ACCURATE fire prevention advice please!

Hi all!

We live in Eastern Spain where I'm growing a food forest (veganpermaculturespain).

It's summer, and already mid-30s°c.  

Since moving here nearly a decade ago, we have had numerous wildfires in close proximity (although thankfully they've never reached us, and we've never needed to evacuate.)

A local 'gardener' has constant adverts on Facebook suggesting that all our terraces should be cleared.  This involves strumming and clearing everything from the land, leaving the soil bare.

I understand that that means there's nothing to ignite, but it also means that the soil is being killed by the sun.

My food forest is growing on one of these terraces.  It has layer upon layer of chop and drop mulch, dense planting in lots of places, increasing levels of shade as the trees grow, a vastly improved soil structure which now holds the moisture and even has worms!  (The soil was so hard and compacted when I started, I needed to water for an hour before I could plant anything)

Am I realistic in thinking that my food forest will be more resistant to fire than my neighbours monoculture of almond trees dotted across the field with no other vegetation anywhere?

I'm trying to learn about how fires start from various things, eg, lightning strike, as we get lots of dry electrical storms, or sun reflecting off objects (eg a tin can was the culprit locally recently) or, of course, discarded cigarette butts from passing cars.

And also what factors to consider as the fire develops... eg on another thread it said to clear wood debris, but I have piles if sticks for bugs to live in, and a hugelkulture, are these problematical?

And finally Geoff Lawton referred to fire resistant trees, but I couldn't find a list for my geographical area!

Sorry for the rambled musings and lots of questions!

Any help and expert knowledge would be very much appreciated.

Helen

Wildfire season is the norm here every summer.  This is the current advise for a firesmart property based on decades of fighting fires.

The pdf is very useful too.

https://begins-at-home-guide.firesmartbc.ca/?_gl=1*1ss95du*_gcl_aw*R0NMLjE3NTMwMTU3NTkuQ2p3S0NBandwX0xEQmhCQ0Vpd0FLN0Zua3ZpMHU5cmhKRXZmYWwxRXByb2lZMzEwYlJVYjQ0M04tb1AyVVhDU1dFdG1DOVB3d0dGZDBob0M5bm9RQXZEX0J3RQ..*_gcl_au*MjAzNzQzMTcwMy4xNzUzMDE1NzU3

Keep fuel away from homes.

Plant juicy trees closer to the home and things that burn easily away.

Things like that.  A lot of things that matches well with permaculture design. Like helping the land hold water so we don't have to irrigate (thus taking water away from fire fighting).

I find a line of juicy fruit treees nearish the house, dramatically reduces smoke in the house.  

Here is more advise https://firesmartbc.ca/prepare/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22582560143&gbraid=0AAAAApjKOq92jm6uemKKjx03wklnsu16O&gclid=CjwKCAjwp_LDBhBCEiwAK7Fnkvi0u9rhJEvfal1EproiY310bRUb443N-oP2UXCSWEtmC9PwwGFd0hoC9noQAvD_BwE

Note, if you have insurance, pay attention to what they say too.

That's extremely helpful advice, thank you.

I live the information sheets, and particularly the reference to this being a natural and necessary phenomenon.  

I'm going to take the guidance and audit my land to see if changes need to be made.

Interesting point about the insurance... I'll check my policy.

Many thanks!

