Wildfire Home Protection: How to Keep Your Home Safe from Wildfires

Wildfires can be a scary and dangerous experience that can happen at a moment's notice. Although you can’t prevent wildfires from happening, there are some things that you can do to help safeguard you and your family, and secure your property to save it from complete destruction. Let’s take a look at some of the ways you can mitigate wildfire damage to your home.

Working on the Interior of Your Home

Ahead of physically working outside on your home and property to create a defense from possible wildfires, there are a few bookkeeping items you should consider addressing. The first is to check your homeowner's insurance policy. Thoroughly re-read your policy and contact your agent to go over details to make sure that you have the best coverage for your situation with regard to wildfires.

The next order of business is cataloging all of your belongings. It is recommended to take pictures or videos and inventorying all your large or expensive items in your home. This will give you and your family peace of mind, and may even help with insurance claims down the road to calculate any losses from smoke and odor damage to your personal belongings.

It’s also crucial to keep a digital copy of your most important documents as well as storing them physically in a fire-proof safe. Some items you may want to consider including may be:

• Passports, social security cards, birth certificates and any other forms of identification
• Insurance policies
• Bank and financial account information
• Legal documents
• Medical records
• Digital data stored on USB sticks or hard drives
• Cash
• Small valuables like jewelry or family heirlooms
• Family photos

Working on the Exterior of Your Home

Now that you’ve got your personal items covered, it’s time to apply a little elbow grease. Embers can be extremely destructive if they catch onto something on the exterior of your home, so it’s crucial to make sure to fortify the outside of your home and make it harder for embers to latch on.

Your roof is the number one priority when safeguarding your home for wildfires. Non-combustible roofs are one of the number one reasons that homes will survive fires, so it’s important to ensure your roof is built with Class A rated fire-resistant materials. Additionally, roof eaves with short overhangs and flat ledges are easy for embers to attach to, so it’s recommended to install or replace these as needed. Cleaning the gutters and roof of debris like leaves and shrubs regularly can also help prevent embers from entering vents and catching fire inside the walls of your home.

Some other wildfire home protection projects you may want to consider, but may require additional assistance from contractors may include:

• Covering your attic and under eave vents with < ⅛ inch metal mesh wire
• Enclosing your foundation with fire-blocks to help keep the fire from spreading under your home
• Sealing large gaps in the exterior walls and roofs with fire-resistant materials
• Installing tempered glass windows and fireproof shutters

Working on the Property Surrounding Your Home

One of the main defenses for wildfires is to keep a clear defensible space around your home. Although it has always been a 30-foot perimeter to help keep out fires, in warmer climates and higher amounts of thick vegetation, it is recommended to have at least a 100-foot perimeter cleared around your home to help prevent the spread of wildfires.

During high-risk wildfire times, it is important that there is access to water on your property. If you are unable to install an external sprinkler system, having long garden hoses that reach the entirety of your property are always a good idea.

Lastly, make sure that your home and property are properly lit and that street signs and house numbers are easily visible to first responders so that they are able to gain access to your property as quickly as possible in case of an emergency.

Contact a wildfire damage expert today!

Has your home been affected by a wildfire? If you need help restoring your home or belongings after a fire, contact the fire damage experts at Dry Kings today. We can help you get your home and property back to working order so that it is safe and comfortable for your family.