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SAFER FROM THE START. A Guide to Firewise-Friendly Developments - PDF
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1 SAFER FROM THE START A Guide to Firewise-Friendly Developments
2 Table of Contents Introduction...2 Why Use Firewise Principles?...4 For the Developer, Builder and Designer...7 For the Resident For the Community Association Rules and Examples Firewise-Friendly Checklist and Rule Examples Are Your Rules Firewise-Friendly? A Checklist Firewise-Friendly Rule Examples More Resources Appendix Material Appendix A How Homes Ignite During Wildfire Appendix B Firewise Assessment Guidelines Appendix C Firewise Construction Checklist Appendix D Firewise Landscaping Principles Appendix E Firewise Landscaping Checklist Appendix F Becoming a Recognized Firewise Communities/USA Site Appendix G Sample Rule Language for Firewise Standards on Infrastructure, Construction and Landscaping Firewise and Firewise Communities/USA are registered trademarks of the National Fire Protection Association, 1 Batterymarch Park, Quincy, MA Copyright 2009 NFPA Printed in USA This publication was produced in cooperation with the USDA Forest Service.
3 FOREWORD In 1985, wildfire destroyed more than 1,400 homes throughout the U.S. Since then, private and governmental fire experts have worked to discover the roots of this problem and to bring the best available research and practices to the public. The Firewise Communities program teaches people how to keep homes safer from wildfire. For new developments and for residents of community associations, it s important to know how to design and build safely and to maintain wildfire safety in the long run. This guide addresses the interests of developers and people living in community associations at risk from wildfire. Many private developers seek information about how to make their planned communities and subdivisions Firewise from the ground up building safer from the start. This guide will help developers create safer, more vibrant new communities by keeping fire in mind. In some existing communities governed by associations, guiding documents their master deeds or covenants, conditions and restrictions (CC&Rs) restrict the ability of residents to make important Firewise changes to their property. Where residents are prohibited from changing a roof from flammable to nonflammable material, or from removing any vegetation, living or dead, from around their properties, the rules are not Firewise-friendly. This guide provides developers of new communities and residents of existing community associations a tool they can use to integrate Firewise concepts into design and development, as well as their covenants, conditions and restrictions and architectural rules. Community associations can greatly improve their existing conditions using the information in this guide. And by building safer from the start, the communities of tomorrow have a better chance of surviving and thriving in a fire-prone environment. Firewise Communities Program staff are Jim Smalley, Project Manager; Cheryl Blake, Products Manager; Michele Steinberg, Communities Support Manager; and Judith Leraas Cook, Firewise Communities/USA Program Manager. The program is grateful for the assistance of the following individuals in the research, development and review of this guide: Lee Ann Beery, Arizona State Forestry Division; Andrew Fortin, Esq., Community Associations Institute; Jan Fulkerson, Texas Forest Service; Terry Haines, USDA Forest Service, Southern Research Station; Jerry Hurley, Plumas County (California) Fire Safe Council; Gerry LaCavera, Florida Division of Forestry; Molly Mowery, Masters Candidate in Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Claire Reiss, Esq., Public Entity Risk Institute; Cheryl Renner, Renner & Associates; James Schwab, American Planning Association; Katherine Skakel, AICP, Hood River, Oregon; Ed Smith, University of Nevada Cooperative Extension Service; Tim Steele, Mission Canyon Community (California) Architectural Review Committee; and Keith Worley, Forestree Development LLC. SAFER FROM THE START PAGE 1
4 Building Firewise concepts into the community itself means that from day one, there are rules and expectations set on how to address fire safety issues within the community. a n d r e w f o r t i n, c o m m u n i t y a s s o c i a t i o n s i n s t i t u te INTRODUCTION Whether you live in a subdivision in a beautiful natural area, or you are building communities nestled in the woods, you may have to deal with the risk of wildfire. This guide will help you look at your community and your home in a new way a Firewise-friendly way. Taking the natural phenomenon of wildfire into account when planning, designing and building a subdivision can help you achieve your goals in a safe and environmentally sound manner. Checking your home and its surroundings to see if Firewise improvements can be made will help you keep it safer from wildfire. PAGE 2 SAFER FROM THE START As a developer or builder, you want to create a community that provides potential buyers or renters with beautiful, private, convenient and safe places to live. As a resident, you want your home in your scenic community to be beautiful and safe from wildfire. As a member of a homeowner or community association, you want to maintain the beauty and value of your neighborhood, as well as protect the people who live there. If you are building in an area naturally prone to wildfire, there are some important factors for you to take into account to improve the safety and livability of your new community. Firewise principles address site design, construction and landscaping, as well as property maintenance and education of residents. These principles can be integrated seamlessly into your development design as well as a community s master deed, covenants, conditions and restrictions (CC&Rs), subdivision rules, and architectural review guidelines. Use this guide to learn more about the nature of wildfires and how Firewise principles in the development process can make homes and communities much less vulnerable to damage and loss. If you are a resident of an older subdivision, you can use these principles to make Firewise improvements to your home and surroundings that will give you and your neighbors a much greater edge when it comes to surviving a wildfire. This guide will help you to: assess your site for wildfire risk factors, use Firewise principles in design and construction, and
