Home Ignition Zone work will give your home a chance of surviving a wildland fire; and will keep our Firefighters safer when they are protecting your home.
Home Address
Before we get into talking about the Zones, let’s look at your address. Does your home have the ADDRESS posted at the end of the driveway and on your Home so that emergency responders can find your home? Is the address REFLECTIVE so that responders can see the address in the dark, in smoke, or after a snow storm?
Ignition Zones
There are 3 Zones that we will look at:
- Zone 1: The Home and 5 feet around the Home
- Zone 2: 5 to 100 feet around the Home
- Zone 3: outside of 100 feet from Home
Image Source: Santa Clara County FireSafe Council. "Home Ignition Zone." JPEG
Are you ready for a wildfire?
Much of the work in the Home Ignition Zone is inexpensive. Most homeowners can do this work themselves. Start with the home first and take it one step at a time so you don’t get overwhelmed. Doing these few things will give your home a much better chance of surviving a wildland fire. The chances are that the wildland fire will stay on the ground, thus leaving most of your large trees unharmed by fire. Home Ignition Zone work will keep our Firefighters safer when they are protecting your home from Wildfire.
Questions?
Your local fire department, County Fire Warden, Office of Emergency Services, DNRC, USFS, and your local Fire Safe Council are all available to answer questions you may have. You can also check the Facebook page for the Office of Emergency Services.
Community
As you evaluate your own home it is a good time to look at your neighborhood as well. Are there open spaces or parks in your subdivision? Your Home Ignition Zone may overlap with your neighbors. Are other homeowners preparing their homes? Consider working together and becoming a Firewise community.
Fire Safe Montana and FIREWISE are two places with more information to help you.
Firewise USA
Wildland Fire RSG
Wildfire Adaptation Resource Hub
Disaster Safety - Wildfire