Help Save Your Home From Brush Fire
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Fire-Retardant Plants
Listed by Common Name
- Arizona Sycamore (Deciduous Tree)
- Autumn Sage (Evergreen Shrub)
- Blue Fescue (Ornamental Grass)
- Blue Oat Grass (Ornamental Grass)
- California Fuchsia (Perennial)
- Century Plant (Succulent)
- Deer Grass (Ornamental Grass)
- Dwarf Coyote Bush (Evergreen Shrub)
- European Olive (Evergreen Tree)
- Fortnight Lily (Evergreen Perennial)
- French Lavender (Evergreen Shrub)
- Hairy Yerba Santa (Shrub)
- Heavenly Bamboo (Evergreen Shrub)
- Ice Plant (Succulent)
- Iris (Rhizome)
- Jade Plant (Succulent)
- Japanese Mock Orange (Evergreen Shrub)
- Kangaroo Paw (Evergreen Perennial)
- Manzanita (Evergreen Shrub)
- Mexican Blue Palm (Palm)
- Mexican Palo Verde, Jerusalem Thorn (Small Tree)
- Mediterranean Saltbush
- Monkey Flower (Perennial)
- Poverty Weed (Perennial)
- Purple Sage (Evergreen Shrub)
- Rockrose (Evergreen Shrub)
- Society Garlic (Perennial)
- Spanish Lavender (Evergreen Shrub)
- Statice or Sea Lavender (Perennial)
- Sweet William (Perennial)
- Toyon, Christmas Berry (Evergreen Shrub or Small Tree)
- Valley Oak (Deciduous Tree)
- Verbena (Perennial)
- Wooly Blue Curls (Evergreen Shrub)
- Yucca, Our Lord's Candle (Evergreen Perennial)
Protect Your Home from Brush Fires
Create a Defensible Space
- Clear away dry grass, brush, and dead leaves within 30 feet from your home.
- Focus on low-growing, fire-retardant ornamental plants in your landscape design.
- Regularly prune all plants to remove dead wood, excess stems, and branches.
- Trees and large shrubs should be placed at least 10 feet apart from each other, and away from your home. Trees should never overhang your roof.
- For trees 18-feet tall or more, prune lower branches 6 feet off the ground to help prevent ground fires from spreading into treetops.
- Firewood and scrap woodpiles should be stacked at least 30 feet from any structures, especially your home. Clear away flammable vegetation located within 10 feet of woodpiles.
- Butane and propane tanks should be kept at least 30 feet from any structures. Clear away flammable vegetation located within 10 feet of butane or propane tanks.
- Water just enough to keep plants healthy. Too much promotes excess plant growth and creates more potential fire fuel, while too little lowers the moisture content and causes plants to burn more readily.
- Most importantly, the 30-foot defensible space must be maintained regularly in order to be effective.
- Note: In extremely hazardous areas, the California Public Resources Code, Section 4291, requires clearance of flammable vegetation for a minimum distance of 30 to 100 feet from structures.
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Fire Ecology
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Firefighting Fundamentals
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Stories from the Front Lines
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Fire on the Mountain: The True Story of the South Canyon Fire
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Rescue Me
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Evergreen Shrub or Small Tree
What's the Buzz on Fire Retardant Plants?
Here's What Bloggers are Saying About Fire Retardant Plants
- Tasmanian Times
- choose for your landscape that are both attractive (Figure 1) and fire-safe. This publication provides a diverse list of plant material divided into perennials, groundcovers, trees, and shrubs. What are fire-resistant plants? Fire resistant plants are plants that don't readily ... [PDF] fire retardant garden plants fire retardant garden plants for the ... Fire retardant plants can absorb more of the heat of the approaching .... Quercus robur. E. English oak. ...
- Do not burn with fire-resistant landscape
- Proper maintenance improves the appearance and protects your home from fire. WithFire-resistant plants in the landscape is part of the general plan of strategic defense fire. What are the plants resistant to fire? ...
- Develop a fire safe landscape around your home | Maple Valley Fire ...
- The first defense against wildland fire is to create a fire safe landscape around your home. This can be achieved by removing flammable vegetation and replacing it with fire resistant plants, spacing the plants in your yard and clearing ...
- Flowerdale Nurseries Inc.: Calandrinia spectabilis, Perennial of ...
- This succulent plant is also a good choice for containers, slopes, coastal gardens, & fire resistant landscapes. water this plant deeply twice a month spring through fall (April through October) then water only once a month or less during our cool moist winters .... Flowerdale prides itself in using only California friendly plants that grow well in our area. We also provide the design & instillation of irrigation systems, paths, walls, drainage, & landscape lighting. ...
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Evergreen Perennial
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The California Fires & How You Can Help
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Thanks for Visiting
Did you learn something new about protecting your home?
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Reply
- MiaBellezza MiaBellezza Nov 12, 2009 @ 5:24 am
- Well this was an innovative lens idea. But for those living in fire-prone areas, what a great idea to feature these beautiful fire-retardant plants. 5* and thank you again for your blessing, Kim!
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Reply
- WindyWinters WindyWinters Nov 1, 2009 @ 12:53 am
- Great List of Plants and a Great Reference. The dry weather this summer was very scary. Good to know what plants may aid in saving your home. We have some irises along the back of our house. I guess it's a great idea to leave them there. These plants must store a lot of water in their leaves. Thanks for the info. :)
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Reply
- GonnaFly GonnaFly Oct 30, 2009 @ 2:27 pm
- What an excellent lens particularly for those of us in fire-prone areas.
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Reply
- jeffwend jeffwend Oct 28, 2009 @ 4:48 pm
- Beautiful lens. Living in Michigan we luckily don't have to worry about fires the way that people have to out West. It's nice to know that such plants are available and that they look so good too.
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Reply
- JaguarJulie JaguarJulie May 20, 2009 @ 8:45 am
- Kim -- a most interesting lens! With the fires we have had in Florida, as well as other states, this is certainly a consideration for our homes.
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About the Author
Lensmaster KimGiancaterino has been a member since October 30 2006, has rated 8,754 lenses, favorited 4,273, and has created 306 lenses from scratch. KimGiancaterino donates their royalties to Asante Africa Foundation. This member's top-ranked page is "Yearbook Yourself: See How You'd Look in 1950s-1990s Yearbooks". See all my lenses
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