Wildfire Preparation aka Fire Protection Through Home Hardening
If you live in a rural area, a subdivision surrounded by vegetation, or a hot, dry area, wildfire preparation and fire protection should be part of your home maintenance routine. If you’ve never applied home hardening prevention steps, that’s the first place to start. Each year after that, you can maintain what you’ve put in place.
In South Texas last summer, we experienced record dry heat. Large wildfires made national headlines, but the hundreds of smaller ones didn’t. In July and August, it was pretty worrisome in these areas. One spark from a broken down car on the side of the highway lit up 10,000+ acres. That’s why we began planning our home hardening last fall.
The possibility of a fire in our area rose exponentially last year. Based on climate trends, I don’t see that changing. We received a notice from our county’s emergency management office that this summer is expected to be even worse than last year, so our plans have been expedited.
Here’s a roundup of helpful fire protection resources:
Texas A&M University Forest Service Guide
Home Inspection for Home Hardening – Ember intrusion
Home Inspection – Top 3 Wildfire Prevention Tips
Importance of protecting attic vents and soffits
Interesting note from the above resource: If the vent is only likely to see embers, mesh alone would be adequate, assuming easy-to-ignite materials were not stored on the inside of the vented space and close to the vent (cardboard boxes stored in the attic, etc.).
Finer mesh vs ember protection vent + different types of vents
Airflow from different types of vents
FEMA guides: Protect Your Property and Natural Hazards and additional information
Additionally, be sure to sign up for your city/county emergency alerts!
Wondering what wildfire protection has to do with time management? I preach that “Time management is all about mind management,” so when you have worries swirling around in your head, that lowers your productivity levels. If one of those worries is whether or not your home is safe, well, that’ll definitely bog you down.
For recommendations related to saving time and preventing issues, check out The Inefficiency Assassin: Time Management Tactics for Working Smarter, Not Longer.
