Fight Fires With Landscaping
Posted on | October 26, 2007 |
In our interview with wildfire survivor, Bob Worsley, the founder of SkyMall and current CEO of NZ Legacy, a sustainable development company in Arizona, he stressed how important landscaping was to saving his home.
Here’s what kept the Worsleys’ home safe:
- No nearby trees. The five acres surrounding the Worsleys’ home consisted of only grass—no trees.
WHN TIP: If you plan to plant trees on your property, keep them a safe distance away from your home. The Colorado State Forest Service recommends leaving 20-25 feet between a tree and your home to reduce the likelihood of a fire spreading.
- Metal roofing. Bob Worsley recommends using a copper roof if you live in a wildfire-prone area. Copper or other metal roofing materials are better for fires because they will not catch fire like wood or asphalt shingles might.
WHN TIP: Copper roofing is more expensive (typically about 4 times more) than asphalt shingling, according to Roofer911.com, but, according to Worsley, “you will never need to replace your roof again.†Copper roofing can last up to 150 years.
- Watering. The Worsley family turned on the hydrants and sprinklers on their property as soon as they heard the Forest Service weather report that a wildfire was moving their way.
WHN TIP: If you have a propane tank on your property, be particularly cautious. Worsley notes that propane tanks are “very dangerous to have on a fire-prone property: the impact of an exploding propane tank could extend for a quarter of a mile.†If you learn a fire is on its way, “the best thing to do,†Worsley says, is to keep a sprinkler running next to your propane tank for a day or two. This will “keep the tank and everything around it cool, so that the rapid rise in temperature will not explode the tank.â€
Read about the lessons Worsley’s neighbors learned after losing their homes to the fire here.
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