Ready - Get Ready

Being Ready starts with hardening your home and maintaining adequate Defensible Space around your home and property. Home Hardening means using ignition-resistant materials on and around your home to help it withstand flying embers and radiant heat. Defensible Space is the buffer created by removing dead plants, grass and weeds to help keep wildfire away from your home.

It takes a combination of Home Hardening and Defensible Space to give your house the best chance of surviving a wildfire. Click on the buttons below to help protect your family, home and community.

Defensible Space and Fire-Resistant Landscaping Can Protect Your Home

If you live next to a densely vegetated area, you can slow or stop the spread of wildfires that threaten your residence by creating defensible space around your home. Removing weeds, dried grass, brush, and other vegetation reduces the risk of ignition from flying embers. It also provides a safe area for firefighters to operate if they have the capacity to defend your home.

Consider This

Unmanaged and overgrown vegetation between and around homes increases the risk of wildland fire spreading throughout the community and endangering lives and property. Pre-fire planning through mitigation and vegetation management allows firefighters the ability to fight wildland fires more safely. The work you complete today may save your home and protect a firefighter tomorrow.

Ember Zone

An ember is a small, glowing fragment from a wildland fire that is carried by the wind. Embers are light enough to travel long distances and are the primary reason homes ignite, often at significant distances from the actual flame front of a wildland fire. Embers travel inside your home through vents, windows, and other openings.

Homes on the Wildland Boundary are at Risk

If your home is within one mile of a natural area, it may be considered part of an ember zone. Keep in mind, embers can destroy homes or neighborhoods far from the actual front of the fire. Use the information in this Guide to help you prepare your property.

Red Flag Warning

A Red Flag Warning is issued by the National Weather Service when low humidity, warm temperatures, dry fuels, and strong winds could combine

to produce extreme fire behavior. Fires occurring during a Red Flag day can be very dangerous and spread rapidly. You should always follow the instructions provided by your local emergency response organizations and be prepared to take immediate action.