Clear your defensible space

[RobertN]

We had a few houses lost in a wild fire yesterday, about an hour north of here. The first thing the Battalion Chief said on the news report, was to make sure you have a good defensive perimeter around your house.

They showed the house next door to one that burned, only a couple hundred feet away. It had a nice 30-40' area clear of weeds and debri. Firefighters didn't have to work to save the house, the homeowner saved the house by being prepared.

In California, the Dept of Forestry recommends a minimum 30' defense area around a structure, with 100' being preferred.

Remember too, that when a fire crew shows up, they will protect the house that has the best chance to survive, and that will provide the safest work area for the engine and crew.

RobertN in Shingle Springs Calif

 

[RPM]

Thought that this was going to be a militia thread for a moment there!

Good advice on clearing around the house though. I think there's also a fire retardant material you can get that you put in a cannister and attach to the hosepipe. Supposedly you spray it on the house if fire is approaching and it acts as a retardant. Don't know much more about it than that though.

 

[MarkV]

Richard,

Good advice wherever you live. Here in N. Georgia I have seen 4 fires on our mountain in the last 6 years. The last one started as a house fire and burned 250 acres before they got things under control. There is an old logging road at the top of our property that the dozers used as a fire line. After about 10 hours of work thing were under control, they thought. The wife went back to the city and I stayed the night to just make sure. Next morning about 5:00 I could see that the fire had jumped the line and was now on its way down hill towards the house. Back come the dozers and pumper trucks. This time my tractor trail, 20 ft behind the house became the fire break and they backfired to stop things. Sure felt good about the 2 pumper trucks sitting in my parking area to watch the house. Yes, we have done some clearing around the place. Its just to dang steep for the tractor and I hate doing that stuff by hand when I have a great little TLB sitting there.

MarkV

 

[Harv]

Thanks for the advice, Robert, especially since you're in the same part of the country my property is in.

Seems like all I do when I go up there is deal with weeds. Got to be so much work that last year I up and bought a tractor. Have I mentioned that here? /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

Last year I sprayed as much as I could with Roundup, and after the weeds were good and dead, I ran around with the boxscraper and scraped the soil clean. I guess I should be tilling them under, but that's just one more attachment I don't have yet.

Since I got to the weeds before they went to seed, I have about 70% fewer in that area this year. Really an amazing difference! /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif This year I plan to establish that 30-foot perimeter in such a way that I can tractor the whole thing all the way around the structures. Might take a lot of seat time, but I'm up for that. /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

 

[RMulkey]

Robert,

Good advice. I have a question for you about fire hose and pumps. I was thinking about putting a 1-1/2" fire hose on my pond pump. The local pipe supply (Sierra Pipe in Auburn) has 50' lengths of hose for $75. My pump is 2hp and is rated at 60 GPM at 40PSI or 30 GPM at 60PSI. Here is my question: Is this enough pump to push a fire hose?? Do you have a suggestion for other sources?

FYI// I spent yerstday putting in~3000 feet of 2" irrigation pipe (on my vacation) so the pipe location is not a issue.

Thanks,
-Roger

 

[patrickg]

I'm not Robert but here's $.02 worth. If you ever had the misfortune to actually fight a "REAL" fire with your pump and hose I think you would have rather had (In best Tim Allen tradition) M O R E P O W E R !!! To be usefull you will probably need several lengths of hose. TSC sells fiber reinforced plastic hose that rolls flat for storage in 100 ft lengths. (convenience/weight tradeoff) More hose is more line loss. I never heard anyone complain they had too much volume and pressure available at the nozzle when they fought a fire. In 10 years of coastal search and rescue (previous situation), I never met anyone who wasn't looking for a bigger extinguisher if they had used one in an actual fire emergency. My pond pump is 5 HP and it doesn't make me as comfortable as I would like to be. Remember, your pressure volume product (nozzle pressure times delivered volume at that pressure) will be significantly less than the pump rating at the end of a sufficiently long hose.

Patrick

P.S. Regarding the militia comment: The fire break will serve to remove opportunities for concealment as they close in on your position and give you a clearer field of fire.

 

[GlueGuy]

The only issue we have here is the county is now demanding folks to install a 500GPM pumper to make sure "enough" water is delivered to the fire truck. Only problem with that thought is that 500GPM would drain our 10K gallon tank in 20 minutes.

I actually think the gravity feed we have to the tank is sufficient to drain that fast anyway. When we open up the hydrant, it shoots about 30' across the driveway (through a 2 1/5" fitting).

I don't ever want to have to test it.

The GlueGuy

 

[StoneHeartFarm]

GlueGuy,

Alright, ya got me. /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif What is a 500gpm pumper and why do you have a 10k tank? Around here we call that a swimming pool. It that for potable (drinking) water, or do they require a big tank in case of fire? Here, the trucks all have trash pumps and they just hit the nearest river or lake and drop in a line. In fact, they started putting in "Dry Hydrants", which are just pieces of 6-8" PVC with screens extending out into the lake or river. The other end sticks up about 4' and has a screw on cap so they can hook the pump directly up to it. Then they haul water where they need it (usually no more than 4 miles) and empty the truck into a "porta tank", which is a metal frame with a canvas or plastic liner.

We got evacuated a few years back for a big forest fire. Which involved a patrol car pulling into my drive and a Deputy leaning out and screaming "You gotta get outta here!' and then peeling off. This while I'm packing the back of the truck with guns, ammo, reloading supplies, gas cans, computers and everything else either flammable or valuable. (What the heck did he think I was going to do? Fill the truck with gun powder and gas and do a suicide run on the fire? /w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif).

SHF

 

[GlennT]

I ran across an idea recently in Countryside Magazine and I'll throw out for what it's worth. A man who owns an old frame house with a wood-shingled roof wrote in about his efforts to reduce the fire hazard. He has a lawn sprinkler (it sounded like one of the Rain Bird types) mounted on the roof ridge, with a pipe running down the roof, over the edge and near a door. A valve is located at a convenient height near the door. When things are very dry and there is a possibilty of a fire, this man turns on the sprinkler at intervals and keeps the shingles wet. If a fire did occur and tree-tops were burning near the house, I imagine that the shingles would dry out rather quickly and catch on fire; however, this system might take care of sparks and embers that settle on the roof. Anyway, it sounded like an ingenious idea even though I have no need to implement such a system myself; I am blessed with a stone house and a metal roof.

 

[RPM]

The stuff I mentioned in an earlier post that can be sprayed on is called barricade gel. I've never used it but have seen it on TV - thought some of you might be interested. They have a homeowners version too.