FireSmart & Protecting Your Home
FireSmart Canada Homeowner’s Guide
The Combustibility of Landscape Mulches
Redwood Meadows FireSmart Application
Why would I look at having my trees removed??
We’ve talked a lot about root rot, compromised internal structure and weak stem joints all leading to hazardous situations often calling for the removal of a tree, but there’s another reason to entertain removal on your property - FireSmart.
FireSmart is about living with and managing for wildfire. In Alberta, Wildfire Season began March 1. We don’t have to look very far to see the devastating effects a wildfire can have when it enters urban areas. Alberta has seen far too many examples in recent years, and the results are heartbreaking. FireSmart provides a system of principles and recommendations to lessen the impact of a wildfire on your home and on the community.
Wildfire spreads to the home through a variety of methods: direct flame impingement, extreme heat or ember transmission. Embers are essentially burning debris from the fire that can be thrown up to 2km from the actual fire front.
Key to ensuring protection from direct flame impingement and extreme heat ignition is creating a non-combustible zone that extends 1.5-meters around your home. This forms a buffer from flammable landscape materials or other items catching fire from embers and avoids direct flame and heat exposure to your home.
Not all garden mulches are created equal. Shredded Cedar and Bark Mulches you can find in garden centres tend to have high flame heights and spread fire quickly. Wood chip beds comprised of chips like what comes out of a tree service chipper surprisingly fair quite well. Provided your garden beds are outside of the 1.5-meter non-combustible zone and are broken up so as not to provide a direct path to the home, wood chips provide an economical and chemical free way to control weeds and retain moisture in your garden. Garden beds directly adjacent to your home and within the 1.5-meter non-combustible zone should utilize cover material such as rock to ensure the best protection for your home. You can read the full study on the combustibility of various types of garden mulch by downloading the research PDF here:
The Combustibility of Landscape Mulches
But let’s talk about trees... that’s what we promised isn’t it? Tree removal and pruning play several important roles within the principles of FireSmart and property protection. Conifer trees like the white spruce we have in such abundance in our area present a far more significant fire hazard than deciduous trees such as poplar or aspen. As such, it’s recommended to keep conifer trees out of the 10-meter ‘Zone 1’ around your home and ensure any ornamental plants or shrubs are fire-resistant.
Further steps that help protect your hone include the selective removal of trees to create spacing between tree crowns. By having trees within the 30-meter ‘Zone 2’ spaced at least 3 meters apart, you can help eliminate the transfer of flame from one tree to the next and help break the continued growth of the fire into your property and towards your home. And while FireSmart says spruce trees shouldn’t be within 10 meters of your home at all, if we all followed that we wouldn’t have many trees left. This is where the expertise of our crews comes in, helping you select the best solutions and target the most susceptible trees to balance maintaining a beautifully forested yard with the need to protect your home from wildfire.
Pruning the trees around your property to eliminate dead branches and ‘ladder fuels’ can also present consider benefit. Ladder fuels are low branches that allow ground fire to spread up in to your trees and promote fire growth. By pruning any branches within 2 meters of the ground, you help break the ladder that allows the fire to climb into the tree.
Spruce trees love to drop needles. Whether it’s on your lawn or in your gutters, dried spruce needles are very flammable and should be cleaned up wherever possible. This eliminates areas that embers can land and continue the growth of the fire.
Protection from embers relies on ensuring the materials used on your home and within the 1.5m zone around your home are non-combustible. FireSmart provides numerous recommendations for appropriate siding and roofing materials that will not react negatively to flame impingement or radiant heat, allowing your home to catch fire. And while we can’t all change our cedar siding tomorrow, we can take steps to eliminate ember traps from around the home to give distance between our homes and any flames or sources of heat. Things like firewood shouldn’t be stacked next to the home. Decks with open areas beneath should be closed in to prevent embers from getting under and igniting the wood. FireSmart is about far more than just trees.
When not running chainsaws and climbing trees, members of our team continue to give years of dedicated service with our local volunteer fire department. With formal training, real-world experience and NFPA certifications in FireSmart principles and structure protection from wildfire, our crews are uniquely positioned to provide advice and assistance in bringing your property towards compliance with FireSmart principles. As mentioned, there’s more to FireSmart then just cutting down trees. Red Mountain Rigging can apply their extensive expertise to ensure all facets of possible fire ignition are addressed to best protect your home.
The first step in the process is to receive a formal FireSmart Assessment, provided by a trained and certified assessor. This is a critical step to ensure you receive the necessary documentation for permit approvals and possible insurance initiatives. Relying on anyone but a certified assessor will not result in the comprehensive report required for these important aspects. Don’t let anyone tell you they know FireSmart and can build your plan - go straight to the source. Once scheduled, an assessor will visit your home and conduct a tour with you, leaving you with an extensive report of recommendations. Assessments and the resulting report are both FREE for Rocky View County and Redwood Meadows residents and can be booked by visiting the following websites:
Rocky View County
www.rockyview.ca/fire-inspections
Redwood Meadows
Redwood Meadows FireSmart Application
Download and complete the application, then email to:
admin@redwoodmeadows.ab.ca
If you’d like to learn more about FireSmart principles and how you can best position your home to withstand wildfire, you can download a PDF copy of the FireSmart Canada Homeowners Guide here:
FireSmart Canada Homeowner’s Guide
You can also visit the Government of Alberta’s FireSmart website by heading over to:
Written by Sean Sterna - The Rocky Mountain Arborist & Used with Permission
