-WILDFIRES -

The threat of wildland fires for people living near wildland areas or using recreational facilities in wilderness areas is real. Dry conditions at various times of the year and in various parts of the United States greatly increase the potential for wildland fires.

Advance planning and knowing how to protect buildings in these areas can lessen the devastation of a wildland fire. There are several safety precautions that you can take to reduce the risk of fire losses. Protecting your home from wildfire is your responsibility. To reduce the risk, you'll need to consider the fire resistance of your home, the topography of your property and the nature of the vegetation close by.

Protecting yourself from ash and smoke

Wildfires occur year-round. The health effects of wildfire smoke range from eye, throat and respiratory tract irritation to more serious disorders, including reduced lung function, bronchitis, exacerbation of asthma, and premature death. Wildfire smoke can affect healthy people as well as those with pre-existing lung or heart disease. Children and the elderly are especially sensitive to the effects of wildfire smoke. During wildfires, there are measures everyone can take to protect their health from the harmful pollutants filling the air. The following fact sheets contain some tips that you can follow to protect you and your family members from unhealthful air.

Children are more sensitive to air pollution for several reasons. First their respiratory systems are still developing. Children also breathe more air per pound of bodyweight than adults. Lastly, they are more active outdoors, thus increasing their exposure to outdoor pollutants.

Here are some tips you can follow to protect children�fs health from unhealthful air:

Stay indoors. Limit their exposure to unhealthful air quality conditions as much as possible. Keep your windows and doors closed. Use your air conditioning system and place it on recirculation mode, if available.

Play indoors. Choose indoor options for children, who live and play in areas that have unhealthful pollution levels.

�¡ Reduce outdoor activity. Reducing outdoor physical activity lowers the amount of polluted air your body intakes. Schools and day care centers should curtail outdoor activities and events that involve prolonged exposure and strenuous exercise or sports participation.

Consult their physician. If your child suffers from a heart or lung ailment, talk with a doctor. Call the doctor immediately if your child�fs condition worsens.

Have a plan. Keep an adequate supply of your child�fs medications (5 days or more) on hand. If your child suffers from asthma have a written asthma management plan available.

Stay alert. Listen to your local news, weather forecasts and air quality alerts provided by the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD). If the air quality in your area worsens take necessary precautions to protect your child�fs health. While the ash and smoke are visible reminders of the pollution currently impacting our area, be even more cautious of the fine particles you can�ft see. These particles, which are invisible to the naked eye, bypass our natural defense system and lodge into our lungs. They can cause irritation, and over the long-term cause decreased lung function. They also make us more susceptible to developing diseases such as asthma, bronchitis, emphysema and possibly cancer.

Seniors are more susceptible to air pollution because they are more likely to have medical conditions such as chronic pulmonary disease, emphysema and bronchitis. High air pollution levels can worsen their health.

Here are some tips seniors can follow to protect themselves from unhealthful air:

Stay indoors. Limit your exposure to unhealthful air quality conditions as much as possible. Keep your windows and doors closed. Use your air conditioning system and place it on recirculation mode, if available.

Reduce your activity. Reducing your physical activity lowers the amount of polluted air your body intakes. Seniors with heart or lung disease should avoid prolonged or heavy exertion.

Consult your physician. If you suffer from a heart or lung ailment, talk with your doctor. He or she can advise you on treatment or whether and when you should leave the area. Call your doctor immediately if your condition worsens. If you suffer from chronic diseases, have an adequate supply of medications (5 days or more) available.

Keep informed. Listen to your local news, weather forecasts and air quality alerts provided by the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD). If the air quality in your area worsens take necessary precautions to protect you and your family�fs health. While the ash and smoke are visible reminders of the pollution currently impacting our area, be even more cautious of the fine particles you can�ft see. These particles, which are invisible to the naked eye, bypass our natural defense system and lodge into our lungs. They can cause irritation, and over the long-term, cause decreased lung function. They also make us more susceptible to developing diseases such as asthma, bronchitis, emphysema and possibly cancer.

If you are a healthy individual, the ash and smoke from the fires can irritate your eyes and airways, cause coughing and/or a scratchy throat. They can also irritate your sinuses, cause headaches or a runny nose. In addition to short-term effects, there may be long term effects that can significantly impact your health.

Here are some tips you can follow to protect you and your family members from unhealthful air:

Stay indoors. Choose indoor options when air pollution levels are unhealthful. Keep your windows and doors closed. Use your air conditioning system and place it on recirculation mode, if available.

Reduce outdoor activity. Reducing your physical activity in outdoor areas lowers the amount of polluted air your body intakes. Curtail your involvement in outdoor activities and events that require prolonged exposure and strenuous exercise or sports participation.

Stay alert. Listen to your local news and weather forecasts and air quality alerts provided by the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD). If the air quality in your area worsens take necessary precautions and plan your activities accordingly. While the ash and smoke are visible reminders of the pollution currently impacting our area, be even more cautious of the fine particles you can�ft see. These particles, which are invisible to the naked eye, bypass our natural defense system and lodge into our lungs. They can cause irritation, and over the long-term cause decreased lung function. They also make us more susceptible to developing diseases such as asthma, bronchitis, emphysema and possibly cancer.

Prepare for a Wildfire

Find Out What Your Fire Risk Is

Create Safety Zones Around Your Home

Protect Your Home

Listed here are several suggestions that you can implement immediately. Others need to be considered at the time of construction or remodeling. You should also contact your local fire department, forestry office, emergency management office or building department for information about local fire laws, building codes and protection measures. Obtain local building codes and weed abatement ordinances for structures built near wooded areas.