I spent ten years in fire-prone California, USA; also in a Mediterranean and fire-prone climate, and this proved to be a governing factor in our homestead design. Some of the practices, such as organic matter cleanup and mowing are actually mandated by law in many places.  A few loose ideas:
1. Ember fallout is a major way for wildfire to spread.  This is still burning debris that it lofted up from the main fire and then carried by the wind and dropped out over the surrounding area, sometimes kilometers away.  These embers land on anything flammable and ignite it.  This is why the suppression of excess mulch and dry vegetation is so important and must be done well in advance of the actual fire front.
2. I learned to put most of my organic matter IN, rather than ON, the soil; and leave only a thin mulch or stubble on the soil surface, unless there is a lush groundcover of well-watered plants.  I was also encouraged to do this by finding out the hard way that a mulch layer made a ready habitat for large numbers of pests like snails, earwigs, millipedes, and others....much more so than in more humid climates I've lived in.  So most of my yard's organic matter eventually ended up buried in a series of raised beds, with a layer of topsoil above it.  Each year one or more beds were turned over so as to incorporate that year's accumulation.  Usually this material (raked leaves and dry grass for the most part) was cycled through the animal pens (chickens and sheep) or composted in piles at the furthest corner of the yard from any buildings, before incorporation.
3. Animals help. As Allan Savory claims, in any "brittle" climate (basically a dry climate where evaporation exceeds precipitation) there are two main ways for organic matter to break down....in a fire or in the guts of a ruminant animal.  So by raising sheep, all the excess organic matter transformed from a problem to a resource. The sheep were rotated over much of the area to keep the grass grazed down; and any mown or cut grass became barrel silage or hay.  Most garden residues were sent to sheep or chickens as well.  They drastically reduce it's volume and the remaining manure and litter is finer, closer to the ground, and less flammable even before it's buried in the gardens.  "Grass is meat once removed".
4. You don't want dense "thicket" plantings, especially close to buildings, unless perhaps they are extremely well irrigated.  The ideal is plantings spaced out enough so that if one plant dries out and burns, it can't catch the one next to it (or a building).  And don't put a lot of lower plants under trees....this is called a "ladder fuel" because if the low stuff burns it can create a tall flame which can catch the overhanging tree.   This is actually supported by observation of wild vegetation, which in my region was scattered trees and grass (which in many cases the grass would burn and leave the trees mostly unharmed) and anything resembling a thicket would be mostly near water sources.
5. If you have th water available, set up some large sprinklers on and around the house and other important areas....but only so many as to all be able to run at the same time.  Ideally these would be powered such that they could run even if the power grid or municipal water was down (as is often the case in or near a large wildfire).  In my case this was done with a well and a generator. A timer can be set up so that it could happen even if you evacuate; running the sprinklers enough each day to keep the site well wet down....

I live where we are almost always in a drought situation and under a burn ban.

My accurate fire prevention would be to clear all vegetation away from the home.  Maybe 20 feet.

Does your home have smoke alarms?

Do you have a plan for evacuation if a fire is eminent?

Make sure your heating equipment is clean regularly.

Helen said, And also what factors to consider as the fire develops... eg on another thread it said to clear wood debris, but I have piles if sticks for bugs to live in, and a hugelkulture, are these problematical?

And finally Geoff Lawton referred to fire resistant trees, but I couldn't find a list for my geographical

Small brush piles away from your home would be in my opinion okay.

Here is a list of fire resistant plants I found on google for Spain:

   Lilac Chastetree. Vitex agnus-castus.
   Red Valerian. Centranthus ruber.
   Shrubby Germander. Teucrium fruticans.
   Mediterranean Spurge. Euphorbia characias.
   Common Thyme. Thymus vulgaris.
   Bermuda Grass. Cynodon dactylon.
   White Stonecrop. Sedum album.
   Silver Ragwort. Jacobaea maritima.

I hope this info has been helpful.

They say 100 yards away from the house is a good distance for easily flammable vegetation as this is the distance plastic siding begins to melt from wildfire.

Sheep are a big part in our vegetation management.

300 feet for plastic siding:  Wow.

I was thinking about my house which I guess would have been good to explain.

My house is cement board siding and a metal roof.

Maybe it would be good to tell the forum about housing and gardens ...

100 yards for the kind of wildfire we get here... i should have mentioned that. But it's still a good metric to work with.  Plan for the worst, hope for the best.

As for wildfire frequency and area burnt per year (both percentage and total area) California is the only part of the world that constantly beats us.  Although some years we win.

I'm based in Portugal just a few miles from the border with Spain.

You might find this thread interesting to read through - after the fire

I'll try to pull some thoughts together to share as soon as I can.

r ranson wrote:They say 100 yards away from the house is a good distance for easily flammable vegetation as this is the distance plastic siding begins to melt from wildfire.

