RedDirt
Gold Member
- Joined
- Dec 4, 2007
- Messages
- 469
- Location
- Northern Idaho
- Tractor
- Kubota BX23, Wards 16HP HST Garden Tractor, (previous) D2 Logging Cat
Forest fires are a constant summer threat where live. This year it is about as bad as it gets and later in the summer it will be extreme.
Some of our fire prevention/preparation precautions:
Fire safe zones around buildings, 100ft if possible, 50ft minimum; no brush, dry vegetation, raked to dirt, gravel, or grass. No plantings close to house.
Trim low branches of tall surrounding trees to break the fire "ladder effect".
Roof sprinklers. When I built I used metal roofing and installed five rainbird (impact) sprinklers at the house and four at the shop/office. I ran dedicated pipe through the attic to outside valves. The sprinklers penetrate the roof at the ridge; I used small roof jacks available at building supply stores to seal the pipes. I tapped into the main before the house pressure reducer: waters about 50ft beyond the perimeter of the buildings. Not as "pretty" but a similar system can be surface mounted. (As a bonus we can run the roof sprinklers on dry, hot, days. Settles the dust and adds an evaporative cooling effect around the buildings.)
Keep rain gutters cleaned
Hydrants and fire hose. When laying the water main to house I put in a larger-than-required main line (1 1/2" dia) and stubbed up two hydrants with dedicated fire hose fittings (away from the buildings so there is access to them if there is a building fire). We have 600 ft cotton jacket and bone fide fire nozzles on two permanent outside (covered, quick-remove-lid) racks. Fire hose can be had on the cheap on ebay as hotels & such need to update regularly. The stuff is old but brand new and normally very suitable for the typically lower domestic water pressures. If buried hydrant lines are out of the question you can always lay down some PVC or Poly pipe on the ground to extend your coverage.
Make a short list and a long list of evacuation items. The short one gets you stuff you can gather in 5 minutes and the long one an hour.
Keep some evac bags packed. A coupe of days of clothes & personal items. We also store things like photos, old tax records, home/shop inventory list (for insurance claim, photo inventory too), computer back-ups, and such in one central location for grab-n-go.
Know evac routes out or area and have a predetermined meeting area for household members. Have a central communication contact that can relay information if members get separated/out of contact with each other.
Buy and learn to use a fire/police radio scanner. When we hear a siren or hear a spotter plane/helicopter the scanner goes on with local frequencies already programed. This is first hand information and will enable educated fight-or-flight decisions.
Some of our fire prevention/preparation precautions:
Fire safe zones around buildings, 100ft if possible, 50ft minimum; no brush, dry vegetation, raked to dirt, gravel, or grass. No plantings close to house.
Trim low branches of tall surrounding trees to break the fire "ladder effect".
Roof sprinklers. When I built I used metal roofing and installed five rainbird (impact) sprinklers at the house and four at the shop/office. I ran dedicated pipe through the attic to outside valves. The sprinklers penetrate the roof at the ridge; I used small roof jacks available at building supply stores to seal the pipes. I tapped into the main before the house pressure reducer: waters about 50ft beyond the perimeter of the buildings. Not as "pretty" but a similar system can be surface mounted. (As a bonus we can run the roof sprinklers on dry, hot, days. Settles the dust and adds an evaporative cooling effect around the buildings.)
Keep rain gutters cleaned
Hydrants and fire hose. When laying the water main to house I put in a larger-than-required main line (1 1/2" dia) and stubbed up two hydrants with dedicated fire hose fittings (away from the buildings so there is access to them if there is a building fire). We have 600 ft cotton jacket and bone fide fire nozzles on two permanent outside (covered, quick-remove-lid) racks. Fire hose can be had on the cheap on ebay as hotels & such need to update regularly. The stuff is old but brand new and normally very suitable for the typically lower domestic water pressures. If buried hydrant lines are out of the question you can always lay down some PVC or Poly pipe on the ground to extend your coverage.
Make a short list and a long list of evacuation items. The short one gets you stuff you can gather in 5 minutes and the long one an hour.
Keep some evac bags packed. A coupe of days of clothes & personal items. We also store things like photos, old tax records, home/shop inventory list (for insurance claim, photo inventory too), computer back-ups, and such in one central location for grab-n-go.
Know evac routes out or area and have a predetermined meeting area for household members. Have a central communication contact that can relay information if members get separated/out of contact with each other.
Buy and learn to use a fire/police radio scanner. When we hear a siren or hear a spotter plane/helicopter the scanner goes on with local frequencies already programed. This is first hand information and will enable educated fight-or-flight decisions.
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