5 incorporate wildfire safety into your development s guiding documents and rules. You ll also find examples of how other communities have been built Firewise from the ground up and about the benefits they ve enjoyed as a result. Understanding how to prevent home ignitions and destruction from wildfires is essential to incorporate appropriate safety measures into the design, construction and landscaping of your development. This guide uses a checklist format to help you identify the items you may want to include in the community s title document or declaration, subdivision rules, and architectural review requirements. If your community documents are already in place, the checklist and examples can help identify and support possible changes for the community to enact to increase their wildfire protection. Examples from other communities are provided to give you an idea of how your document can be best structured to ensure that wildfire safety issues are fully addressed. SAFER FROM THE START PAGE 3
6 C O S The idea of Firewise in pre-development for a community is that you plan before you build, which makes it cheaper to do things right. Planning ahead protects human life as well as structures. CHARLIE BAUN, ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION SERVICES, INC. F I R E W I S E A M M U N I T I E S U / Why Use Firewise Principles? Could your planned community be vulnerable to damage from wildfires? It s not as simple as looking at a map, and it isn t restricted to communities in the Western U.S. Fire professionals call the places where homes are built near or among lands prone to wildfire the wildland/urban interface. It may be more helpful to think of the wildland/urban interface not as a place, but rather as a set of conditions that can exist in nearly every community. These conditions include the amount, type, and distribution of vegetation; the flammability of the structures (homes, businesses, outbuildings, decks, fences) in the area, and their proximity to fire-prone vegetation and to other combustible structures; weather patterns and general climate conditions; topography; hydrology; average lot size; road construction; and more. Growth patterns around the country indicate significant increases in development in rural or wildland areas. U.S. Census data from 2000 shows that nine of the 15 fastest-growing regions in the country are already considered wildland fire-prone areas or are becoming fire-prone as a result of rapid growth. While some years are worse than others in terms of home losses, an average year sees some 800 to 1,000 homes lost during wildfire events. These numbers are dwarfed by the truly catastrophic events such as the 2003 southern California fires that burned down some 3,600 homes over a few weeks. Of course, growth and development are happening in areas that have valuable amenities, not just risks of wildfire. Home buyers increasingly are seeking privacy, natural beauty, recreational opportunities, and affordable living. There are more than 300,000 association-governed communities in the United States and more than 24 million housing units in these communities an increase of about 40% in the past decade. 1 Given overall national development trends, where many formerly rural census tracts tripled in population during the 1990s 2, it is likely that many of these communities are being built in wildfire-prone areas. However, developing a new community in a fire-prone area does not necessarily spell disaster. Using Firewise PAGE 4 SAFER FROM THE START
7 principles from the design stage to the final build-out can result in communities that retain their attractive elements and have the additional benefit of being compatible with their natural environment, which includes wildfire. Firewise principles include community infrastructure design considerations, home design and layout, home construction materials, landscaping choices, and maintenance activities all chosen and applied with wildfire in mind. These principles have been developed and tested over the past several decades in communities throughout the U.S., and are supported by physical fire science research. Using Firewise principles can help community residents manage the risk of fire the way that many commonly cope with snowstorms or flood seasons. Firewise design and construction can begin to make new communities safer. But the long-term maintenance of Firewise conditions and the involvement of residents in their own safety are also very important elements to ensuring safer communities over time. Learning a little about how homes ignite in a wildfire and how this can be prevented sheds light on why ongoing, collaborative Firewise activity is needed. Creating a Firewise community from the ground up not only makes for a safer community, but can also help meet other goals and objectives for the developer and local officials or regulators. Firewise construction can contribute to a home s insurability and overall soundness. Firewise landscaping can maintain the natural beauty of a site while avoiding future problems with unhealthy trees or plants and minimizing other problems associated with poor landscaping practices, such as soil erosion, weakened tree limbs vulnerable to wind, snow load or ice, and overuse of pesticides and chemicals. Firewise maintenance of individual properties and common areas can bring residents together to contribute to the safety and aesthetic goals of the development over time. The Home Ignition Zone: The Basic Building Block of Firewise The first consideration in reducing destruction of homes from wildfire lies in reducing the possibilities for ignition in the Home Ignition Zone that is, the home and its immediate surroundings within feet. The conditions within this zone largely determine the home s resistance to ignition and its survivability from wildfire. A wildfire disaster resulting in the loss of many homes and perhaps lives is almost always the result of worst-case scenario conditions. These include lots of vegetative fuel (living and dead), hot, dry windy weather, and often topography with steep slopes or chimneys that carry fire quickly. The fire through this wildland area builds in intensity and spreads rapidly. When the fire burns into a community, the SAFER FROM THE START PAGE 5
