How to prepare for a wildfire

The picture most people carry of a wildfire — a wall of flame arriving at the property line — is not how houses usually burn. They burn because embers, blown a mile or more ahead of the fire, land in a gutter full of pine needles, under a deck, or in an open vent, and smoulder there until something catches.

That changes what preparation means. The work that saves a house is small, close in, and done months ahead: what is touching the building, and what is in the first five feet around it.

Before: defensible space, from the house outward

Work outward, not inward. The zone nearest the building is where the effort pays.

Zone	Distance	What to do
Immediate	0–5 ft	Nothing that burns. No bark mulch, no firewood, no plants against the wall, gutters clear
Intermediate	5–30 ft	Break up fuel: spaced shrubs, mown grass, no ladder from ground to canopy
Extended	30–100 ft	Thin, remove dead material, keep tree crowns separated

Close the openings. Ember-resistant vent screening, and nothing stored under a deck. Vents and decks are where embers get in.

Move the fuel away from the walls. Firewood, propane, patio furniture cushions and the recycling all belong away from the building during the season.

Keep the roof and gutters clear. A gutter full of needles is an ember trap sitting on the most vulnerable part of the house. The full defensible-space method.

The plan that works at fifteen minutes

Wind-driven fires do not give the warning people plan around. Build the plan for a short-notice order and it will also work for a long-notice one.

• Bag by the door, all season. Documents, medication, chargers, N95s, a change of clothes, pet supplies.
• Two routes out, because the obvious one fills or closes.
• Vehicles backed in, fuelled, keys in one known place.
• An out-of-area contact everyone calls, since local networks fail first.
• A pet plan with carriers accessible, not in a loft.
• A photo record of the house and contents stored off-site or in the cloud. The fifteen-minute checklist.

During: if you cannot leave

Leaving early is the plan. If the road is already cut:

• Stay inside, doors and windows closed, and away from exterior walls and windows on the fire side.
• Shut off any ventilation that draws outside air in.
• Fill sinks and tubs, and keep lights on so the building is visible through smoke.
• Call emergency services and tell them where you are.
• Do not attempt to outrun a fire on foot.

Smoke, at any distance

Smoke is the part of a wildfire that reaches people hundreds of miles from the flames, and it matters most for children, older adults, pregnant people and anyone with heart or lung disease.

• Build one clean-air room: the smallest room you can seal, with a HEPA cleaner sized to it, and everyone spending sleeping hours there.
• Keep windows shut and recirculate in the house and in the car.
• N95 or P100 fitted properly if you have to be outdoors. Cloth masks do nothing here.
• Do not add indoor particles — no candles, frying, vacuuming or smoking while the air is bad. How to build the clean-air room.

After

Do not return until the area is cleared. Ash is caustic and can contain asbestos and heavy metals: gloves, N95, long sleeves, and no dry sweeping. Hotspots persist for days under debris, and burned slopes bring their own next problem — debris flows in the first rains, which behave nothing like ordinary runoff. Why burned slopes slide.

The ZonaProtec monitor shows active fire detections and official warnings near a point you search, alongside the rest of the threats in the area.