Power out, freeway closed, smoke obscuring visibility. Some at work, some at home: how do you prepare?

http://xfinity.comcast.net/articles/news-national/20120119/US.Reno.Brush.Fire/?cid=hero_media

"small neighborhoods are dispersed in another-wise rural landscape" is a guarantee for this kind of problem. Reno needs better zoning and planning, as do many other communities in the West.

I live in a similar situation - within the city limits but just a quarter mile from stands of highly flammable chapparal. This has burned twice in the time I have been here, the last in 2004, so we are due for another one any year now.

Basically, be ready to flee. Make a checklist of priorities - people, pets, important papers, photos, and documents. Do keep up on your home insurance, and have a good record of the contents of your home to back up any claims.

Pay attention to your landscaping and get rid of flammable items, like the Norway pine I took out after watching the Malibu fires of 1994. It was a wonderful tree, but I am glad I felled it.

Home construction details are important. Put screening on vents, etc. Most homes burn, I understand, from embers that get inside the home.

Stay flexible. I have had the car loaded up, and ready to drive away, with my sleeping baby daughter. That was about 1995. On the next occasion, in 2004, I had the heavy stuff loading in my car, and DW and DD held down the fort - I had pressing jobs at work. I remember walking into the snack bar and CNN was showing a water drop about 300 yards from my house. My wife, standing outside our home, was doused by the over spray.

There are fire retardant foams that can be applied to a home threatened by fire. I have no experience with these, but they have a good history.

Finally, I take comfort in the fact that most of value of my property lies in the lot, not the house. I would still have equity if the dwelling burned down completely. In a situation like this, I would not indulge in foolish, life-threatening heroics to save a questionable structure.

I've read that a metal roof can make a big impact to a structure's ability to with stand flying embers.

Yep, a steel roof goes a long way, unfortunately, what hikermor alluded to was glowing embers being sucked up into the eaves by natural airflow through an attic. The lower eaves need to be screened such that they stop embers from rising through the air-vents and then starting a fire under that steel roof.

Certainly, if your house is covered with something flammable, like a wood shake roof, then an ember just settling on your roof can start a fire. However, those roofs are rare or illegal in wildfire-prone areas around here but sometimes they are a concern. Many of the very old homes burned down in the terrible Oakland Hills fire in Oakland, California were covered with wood shake shingles. My roof is concrete tile. Many others are that orange-ish barrel-shaped clay tile that you see so often in California.

But, once your roof is taken care of, it's those embers drifting up under the eaves or inside the attic that will most likely burn your house down.

Direct radiant heat is also an ignition source once homes in dense neighborhoods start to burn. Unlike the more isolated homes where you can have hundreds of feet of defensible space between your house and anything flammable, your neighbor's burning house could be mere feet away from yours.

There is a lot of good information here:

http://www.firewise.org/Information/Who-is-this-for/Homeowners.aspx

Thank you. A very impressive site.

Totally off topic, but I always wonder how a cigarette is so often blamed, or that one ember being sucked into the attic can burn down a house. Seriously.

Should we all start packing cigarettes instead of cotton balls and PJ into the forest?

As for what to do? First post nails it. Anyone from Southern Cal SHOULD be able to recite most of that from memory. Wildfires (plural!) happen annually. We don't have "autumn," we have "fire" as a season.

The fires usually aren't,if the Santa Ana's aren't!That is a Big Factor most of the time!

There is so much to fire preparation it’s a vast topic. The general advice is to plan in advance and stick to your plan.

In Australia the “official” policy is that its best to leave Well In Advance Of Fires to a refuge area, but if you do wish to stay than you must be prepared.
There are numerous web sites which go into lists of equipment, but I’ll just add a few comments about roofs:


Smoke alarms, lighting and planks of wood (secured to make walkways) are a good addition to a roof space.
Keep a ladder near the ceiling hatch and keep checking the roof space before and after a fire for embers and smoke

You can put fixed lights in the roof, but during a fire you should assume that all mains electricity, water, gas etc will be cut and cannot be relied upon.

As the fire approaches, retire to your house.
During a fire, sheltering in your house will provide the best protection from radiant heat, which is the biggest killer. Even if your house catches on fire, you can shelter in it and exit after the fire front passes.

Wet towel placed around doors will slow smoke entry; you should keep away from windows and preferably shelter in a part of the house without external walls

Once the fire front passes, go outside and fight the spot fires.

Remember to dress properly, wool is still among the best materials, it has low flammability and provides a thermal barrier. Hat, gloves, long clothing and sturdy boots and a minimum, but smoke proof goggles and even a dust or smoke mask will help.