8 homes become more fuel and sequential ignitions result in homes igniting neighboring homes also known as a conflagration. By changing the character of the Home Ignition Zone, a resident can alter the path of a fire approaching a home. Whether homes will ignite during wildfire has to do with the condition of the home itself and the area in the Home Ignition Zone. Some risk factors to look for include homes with flammable roofing, siding and decking materials; accumulations of leaves, needles, twigs, brush or tree limbs on, around or under homes; dense vegetation in the Home Ignition Zone; and flammable items (mulch, woodpiles, other materials) in direct contact with homes or attachments. By changing the character of the community s ignition zone, developers and community associations have the opportunity to alter a wildfire s path for an entire community. Because many communities have homes that are closer than feet to one another, the individual homes ignition zones overlap. This means that in order to change the community s ignition zone, residents need to work together. Developers have a special opportunity to reduce the likelihood of home ignitions in a wildfire by designing in a Firewise way from the ground up. Assessing Risks and Reducing Ignition Hazards Communities almost everywhere in the United States are at some risk from wildfire. Your community may have a very short fire season, but homes in your area may still be at risk to wildfire ignition. The best resource for determining your area s relative risk to wildfires is usually your State Forestry office. Local fire departments may also have historical information on wildfire occurrences in your area. Appendix A provides basic information on how fire behaves and can give you some general guidelines about risk factors for wildfire. Appendix B gives a more detailed description of how to assess individual homes for wildfire risk. PAGE 6 SAFER FROM THE START
9 Investing in forest clean-up and adopting Firewise practices not only reduced the risk but enhanced the beauty and value of the on-site forests. What s more, promoting the project as a Firewise community has proven to be a beneficial marketing tool. CHRIS HEFTEL, DEVELOPER, RIVER BLUFF RANCH, WASHINGTON FOR THE DEVELOPER, BUILDER AND DESIGNER If you are designing a new community or subdivision, knowing about your wildfire risk can help you create a safer development from the beginning. Consulting with state forestry staff and local fire professionals will help you understand not only the wildfire hazards you need to address in your design, but also any county or state regulations that guide development in wildfire-prone areas. For specific guidelines on construction and infrastructure, refer to Appendices C (Construction checklist) and D (Infrastructure guidelines). Location, location, location Knowing that terrain and weather are two of the main factors in wildfire risk, consider any major topographical features when designing the subdivision layout. These include steep slopes, ridges, bluffs, canyons, draws, chimneys and saddles. Consider that south-facing slopes will have drier vegetation from solar heating and that winds will carry fire up into chimneys and down through canyons. In addition, heavy rains after a fire may cause mudflows or soil erosion. When considering location of home sites, think of potential fire exposure and elements related to site maintenance and fire response: Setbacks Home-to-home proximity Access/Egress Road/driveway width and grade Homes sited at the top of a ridge will need to have adequate setback away from potential flames. Residents or community managers will need to have access to vegetated areas in order to maintain them in a Firewise condition. Think about site design from the point of view of fire approaching, and of the maintenance that will be needed on the landscape to keep fireprone vegetation from accumulating. Homes with rooflines closer than 30 feet apart can become ignition sources for one another. Depending on the size of the development, certain infrastructure for fire protection may be required. In the absence of such requirements, you may want to include these features in your plan to enhance community values. For example, since steep, nar- SAFER FROM THE START PAGE 7
10 Excerpted from Developing in the Interface by Chris Heftel in American Perspectives on the Wildland/Urban Interface. Heftel, a developer, is president of River Bluff Ranch in Spokane, Washington. 3 There are many important and fascinating aspects to developing near wildlands and many challenges. When it comes to creating new wildland/urban interface communities, developers are critical players and should start by using Firewise planning as a part of their overall development process. I offer my recommendations for developers planning and constructing beautiful, fire resistant projects in the wildland/urban interface: Require each home site to be a defensible place and do the research. Invest the time to become as knowledgeable about these issues as you are with other development issues. Evaluate interface site conditions. Early in the process, and when you begin to study your other development issues, solicit on-site inspections and frank feedback from various stakeholders and specialists. Discuss these issues with owners of neighboring wildlands, environment groups, realtors, your marketing team and others. Evaluate your site from other aspects, including current and long term prospects for the health of forests or other natural vegetation, recreational space opportunities, aesthetics of open spaces and views from home sites, creating defensible space that enhances aesthetics for each building site, off-site risks from neighboring wildlands outside of your control and the prospects for cooperation and/or collaboration from those who control these off-site wildlands, existence of on-site hazardous fuels, ways to reduce them and the associated costs. Consider opportunities to minimize costs and generate timber harvest revenues by integrating fuel reduction, forest health and aesthetic enhancement goals with site clearing activities, market analysis to achieve increased sales prices due to aesthetics from additional fuel reductions. Conduct a systematic assessment of your project