 mile an hour wind.
Speaker C:So once that fire gets going and if you've got a win behind it even going, I spent some money and put a class A roof on it.
Speaker C:Yeah, that can help.
Speaker C:The problem that we see is with wind is that those vent covers or those vents coming into attic spaces or crawl spaces, those really can get a house fire going and it doesn't take much.
Speaker C:So think about that a little bit.
Speaker C:They do make fire rated vents out there now.
Speaker C:So if you're in a big area for that is something to think about maybe swapping that out.
Speaker C:It is a big, big project.
Speaker C:But make sure that you've got those eaves events clean.
Speaker C:And if you could put in something that's fire rated, that's better.
Speaker C:And then all the gutters and siding, I like the fiber, cement, anything fire retardant, vinyl is not.
Speaker C:So I would plan to remove that.
Speaker C:But there's a lot of great fire retardant or class A fire rated type sightings out there you should look at.
Speaker C:And then decks and foundations.
Speaker C:The biggest problem with decks is what's happening underneath.
Speaker C:That's where you get that.
Speaker C:If you've got dry stuff and wood underneath there or wood from construction debris, really get that cleaned up.
Speaker C:That can really make a difference down there.
Speaker C:And make sure that you've got that taken care of.
Speaker C:And then come up with an emergency evacuation plan.
Speaker C:Okay, what do we need to get out of here?
Speaker C:Maybe put your documents and stuff like that in your safe in a bag that you can just grab and go and then come up with a good meetup spot.
Speaker C:This is just normal fire stuff you did as a kid, right?
Speaker C:Pretty simple.
Speaker C:And then make sure that you've signed up for all your local alerts.
Speaker C:I have them here.
Speaker C:Check and see if there's an alert system in your area to make sure you're that.
Speaker C:Then of course one of the biggest tips.
Speaker C:Document your house home inventory.
Speaker C:Walk around your house, take a video, spend a half hour, do it, save it in the cloud, make sure that it's not in your house.
Speaker C:Go through, take the video, Open up to each cabinet drawer, look around.
Speaker C:If there's something significant, get the model number, the part number, the issue date, whatever it is, whether it's something valuable, make sure you get all that stuff so you can actually keep that in your inventory.
Speaker C:So go through, do everything, look at your clothes, show the brands, all that stuff, show what you've got going.
Speaker C:Because if you do have a loss, it will help in your argument with the insurance company.
Speaker C:And then of course make sure you're properly insured.
Speaker C:That's one of the biggest things I think I see right now.
Speaker C:Out there is so many people jump online, click boxes for their homeowners insurance, their auto insurance, they're just paying what they're told.
Speaker C:Make sure you get on the phone, your local agent in discuss to make sure everything is covered correctly.
Speaker C:Do you have enough insurance?
Speaker C:I'm gonna guess you probably don't, so make sure you're good.
Speaker C:All right, guys, those are ones there.
Speaker C:I think just making sure that you've got that stuff dialed in will sure help with that.
Speaker C:We're not seeing too much changing in the marketplace since last week.
Speaker C:Of course, we're seeing the potential here for oil prices to go down.
Speaker C:They've gone down a little bit.
Speaker C:Gasoline prices have gone down in my area.
Speaker C:If we could keep that down, I think we're gonna be pretty good for remodeling and stuff later on this year.
Speaker C:I think right now there's enough chaos.
Speaker C:Plus we've got an election year that always draws in chaos.
Speaker C:We've got a lot going on.
Speaker C:Congratulations to all you SpaceX employees that are now millionaires out there.
Speaker C:Maybe you've got some stuff you can spend on your house if you're gonna keep and buy and sell in that truck, that stock.
Speaker C:Well done.
Speaker C:All right, guys, I'm gonna get off my rant.
Speaker C:I had a great weekend last weekend.
Speaker C:Went down and did some camping at the beach.
Speaker C:It was 85 degrees, which for the Oregon coast is rare.
Speaker C:So that was really nice.
Speaker C:And we're gonna have some RV content coming out here soon as well.
Speaker C:For people that are thinking about camping RV in this summer, we're gonna have some additional videos and stuff that we're gonna be talking about as well.
Speaker C:All right, guys, we got a great show coming up this weekend.
Speaker C:Don't forget Father's Day, if your father is around out there.
Speaker C:That's coming up Sunday, guys, which means you got a few shopping days left.
Speaker C:The ladies, of course.
Speaker C:You've been probably playing on this for months and you're on it.
Speaker C:All right, everybody, I'm Eric G. Thanks for tuning into around the House.
Speaker C:We'll see you Saturday.
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Speaker C:Grab your buddy.
Speaker A:Grab your buddy.
Speaker A:Take this good time and turn it up louder.
Speaker A:No one ever talks about the nights they went to bed Counting them sheet catching teas Kidding, beauty rest, acting your age don't make a good story Knock one back no buzz, no glory no one ever talks about the shots they didn't take drinks.