To help homeowners avoid receiving the dreaded black cone, federal and local firefighting agencies are trying to reduce the risk of fire where homes are built in areas adjacent to public lands. The federal agencies are using a combination of mechanical thinning and prescribed burns on public lands to lower the fuels that have accumulated over a century of aggressive fire suppression. On private lands, local fire districts are beseeching homeowners to create a defensible space around their structures. This is done generally by removing fuels within at least 100 feet of the house. Undergrowth is overgrown.
Gutters are jammed with pine needles.
Wood is stacked under the deck. Dead branches litter the area. It s so if a wildfire comes through, it allows the property to survive because the area has been cleared. Creating this defensible space is critically important, the chiefs said, when the geography is working against the homeowner. Sometimes access is difficult because roads are narrow or winding.