s prospects for each aspect of creating a Firewise community. Ask interface fire experts to assess your project based on your development plans. Look for ways to improve your position by making feasible changes to your plans. Sources of wildland/urban interface financial assistance are available through a variety of grants, and many materials and specialists are available at little or no cost. Develop a section of your master plan for wildland fire risk management based on the specifics of your project. Consider the issues of sustainability and enforceability. Fuels don t maintain themselves. Vegetation grows back; trees die. People don t always do the right thing; homeowners come and go; some ignore or break the rules. Draft covenants so that homeowner associations, fire districts and possibly others have the legal and financial ability to perpetuate the Firewise conditions you created. Consider the scale of your wildland/urban interface project. If your site is large with considerable open spaces, incorporate designs that allow such elements as recreation spaces and service access roads to double as firebreaks. If your site and/or building parcels are small, incorporate ways to maintain adequate separation between structures. For example, cluster ignition resistant houses and provide the defensible space around each cluster. Successful developers must pay attention to site conditions such as rock, highly erodible soils, and the like. Wildland fire is another equally important site condition to evaluate and intelligently incorporate into your development design, but unlike many conditions requiring mitigation, wildlands often also represent a wonderful and exciting opportunity to create something of beauty which prospective buyers value. PAGE 8 SAFER FROM THE START
11 row, winding roads make it more difficult for fire engines to respond to fire and medical emergencies, you may want to consider minimizing road gradient where possible both for emergency egress by residents as well as access by fire trucks. A grade of ten percent or greater will significantly impact their speed and their ability to arrive and maneuver safely. For a very large community with homes that are widely spread out, a community fire station (or land set aside for one) may be an important addition. The natural environment: The beauty of nature is what attracts many residents to live in planned developments. Trees, grasslands and other natural elements may be a major amenity for your new development. Consider the following when reviewing your site with fire in mind: Fire-prone species of trees, shrubs and other plants Density of vegetation Overall health of the vegetation Undergrowth Local practices for vegetation management Dead or downed vegetation Options for debris disposal Ornamental landscaping choices Availability of water for landscape maintenance and firefighting Some types of vegetation are more fire-prone than others. Pine forests, palmetto, scrub oaks, and species with a lot of resins or oils are of concern. Broad-leaf (deciduous) trees are more fire-resistant, but also consider the overall health of the ecotype. A forestry professional will be able to help identify any unhealthy conditions of the natural vegetation in your area. If heavy undergrowth has been allowed to spread throughout your site, or there are dense forests, these are potential fire hazards. Even in areas dominated by tall grasses or shrubs rather than forests, uninterrupted beds of flammable vegetation are a concern. Find out which agencies or organizations are currently managing the forest or rangeland conditions by thinning trees, removing undergrowth or conducting prescribed burns. If prescribed or controlled burning is practiced in your area, consider the impacts of smoke from these activities in your design and in your advice to potential buyers. When learning about the vegetation on your site, you ll often find that forestry and fire professionals call it fuel. If the trees or other vegetation are very unhealthy or pose a danger of extreme fire, you may even hear terms like stand replacement fire and soilaltering fire. These terms mean that significant treatment of the vegetation will be needed before you begin development. Forestry professionals may recommend that you treat the vegetation or fuel prior to subdividing the properties and recording the lot splits. Consider areas where dead vegetation downed trees or limbs, pine needles, dead leaves may have accumulated on your site. This material can be a significant fuel for a wildfire often more so than live plants. A plan for removal of this material before development will go a long way toward the aesthetics and fire safety of the built community. If the area tends to accumulate a lot of dead material from heavy nee- SAFER FROM THE START PAGE 9
12 dle or leaf drop, consider how future property owners will dispose of this on their own and on common areas in the community. Your site may be enhanced by ornamental plantings in common areas and on home sites. There are many options for fire-resistant plant species as well as good techniques for arrangement that can be attractive, compatible with the local environment, and safer from wildfire. Consider that one characteristic of a Firewise plant is its ability to be maintained easily, without drying out or dropping lots of leaves or needles. Will property owners have adequate water for maintaining home landscapes? Water supply is also critical to consider for firefighting purposes. If there is not a municipal water supply available for your site, think about what other sources are available. Consult with your local fire authorities regarding alternatives such as dry hydrants, ponds, water tanks or cisterns. As the developer you may or may not be responsible for building the homes that will populate your new community. For more about building a Firewise home and designing Firewise home landscapes, see the following section, For the Resident in this guide. An excerpt from a letter by the City of Hood River (Oregon) Fire Marshal to Prospective Property Owners 4 In order for the fire department to gain access to your home or building, the access roads must meet these requirements. The road infrastructure in the east Hood River area is such that fire and EMS response is delayed. This delay is due to the fact that narrow streets and