Wildfire Resources
Living With Wildfires
Resources and Information
In light of the first major wildfire of the season, I’d like to spend this week talking about fire tracking, proactive design solutions and how to deal with areas that have burned.
Why is this topic so important to me? Having lived in Sonoma during the 2017 fires, while I was fortunate not to have lost my home, I was evacuated and had a number of properties that I designed over the years burn. I’ve spent the last few years helping dozens of families rebuild their landscapes. There is nothing you can do to stop a wildfire in its tracks. However there are a number of resources I can share that will help you to stay informed, get out ahead of it and protect your property.
Resources to Stay Informed
Nixel - This is a text service that will alert you of emergencies in your area. The first hours of a wildfire can often be the most dangerous so signing up for this will let you know immediately something is happening.
Alert Wild Fire Cameras - If you smell or see smoke, checking on the local live web cameras is a great way to stay aware of what’s happening nearby.
Watch Duty - This is a fantastic all purpose app that will keep you up to date on a fire’s progress, boundaries and evacuations zones and shelters.
Pulse Point - This app tracks local emergency calls so if you’re hearing sirens and want to see if it’s something you need to pay attention to you can quickly see what’s going on.
My Scenario:
1) If I’m hearing a lot of sirens or smelling smoke, I first check Pulse Point to see if there’s a wild fire nearby.
2) Then I’ll take a look at the live cameras to see if there is any smoke visible.
3) If there is a blaze going opening Watch Duty and turning on notifications will keep me up to date as the situation updates.
4) Facebook Community Page / Next Door - Checking in with a community page to see how others are handling things.
5) Pack Up the Car - If you’re in a zone adjacent to an evacuation be ready to go. I always have my go bag packed and near the door.
6) Leave early - One of the worst parts of evacuating was the intense traffic leaving town.
Designing Firewise Spaces
Use gravel and hardscape to create breaks.
This rebuild shows one way to use hardscape such as gravel and concrete to separate plantings from trees.
Now let’s talk about your property, garden and what to do right now to create a more defensible space. Water and the access to water can be limited so if you’re able to having a tank for landscape irrigation can be vital. Many properties were saved due to an overhead high pressure sprayer system that could drench the property. But for most of us who don’t have a tank or a well with a generator this won’t be a viable option.
There are many schools of thought on what is “Firewise Landscaping” everything from the types of plants to how they are laid out. I’d say start with Cal Fire and then either apply this to your own property or hire a professional to offer advice.
Photo by Karolina Kaboompics
Fuel Management, reducing the fuel on your property is key to making it easier to defend your property in case of a fire. First any down or dead wood should be removed. Creating gaps or spaces between heavily planted areas, with gravel or other hardscapes. Then most importantly keep over hanging branches away from your home, use pebbles or gravel for mulch next to the home and avoid high oil content plants near the home.
Resources:
Defensible Space
After a Wildfire
Moon Mountain Rd, Sonoma after the Nuns Canyon Fire by Laura Bassett
In the immediate aftermath of a wildfire follow instructions from your local emergency services. Know that even weeks after the flames have passed there are still dangers such as tree wells and pollutants. Cal fire is the resource I recommend for a more detailed dive into this.
Once you’ve dealt with the first wave, erosion is the first landscape issue you’ll face. Wildfires affect hills and mountains the most so getting a team in to add wattles and jute netting as needed will protect your soil and remaining plants. Sonoma Ecology is the local organization that helps protect our water shed.
Trees, a lot of our native trees are resilient to wildfires. While they may seemed charred beyond belief they will often times push out new growth. I highly recommend a professional arborist asses your property before removing any trees damaged by fire.
Next step is to revitalize your soils, depending on the heat of the fires you may need to bring organic matter back into the site. An application of compost mulch, straw and or arbor mulch will help rebuild the top soil. Charcoal and the by products of a fire can in the long term build soil. The Sonoma Ecology Center has a great resource on Biochar.
Once you’re ready to rebuild I would suggest spending a bit of time thinking about what’s important to you. Do you want to try to recreate what you had or do something completely different? From here it’s very similar to the normal design process.
Community Support
Just know if you’re in an area affected by wildfires you’re not alone. This community will support you and help you get through it. I’m here if you have any questions and we’ll continue to talk through the summer of different projects and tactics to help you be better prepared for the worst.
Resources to help with Mental Health and Healing start with the Fire Adapted Network.