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Oh boy, yard work season is right around the corner. This year, while you’re out planting, pruning and cleaning up take some time to consider your houses vulnerability to brush and exterior fires that can spread to your home. I know the list is long but here are a few more items to add to your yard work list:
Clean roofs and gutters of dead leaves, pine needles and woody debris that has accumulated over the winter. These items can catch fire easily and spread to the roof and attic.
Replace or remove any loose or missing roof shingles where embers could penetrate.
Do you still have wood shingle roof? Well, when it’s time for a new roof, asphalt or meatal roofs have a much less chance of burning and they look pretty awesome to.
Clean out the debris from exterior attic vents and make sure attic vents have 1/8-inch metal mesh. The tight mesh will prevent windblown embers from entering the attic space. It also helps to keep critters out!
Repair any broken window screen or broken windows.
Clean below patios and decks where dry and easily ignitable debris has collected.
Move flammable materials like wood piles and mulch away from the exterior of your home.
Clear vegetation from under large stationary propane tanks.
Keep lawns and native grasses mowed to a height of four inches.
Remove ladder fuels (vegetation under trees) so a surface fire cannot reach the tree crowns. Prune trees up to six to ten feet from the ground; for shorter trees do not exceed 1/3 of the overall tree height.
Space trees to have a minimum of eighteen feet between crowns with the distance increasing with the percentage of slope.
Tree placement should be planned to ensure the mature canopy is no closer than ten feet to the edge of the structure.
Tree and shrubs in this should be limited to small clusters of a few each to break up the ignition continuity of the vegetation across the landscape
Dispose of heavy accumulations of ground litter/debris.
Remove dead plant and tree material.
Remove small conifers growing between mature trees.
Remove vegetation adjacent to storage sheds or other outbuildings.
Trees 30 to 60 feet from the home should have at least 12 feet between canopy tops.
For more informaiton visit www.nfpa.org/Public-Education/By-topic/Wildfire
nfpa.org
KCFD#20 is evaluating training props for use in our training tower. The training tower was not intended for use with real fires which would damage the tower or the nearby high-tension power lines. This video shows one of the training props we are trying out. So far it has been a hit with the crews.
Our firefighters train daily on everything from medical emergencies, extrication from car accidents, and fighting fires. The more realistic the training, the better they perform at an actual emergency. A more proficient firefighter makes for a safer community.
What a busy weekend for recruit firefighters who had practical lessons on forcible entry, hoisting, and radio communications. The instructors covered everything from starting a saw to tying knots. The recruits were saturated with both knowledge and rain by the end of the day.
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