tight corners make it difficult to maneuver large fire apparatus around the area. Strict adherence to the road standard is required by all property developers. By providing adequate fire department access roads, you reduce the amount of time lost positioning apparatus. A developer in southwest Colorado discusses the value of wildfire mitigation: 5 Ron Tyner, a developer with the former Peregrine Creek Development Company, believes that the company was one of the first and only developers required to do fire mitigation in La Plata County. In 1996, [his company was] involved in the Tomahawk Subdivision, a resubdivision of 72 acres of the original Rafter J in La Plata County. We were surprised and somewhat aggravated when the county required wildfire mitigation. Quite honestly, we had no idea what to the standards of the Colorado State Forest Service meant. An on-site visit with [a] Colorado State District Forester taught him the meaning of words like slash, defensible space, ladder fuels and fuel breaks. Tyner was advised that 120 to 140 trees per acre was optimum, that the spacing between tree crowns should be 15 feet and gambel oak was to be left in clumps of 12 stems. He was also told that slash, the thinned remains of branches and leaves, was to be spread and piled no more than 18 inches high on the forest floor, and special attention should be given to the steep slopes. From the moment work began, Tyner said, we not only noticed a positive aesthetic difference but our lot sales soared. The company was able to directly measure their investment by comparing their sales prices with resales in the immediate area. The result was a net profit increase of 20 percent. Tyner says whether a county requires it or not, he does wildfire mitigation before developing an area as a matter of course. It s not just that buyers are more aware of the need for protecting against wildfires, but I am able to sleep better knowing that we made a safer place to live in the forest. PAGE 10 SAFER FROM THE START
13 FOR THE RESIDENT This section will help you learn what to do to make your home safer, whether you are building new or living in a residence you want to improve for wildfire resistance. You can also use Appendix C for a quick checklist on Firewise construction. Building a Firewise Home If you re living in a community where the developer has taken wildfire into account in the infrastructure and overall design of the community s layout and landscape, you are halfway there. The next step is to ensure that your home is built using Firewise techniques. Luckily, Firewise building materials are commonly used and readily available. The key elements to consider when building a Firewise home are: Roof and Roof Elements Vents and Openings Windows Walls Attachments Decks, Porches, Fences Other Structures Roof The most important consideration is to ensure the building has a nonflammable roof. Review Appendix A, How Homes Ignite During Wildfire to learn more about how vulnerable flammable roofs are to ignition from flying brands and embers during a wildfire. Ensure that your home is constructed using nonflammable roofing materials and roof assembly. Good choices for roofing material include asphalt, fiber-cement, tile, concrete and metal. Simpler roofs with steep pitches limit the accumulation of needles and dead leaves that can be an ember trap in a wildfire. Gutters, skylights and other elements on the roof should also be made of nonflammable material. Walls The siding used on homes can also make a difference in how well the home will resist ignition from a wildfire. Nonflammable choices include stucco, brick and fiber-cement. Large-timber construction is also fire-resistant as it takes a long time for large timbers to ignite and burn. Vinyl siding can be vulnerable to radiant heat but will typically melt and drop away from the sheathing rather than carry fire. If there is no protection installed for the wall underneath vinyl siding, the home is more vulnerable to both radiant heat and embers. Wood siding is also vulnerable to ignition, more so if it does not have an SAFER FROM THE START PAGE 11
14 interlocking lap, which means there is space between the shingles and the studs where embers could penetrate. 6 Windows During a wildfire, windows, like the rest of the home, are exposed to radiant heat, convection and embers. Radiant heat could be severe enough to break the glass in a window or ignite the exterior siding directly below it. Flames from burning siding or vegetation burning near a window could touch the window and heat it to the breaking point. Embers can strike a window and break it, or ignite any flammable debris on a window sill. For these reasons, dual-pane or tempered glass are good Firewise choices for windows. Dual-pane windows have an added advantage of the outer layer of glass that provides a thermal shield for the inner pane, allowing it to heat more slowly and decreasing the chances it will heat enough to break. Consider extra protection for any large windows facing an area where wildfire is likely to approach, or design the home to avoid such exposures. PAGE 12 SAFER FROM THE START Vents and Openings Openings in the home need special consideration. Chimney flues, attic vents on the roof or under the eaves, crawl space vents, even doggie doors can provide an opening for embers or flames to enter the interior of the home during a wildfire. These areas should be screened with metal mesh of no more than 1/4 inch (1/8-inch is preferred, but could become clogged if painted). Doggie doors, garage doors, and entry doors should have seals that prevent ember entry when closed properly. Attachments Decks, Porches and Fences When designing or installing decks, porches and fences, remember that if it is attached to the house, it is part of the house or part of the fuel from a wildfire s point of view. Decks in particular pose special hazards in a wildfire. If they overhang a slope, they can heat from beneath and eventually ignite from radiant or convective heat. This is exacerbated by any accumulation of flammables stored items or leaf litter under or around the deck. The flat deck surface can load up with embers flying from up to a mile away. Consider using nonflammable material or material that will not carry fire to the house. You can add special protection in the area where the deck meets the