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New Brush clearance policy?
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20080906-9999-1n6trees.html
Interesting article. Trees, if properly maintained can actually act as a catchers glove catching embers before they reach a house. Also, bare earth will act as a 'bowling alley' and funnel embers to your house. This may change the definition of 'defensible' space as it relates to brush fires.
Interesting article. Trees, if properly maintained can actually act as a catchers glove catching embers before they reach a house. Also, bare earth will act as a 'bowling alley' and funnel embers to your house. This may change the definition of 'defensible' space as it relates to brush fires.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Mike Schlags (Captain Busy) Retd on
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Lessons learned from the 1990 Santa Barbara County Paint Fire revealed the need to change how weed abatement is approached. The area that I have responsibility for includes over 30 miles of coastline that includes several stands of eucalyptus trees as well as coastal sage and brush, some with 100 years of dead fuel. I live and work in a tinderbox...
Everyone has an opinion as to what will burn and how intense. I have had this discussion with numerous property owners and other fire departments and this is what I have shared n the past...
You simply cannot make a knee jerk reaction and start ripping out every tree in site. This is an overkill. After the Paint Fire, I had the opportunity when I was an arson investigator / inspector to drive a CDF Battalion Chief around the fire to assist him on researching why some homes burned and others didn't.
What I remembered from his teachings...
1. You don't want any ornamental vegetation against the house or your cars. Juniper bushes for example put off the same amount of BTU's as gasoline. I remember this one guy who refused to evacuate and waited to the last minute. When he went to get into his car, he suffered major burns on both hands from trying to get into the car to drive away. There was a burning juniper bush adjacent to his car and the radiant heat alone was a killer.
2. Houses need to have all the eves boxed in and rat stops placed under the tiles for tile roofs. Exposed rat or bird nests facilitated fire to easily communicate with the interior of the structure and the house was lost, with the tile roof intact, sitting on top of a burning heap...
3. Double paned glass windows with NO light drapes or curtains against the window. Those cute curtains easily catch fire if it gets hot enough, even through the windows.
4. Wood sided houses or houses with shake roofs are a write off unless they are a historical structure or you have enough defensible space to make a difference.
California a year ago decided that the minimum clearance distance for down to mineral earth was at least 30-feet and out to 100-feet you thin trees, limb up tree limbs from becoming part of a ladder fuel process where grass goes to bushes and bushes to trees... Clear out dead fuel, and create a break will help provide enhanced defensible space. You should note that there is serious talk now about increasing this distance to 300-feet.
Now couple the house on the ridge line and allow for flame height and intensity and you end up being very conservative when reviewing a property owners hazards. There currently is no formula for how far a house should be set back off a ridge line. What we see typically are pole houses or others construction types that cluster homes on what used to be never considered for a residential area. The term wildland urban interface accurately describes my backyard.
I think tree's are an important factor but unless you are living in a pine forest, we don't have to worry about crown fires as much as they do in the Northwest. The fires in San Diego that are prompting this kill all the trees movement was a result of all the factors coming together and nothing could have stopped it. Fuel, topography, temperature, lows here and highs there made a perfect storm that resulted in an intense fire season for us.
Even homes that were no where near a grove of trees were lost. Sometimes there is only so much we can do...
If people follow the basic hazard reduction / weed abatement guidelines, they have a great chance of saving there homes. The responsibility rest s completely on the shoulders of the property owners.
TCSS, Mike from Santa Barbara
mschlags@yahoo.com
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Permalink Reply by Damon Dyer on
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Nice article , also nice pics Mike .
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Permalink Reply by Tony P on
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There were some very interesting (and valid) points made in that article. And I don't mean suggestions like removing all of your trees! It was interesting to see the comment about trees being able to take care of themselves. Unless subject to really extreme fire the eucalypt can do just that. In fact many of them require a fire for regrowth, the seeds have to be subjected to high heat before they'll germinate. A thing to remember, if you have eucalypts, you have bushfires - and bushfires are something we see a lot of!
Got a few minutes? My Fire Service (the CFA) produced this video and distributed it to people in the urban interface: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bp35rzDL-18
If you have time to browse, there's a lot of good information available here on how we advise people to prepare: http://www.cfa.vic.gov.au/residents/living/protectyourproperty.htm
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you know me, I'm a giver... I still love your guy running on fire... it's one of my favorite avatar I've seen to date! TCSS, Mike
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tony, it is my understanding that there are only two places on this planet that have to deal with the sundowner winds and the associated topographical features. This would be where you live and where live.
Yup, it's Southern California and Australia. If anyone knows about eucalyptus tree's and fires, it would be you. I believe the ones that we have were imported from your backyard... Great post subject, keep it up! Your friend in Santa Barbara, Mike : )
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"Sundowner winds" - a wind change that hits in the evening? That's the one that we know is almost certain to come, and that when it does the entire east flank of a fire is likely to become the new 'front' unless we can pinch it off. Can be most unpleasant! And yes, the south east Australia tends to have the largest/most intense fires here. Not that wildfire anywhere is pleasant or easy to cope with! (So any Aussie readers not in the SE corner, don't think I'm making saying you have it easy, 'cos you don't!)
A question for you Mike. We have a large variety of eucalypt trees, can you tell me what the most common imported species would be over there? They all burn well, but some are an absolute nightmare for ladder fuel and embers.
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Tony, It has not been uncommon to have a fire burning uphill until about 16:00 hours and then the wind shifts to down canyon winds due to the ocean having a mountain range that separates the front country from the typically dryer and hotter inland areas. The resulting air flows is indeed no different from what you SE Aussies deal with.
I will share with you that now, my department has embraced the concept of foam and go. Do aussies use this tactic where you use a high expansion foam, coat the structure and leave, allowing the fire to burn passed the structure. I wrote the training program for my department and could help you if this is new.
Also, do you use progressive hose lays for fire attack?
Santa Barbara County has a couple of the largest species of Eucalyptus Tree's, Eucalyptus globulus and E. camaldulensis. These two have naturalized in many areas, becoming havens for pests that create fire hazards, drop limbs, and crowd out native vegetation.
TCSS, Mike Schlags
Santa Barbara, CA
mschlags@yahoo.com
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Eucalypts. In the order you gave them, the Tasmanian Blue Gum and the River Red Gum, as we know them. both beautiful trees but not what you need over there! I love what I saw when I looked up the scientific name to get the common name for the Tassie Blue "In California it is so well known that many regard it as a native Californian species"! Being lazy, we tend to call the eucalypts 'gum' trees, nice short word...
As for the 'foam and go' thing, the concept is part of our training, but it's not used to any large degree, and then we'd probably use medium expansion. High Ex being too easily dispersed by wind.
We don't usually use progressive hose lays when fighting a wildfire, we're more likely to stay within a couple of hose lengths of a road or track, working from that line. A faster moving fire, eg grass fire, will normally be attacked from the work area on the back of the trucks. Or if from the ground then from a single length or hosereel from the trucks. I've used a longer hose lay for asset protectrion when we didn't want the truck too far down a long narrow driveway. You know the concept - if you haven't got at least two ways out then you don't go there!
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