Does your area have a Community Emergency Response Team? This sort of problem seems like something a CERT could handle.

> With a RED FLAG WARNING I put the lawn system into a 2 minute/channel
> test program and continually water the lawn.

Do you have a well? I recall reading that people in SoCal did the same thing and drew down the water pressure so much the firefighters couldn't get their hoses to squirt. They had to go around and shut off the lawn sprinklers to get enough pressure to fight the fire.

"when I see videos of the California woods fires I always wondered why those homes that have obvious swimming pools don't have a copper piped "rainbird" sprinkler system on the roof,mister heads on the soffit, and a propane powered alternator that can run a pump supplied by the swimming pool, possibly triggered by a remote radio/cell phone call."

There are two problems that I know of:

As previously mentioned, many people turning on roof sprinklers reduces the available water pressure to the fire fighters.

And, it doesn't work. The heat from even a decent wildfire is so great that the water from the sprinklers vaporizes before it does any good. Radiant heat from a fire can be high enough that exposed wooden parts of a home can ignite without the fire actually touching it, it is just spontaneous.

If your home is in the path of a good firestorm, the temps can be much higher (1000ºC/1832ºF). In that case, your house may not even burn, just going straight from sitting there to ashes!

No matter what the wishful thought is, if there is a fire coming at you, you can't do anything except run or go underground. Cussing, praying and handwringing has no effect, the fire doesn't care.

Sue

<Do you have a well>

I have a well, an irrigation pond and a river.

(1) I did say swimming pool for water source
(2) I think any attempt to save my homestead would be one worth the effort... I hope I would be smart enough to have a clear zone around my dwelling, a steel or tile roof, wetted down to help with flying embers, and no decorative wood trim, and no I don't plan on being there when the fire storm arrives...but I sure want to have given it my best shot to protect my home and property before I leave.

That's not enough. :->

> I think any attempt to save my homestead would be one worth the effort.

Yep, that's what everyone thinks.

I have been thinking about your situation and have found difficulty because I've never had to face your type of circumstances.

I think it may be a good idea though if you find the ThreatCon Checklist posted here on ETS and see if it would be helpful in the making of the right decisions, at the right time, AFTER you modify it for these type of events.

I'm sorry that I have nothing better to offer.

Stay or go the one thing that is sure to help is setting up your property to be fire resistant and defensible. Substituting metal or tile roofing for wood shakes, or even asphalt shingles, makes the house much more likely to survive. Substituting fire resistant siding, like Hardi-board, for wood siding helps a lot. The modifications that can make your house more fire resistant are too numerous to go over in detail but I'll assume you get the point.

Landscaping makes a big difference. Getting flammable trees and brush well away from the house is important. A wide gravel walkway that rings the house is a great assistance in keeping creeping ground fires at bay.

Having a good water supply, large pool, cistern, pond, or reliable high-output well can make a decisive difference in convincing firefighters that your house is safe enough to actively defend.

With a well designed fire-resistant house and a good water supply you can reasonably add power and pumping capacity, and some basic firefighting gear, and make an active defense possible. Having the capability does not obligate you to do so. In a couple of cases in California municipal firefighters made use of such homeowner supplied capabilities to save the house.

Last year I started reading about Australians who installed fire shelters on their property. The idea being that if all else fails you can hunker down in a fireproof bunker that is located in a spot well away from anything that will burn. This came up as an alternative after a number of people waited too long and died in their vehicles trying to make a run for it.

Such a structure might double as storm shelter and root cellar. In most places it's a long shot you will ever need it. But for a location that faces a lot of storms and burns over regularly, or at least faces the risk, it might be worth it.

"Last year I started reading about Australians who installed fire shelters on their property. The idea being that if all else fails you can hunker down in a fireproof bunker that is located in a spot well away from anything that will burn."

That is a suggestion that Aussie permaculturist Bill Mollison has long advised for people living on remote homesteads.

It seems to me that the original partly-underground domed Nader Khalili-designed (CalEarth) emergency shelter, built with nothing more than a string and a stick, a shovel, a batch of sandbags and a roll of barbed wire, and then covered with a thick layer of soil would be an excellent shelter.

Most of the designs you see online now use a continuous sandbag and imported sand/soil, which IMO is inferior to the original design where the soil to fill the sandbags was dug out of the circle, reducing the above-ground profile and taking advantage of the cooler temps a couple of feet below the surface.

Mollison did warn, however, that the wooden door would need a mud, brick or concrete dogleg wall in front of it to protect it from the radiant heat.

I am dying to build one of these things. All I need is a roll of barbed wire, some sandbags, and a couple of hunks to do the work. I've got the shovel, stick and string.

Sue