house to prevent the home igniting from the deck by using metal flashing. Wooden fences are prone to ignition as they extend into vegetated areas and often have accumulated debris or leaf litter against them. If flammable fence material is being used, a simple fence fix is to ensure that the attachment to the house is made of a nonflammable material. Fences shared by neighbors that are closer than 100 feet to any part of either house will need special attention to prevent accumulation of flammable debris on either side. Other Structures Other structures attached to the house or within the Home Ignition Zone should be designed to minimize ignition. These might include garages, storage sheds, worksheds, greenhouses or stables. Ensure that these structures are built from fire-resistant materials and will employ the same care around the property as for the primary structure. Designing a Firewise Landscape Homes ignite because of the condition of the home itself and everything around the home within 100 to 200 feet (see Appendix A). The landscape design and material become a critical element in creating a Firewise home. The primary considerations include: Zone Concept Fuel-Free Area Firewise Plants Choosing Firewise plants Plant arrangement and maintenance Tree Spacing
15 You can also read more about Firewise landscaping principles in Appendix D, and review a Firewise Landscaping checklist in Appendix E. Zone Concept This refers to the idea of working from your house out into the landscape in designing your Firewise surroundings (see diagram, page 6). The overall Home Ignition Zone includes the home and everything around it within 100 to 200 feet. If your home is on a steep slope you may need to design your landscaping to the 200-foot mark. But you should begin in the area closest to your home within three to five feet of your walls and attachments. Fuel-Free Area Basically, it is a bad idea to allow flames to touch your home. By creating an area free of fuel for an encroaching wildfire within three to five feet of your home, you can avoid many potential ignitions. This area should be designed to have nonflammable material such as rock or gravel, bare earth, or small, low-growing flowers or other plants that will not be able to generate enough heat to carry flames to the sides of your home or its attachments. Remember that a wood fence or deck that attaches to your home needs the same kind of attention to minimize ignition potential. Firewise Plants For ornamental vegetation around the home, choose species compatible with your local environment that are also fire-resistant or that will not carry fire to adjacent grass, shrubs or your home. The Firewise website links to many plant lists created by Cooperative Extension Services around the country that can help you choose the best plants for your location. Plant Arrangement In keeping with the zone concept, a Firewise landscape will keep the area within 30 feet of the home lean, clean and green, with plantings arranged in islands to break up the continuity of potential fuel for a fire. Tree Spacing It s best to keep tree limbs and branches at least 10 feet away from the sides and roof of your house, and avoid limbs that hang over the house (besides generating needle or leaf drop onto your roof, a burning limb can come down on the roof and cause more problems). The tops or crowns of the trees should be spaced so that fire cannot make the leap from canopy to canopy. Trees should be separated from lower growing vegetation that can create a ladder for fire to go from the surface into the tree canopy. Modifying the (Existing) Home Ignition Zone If you are living in an older home and are wondering where to begin your Firewise improvements, the recommendation is always to begin with the home and work your way out from there. The key elements are the same for the home construction and landscaping. For your home structure, consider the following improvements. These are listed roughly in order of how easy or inexpensive they are to accomplish. However, replacing a flammable roof is one of the most important things you can do to make your home safer from wildfire. Remove flammable material such as needles, leaves and twigs from your roof and gutters, and from under decks and porches and along fences Screen all vents in your eaves or on your roof, chimney openings, and crawlspaces or underneath decks with 1/8 or smaller nonflammable metal mesh screen Replace wood fences with metal (or install metal flashing or a metal gate on the fence portion that touches the house) Replace single-pane windows with dual-pane windows and ensure SAFER FROM THE START PAGE 13
16 window screens are in good shape Replace flammable siding with nonflammable material Replace flammable roof with nonflammable roof assembly For your yard and landscape, consider these improvements: Create a fuel-free zone within 3-5 feet of your home s perimeter as well as any attachments Remove any tree branches that hang over your roof or are within 10 feet of your chimney Remove dead or dying plants and rake up needles, leaves and other debris within 30 feet of your home. Replace fire-prone plants with Firewise species Remove vines, shrubs, scrub and other undergrowth beneath trees or large shrubs to prevent a fire ladder Thin out trees up to 100 feet from your home to keep tree canopies from touching Working with Your Neighbors In a community with homes within 100 feet of each other, you may be wondering how you can improve your wildfire safety if you can t cross that Home Ignition Zone line into someone else s back yard. In fact, if your neighbor s home isn t Firewise, you can be at greater risk from ignition during a wildfire, as a burning structure will generate a tremendous amount of heat and flying embers. Your neighbor might also be a national or state forest, national park, or private rangeland. Fire behavior will be the same regardless of who owns the land within your Home Ignition Zone. That s why it s critical to work with neighboring landowners to ensure the greatest degree of protection from wildfire. Neighbors may also encounter shared wildfire risks within commonly-held areas in the community, such as open space or roadways. The homeowners association should address the mitigation and maintenance of these areas, but will still need residents to work in cooperation to reduce