Tips to Protect Your Home from Wildfire

Los Altos Hills has taken on the hues of summer. The neon shades of green that signaled spring have given way to deeper tints.

But the beautiful setting that attracted homebuyers in the first place also creates conditions ripe for wildfire. Residents may have a false sense of security if they've recently settled here. After all, the last time a truly devastating fire struck was the 1985 Liddicoat Lane & Arastradero Road fire in Los Altos Hills that cost millions. California, however, provides plenty of examples year after year. Just across the bay, we can take a cue from the  that jumped a freeway and took 25 lives resulted in an economic disaster costing $1.5 billon. More recently, the deadly wildfires in San Diego County in 2003 and 2007 produced towering flames that overran entire neighborhoods, destroying thousands of homes.

While there’s no defense against some firestorms, there’s a lot that homeowners can do to protect their homes from the fires that we typically see around here. Cal Fire's Santa Clara unit declared the beginning of fire season and has issued guidelines for any homeowner to create defensible zones.

While those who live within the Los Altos Hills County Fire District have been accustomed to the annual April inspection for weed abatement, the following tips are always useful top of mind as the wildfire season begins:

Zone 1 - Area within 30 feet of structures

• Remove all dead plants, grass and weeds. The Los Altos Hills County Fire District (LAHCFD) allows free garden debris drop off once a month .
• Remove dead or dry leaves and pine needles from your yard, roof and rain gutters.
• Trim trees regularly to keep branches a minimum of 10 feet from other trees. If any of them are eucalyptus, you may want to check with the LAHCFD's Eucalyptus Management Program .
• Remove branches that hang over your roof and keep dead branches 10 feet away from your chimney. LAHCFD has a Dead Tree Removal Program for qualifying trees.
• Relocate wood piles into Zone 2.
• Remove or prune flammable plants and shrubs near windows. LAHCFD has a free, twice-yearly brush-chipping program .
• Remove vegetation and items that could catch fire from around and under decks.
• Create a separation between trees, shrubs and items that could catch fire, such as patio furniture, wood piles, swing sets, etc.   

Zone 2 - Area 100 feet from structure

• Cut or mow annual grass down to a maximum height of 4 inches.
• Create vertical and horizontal spacing between shrubs and trees.
• Remove fallen leaves, needles, twigs, bark, cones, and small branches. However, they may be permitted to a depth of 3 inches if erosion control is an issue.