Wildfire Safety Tips

Wildfires can occur anywhere, so it is vital to know how to keep your home and family safe when one starts. Using the safety tips in this article will minimize damage to your property and keep you safe when wildfires threaten. However, these safety tips are useless if you do not use them now-before wildfires start.

Keep Structures Clear

Unlike the other safety tips, this one is important for prevention. Wildfires generally burn in the woods and countryside, where the fire is fueled by dry vegetation. While it is impractical (not to mention unfair to wildlife) to clear all of the dry brush and grass from your property, it is necessary to clear the area around your house and any other structures on your property to keep the fire away from them. Keep your grass watered to create a fire break.

It is also a good idea to have a pond or swimming pool on your property. This creates another fire break, and the water may be needed to fight the fire.

Create an Evacuation Plan

It is critical to have an evacuation plan. Before wildfire season, you need to know how you will get away, what to take with you and what will happen with your animals. Have an agreement with friends who live near you to evacuate animals if one of you is unable to for any reason. It is also a good idea to have an arrangement with somebody who lives a good distance from you where you can take your animals if you need to. Creating a phone tree will facilitate communication to put your plan in place, and annual fire drills will ensure everything runs smoothly when the real thing happens.

Learn your Area

Another of the safety tips that may well save your life during a fire is to know every road around your property and every escape route. Wildfires move fast and can quickly make roads impassable, so there should be more than one way to leave your property. It is easy to become disoriented when you are stressed and there is heavy smoke in the air, and you could become lost or trapped by the fire. However, traveling each of your escape routes often will familiarize you with them so you can remain calm during the emergency.

Take Care of your Animals

While the other safety tips are important for you and your property, do not forget about your animals. It is not uncommon for people to panic during wildfires and turn their animals loose because they cannot take them out of danger. However, this should be avoided at all costs. Frightened, loose animals are a danger to fire fighters and may injure themselves in their panic. If there is no way to take your animals with you, put them in as safe a place as possible: a dry lot (no grass at all) or well-irrigated field is your best bet, and turning on the sprinklers should keep the fire away.

Put identification tags with your contact information on all household pets, and for your horses, have a halter and lead rope nearby for each one. Put your name and contact information on each halter-duct tape works well for this, or you can have tags made just like for your dogs and attach them to one of the rings on the halter. If someone else evacuates your animals, this safety tip ensures you are able to find them later. Like the other safety tips in this article, knowing what to do with your animals is something you need to plan in advance-during an emergency, you are not likely to have time to organize halters or find identification tags.

Wildfires can be scary and dangerous, but if you plan in advance and follow the above safety tips, you give yourself the best chance possible at saving yourself, your animals and your property.