Fire Prevention

[Sweetfire]

I was asked to address this issue in the RGV/Winter Texans topic area.

The videos I have were prepared for people that live in what is called the Wildland/Urban Interface. That's a fancy way of saying homes that are built in wooded or brushy areas. These videos are free of charge to our local community. Your local fire department may also have them. Ask for the Fire Wise or Wildland/Urban Interface information tapes. I can supply a limited amount to interested people here on the forum.

Off the top of my head here are some ways to prepare your property.

Clean out brush, leaves and combustible debris on the ground and trim up branches so that fires run through the area relatively quickly and coolly with short flame lengths that will not climbing into treetops. Thin trees to reduce tree density on or near your property, this reduces the chance of flames reaching other near by trees in the event of a tree torching out. Make a green zone around your home of fire retardant plants or landscaping. The size of this zone depends on the size and type of the vegatation around it, but this is one of those areas where bigger is better. Remove any tree that could reach your house if it falls (that idea is real unpopular but very important). Do not use railroad ties near your structures when landscaping, those babies light easy and burn hot. Keep grasses and brush cut short and consider disking or rotor tilling a fire brake around your property. In new construction or re-modeling remove shake type roofs and siding, these are the worst. Use metal or other types of fire retardant roofing/siding materials, the fewer the nooks and crannies that could trap and hold embers the better. Install roof vents that can be closed or covered to keep embers from entering attic areas. Consider stucco siding. Do not stack firewood along side your structures, they have many surfaces that will trap and hold embers. Clean leaves and twigs from gutters. Everyone likes a view, but building at the top of a slope and hanging a wooden deck out over the edge is asking for trouble. Decks are usually treated with petroleum-based products or left to become tinder dry. Decks trap embers and direct heat in towards the structure during a fire. Instead of wooden decks use concrete or brick retaining walls and earthen terraces, aside from these being obviously non-flammable they increase the distance from your house to approaching flames. If you just can’t live without a deck use non-flammable or fire retardant building materials and enclose the underside of the deck.

If a wild fire is approaching and before you are told to evacuate, close all doors and windows. Close or block all attic and foundation vents. Remove all window treatments such as curtains, shades, and shears. Regular window glass does not block heat very well and curtains can ignite from radiant heat. Move all furniture away from windows for the same reason. Place lawn sprinklers on your roof, turn them on and leave. Do not wait to be told to evacuate. If fire is close, leave. People in a panic are NOT civilized or logical and people get trapped and killed because they waited until the last minute to leave.

I won’t get into water storage and ingress/egress strategies just remember if your driveway is not wide enough or won’t support a fire truck then how are the firemen going to protect it? Nothing is going to stop a wind driven or self-sustaining firestorm or crown fire except lack of fuel or one hell of a rain event. These preparations only reduce risks. But remember there are no “miracle houses” that survive these types of fires. When one house remains when it’s neighbors are all destroyed there is usually a very good reason why.

How does this relate to MOC and RV’s? Well, if you’re in an area that is experiencing these kinds of problems what can I say? LEAVE. Who would want to breathe all that smoke anyway? Just some dumb firefighters. : )

Seriously, we are at a disadvantage towing 25-40 plus feet of 5er in the best of conditions. We need to think ahead more than people in cars or SUV’s. It takes us longer to do everything, turn, stop, maneuver, and accelerate. When people panic they can do stupid things. It’s best not to be around.

If there is further interest in this topic I would be glad to discuss it. I see from some of the signature lines and bios there are other firedogs in the MOC. I’m sure there is a lot of knowledge and experience out there we can tap into.

On edit: Left out an important one, turn off the gas.

[Parrothead]

Dennis, thanks for a great post. We are not in a fire area but we were traveling once and a grass fire was near the freeway and eventually went across and into a car dealership. They had traffic stopped and we were close to the front. The fire got closer and closer and they just had us sitting on the freeway. Finally Ed went up and reminded the policeman that had everyone stopped that we had propane tanks in our 5er. Fast action! Immediately he had everyone turn around and go off the freeway on the on ramp. Scary to say the least.
Happy trails........................

[Sweetfire]

I see stucco walls and tile roofs in your photo. Good choices. Even homes in urban areas can be affected by wind driven fires. Damn those Santa Anas winds and manzanita brush.

[CountryGuy]

Dennis, this is a great post! Thanks!

[richfaa]

Remember the first time we drove the Will Rogers and Turner TPk in Oklahoma and saw the signs that said.."do not drive through the smoke" and wondered ..What is that all about???

[Parrothead]

Dennis yes we do have tile roofs and stucco which seems to be the norm around here. The house is only 10 years old. I know the tile roof gets us a better deal on insurance also.
Happy trails..............

[Sweetfire]

It was late when I wrote that post so some of the things I said need a little clarification. When I wrote about driveways I was thinking of the long, narrow, access lanes people in the country/mountains sometimes have. These can service single or multiple dwellings and sometimes cross small streams. Fire Trucks (Engines) can be up to 10 feet wide, 12 feet or more high, 35 ft. long, or longer, and weigh well over 20,000 pounds (water is about 8lbs/gallon). That sounds like a RV.

When large-scale fires break out firemen react similar to a medical triage team. They try to quickly ascertain what the fire is doing, which structures are in harms way, which ones have defendable ground (safe areas for firefights to stand and fight), where available water sources are, where they can do the most good, and where to go and how to get out quickly if everything goes wrong. You usually can’t have one truck at every house so hard choices sometimes have to be made. If multiple homes are at somewhat equal risk and some have been prepared and are defendable, while others literally have burnable materials right up to the foundations where do you think the firefighting assets would be best deployed? Firemen often do remarkable things but there are limits. Their officers will always be thinking about lives first, property second.

There are many more ideas and strategies that can be discussed ranging from “Sheltering in Place” to actually wrapping structures in fireproof materials. Cost is often the only limiting factor but almost every strategy requires forethought and prior action.

padredw had a great idea. They live in a “high risk” area and had to leave to visit friends in need. They loaded their Monty with their most important possessions and towed it out of harms way. We are all lucky enough to be able to do this. It may mean we start full timing earlier then we wanted (bad joke) but we still have a roof and our lives. Be safe.