Courtesy Tahoe Resource Conservation District
A team of California and Nevada scientists and practitioners has published the Wildfire Home Retrofit Guide, available for free download, with recommendations to retrofit homes.
During a wildfire, 60 to 90 percent of home loss is due to embers. Depending on a fire’s intensity and wind speed, embers can travel more than a mile ahead of a flame front. Thus, even a home blocks away from a fire can be at risk of ignition.
The Wildfire Home Retrofit Guide recommends a coupled approach that considers both the vegetation surrounding a home and the home’s construction materials. It includes recommendations for ember-vulnerable components of a home including roofs, rain gutters, eaves, vents, siding, skylights, windows, decks, chimneys and fences. These recommendations range from routine maintenance (removing pine needles from roofs and gutters), to DIY projects (installing 1/8th-inch metal mesh screening to vents), to full retrofits (replacing a wood-shake roof). | tahoelivingwithfire.com
Read our 3rd Annual Wildfire Preparedness Guide
