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Overview
Your guide to beautiful, fire-resistant landscaping techniques
Tens of thousands of wildfires burn across the country every year, destroying millions of acres of land. If you live in fire country, take action. Use firescaping to defend your home against wildfires—while maintaining the beauty of your garden. This unique form of landscaping design keeps your property healthy, clean, and clear. Horticultural expert Douglas Kent shares secrets, tricks, and simple instructions in the new edition of this practical, hands-on guide, recommended by AAA Homeowners Insurance.
Find out which landscapes have a high fire risk and why. Get tips on landscaping and maintenance—such as effective watering and brush-clearing techniques—that reduce a property’s fire risk. Learn which plants and building materials are best for reducing damage. Discover how to make your home accessible to firefighters in the event of a wildfire. Homeowners, landscaping professionals, and community fire prevention officials will find Firescaping invaluable. If you live in an area at risk, this book can help to prepare you and give you peace of mind.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780899979632 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Wilderness Press |
| Publication date: | 10/08/2019 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| File size: | 44 MB |
| Note: | This product may take a few minutes to download. |
About the Author
Douglas Kent began work on Firescaping in 1992. He lived 25 miles northwest of the Tunnel fire, which had devoured 25 lives and 2,900 homes in the Berkeley/Oakland hills. Frightened and inspired, Kent’s work started as a local gardening guide.
In 2005 Firescaping became a statewide guide and Kent’s true education began. Since then he has toured, worked with, and spoken to fire scared communities throughout California. He has been on the front lines of many fires and has interviewed enough people that have lost their homes to know that nobody should endure such a tragedy.
Kent has 27 years of soot-filled experience in Firescaping, but that is far from his only credentials. He started gardening in 1979 and has written 6 other books, worked on hundreds of landscape projects, helped lead 4 statewide gardening campaigns, has 2 Master degrees, and has taught at California Polytechnic University, Pomona, since 2008. Besides Firescaping, Kent also specializes in resource conservation and urban harvest.
Read an Excerpt
A Model for Home Protection
After almost every wildfire, at least one home survives, somehow protected from the flames that consumed all others. This chapter provides a model that can help your house survive a fire. This model is a set of design and maintenance guidelines developed decades ago and continually improved upon by dedicated scientists and firescaping professionals. Implementing these guidelines is the emphasis of the remaining chapters.
In 1923, Berkeley, California, lost 584 homes in the state’s seventh-worst fire. Over the following 50 years, residents of that city not only battled a multitude of smaller fires, they researched and employed the latest in fire science. The amount of analysis written during that time would have filled a classroom, yet none of it helped in 1991, when Berkeley was again hit, this time by the Tunnel fire, the state’s most savage fire. The community lacked the action to make the knowledge work.
More than anything, this model needs you. No matter how much we learn about fire, knowledge alone will never save a structure. Only action will.
Firescaping’s Zone Theory
Immediately following a slew of fires that destroyed hundreds of post-World War II homes in the Los Angeles foothills in the late 1950s and early 1960s, the Los Angeles Arboretum led a group of conservation agencies, government officials, and local universities in producing and distributing information about fire protection. It was during this time that the fire zone model was fully developed and adapted as the preferred method for homesite protection. This model, which we still use today, consists of four concentric zones radiating out from a structure. Each zone has a different role in helping to defend a home from a wildfire.
According to a study reported by the Los Angeles Times, of the 2,820 homes that burned down in the 2003 Cedar fire, 66 percent had vegetation growing up to 10 feet around them, which means that possibly 1,518 of the homes destroyed were in violation of state law.
The fire zone model serves as the foundation for firescaping’s zone theory, which also has four concentric zones radiating out from a structure. But unlike the model, firescaping addresses the many other demands placed on California landscapes. Planting for a sense of privacy or to stabilize a hillside can inadvertently create a lot of fuel. A good landscape design will not only help defend a home against the threat of fires, it will serve the unique goals of the individuals who care for it.
Every property can benefit from using firescaping’s zone theory, but the degree of necessity varies. Houses perched on slopes or those in the middle of native landscapes, especially landscapes that burn on a regular basis, can benefit the most from the zone theory. The greatest precautions should be taken in fire-prone landscapes. However, the theory is not ideally suited for every property. Houses on small lots, built under trees, or located on ridgetops need a tailored approach. Chapter 5 addresses specific situations with design ideas to solve their unique problems.
Reducing the chance of structure loss requires healthy plants, a clean landscape, and ample distance between clusters of plants. These three goals are central to firescaping’s zone theory. They are also central to the entire book. A firescaped garden is never created once, but maintained over a lifetime.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1: Fire
- The Hot States
- Humans: The Fire Species
- Fire Management
Chapter 2: Knowing the Terrain
- The Three Types of Landscapes
- Protecting Your Community
Chapter 3: Determining the Risk of Fire
- What’s Your Risk Level?
- Environmental Risk Factors
- Characteristics of a Hazardous Community
Chapter 4: A Model for Home Protection
- Firescaping’s Zone Theory
- Characteristics of a Fire-Protected Property
Chapter 5: Designing for Fire and Safety
- General Design Principles
- Designs for Special Situations
- Landscape Features: Design and Construction Materials
Chapter 6: Removing Plants and Reclaiming Landscapes
- Plant Life Expectancy
- General Guidelines for Removal and Reclamation
- Removal Methods
Chapter 7: Plants and Fire Prevention
- Selecting Plants for Hills
- Recommended Plants by Zone
Chapter 8: The Role of Water in a Firescaped Garden
- Maintenance Water
- Emergency Water
Chapter 9: Maintaining a Firescaped Garden
- Maintenance Priorities
- Monthly Checklist
- Pruning
Chapter 10: Controlling Erosion After a Fire
- Erosion Test
- Fire First Aid
Further Information
What to Do During a Fire
Glossary
Helpful Websites
References and Selected Readings
Index
Plant Index