A primary firebreak five metres around your cottage is essential. Here are some ways to achieve this safety zone and avoid fueling a fire.
Primary Firebreaks
- Get rid of all dead grass in the area.
- Keep debris around the cottage to a minimum. Get rid of the piles of stuff you’ve been meaning to get to “someday”.
- Do not allow vegetation such as flowers, shrubs or hedges to grow right against the cottage.
- Prune tree limbs so they are no lower than three metres above the ground. Keep branches a minimum of three metres away from your chimney as well.
- Thin dense vegetation. Make a break between the trees in your yard and those in the surrounding forest.
- Keep trees and shrubs spaced apart and watered.
- Areas in your yard that collect leaves are where embers will be carried during a wildfire. Rake those spaces often.
- Mow your grass regularly, keeping it below 10 centimetres.
- Avoid using an overabundance of landscaping bark or mulch, a hot spot for smouldering embers.
- Keep your gutters and roof free of leaves, needles, branches and other debris.
- Remove tree branches that overhang the cottage, porch and deck.
- Store firewood, picnic tables, wooden boats and other movables as far as possible from your cottage, not right outside your door. These items burn intensely.
- Screen open areas around your cottage with wire mesh 1/8 inch or smaller (i.e.: under the porch, beneath the deck, etc.)
- Keep the space under your deck free of clutter. A deck is hazardous when combustible materials (paints, poisons, etc.) and debris collect underneath it.
- A wood trellis near a cottage is a bonfire waiting to happen. Consider replacing it with a non-flammable metal trellis.
By implementing these changes, you not only increase your chances of saving your vacation home, you increase the likelihood that firefighters will save your cottage over another. Put yourself in a firefighter’s shoes. A fire is racing toward two cottages. One stuccoed cottage has an uncluttered yard with thinned out trees and nothing littering the ground. The other cottage is wrapped in vinyl siding and sits in a yard full of bags of trash, fallen trees and discarded scraps of wood. If you were a firefighter, which cottage would you try to save first?
Secondary Firebreaks
A secondary firebreak will further increase the chances of your cottage surviving a forest fire. The secondary firebreak encompasses the area 15 metres around the cottage. Its goal is to lessen the fire fuels in the area in order to reduce the likelihood that flames reach your cottage.
- Thin trees so the tops are more than five metres apart. A continuous canopy of trees, while beautiful and provides often-wanted shade, is not desirable when a fire is raging your way. Tree crown fires burn intensely.
- Prune tree limbs so they are no lower than two metres off the ground.
- Remove all dead branches on your property.
- Trees that have fallen down need to be removed. Remove dead and dying trees as well.
- Don’t let litter accumulate. Get rid of the remnants from your last neighbourhood BBQ and those household items used for slingshot target practice.
- Keep fire safety in mind when constructing fences, sheds and outbuildings on your property - they need the same attention as your cottage. If possible, keep other structures out of the primary firebreak.
- Propane and oil tanks should be kept away as far away from the cottage as possible and away from flammable vegetation.
If your cottage is on sloped land, the secondary firebreak needs to be extended to 25 metres or more as fire can travel uphill extremely fast. The steeper the slope, the faster fire can spread.
Fences can lead a fire right to your cottage. A wood fence close to your cottage increases its potential to become ashes. Consider using fire-resistant fencing or moving fences away from structures. Never attach a fence directly onto your cottage.
Fireproof Your Cottage
The roof - Roofs easily catch fire when the wind carries sparks onto them or when flames lap at them. And once your roof is ablaze, fire moves rapidly to the rest of your cottage. When it comes time to install a new roof on your cottage, consider using cement or concrete products, asphalt, fire-resistant wood shakes, metal or even terra-cotta tiles. Shingles and untreated wood shakes offer no safety and are an ideal fire fuel. Your cottage’s roof is the most vulnerable part of the building.
Exterior materials – The most fire-resistant choices include brick, stucco, concrete, metal and rock. Logs offer better resistance than vinyl siding.
Windows – In a fire, glass that breaks offer flames a way inside your cottage. Consider installing non-flammable shutters, especially if you have single pane windows. When it is time to replace your windows, use triple-pane windows or tempered glass if possible.
Prescribed Burn
You may wish to do a prescribed burn to get rid of flammable vegetation. Contact your local fire department for help. If you try to do it yourself, you could start a wildfire.
While none of these changes guarantee your cottage will survive a forest fire, they do increase your chances of being one of the lucky ones.
Canadian Forest Fire Trivia
- Forest fires season runs from April through mid-October in Canada.
- There are, on average, 10,000 forest fires a year in Canada.
- Over $400 million is spent annually to fight fires.
- Forest fires can travel at speeds of six kilometres an hour.
- Canada has 10% of the world’s forests.
For more information, check out:
- Windsor Fire & Rescue Services - "Cottage Fire Safety"
- Department of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries - "Preparing Firebreaks"
- North Carolina Cooperative Extension - "Twigs and Branches - Forest Firebreaks" by James B. "Jim" Kea
- British Columbia Wildfire Management Branch - "Fire Smart Manual"
Toby Welch - Toby is a full-time freelance writer who specializes in magazine articles, online writing, e-books, and manuscript editing.
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