Tips on How to Create a Fire-Safe Yard

Everybody needs to think about how to keep their yards the safest that they can. A fire safe landscape is not always something that is perfect. For the most part, a fire safe landscape utilizes fire resistant plants that are planted to stop the spread of fire to your yard and home. What is even better is that you don't have to use a ton of money to create a fire safe landscape.

If you are just beginning at looking at your choices to landscape, ensure that you have break up any continuous shrubs that are within 100 feet of your house. If you go within 300 feet of your house, be sure that there is no dead vegetation where you are working. Try to keep a clean green area where you plant and keep fire resistant plants. For ground cover, you may want to look for cotoneaster, wooly yarrow, or false spirea. There are a number of flowers that would work great such as milkweed, columbine, or the California poppy. These all tend to stop fire from spreading.

Besides finding the proper things to plant, you have to keep a clean yard. The cleaner that your yard stays, the less chance you will have a fire. If you have a ton of dead leaves scattered all around your yard, it is obvious that this is a fire hazard. If someone or something were to catch one leaf on fire, the entire yard would be burnt down.

Another fire hazard that you can prevent are broken branches or twigs laying around in your yard. It takes only thirty minutes to pick up these items, so why not keep them picked up. If an electric wire were to fall, these branches or twigs would immediately catch on fire.

While looking at your yard, try to use inorganic material when ever you can. This helps prevent fires and enhances how your landscaping will look. It will help increase the value of your property.

Be sure to use driveways, patios, pools, walkways, or lawns to create firebreaks. When there is nothing to burn, the fire stays contained in a small section instead of spreading forward. Make a walkway within the landscaping for people to enjoy the beauty, as well as to help prevent fires.

One of the main things that you should stay away from is trees. You should never put trees too close to any type of structure. Do not use junipers, conifers, or broadleaf evergreens near structures or fire hazard areas.

The main thing to remember is that a fire safe landscape will add beauty and value to your house. It will also help you conserve water on a daily basis. When landscaping, remember that less is always better when preventing fires.