Find Out What Your Fire Risk Is

Learn about the history of wildfire in your area. Be aware of recent weather. A long period without rain increases the risk of wildfire. Consider having a professional inspect your property and offer recommendations for reducing the wildfire risk. Determine your community's ability to respond to wildfire. Are roads leading to your property clearly marked? Are the roads wide enough to allow firefighting equipment to get through? Is your house number visible from the roadside?

Learn and teach safe fire practices

Build fires away from nearby trees or bushes. Always have a way to extinguish the fire quickly and completely.

Install smoke detectors on every level of your home and near sleeping areas.

Never leave a fire--even a cigarette--burning unattended. Avoid open burning completely, and especially during dry season.

Always be ready for an emergency evacuation.

Evacuation may be the only way to protect your family in a wildfire. Know where to go and what to bring with you. You should plan several escape routes in case roads are blocked by a wildfire.

Create Safety Zones Around Your Home

All vegetation is fuel for a wildfire, though some trees and shrubs are more flammable than others. To reduce the risk, you will need to modify or eliminate brush, trees and other vegetation near your home. The greater the distance is between your home and the vegetation, the greater the protection.

Create a 30-foot safety zone around the house

Keep the volume of vegetation in this zone to a minimum. If you live on a hill, extend the zone on the downhill side. Fire spreads rapidly uphill. The steeper the slope, the more open space you will need to protect your home. Swimming pools and patios can be a safety zone and stone walls can act as heat shields and deflect flames. In this zone, you should also do the following:

Remove vines from the walls of the house

Move shrubs and other landscaping away from the sides of the house.

Prune branches and shrubs within 15 feet of chimneys and stove pipes.

Remove tree limbs within 15 feet of the ground. Thin a 15-foot space between tree crowns. Replace highly flammable vegetation such as pine, eucalyptus, junipers and fir trees with lower growing, less flammable species. Check with your local fire department or garden store for suggestions. Replace vegetation that has living or dead branches from the ground-level up (these act as ladder fuels for the approaching fire).

Cut the lawn often keeping the grass at a maximum of 2 inches. Watch grass and other vegetation near the driveway, a source of ignition from automobile exhaust systems. Clear the area of leaves, brush, evergreen cones, dead limbs and fallen trees. Create a second zone at least 100 feet around the house. This zone should begin about 30 feet from the house and extend to at least 100 feet. In this zone, reduce or replace as much of the most flammable vegetation as possible. If you live on a hill, you may need to extend the zone for several hundred feet to provide the desired level of safety.

Clear all combustibles within 30 feet of any structure

Install electrical lines underground, if possible Ask the power company to clear branches from power lines. Avoid using bark and wood chip mulch Stack firewood 100 feet away and uphill from any structure. Store combustible or flammable materials in approved safety containers and keep them away from the house. Keep the gas grill and propane tank at least 15 feet from any structure. Clear an area 15 feet around the grill. Place a 1/4 inch mesh screen over the grill. Always use the grill cautiously but refrain from using it all during high risk times.

Protect Your Home

Remove debris from under sun decks and porches. Any porch, balcony or overhang with exposed space underneath is fuel for an approaching fire. Overhangs ignite easily by flying embers and by the heat and fire that get trapped underneath. If vegetation is allowed to grow underneath or if the space is used for storage, the hazard is increased significantly. Clear leaves, trash and other combustible materials away from underneath sun decks and porches. Extend 1/2-inch mesh screen from all overhangs down to the ground. Enclose wooden stilts with non-combustible material such as concrete, brick, rock, stucco or metal. Use non-combustible patio furniture and covers. If you're planning a porch or sun deck, use non-combustible or fire-resistant materials. If possible, build the structure to the ground so that there is no space underneath.

Enclose eaves and overhangs

Like porches and balconies, eaves trap the heat rising along the exterior siding. Enclose all eaves to reduce the hazard.

Cover house vents with wire mesh

Any attic vent, soffit vent, louver or other opening can allow embers and flaming debris to enter a home and ignite it. Cover all openings with 1/4 inch or smaller corrosion-resistant wire mesh. If you're designing louvers, place them in the vertical wall rather than the soffit of the overhang.

Install spark arrestors in chimneys and stovepipes. Chimneys create a hazard when embers escape through the top. To prevent this, install spark arrestors on all chimneys, stovepipes and vents for fuel-burning heaters. Use spark arrestors made of 12-gauge welded or woven wire mesh screen with openings 1/2 inch across. Ask your fire department for exact specifications. If you're building a chimney, use non-combustible materials and make sure the top of the chimney is at least two feet higher than any obstruction within 10 feet of the chimney. Keep the chimney clean.

Use fire resistant siding

Use fire resistant materials in the siding of your home, such as stucco, metal, brick, cement shingles, concrete and rock. You can treat wood siding with UL-approved fire retardant chemicals, but the treatment and protection are not permanent.

Choose safety glass for windows and sliding glass doors. Windows allow radiated heat to pass through and ignite combustible materials inside. The larger the pane of glass, the more vulnerable it is to fire. Dual- or triple-pane thermal glass, and fire resistant shutters or drapes, help reduce the wildfire risk. You can also install non-combustible awnings to shield windows and use shatter-resistant glazing such as tempered or wireglass.

Prepare for water storage; develop an external water supply such as a small pond, well or pool.

Other safety measures to consider at the time of construction or remodeling.

Choose locations wisely; canyon and slope locations increase the risk of exposure to wildland fires. Use fire-resistant materials when building, renovating, or retrofitting structures. Avoid designs that include wooden decks and patios. Use non-combustible materials for the roof. The roof is especially vulnerable in a wildfire. Embers and flaming debris can travel great distances, land on your roof and start a new fire. Avoid flammable roofing materials such as wood, shake and shingle. Materials that are more fire resistant include single ply membranes, fiberglass shingles, slate, metal, clay and concrete tile. Clear gutters of leaves and debris.