How to prepare for a wildfire

S1: Welcome in San Diego , it's Jade Hindman. On today's show , protecting your home and Pets with recent wildfires , we look at how you can be prepared. This is KPBS Midday Edition. Connecting our communities through conversation. The dozens of wildfires sparked in San Diego County last month is one indication wildfire season is here. Some neighborhoods had to be evacuated , and the total number of wildland fires across the state are up from last year , according to Cal Fire. This news comes on the eve of the 4th of July holiday , which brings an increased risk of fires from fireworks. Here to talk about what we need to keep in mind to better protect our homes , apartments as well as loved ones and even pets is Luka , Carmen. Yanni. He is a wildfire researcher and assistant professor here at San Diego State University. Luca , welcome back to Midday Edition. Hi.

S2: Hi. Thank you for having me today.

S1: So glad to have you here. Okay , so we've been hearing about various brushfires in our region with the arrival of summer. Thankfully , most have been put out quickly and without damage to homes.

S2: But in the last few years and decades , we've actually seen a shift in this fire season. And we're talking more about all year round , especially in Southern California , where we don't have necessarily a high intensity period. You know , we've seen with extended droughts or other climate factors , how these can create big fires or relatively large fires in May , January , even we'd seen in LA. And so yeah , we're talking more about all year round instead of a specific fire season.

S1: All right. Well , I want to talk about the long term and short term wildfire prevention measures that we can take. So let's first start with the short term. Yeah.

S2: Yeah. Short term that's something that , you know , any homeowner or resident can. There are some actions that they can take to kind of like mitigate the risk of ignition for their structures. So we can talk more about in more details about what , you know , you can do at home , but also in the long term , you know , that requires more like a community approach , more like a neighborhood approach where we talk neighbor to neighbor to plan not only the preparedness , but also in case of evacuation , what could happen. And that , you know , also creates some potential relationship with fire departments , fire safety councils and so on.

S1: Yeah , we also hear a lot about the go bag.

S2: So , as you can imagine , you want to bring all the necessary stuff , but stuff , but not too much. So definitely think about all the necessities water , food. And we're usually talking about like , you know , supplies for 48 hours. So if you have medicines that you need to take and you know , if you have pets and bring not only food for you , but also for your pets , but also , uh , that could be also important documents that you want to bring with you , some memories that you want to make sure that they don't get lost in case of a fire. So that's kind of like the idea. And there are different resources , for example , on the CalFire website or the Ucar fire website to get an idea about what to put in that bag. Great.

S1: Great.

S2: So some pets might be scared. So you definitely want to have everything ready in terms of carrier if you need it. Uh , food and water , you know , if you have cats , maybe a bag of litter , you know , anything that will make the pets comfortable , that would be very helpful. And yeah , definitely plan it ahead.

S1:

S2: And do you see any material that could easily ignite ? For example , could be a patch of dry grass mulch or. But also like , you know , a very old chair that you have close to your deck that could easily ignite. So all of those materials , you want to move them away from the house , or move them in a place where they would be protected by embers or flames , for example.

S1: So what should people consider for more long term fire prevention ? I mean , earlier you mentioned the need for a community approach. Mhm.

S2: Mhm. Well , yes. So it's very important to understand that the fire issue is not a single home issue , but it's a community issue. So there's only so much we can do to prepare the homes. But we definitely need to work with the neighbors. And for example there are some programs to retrofit homes and where they , you know , they provide vents or other retrofitting structural components that not only work for one home , but for , you know , ten , 20 homes. And this allows a much higher reduction in risk for an entire community than a single home. So definitely moving in that direction , but also thinking about how to improve the those structural components , And those vents. Those gutters. You know , those roofs. That's something that in the long term has to be done , because that's how we prepare the home for fires. Yeah.

S1: Yeah. And I want to dig a little bit more into defensible space.

S2: There are you know , every everyone has different lots. So not everybody has huge backyard. But in general the first round of defensible space is the first five feet around the home. So we want to focus on that area to make sure that there's nothing that could burn. You know , for example , close to a window under Eve or um , you know , in in other vulnerable locations. So definitely removing those is the first , uh , aspect to you. But also if you have larger properties , you know , you can move away from the home up to 30ft or 100ft and look , for example , how to space apart the vegetation that you have not only horizontally but also vertically to , you know , basically avoid the flame to jump from one plant to another and then eventually reach the home.

S1: And it's not just for like vegetation , it's for like lawn furniture to maybe even potted plants. Exactly.

S2: Exactly. Anything that could burn even a trash can. If you have a lot of trash inside , you know , that's something that can easily burn. And unfortunately , there's a lot of , uh , cases in wildfires that happen during trash day where everybody , you know , those , uh , trash cans outside and that can't help , you know , spreading the fire. So don't think only about vegetation , but literally anything that could burn.

S1: Fine for you , too. Good. Good space.

S2: It's a good place to start. Okay.

S1: Okay. To start. Got it. Um , you know , should homeowners consider moving trees and plants that may be up against their home ? Well , you kind of touched on that , right ? Yeah.

