Spring into action: Get a jump on wildfire preparedness by cleaning and prepping around your house now

There’s an alternate interpretation of the phrase “spring-cleaning” that can prove to be quite valuable when it comes to wildfire prevention.

As the temperatures rise and weather becomes more pleasant, it’s often an ideal time for people to begin working in their yards. While that can be beneficial for aesthetic reasons, it can also serve a dual purpose: preparing one’s home for the threat of wildfire season.

“Spring’s a great time to start getting out there, getting out in the yard, getting out on your property and kind of assessing the situation,” said George Ducker, communications coordinator for the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department Forestry Division.

Spring into action: Get a jump on wildfire preparedness by cleaning and prepping around your house now

“It’s almost like we all wake up, we crawl out of the cave, we go outside, and we say, ‘Oh man there’s a lot of new things growing and a lot of things that have blown around during the winter.’ It’s a good idea to really think about preparing for wildfire as basically just like spring-cleaning in an outdoor sense.”

While the visual of a raging inferno is what tends to resonate most with the masses, Ducker says that embers — burning pieces of wood or vegetation — are the primary cause of structures burning during wildfire events.

“You think of wildfire, and you think of a wave of fire,” Ducker said. “But a lot of research and a lot of studies have shown that it’s not that simple. It’s not just a wave of fire, it’s not just a wave of heat. It’s actually thousands of tiny embers that are all burning super hot. Those embers get blown around by the wind.

“The winds are really the thing that drives a fire’s forward progress. What that wind does is it takes those embers and throws them all around, spits them out. The wind can carry embers up to a mile or more away from the front of the fire. All of this is to say that you’re really trying to think about places around your property, like close to your house, where these burning hot embers can get lodged. That’s usually how structures catch on fire in a wildfire scenario.”

That’s where proactive spring-cleaning can be effective.

Homeowners are encouraged to consider the concept of defensible space, which includes removing all trees, shrubs and other vegetation that are located within 30 feet of a home. This also involves keeping roofs and gutters free of flammable debris, removing “ladder fuels” (young trees and shrubs planted close to larger trees), maintaining grass to a height of six inches or less within 50 feet of the home, and utilizing fire-resistant construction and landscaping, among other things.

“I know for a lot of people, there’s this beautiful tree that’s sitting right next to your window or right next to your house,” Ducker said. “I can’t tell you to cut it down, but I am telling you that tree if you live in a rural area, especially an area that backs up against a forest, that tree and those shrubs near your property, near your house, that’s where you can run into some problems.”

When it comes to wildfire readiness, the aforementioned spring-cleaning is just part of the equation. The Forestry Service has partnered with numerous other agencies and organizations for an ongoing campaign entitled “Wildfire Preparedness is Year-Round.” The initiative for the early part of the year is “Ready, Set, Go!” and focuses on planning ahead for wildfire season. This covers creating a disaster plan and an emergency supply kit; monitoring fire weather conditions; and leaving as soon as possible when advised by local authorities to a predetermined location.

“Another thing that folks can do on a community level is meet their neighbors,” Ducker said. “Talk to people who live near you and kind of coordinate together and say, ‘Hey, if this is gonna hit our community, what are we gonna do? What are our escape routes?’ ”

Forecasting the arrival of wildfire season and its severity can be a tricky task, but there are agencies that monitor conditions and predict how things might look down the road.

“It’s still very much in the air, but there are ideas that this season could be later in the Southwest than we’re used to,” Ducker said. “That is mostly because of the El Niño effect that we’re getting right now … Basically what they’re saying is there’s a chance the season could be a little later than usual, perhaps like August/September as opposed to the May and June we’re used to. But again, these are early times and these are predictions that change all the time.”