Wildfires spare no one- they threaten young and old, grand estates and modest apartments- and leave nothing but smoking devastation behind. If the recent devastating LA wildfires reveal anything, it is that everyone needs some wildfire preparedness in case of a wildfire emergency. Don’t wait until it’s too late, when a wildfire is already at your doorstep. By taking wildfire prevention measures today, you could make all the difference in protecting your home and loved ones- between total loss and having the foundation to rebuild. Here’s how to be ready and prepared.
7 Essential Wildfire Safety Tips to Defend Your Home and Loved Ones in a Wildfire
1. Proactively protect your home ahead of time
Fire professionals refer to this process as hardening your home against the three forms of a wildfire (direct flames, radiant heat, and flying embers). Learning how to prepare for wildfires will make your home more fire-resistant from wildfires. Some proactive steps include:
- Creating a fire-resistant zone at least 30 feet around your home that is free of leaves, debris or flammable material. (This zone is critical as the first defense in wildfire protection for homes).
- Protecting its vulnerable roof by having it made of composite, metal, clay or tile.
- Closing gaps under roof tiles or shingles to resist flying embers.
- Using non-flammable screens to cover your chimney and stove pipes.
- Installing dual pane windows with at least one tempered glass layer that can often withstand fire-caused breakage.
- Making sure your home’s decks are made of fire-resistant material, with under-deck clearance of no flammable materials.
- Using similar noncombustible materials for fences.
- “Ember-sealing” your garage doors with weather stripping around and under it.
- Keeping your driveway or access road clear– with 10 foot vegetation clearance on either side of the driveway for emergency vehicle access.
- Making sure you have obvious address signage on your street or driveway to help emergency responders find you fast.
- Ensuring you have long garden hoses that can reach roofs and decks.
- Installing extra pumps to access other water sources (e.g. during recent fires, some LA residents saved their homes by using installed pumps to access a pool or well to keep their house wet).
2. Stay alert if a wildfire is nearby.
Any wildfire preparedness involves people being alerted of changing conditions. There are official alerts sent via radio and TV, and wireless emergency alerts sent by text. Some communities have alert sirens, and many schools or workplaces have emergency alert systems.
There is a free Federal Emergency Management Agency FEMA app for cell phones- to get local disaster info, emergency and weather alerts, and locations of nearby shelters or Disaster Recovery Center locations. People can also use wildfire phone apps such as Wildfire Tracker, Wildfire Aware, FireSource, and others to remain updated. A battery-powered or hand-cranked radio is also helpful for emergency notification in case there are power outages or your phone power runs down.
3. Continue preparing while you shelter in place.
Even as you shelter in place during this fire emergency, professionals encourage you to create a safe room in your residence as you do. Make note that you only shelter in place during any fire emergency when you are NOT ordered to evacuate BUT there are smoky conditions in your area. A safe room ideally would have 4 walls, no windows, and an attached bathroom.
The goal is to keep the air in a safe room as clean from smoke and particulates as you can (so close windows, doors, vents, or fire screens to keep smoke out). If you have a central AC system, set it to “recirculate” mode and close the outdoor intake damper. Use an air cleaner or filter if you have one.
Don’t do any activities that would create more smoke in your safe room (such as burning candles, cooking or smoking). Wear a mask when you leave the safe room.
4. Re-organize your must-have items in your emergency supply kit.
You’ve likely previously gotten some supplies together for an emergency kit (especially if you live in an earthquake-prone area). While sheltering in place in your safe room, this is a good time to re-organize your necessities. Basic items to gather are:
- First aid kit
- Cell phone with chargers/backup batteries
- Cash
- Important family documents, passports, credit cards, insurance, house and bank records. (Some mementos and irreplaceable photos might be included here).
- A map with several evacuation routes
- Radio with extra batteries (or hand-cranked type)
- Face masks
- Water (1 gallon/person/day is recommended)
- Non-perishable food along with a manual can opener for food cans. (You may want to put water and food in a rolling cooler or tub that can be easily transported to a car if evacuation becomes necessary).
- Flashlights and extra batteries/wrench or pliers for turning off utilities/a whistle to signal for help
- Prescription/non-prescription medicines, including contact lenses and solution
- Electronics like personal computers, hard drives, discs.
- Fire Extinguisher
- Don’t forget your critters! Assemble any carrying cases, leashes, and food supplies together (keeping a possible quick exit in mind).
5. Know what to do when you must evacuate…
Firefighters know all about the best ways to evacuate a residence and not leave vital items behind. So they’ve created a phonetic list called the “6 P’s of Evacuation” to double check if you have to leave:
PEOPLE, PETS, AND PAPER
PHONE NUMBERS AND DOCUMENTS
PRESCRIPTIONS, VITAMINS AND EYEGLASSES
PICTURES AND IRREPLACEABLE MEMENTOS
PERSONAL COMPUTERS, HARD DRIVES, DISCS
PLASTIC LIKE CREDIT CARDS, AND CASH
Checking this list will help you leave with your most vital goods
6. Take final crucial actions when leaving.
When leaving your home, close and lock the doors and windows.
Unplug radios, TVs and small appliances BUT leave freezers and fridges plugged in.
If possible, leave a quick note telling when you left and where you’re going.
Follow recommended evacuation routes because shortcuts may be blocked.
When fleeing by car, even if you get surrounded by flames, keep driving as long as you can and stay IN your car as long as possible. Keep doors and windows closed to keep fire from the car’s interior. Protect yourself inside the car from radiant heat by covering up. It is a good idea to keep fire blankets and fire extinguishers in their car. Other than a fire blanket, the best covering is a wool jacket or blanket- wool is naturally fire-resistant and will not melt on skin as polyester will.
If you have to leave your vehicle behind, try to park it where there is little vegetation.
LEAVE YOUR CAR KEYS. (Remember how there were bottlenecking situations during the recent LA fires? Emergency responders could not access areas due to abandoned cars with no keys in them to enable relocation. Cars had to be bulldozed out of the way, and emergency personnel lost precious response time.
7. Don’t go back without permission.
After leaving your neighborhood, do not try to return unless permitted. Police are patrolling, and the National Guard is often deployed. Also the role of security guards in case of an emergency is sometimes utilized to secure evacuated areas and prevent unauthorized access and looting.
So now is your time to take some simple but crucial steps for wildfire preparedness. You can make a big difference in protecting your home and loved ones– assess your home surroundings, create an emergency plan, organize important documents, buy some extra water, get a fire extinguisher, or assemble that emergency kit for house and car. Just a few proactive easy steps can protect you and your loved ones in case of a wildfire emergency.