the fuels where these common areas border private lots. Residents of community associations with good Firewise practices and governance have a great opportunity to reduce their wildfire risks and get credit for it, too. The Firewise Communities/USA recognition program is a national effort to encourage and acknowledge residents actions to make their homes safer from wildfire. If you are actively involved in Firewise work with your neighbors and/or your Homeowner s Association (HOA), your community may be eligible for recognition as an outstanding example of wildfire safety in action. See Appendix F for more on becoming a Firewise Communities/ USA site. A memo from firefighter Robert Holt, with the Redding Interagency Hotshot Crew, describes the scene in a neighborhood during the Angora Fire that destroyed 254 homes near Lake Tahoe in 2007: 7 the house had pine needles draped on its roof, under its wooden porch, and along its wooden fence. [We] cut a line around it, but because of the extreme wind, it jumped our line and flames involved the porch. Figuring this house was done for, I tried to get into the back yard of the house next door to the south. Because its gates were locked and I would not have an escape route, I could not find a way to protect it. I took refuge around the southwest corner of the first house and sprayed water on the side of the second house, but soon the heat was too much; I took a blast to the right side of my face and abandoned the houses. If the first house had cleaned its roof, fence, and porch of pine needles, I could have saved it. If there had been a way to access the back of the second house, I could have saved that one as well. It is my expert opinion that we could have saved no less than 75% of the houses that were lost if the landowners had removed the pine needles from their roofs, porches, and fence lines. In addition, houses that had locked gates and not-easilyfound spigots also burned. When one house became involved, the surrounding houses caught also due to the flying embers and direct flame impingement. PAGE 14 SAFER FROM THE START
17 Keep in mind that, besides keeping a wildfire from reaching a home, Firewise landscaping can keep a fire that might start in one home from igniting adjacent homes. This is where the importance of neighborhood organization and cooperation comes in. MIKE KUHNS, EXTENSION FORESTRY SPECIALIST, UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY FOR THE COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION How to use covenants to guide community Firewise practices. Covenants in Context Many newly planned developments make use of guiding documents known as covenants for the benefit of all residential owners and their neighbors. Covenants can be a very useful tool for guiding Firewise-friendly development. What s more, neighborhoods with properly drafted and enforced covenants or architectural standards have been shown to retain property value better than those with poorly enforced covenants or no standards at all, and neighborhoods that follow their covenants and standards tend to be safer, look better, maintain better relationships with local governments, and better retain or increase the investments that homeowners have made in their properties. 8 A covenant is a rule governing the use of real property, and may also refer to a promise or agreement (as formalized in a deed) concerning the use of the land. For example, a purchaser of land covenants to abide by certain restrictions associated with the use of the land. Essentially, such covenants are promises made by a prospective purchaser as a condition of purchasing the land in question. When properly recorded on a deed conveying land, a covenant ( restrictive deed covenant ) has the legal effect of a binding contract term, and may be so enforced. When covenants are instead signed privately among neighbors, as in a mutual compact or agreement, they are still binding upon the signatories and may be litigated if breached. Covenants differ from zoning ordinances in that they are between private parties rather than between a governmental entity and a private party. Thus, a neighborhood association or single homeowner may enforce a covenant as against another homeowner, rather than a city or county enforcing a zoning ordinance as against a private citizen. Another difference is that zoning ordinances are regulations recorded as local laws on the books, whereas covenants are recorded in private deeds, either as deed restrictions or as neighborhood compacts between private parties. Because covenants are voluntary, they may be more restrictive than zoning ordinances. Covenants are also known as the master deed, declaration, or CC&Rs, for covenants, conditions and restrictions. SAFER FROM THE START PAGE 15
18 Community associations in almost half the states base their rule-making authority on one or another version of a set of regulations called the Uniform Acts. The Uniform Acts give associations the power to regulate common elements. It also specifies the powers of the association board. According to the Uniform Acts, association boards of directors may: Adopt and amend bylaws, rules, and regulations Regulate the use, maintenance, repair, replacement and modification, of common elements; Impose charges for late payments of assessments and, after notice and an opportunity to be heard, levy reasonable fines for violations of the declaration, bylaws, and rules and regulations of the association; Exercise any other powers necessary and proper for the governance and operations of the association. A sound set of CC&Rs can provide a good basis for Firewise-friendly development, and ensure that a community association maintains Firewise standards into the future. The CC&R document should address the following issues: An overall vision or mission statement that includes fire safety as part of the community s values Guidelines for design, siting and construction of homes that will ensure that wildfire ignition potential is considered Overall landscaping and maintenance guidelines for homes and commonly-owned areas Guidelines on construction and maintenance of fire protection infrastructure, including roads, bridges, driveways, water supply and other elements. Guidelines on signage for evacuation routes and design of community safe zones for shelter Education for residents about Firewise principles and wildfire safety For more details on Firewise-friendly rules and example language, see the next section in this guide, Firewise- Friendly Rule Elements and Examples. PAGE 16 SAFER FROM THE START
