Author: surviving-wildfire

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Fire Adapted Communities: The Next Step in Wildfire Preparedness

Title and Description

Fire Adapted Communities: The Next Step in Wildfire Preparedness

There is more wildfire in our future. The trend is towards an increasing number of acres burned. The likelihood that people will be threatened by wildfire is growing. Unfortunately, many homeowners and their homes are not prepared to survive a wildfire. Do we ignore these trends and accept the consequences? Or, do we become proactive to minimize the impacts?

A new concept of creating Fire Adapted Communities (FAC) …

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Firewise Landscaping


Title and Description

Firewise Landscaping

Home survival in wildfire prone areas depends on a combination of appropriate landscape design, adequate vegetation management in the area surrounding your home (i.e., your “defensible space”) and choices regarding building materials and design decisions for the home or building. Yvonne Barkley has been educating audiences about fire in the wildland/urban interface and firewise landscaping since 1995. JoAnne Skelly has been teaching “Firescaping – Landscape Design for Wildfire Defense” since 1999. This one-hour webinar will …

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NOMEX®

Cowboy wearing nomex as he moves cattle during a fire.
NOMEX
NOMEX® is the brand name of a flame retardant meta-aramid material marketed and first discovered by DuPont in the 1970s. It is sold in both fiber and sheet forms and is used as a fabric wherever resistance from heat and flame is required. Both the firefighting and vehicle racing industries use Nomex to create clothing and equipment that can withstand intense heat.
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Noncombustible

Noncombustible
A material that isn’t capable of igniting and burning. Metal siding and traditional three-coat stucco are examples of materials that are rated as noncombustible. Given the widespread use of composite materials — that is, a material that is made from a combination of a few different materials, such as a fiber-cement product — it isn’t always clear whether a material is noncombustible. ASTM E-136 is a standard test procedure that is used to determine if a material qualifies as
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Wildfire Information Leaders

National Leadership

Eric Norland, USDA
NIFA National Program Leader Advisor to eWIN

Community Leadership

Glenn Nader, University of California Cooperative Extension
eWIN Chair
ganader@ucdavis.edu
Jan Gonzales, University of California Cooperative Extension
eWIN Program Coordinator
jggonzales@ucdavis.edu

eWIN Subject Matter Leadership

Yvonne Barkley, University of Idaho
Chair
After Fire: Returning Home
After Fire: Assessing Damage
After Fire: Landscape Recovery
Janean Creighton, Oregon State University Extension
Chair
The Human Factor
Glenn Nader, University of California Cooperative Extension
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Defensible Space

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Defensible Space
Defensible space refers to the area between a house and an oncoming wildfire where the vegetation has been modified to reduce the wildfire threat and which provides an opportunity for firefighters to effectively defend the house. In the event that firefighters are not available, defensible space improves the likelihood that your house can survive without assistance. Contact your local fire department for information and recommendations on home inspections and treatment plans.

 

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Predicting Mortality in Western Larch After a Wildfire

Article Written by:
Yvonne Barkley, University of Idaho Extension, Moscow, ID and
David C. Powell, USDA Forest Service

 

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Western larch, also called tamarack, is the largest of the American larches and is one of the few deciduous conifers. Occurring only in the Upper Columbia River Basin of North America, western larch can reach heights of 150-175 feet and commonly live to be hundreds of years old.

Long-lived and with few serious natural enemies, western larch is able to persist in …

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Predicting the Mortality of Conifers After a Wildfire

Article Written by:
Yvonne Barkley, University of Idaho Extension, Moscow, ID

 

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Predicting the mortality of conifers after a wildfire is important for post-fire planning and management. Fire resistance varies greatly with plant species and factors such as age. In general, young, fast-growing trees on good sites will be better able to withstand damage from fire than over-mature, slow-growing trees on poor sites.

Additional general statements that hold true across species are:

  • as the percent of crown scorch increases, mortality increases.
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What You Should Do Before Evacuating Your House

Article Written by:
Glenn Nader, University of California Cooperative Extension, Yuba City, CA
Ed Smith, University of Nevada Cooperative Extension, Reno, NV

 

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The first step is to make sure every body and everything is ready to leave. Park the vehicles facing toward the road and load important documents and items. Prepare elderly, children, pets and any livestock for evacuation. If there is enough time, prepare the house for exposure to embers and flames. Accomplishing these items will be doable only …

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