Landscaping for fire safety

By Emma Peterson. 

Learn how you can curate your property to make it more defensible against wildfires. 

In this episode of the AskARoofer Podcast, Megan Ellsworth and Lauren White sat down with Robin Anderson from Westlake Royal Roofing Solutions. They spoke about setting up your home and property to stay safe through the wildfire season.  

In this conversation, the term wildland-urban interface (WUI) was brought up, which is the interface where the wilderness and the urban environments come together. Robin used the example of a house backed up against a forest, but “it can also fall into a neighborhood that's within a forest. Some of the towns themselves are within the boundaries of a WUI environment.” 

Knowing whether you live in a WUI area is important, especially as wildfire season approaches. This knowledge allows you to make preemptive choices to protect your home and property from possible fires. Robin highlighted a few things related to your landscaping that can help. He explained, “If you have a tree that's overhanging your roof and you're in a WUI region, that's a true fire source that can affect your home and conversely your neighbor's home, because it becomes a fire brand if it's too close to residences.” The best thing you can do to protect your area from fires? Build a defensible buffer space around your home. Robin explained, “A lot of the areas will actually say you really don't want anything closer than five feet to your home to defend the home from those outside influences.” 

If you are unsure if you are in a WUI area, the easiest way to find out is by getting in contact with your municipality. Robin explained, “In the foothills it might not be a WUI, but once you move up to a point that is closer to the trees, they’re going to designate that as a WUI environment, even if it is not in the trees proper.” It’s important to note that even if you yourself are not in a WUI area, your neighbor across the street might be. If that’s the case, you will also want to take wildfire precautions when setting up your property. 

Read the transcript or Listen to the full episode to learn more about wildfire safety.