19 Because we live in an area that is at high risk for wildfires, communities within the Bailey area are beginning to realize the importance of forest stewardship and endorsing the Firewise concept. BILL FOX, FIREWISE COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN, DEER CREEK VALLEY RANCHOS, COLORADO RULES AND EXAMPLES The Community Associations Institute publishes guidance for drafting good rules. While the covenant document can cover just about anything under the umbrella of land use in the community, it should function as the constitution for the community, and leave very detailed rules to an Architectural Review Board or similar subcommittee. Unless specified in the CC&R or Master Deed, changing a covenant restriction may require 100% agreement among residents. Some key characteristics of good rules are provided by the Community Associations Institute 9 : 1. Good rules are transparent 2. Good rules are few rules. 3. Good rules are easy to obey. 4. Good rules are efficient. 5. Efficient rules accomplish their goal without undue side effects. 6. Good rules are enforceable. 7. Good rules are flexible. 8. Good rules must be communicated to the residents. Community associations may have a CC&R document that makes no mention of wildfire or similar issues. Rules can still be developed to incorporate Firewise considerations in a community s Architectural Review Guidelines or Design Review Committee rules. Firewise Friendly Rules Elements Good rules are transparent. Some methods to ensure that you have transparent rules are to include wildfire safety in the Design Review Committee s mission statement, and/ or to provide specific definitions in the document that outlines the community s design standards. Wildfire issues have their own lingo such terms as fuel, mitigation, defensible space, home ignition zone, etc., are not necessarily familiar to community residents. Any such terms should be clearly defined in the rules. A vision statement helps community residents and potential buyers to understand more of what the community stands for, and helps provide some insight into why certain rules may exist. Good rules are few rules. Depending on the community, few rules will mean something different. In Genesee, Colorado, the ARC standards 10 are 24 pages long, and crossreference to tree removal rules, local Firewise construction guides, and a SAFER FROM THE START PAGE 17
20 native plant list. However, Genesee is operated by a Foundation with fulltime staff that serve to manage this large property. For a Firewise-friendly development, rules should cover common areas and individual lots; should describe the requirements for Firewise construction; and should describe the requirements for Firewise landscaping and maintenance. In the absence of a reference to a Firewise plant list, some communities mention the two or three most troublesome fire-prone invasive species that residents must avoid. Good rules are easy to obey. Education about wildfire and Firewise practices will help residents understand the reason for the rules, and using clear language in your design guidelines will help people obey the rules. HOA boards and managers are not the community police, so creating rules that are easy to obey increases the likelihood they will be followed. If residents have organized to achieve recognition status as a Firewise Communities/USA site, they are voluntarily complying with directives to maintain their properties in a Firewise condition. Good rules are efficient. Efficient rules are ones that accomplish exactly what the board intended them to accomplish. Firewise rules that are too harsh or too vague will do little to accomplish the goal of making the PAGE 18 SAFER FROM THE START community safer from wildfire. Firewise rules should relate specifically to the goal they are trying to accomplish making homes and the areas around them less susceptible to ignition from wildfire. To do that, the rules should be based on sound fire science research and established Firewise principles. Efficient rules accomplish their goal without undue side effects. There is always the possibility rules intended for wildfire safety could have undesirable results, such as residents removing the wrong kind of vegetation, or using poor practices in trimming trees or brush that results in unhealthy vegetation or poor aesthetic qualities. Efficient Firewise rules will provide specific references to good practices so that possible undesirable side effects can be avoided. Good rules are enforceable. Vague rules or rules using jargon or technical language are difficult to enforce. Rather than telling residents to reduce fuel loads near homes, a better rule would be to require removal of dead or dying vegetation within the area from the foundation walls of the home to a 30-foot perimeter. By the same token, overly specific rules can create problems with enforcement. It is more difficult to obtain voluntary compliance with rules that are extremely strict. Another important consideration for enforcement is to ensure that the Association rules are consistent with all existing state and county laws. Some states require wildfire risks and safety measures to be recorded on the subdivision plat or in the master deed. River Bluff Ranch, a community developed in Spokane, Washington, built Firewise-friendly elements into the infrastructure and the covenants: 11 Among the requirements of the River Bluff Ranch covenants are paved two-lane roads, secondary evacuation roads, and a network of forest roads. Also required are underground utilities; a series of non-potable-water storage tanks with dry hydrants; fire-resistant roofing, double-paned windows, deep side yard setbacks, defensible space, and vegetation maintenance; and an on-site caretaker, equipment and shop. The covenants further require that the community s homeowners association, when formed, enforce the covenants, educate the residents, maintain the roads and water storage facilities, manage an ongoing forest stewardship program, and implement the recommended Firewise Communities budget currently $2 per person to be used for future Firewise efforts.