S2: So that's a tricky part because it's being discussed at a state level currently. Like what vegetation is going to be allowed in those first five feet , and mature trees shouldn't have any problems as long as you trim the limbs that are , you know , touching the house and for other vegetation is not clear yet. But I would say definitely if you have a plant underneath a window or close to a vent , those probably will have to be removed. But if you have a , you know , a big succulent four feet away from the home , you know , that doesn't have that material , that's probably going to be okay.

S1: And you say wildfire prevention is really about balancing priorities and risks. And some homes may have different priorities than others. Talk to us a bit more about that. Yeah.

S2: Yeah. So it's good to have a quick overview about how home's burning a fire. We have three main exposures. We have , you know , embers that are all those burning materials that are flying around and could land on a roof or an event , but also we have a radiant heating. For example , if you have a shed or a home that is burning nearby , that could create a lot of heat and maybe melt a vinyl frame of a window , and then the third component is flame contact , where we have a direct path for the fire , for example along a fence that reaches a structure. So definitely having all of these three exposures happen at the same time. So we need to look at what are the major risks in our home. For example , if we live close to a open landscape , we might want to prioritize the amber exposure , maybe working on those vents , those roof and the gutters. If we have in a highly urban area , we want to make sure , for example , not to create a path for the fire by removing an attached fence. So , you know , the priorities might change depending on where we live and the year of construction on the house. But we need to keep in mind these different exposures when we try to mitigate the risk.

S1: And as you mentioned , there's efforts at the state level to set some rules for wildfire preparation. What concerns do you have about California's efforts to institute rules on wildfire prevention.

S2: The last big piece of the building code was introduced in 2007 , chapter seven A , which , you know , provided a lot of guidelines for new homes. And the new regulation is gonna talk about this new defensible space area. Zone zero. This first five feet , which , you know , previously was included in zone one that goes up to 30ft. So definitely , these are different aspects of regulations which are mostly going to impact new homes and new construction. So it's something to keep in mind is that even that policy doesn't apply to us. You know , it's still good to prepare our home , our vents , you know , our structure to these fires , even though we're not in a high fire risk area. Yeah.

S1: Yeah. And yesterday , Governor Newsom urged President Trump to take more action on wildfire preparation during his administration to , quote , make America rake again , unquote. He notes the majority of California forests are on federal land.

S2: For example , if you look at conifer forest in Northern California , those are forests that historically had a lot of frequent fires. But for several reasons , these got lost over the last century or over the last few centuries. So we need to , you know , make those forests resilient again. And , you know , in some cases we might need prescribed burning. In other cases we might need like hand thinning. So it's not one solution fits all. And you know , in Southern California , for example , we have different challenges where prescribed burning is not really an option. So we need to look at , for example , targeted grazing. So there's not one solution fits all. And it's also important to keep in mind that actually the majority of wildfires that end up being destructive do not start on federal land. They start on private land. So it really requires an effort from all the stakeholders state , federal government , but also communities , because only one of them is not going to be enough.

S1: And of course , Friday is 4th of July. It'll be celebrated with barbecue grills. Some people may actually pull out a few fireworks. Um , so what can we do to avoid fire risk ? Yes.

S2: So that is a hard because fireworks basically act like embers. And there's hot particles , these hot sparks that could land on a patch of dry grass and ignite it. So if you have areas around your home that are at high risk like that , maybe you can water them down and hope that you know your neighbors are not going to do crazy things. But in general , yes , there is a higher risk. So keep an eye out for for your neighborhood.

S1: Watch out for yourself and everyone else. Yep.

S2: Or there's also the UK on our Fire Network website. Uh , which is part of the Cooperative Extension. So there are a lot of resources. If you want to have more information about how to harden your home. There is , for example , the um , the Ibi report , that is the Institute of Business and Home Insurance Safety. And there are different resources that I would say , depending on what you're looking at home , hardening , defensible space , or a more overview approach.

S1: Oh , and before we go , you know , I'm wondering , we've been hearing about the impacts of spending cuts on research.

S2:

S1: Oh my. Goodness.

S2: Goodness. I had one of the projects that was put on hold back in January and then eventually , uh , was allowed to like , continue. Luckily. But I know that several projects , uh , related to ecology , fire prevention and so on have been , uh , somehow affected by the cuts. And it's not really clear what's going to happen in the future. So we're trying to navigate , you know , the environment to see what alternatives we have and how we can , you know , uh , find additional funding. Luckily , uh , for fires and fire prevention and fire research , the cuts have been less substantial than in other fields. So we're still trying to to see what's going to happen in the next few months.

S1: Hopefully there'll be some clarity soon. Also , if you want more information on resources , you can find them on our website at KPBS. I've been speaking with San Diego State University assistant professor Luca magnani. Luca , thank you so much.

S2: Well , thank you for having me today.

S1: That's our show for today. I'm your host , Jade Hindman. Thanks for tuning in to Midday Edition. Be sure to have a great day on purpose , everyone.