Homeowners have the chance right now to make small changes that could make a big difference during a wildfire.
Taylor Nilsson, executive director of the Butte County Fire Safe Council, explains the top five things Butte County residents can do to get ready for fire season.
Defensible space so it’s harder for fire to reach your home
Firefighters aren’t able to protect every home when a wildfire comes.
Instead, Nilsson said emergency responders will focus on the ones that are actually prepared.
“When they're driving down the neighborhood, they're looking for homes that have good defensible space,” he said.
“If you have really thick brush or a lot of trees right next to each other in that five to 30 foot zone, [you should be] cutting, chipping, removing that material.”- Taylor Nilsson, Butte County Fire Safe Council executive director
Creating a defensible space starts with the first five feet around the home. It’s the most critical area according to Nilsson, and anything that’s flammable needs to be removed.
That includes any debris that might have built up over time, such as pine needles, grass and leaves. Plants and trees that are within five feet of the home also need to be removed.
“We'd love to see beautiful trees or decorative plants next to the house, [but] those are susceptible to catching on fire as well,” Nilsson said.
Up to 30 feet around the home, Nilsson said it’s important to think about whether the vegetation is creating any “fire pathways.”
“If you have really thick brush or a lot of trees right next to each other in that five to 30 foot zone, [you should be] cutting, chipping, removing that material,” Nilsson said.
Butte County residents living in the wildland-urban interface (WUI) can dump their green waste for free during specified days of each month. The fire safe council also offers a chipper program.
Nilsson said it’s also important to move couches, doormats, brooms, umbrellas and any other outdoor items that could easily catch on fire.
Some plants catch fire easily, especially invasive ones
Several invasive plants contribute to the high fire risk in Butte County. Nilsson said it’s a good idea to learn about what’s on your property and consider removing it before fire season arrives.
One of the most hazardous plants is called broom, he said.
“It flowers, bright yellow flowers. So it's really pretty, and folks love the way it looks,” Nilsson said. “But it is invasive and highly flammable.”
“Finding alternative native plants to replace [broom] with is a really good action that folks can take, in terms of preparing their home for wildfire.”- Taylor Nilsson, Butte County Fire Safe Council executive director
Broom is difficult to eliminate, Nilsson said. How you get rid of it depends on the time of year, and the roots must be fully removed or else it’ll come back.
Broom is so prevalent that the fire safe council holds “doom the broom” events where the community gathers to remove it.
“Finding alternative native plants to replace that with is a really good action that folks can take, in terms of preparing their home for wildfire,” Nilsson said.
Other plants that contribute to the relatively high fire risk in Butte County include juniper, manzanita and incense cedar.
Juniper is important to manage, Nilsson said, but it doesn’t usually need to be entirely removed, just thinned.
Manzanita trees can be good for privacy, but he said they burn hot and should be spaced out.
Incense cedars release blankets of saplings on the forest floor that can be a big fire hazard if not managed, Nilsson said. It’s important to space incense cedars out and frequently remove the fallen saplings.
“A lot of times those cedar blankets on the ground are really beautiful, but it’s something that folks should be aware of in terms of fuels reduction that they can do on their property,” Nilsson said.
The fire safe council offers free weed wrenches that can be borrowed for up to two weeks to help with broom and juniper removal.
Easy and cheap ways to harden a home
Eliminating or relocating wood around a home is a very effective way to prepare for wildfire, and is a form of “home hardening” — or making your home more resistant to fire.
Nilsson said when houses are destroyed in a wildfire, it’s usually not because of direct flames, but from flying ember storms that can originate from miles away.
“If people can replace that wooden fencing with chain link fencing, or some sort of alternative non-combustible material, that's one of the other big contributors to wood catching on fire, which leads directly to the home.”- Taylor Nilsson, Butte County Fire Safe Council executive director
“Embers get into your vents, catch on fire within the home, and then that causes the home to burn down,” Nilsson said.
Installing new vents is an important step to preparing a home, he said. There are ember-resistant vents that will close-off when experiencing heat.
“Those are relatively affordable, and something that folks can do on their own,” Nilsson said.
He also said wooden fences should not be touching a home. If it is, getting it removed or replaced is critical and relatively cheap.
“If people can replace that wooden fencing with chain link fencing, or some sort of alternative non-combustible material, that's one of the other big contributors to wood catching on fire, which leads directly to the home,” he said.
Any wood stacks sitting around a property should also be spaced at least 30 feet away from the house.
High cost, high reward
Home hardening is a big topic, and a lot of wildfire preparation focuses on the many ways to do it.
“As you kind of scale up with home hardening, it gets more and more expensive,” Nilsson said. “You can get up to talking about replacing your roof.”
“When embers cast onto your home, if there's needles or any leaves on your roof, those will catch on fire, and then can cause your home to catch on fire.”- Taylor Nilsson, Butte County Fire Safe Council executive director
Nilsson said roofs are especially susceptible during wildfires because leaves and other debris can get stuck there.
“When embers cast onto your home, if there's needles or any leaves on your roof, those will catch on fire, and then can cause your home to catch on fire,” he said.
It’s important to regularly remove pine needles, leaves and other debris from the roof and gutters, Nilsson said. Especially if your roof is not fire-resistant.
Fire-resistant roofs are helpful in fire-prone areas like Butte County. They’re made of noncombustible materials like asphalt, metal or cement.
Nilsson also said it's good to have a fire-resistant path that leads up to the home. Firefighters will look for that when determining if the home is worth trying to save.
“They want to be able to easily defend the home as they walk up ideally along a concrete path at the base of your house,” Nilsson said. “So then they can fight fire from the home.”
Installing a concrete pathway that leads to the home can be expensive. But Nilsson said it increases the likelihood of firefighters being able to reach the home so they can fight the fire from the inside out.
The most important fire tool is your plan
Being ready lessens the potential danger of a wildfire, and it’s actually the most critical preparation step, Nilsson said.
“Having your go bag prepped, your evacuation plan, your communications plan with your family ready, are just essential steps,” he said.
He said people should always be prepared to leave, especially in the summer.
“For Chico, it's primarily on the east side of town, so as we start to enter into the foothills. For those communities, those residents should be taking these precautions in terms of preparing for wildfire.”- Taylor Nilsson, Butte County Fire Safe Council executive director
Butte County created evacuation maps that outline which routes should be used by which communities in the event of an emergency.
It’s also important to sign up for CodeRED, Nilsson said, which is Butte County’s alert system for countywide emergencies like wildfires.
Those who live in the WUI should be getting prepared now. But Nilsson said they shouldn’t be the only ones doing it.
Many people in Chico should be taking the same steps as their WUI neighbors.
“For Chico, it's primarily on the east side of town, so as we start to enter into the foothills,” Nilssons said. “For those communities, those residents should be taking these precautions in terms of preparing for wildfire.”
Cal Fire recently released updated maps that show levels of possible wildfire severity across California. Most of Butte County east of Highway 99 is designated as moderate risk or higher.
