Landscaping your property to withstand a wildfire

HAYDEN — As the summer looms on the horizon, that also means the conditions leading to wildland fires are more prevalent. 

Northern Lakes Fire District put together a wildfire awareness event this spring at New Leaf Nursery to help people landscape and harden homes in ways that can reduce fire risk.

Populating the 30-foot zone around your home with less-flammable plants and trees increases the odds of preserving your property in the event of a wildfire showing up on your doorstep.

“Fire-resistant landscaping uses a zone concept where closer to the home, you have less vegetation. You’re using materials that are non-flammable like a rock mulch or gravel or pebble mulch instead of bark,” Idaho Firewise executive director Ivy Dickinson said. 

Using low-growing, compact plants around a home, homeowners can break up the ladder fuel effect where a single spark carries quickly from flammable plant to flammable plant leading up to the home. 

“If you’re in an area that’s well-thinned and relatively open, it (fire) may just creep along on the ground, but when you have these layers of vegetation up to the tree canopy layer, you have an avenue for a fire to move in along a tree canopy. Short plants touch the medium shrubs that touch the small trees that touch the larger canopy,” Dickinson said. 

Ultimately, fire-resistant landscaping stems back to breaking up those ladders and spreading materials around. 

Swapping out similar-looking flowers like catmint instead of Russian sage or shrubs like creeping sumac instead of creeping junipers may save you some trouble in the event of a wildfire. 

Shrubs such as juniper contain volatile oils that catch fire easily. Among tree varieties, conifers and even dwarf conifers are discouraged because they have an oil that makes them more flammable. They also tend to collect dead material in the interior of the plant so they’re ready to burn if a spark comes along. 

The farther out from the home, the more you can have slightly taller plants, and conifers can safely be placed 100 feet away from a home as long as they’re thin and spaced  

“We want people to understand that we’re not recommending people don’t have flowers or beautiful things. You can still have that and have a relatively fire-safe landscape,” Dickinson said. 

For more recommendations about creating a fire-safe landscape, visit idahofirewise.org.