fire

[Morgan101]

The fires in Southern Arizona are dangerously close to my brother and sister. Fire terrifies me. There is no way to stop it. Even when dealing with OPSEC there is no guard against fire. You get out of Dodge as quickly as possible.

 

[Maverick]

https://www.neilgunton.com/doc/?o=1mr&doc_id=19364
decent enough write up about a guy prepping his home for DIY firefighting >>> good practical advice along with a lot of equipment links

Prepping for fires is not cheap!

Some of us written up about protecting our property, My property borders federal land on two sides, I also setup up a staging area for wildland forest fire fighting teams which are used by them.

I also use a D9 cat that is used for clearing. On my property, I have a generator backup to my wells, I use a 120 acre center-pivot to keep my grounds saturated, I use 4x8 corrugated metal sheets I can move around and put in the most threatening areas such as my stable, all my roofs here are metal, I have two portable tanks with a high volume water pumps that feed a 3" flat-hose. We also have pumps we can place in the creek (creek is 4' deep 7' wide with high CFM)

 

[Tommy H]

One major issue on the west cost of the US is politics. In a lot of areas, you are NOT allowed to cut the trees, even the downed ones, without a lot of permits and paperwork. The "so called" environmentalists really don't care about your house as long as they can get their way, screw you.

I fought wildland fires in California for six years. 3 years with the agency now called Cal Fire and 3 years with the US Forest Service. Out of that experience I can assure you that whoever told you that was blowing smoke were the sun don't shine. There is NOWHERE in the State of California that we could not order improved clearances for anything that would burn. We would order wood racked on a porch or patio removed to 50 feet away from a home. The other thing the occupants could do to keep it handy for use was to store the firewood in a very tightly enclosd non combustible container still 10 feet away from any combustible structure. Those who did not comply with a clearance order had the offending ground cover fuels removed by a State fire crew during the off season. The entire cost was a lien on the property that was due prior to your property tax because a debt to the State always comes out of any money received before the taxes do. The owner who considered fighting that bill would be told by any attorney they consulted, who was a member of the State Bar, that if they didn't pay the remaining bill and their taxes they would eventually loose the property to a Lien to the State Sale. I'm still in touch with some of the permanent party fire control people I worked for. If that had changed I would have heard about it. Nobody in the State of California can avoid the removal of anything combustible from around their home. In the most dangerous areas complete clearance to bare mineral earth with only non combustible cover out to 100 feet including tree overstory. When we issued such an order the State Fire Prevention Officers would follow it up until it was abated or the property was seized for non payment of abatement cost. Some people were foolish enough to fight that based on some imagined castle doctrine and they always lost. This I know from personal experience. To convince me that anyone can prevent the removal of trees shrubs, grass, weeds, or, yes, even fire wood should be prepared to quote chapter and verse from California Law or I will know they are spouting horse hockey.

We would always recommend a portable pump and associated equipment to anyone who had any substantial quantity of water stored on their property. When used with fire retardant the occupants can coat the roof and walls and leave with a very high likelihood of their home being unscathed when they returned. Required clearance, fire defense soffit screens, together with a non combustible roof, and fire retardant coating never failed. Not once in 6 years!

Tommy H

 

[Proud Prepper]

I wonder how many of tbe wildfires fires that destroyed homes and took lives where started by people not following these dictates?

 

[Tommy H]

I wonder how many of the wildfires fires that destroyed homes and took lives where started by people not following these dictates?

90% of all ground cover fires are Human caused. Some originate from an uncontrolled ignition within a structure. If the dictates you are referring to are the laws that I helped to enforce I would think that such fires would be well down in the "Source of heat of ignition" and "Form of Material first ignited" categories. That is not to allege that I have run the numbers. I'm just guesstimating from all of the Fire Cause and Origin Reports I prepared in 45 years of doing fire suppression.

Tommy H