Reduce the Chance of Ember Ignition, Ease Evacuation, Protect Firefighters
June 2025. By Cassy Aoyagi: As red flag days approach or drag on, here are fast, temporary actions you can take to improve the safety of your home and landscape.
This article is designed to help those who are safestay that way.
If you have been asked to evacuate, Get Set and Go!
Fire moves fastest and hottest in urban environments. What you do to prepare your home and property now will protect those of your neighbors and community – and firefighters. Have time to help a neighbor? That will help protect you too! The impact of these actions is cumulative – every home and business owner that takes them protects the next.
Quick, Cheap Home Hardening
Why harden your home first? It is the best way to reduce the changes of embers igniting it. These inexpensive options have a big impact:
- Keep Windows Closed: Yes, for air quality. This will also deny embers to the more vulnerable interior of your home. Cost: $0
- Protect Vents: While not as inviting as an open window, home vents will allow embers to gain access to your home. On red flag days, cover them fire rated drywall. Long term, replace them with ember resistant vents, or add ember resistant mesh to your vents. Cost: $5-100+ per Vent
Zone 0 Red Flag Checklist
The 5-feet closest to your home, particularly at ground level, is critical to your home’s ability to resist ignition as well as firefighters’ ability to engage a home. Take time when there is no wildfire to accomplish the following:
- Clear:
- Move garbage cans, particularly cans with contents, into the garage – if they must remain outside, seal the lid and place them far from structures, including wood fences
- Store explosives, including fertilizer, gasoline and propane, in sealed, ember resistant containers
- Store flammables (cushions, mats and rugs, toys, tools, sails and umbrellas)
- Remove anything under a deck
- Remove any further tip hazards
- Clean:
- Wet and rake mulch away from the foundation, then shovel or sweep (don’t blow) litter away from the full circumference of your foundation, focus where leaf litter collects
- Remove cobwebs
- Check:
- Check your home as you round it – note where windows, skylights and doors, including garage doors, need better seals
- Apply the most permanent solution you can – worst case scenario, use tape or plumbing sealants
- Pre-hydrate:
- Irrigate foliage in the days before low humidity and high wind to boost its resistance and resilience to stress
- Take care with hydrating slopes, as saturated soils can destabilize
Of course, if you have more time to prepare for wildfire, we recommend consistent home maintenance, making a plan to complete more home retrofits, and consistent landscape maintenance. Research shows each task provides some protection – without you or anyone you love staying behind to fight fire.
Be as safe as you can be, LA. We love you.
