Between the wildfires in Canada and those raging in Washington, it seems like wildfires are getting more common and widespread. If the news has you worried, there are two things to know.
First, your home may be at a higher risk of fire than you think – especially if you’ve never given much thought to fireproofing before. Secondly, most of the best practices for making your home more resilient to fire are simple, DIY-friendly projects you can knock out in a weekend.
While those in especially fire-prone zones might also need to look at bigger home upgrades like installing fire-rated siding and roof materials, every homeowner can immediately improve their home’s fire safety by starting with these eight steps.
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1. Review your insurance coverage now
Most standard home insurance policies will cover damage caused by fire, including smoke damage. However, some insurers might exclude coverage in high-risk zones, while others may have exclusions based on the cause or source of the fire, and others may exclude certain types of damage.
If any such exclusions exist in your policy, you want to know that before a fire breaks out so you can line up supplemental coverage or switch to a provider with more comprehensive fire coverage.
If you do find out your policy doesn’t cover as much as you thought, you can use our tool below, powered by Bankrate, to compare quotes on home insurance that does provide all the coverage you need.
As for your car, fire damage would only be covered if you have comprehensive insurance included in your policy. This type of car insurance covers any damage that happens to your car while you’re not driving it – fire, hail, falling trees and so on.
If you don’t currently have comprehensive coverage, now might be a good time to shop around for quotes on policies that include it. You may be able to get a better rate on a better policy by switching car insurance.
2. Install mesh screens in vents and other openings
Wire mesh screens with holes no larger than 1/8 inch are the gold standard for fire safety, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. Mesh with holes this small can block embers from entering your home. You should mount these in any attic vents, eave vents or other openings where air can travel into the house.
One often overlooked place to install mesh screens is your HVAC vents. If you have a ducted system, those air ducts can end up allowing embers from one room to escape into other parts of the house.
By adding mesh screens to every vent in your home, you can prevent a fire that starts in, say, the kitchen from spreading to the bedrooms through the vents. This will buy your family more time to get out of the house safely and potentially limit the spread of the fire altogether.
If you have older, single-pane windows, consider adding mesh screens to these as well. These older windows are more prone to breaking from radiant heat during a fire. If they do, that creates a wide opening for embers and flames to get into your house.
Ultimately, the best thing you can do is replace those older windows with newer, double-pane designs. But that’s not an easy, weekend DIY. In the meantime, screens are a cheaper, more DIY-friendly way to at least block embers from getting into the house if the glass breaks.
3. Close your fireplace flue when the chimney is not in use
Another easy-to-overlook entry point for embers and flames is your chimney. While it might seem convenient to keep the flue open year-round so you don’t accidentally start a fire in the fireplace with it closed, it’s not worth the risk.
If this is something you’re liable to forget, consider creating recurring calendar events in your phone: One in spring reminding you to close the flue ahead of the warm season and one in late fall reminding you to open it back up again so you can use the fireplace.
4. “Firescape” your yard
(Image credit: Getty Images)
A lot of traditional home landscaping practices pose a bigger fire hazard than you might think. Do you have wood mulch in the garden beds next to your house? That’s like piling kindling right up to the sides of your home. Did you plant ornamental grasses or creeping juniper as a ground cover? Both of those are fuel for a spreading wildfire.
While you don’t have to rip out every plant and pave your garden over with hardscape to stay safe, a few minor tweaks to your design can make a huge difference in your home’s ability to survive a wildfire.
Here are some of the best practices, according to the National Interagency Fire Center:
- Don’t use flammable mulch within five feet of your home or other structures. You can use gravel, hardscaping or other non-flammable alternatives in these zones.
- Any larger woodpiles or other flammable materials (like firewood or propane tanks) should be 30 feet away from structures.
- Choose fire-rated plants for your garden. No plant is “fireproof,” but some are more resistant to burning than others – either because they’re less likely to ignite in the first place or because they produce fewer embers to spread the fire if they do burn. You can search online for fire-resistant plants native to your region to find ideas that will grow well in your climate and lower your home’s fire risk.
- Remove flammable structures that have fallen into disuse, like a rotting pergola or old shed.
- Aim for at least 10 feet of space between groups of shrubs. Long, continuous rows of vegetation can become highways for fire to spread.
- Prune tree branches to a height of 15 feet above the ground. This can prevent “ladder fuels” or material that allows a brush fire on the ground to “climb” up a tree and begin spreading through a canopy.
5. Clear debris from your roof and yard regularly
Dead leaves and branches on your roof or in your gutters are a huge fire hazard, so you don’t want to let this debris build up. Clear out this debris from your roof and gutters regularly.
The same goes for debris on the ground. Rake leaves and other plant debris away from your home and either pile it at the back of your yard to compost or rake it into your lawn and go over it with a mulching lawn mower so it breaks down faster.
6. Seal gaps and cracks where flames could get in
You may know about weatherstripping and sealants to insulate your home in the winter. But these same practices are just as important in the summer when fire risk is higher. Any gaps and cracks around the home that let the warm air out can let flames in if a fire breaks out.
If you haven’t inspected your home lately, walk around to check for gaps and cracks in your siding, along the eaves of your house, and near windows and doors. Then, add weatherstripping as needed to windows and doors.
Don’t forget your garage door when you do this. It’s easy to overlook, but this is another area where flames can get in.
7. Add a battery back-up to your garage door and sprinkler system
When fires break out, power outages are often soon to follow. If your car is in your garage when that happens, you might not be able to evacuate as quickly as you need to. If the door can’t be opened manually – or even if it can, but it’s finicky – adding a battery back-up ensures that you can still get out quickly in an emergency.
The same is true for a sprinkler system. If you have an irrigation system in your yard, turning this on as soon as you learn of a fire in your neighborhood can help dampen any flammable plants in your yard and slow the spread of flames. So you want to know you can have those sprinklers running even if the power goes out.
8. Move small flammable objects at least five feet away from your home
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Wood mulch isn’t the only fire hazard you might unknowingly have next to your home. Wood planters, patio furniture, grills and other common patio or deck items can end up putting your home at risk in a fire. When you’re not using them, make sure they’re stored at least five feet away from the house.
For larger planters, try to design your setup so that they’re further from your home. If that’s not possible, make sure they can be moved further away temporarily during high fire weather.