{"id":904,"date":"2019-05-07T10:58:45","date_gmt":"2019-05-07T17:58:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pgiexecutives.com\/?p=904"},"modified":"2019-05-13T18:42:14","modified_gmt":"2019-05-14T01:42:14","slug":"how-to-prepare-for-a-wildfire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pgiexecutives.com\/blog\/how-to-prepare-for-a-wildfire\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Prepare for a Wildfire"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As native Californians, we’re as familiar with wildfires as\nwe are with earthquakes. Fortunately, earthquakes happen infrequently and\ngenerally leave us unscathed. The “Big One” hasn’t hit yet, and we\nshould always be prepared for earthquakes, but that’s a whole other Oprah.\nToday, we’re discussing the impact of wildfires and how we can be prepared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A History of Recent\nWildfires<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The golden state tops most lists when it comes to wildfires.\nAlthough we lost more acreage in 2017 (10 million) compared to 2018 (8.8\nmillion), 2018 still proved to be one of the most destructive years on record. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Northern California\u2019s Mendocino Complex Fire was the largest\nfire in state history, with 459,123 acres burned. The Carr Fire takes the eighth\nspot in the state\u2019s history of recorded scorchers. Eight fatalities have been attributed\nto that fire, and 1,614 structures were destroyed. Those two fires alone\nresulted in the loss of 8,900 homes, 329 businesses, and 800 private autos and commercial\nvehicles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Butte County\u2019s Camp Fire in 2018 became the deadliest and\nmost destructive wildfire on record. At least 88 people lost their lives.\n153,000 acres were burned, and 18,800 structures destroyed, according to Cal\nFire statistics, which resulted in 14,000 residences and 530 commercial\nstructures left in ashes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moving south, the Woolsey Fire that ignited in November of\n2018, burned about 97,000 acres. \nIncluded in the destruction were 1,600 structures and the unfortunate\ndeaths of three people. Media coverage showed many properties destroyed, as\nwell as evacuations of well-known movie, TV, and music stars, from their homes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What causes most\nwildfires?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If mother nature was the only thing we had to worry about\nwhen it came to fires, statistics would be quite different. When you add in the\nhuman element, situations change dramatically. Human carelessness, campfires,\ndiscarding lit cigarettes, not burning debris properly, playing with matches or\nfireworks cause most wildfires.  Another\nhuge factor is the role of arsonists, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Time of Year do\nWildfires Occur?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The words “Wildfire Season” may be a misnomer\nbecause in California, depending on the drought situation, wildfires could\nhappen year-round. However, statistically, wildfires are most common in the\nspring from when the snow melts until foliage fully appears. Fall is also a\ntime of heightened wildfire concern when foliage begins to drop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, you’ve been given statistics and informed on how fires\nmay be caused but listed below is the most important information. This is where\nyou’ll learn what you can do to prepare for your safety and protecting your\nhome during wildfire season. The following are suggestions from The\nNational Fire Protection Association (NFPA)<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HOME IGNITION ZONES<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Experts advise that homeowners limit the amount of flammable\nvegetation surrounding their properties, build with fire-resistant materials, and\nperform periodic exterior maintenance in the three home ignition zones. Zones\nare broken down into the Immediate Zone: 0 to5 feet around the house;\nIntermediate Zone: 5 to 30 feet; and the Extended Zone: 30 to 100 feet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LANDSCAPING AND\nMAINTENANCE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to landscaping the property around your home,\nstart with trimming any branches that overhang the home, porch and deck. Next, prune\nbranches of large trees up to (depending on their height) 6 to 10 feet from the\nground. Remove plants containing resins, oils, and waxes. Importantly, ensure\nmulches in the Immediate Zone (0 to 5 feet around the house) are\nnon-combustible options, like crushed stone and gravel. It is imperative that\nyou do annual maintenance to any vegetation on your property, and in some cases,\nyou are mandated by your city, county, or state to maintain vegetation\nannually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ROOFING AND VENTS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The materials on your roof are just as important as what\nlays on the ground. Composite shingles, metal, and concrete and clay tiles\noffer the best protection. Inspect shingles\/tiles and replace\/repair loose or\nmissing roofing material to prevent ember penetration. Box-in eaves but provide\nventilation to prevent condensation and mildew. Place screen at roof and attic\nvents to prevent ember entry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DECKS AND PORCHES<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Never store flammable materials underneath decks or porches.\nRemove dead vegetation and debris from under the decks and porches and between\ndeck-board joints.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SIDING AND WINDOWS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Embers can collect in small nooks and crannies and ignite\ncombustible materials. Radiant heat from flames can crack windows. Consider\nfire-resistant siding, such as brick, fiber-cement, plaster or<\/p>\n\n\n\n

stucco. It’s always a good idea to invest in dual-pane, tempered\nglass windows, and you may save on heating and air conditioning costs, as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

EMERGENCY RESPONDER\nACCESS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have clearly marked and legible street names and numbers.\nDriveways should be at least 12 feet<\/p>\n\n\n\n

wide with a vertical clearance of 15 feet, for emergency vehicle\naccess.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sleeping Beast<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

California is recovering from many years of drought and\ncoming back from damages caused by wildfires over the past couple of years.\nHappily, this last rainy season brought our state an abundance of rain and\nsnow. We’re currently experiencing a \u201cSuper Bloom,\u201d when the usually dry region\ngets covered with apricot-colored poppies, blonde dandelions, and purple sand\nverbenas. We’ve been attracting swarms of visitors and if you\u2019ve seen the\npictures, it\u2019s quite beautiful. The downside to this is everything else is\ngrowing too, creating massive amounts of vegetation that\u2019s perfect fuel for a future\nwildfire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our mantra to you is: Preparing for a disaster shouldn\u2019t be\na last-minute scramble. The right time to prepare is always now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PGI has staff trained\nin fire and emergency safety. We’re just a phone call or email away from a\nconsultation and we’re always happy to help.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As native Californians, we’re as familiar with wildfires as we are with earthquakes. Fortunately, earthquakes happen infrequently and generally leave us unscathed. The “Big One” hasn’t hit yet, and we should always be prepared for earthquakes, but that’s a whole other Oprah. Today, we’re discussing the impact of wildfires and how we can be prepared. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":980,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[77,69,72,71,79,81,76,82,78,70,80,75,68,74,73],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pgiexecutives.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/904"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pgiexecutives.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pgiexecutives.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pgiexecutives.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pgiexecutives.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=904"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pgiexecutives.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/904\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pgiexecutives.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pgiexecutives.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pgiexecutives.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pgiexecutives.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}