Makes me glad we've got stucco and brick, but our roof needs to be *much* simpler in design and have better roofing material. Simple roof lines and specially designed vents that didn't allow fine embers to enter the attic and smolder until they catch are important in fire country. I read about some company in Australia designing a new metal mesh specifically to prevent this problem. Can't remember more than that.

This isn't exactly what you are looking for Helen, but it is likely worth your time to read through what Burra experienced in Portugal and how she's working on repairing it.
https://permies.com/t/226254/woodland/fire-developing-action-plan-patch

Human caused fire by a neighbor and they almost lost their house. Too close for comfort.

I live in a forest near Bendigo in Australia.
We have bushfire issues in Australia.
The recommendations here, involve a scorched earth policy of no plants for 100M in all directions.
I have ignored nearly all suggestions and have gone down a different path, because I have seen problems with the suggestions.
Some points have been made;
- ember attack particularly for some hours after the fire front has passed can burn houses down
- unprotected windows need flyscreens or covers which will not burn to prevent influx of embers
- timber decks are no good they can start house fires from embers
- sprinklers around the house roof help to dampen potential fires started by embers sitting around
- sprinklers around outside of house capture radiant heat and keep things cooler and damp
- large water tanks, 20,000L volume are good to use the water through sprinklers, I have known this volume to have needed to be topped up from a dam, during a fire.
- Firefighting pumps in a water / mist cooled shed so you can keep working the pump, with spare fuel helps a lot
- protection against radiant heat is important both for yourself and any home and stock
- woollen clothing is better than cotton, no bare skin is essential,  proper firefighting clothes are good if you are organised.
- suitable googles or glasses so you can have ember eye protection and assistance against heat radiation into the eyes.
- Radiation into the eyes cause the eyes to dry instantly causing temporary blindness.
- fire rakes and ember dampers, sticks with rags soaked in water attached at the end.
- No propane tanks near buildings
- have fire escape plans for use of roads or family assembly areas
- listen to warnings on battery wireless,
- dont rely on tv or internet it may be down
- learn to be bushfire aware with smells, watching for smoke even listening for sirens sometimes although not often.
- dont rely on others warning you, its your responsibility to watch, look, smell and be aware.
- blankets to cover you from radiation if you are trapped in a car
-

That's a great list, to which I'd add  
Have a plan - stay and fight fire or evacuate and don't forget any animals.
Have a go-bag with essentials for a few days packed and ready in case of forced evacuation. Deeds to the ranch IDs, bank cards, insurance policy, any medications and a hard drive with all the family photos.  (we were away for over a week, while fire raged, and then essential services restoring power, clearing downed trees etc.)
Consider a cleared area fire break around the house/sheds.  Ours saved us.
Most Aussie plants have evolved to be fire resistant, but that's not to be relied on.
After the event, watch out for hot spots like tree roots still burning underground - what a surprise over a week later to see smoke arising from blackened ground.
And to quote the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy  "Don't Panic"

Thank you all so much for your full and accurate advice.  It is much appreciated.

I'm still reading and re-reading, but am already seeing some ideas forming for how to move forward.

I'm happy to say that I think our house *should* be safe; we have concrete pads all round, three hoses on different sides on the house for damping down, and no appreciable vegetation next to it.

Outbuildings need attention, in particular the one I work in, as it has thick tree coverage around it, so I'll be doing some pruning!

Realistically, if my mini food forest burns, I'll probably lose a lot, but equally, I took solace from the idea that the ecosystem may benefit in many ways, and also think that my hugelkultur (damper than anywhere else, and with ponds at the top), plus a separate pond, might mitigate some areas from being too damaged.

I definitely need to make an emergency pack though.  Trying to remember where I put the dog passports is not a good idea in an emergency!

I will continue to keep referring to your wise words.  Many thanks, stay safe!  (Ps we're expecting rain today, wahhhoooooo!!!)

Helen

Not fire prevention exactly, but Nicole started a national preparedness month thread here. There is lots of information as to what can be done ahead of time for evacuation. Lots of posts from people in fire country.

Every time I try to write about what I learned from the fire, I find myself going through the whole event moment by moment, which I guess is some kind of trauma response, so please forgive me if I start rambling...

The first thing was the speed - no time to check reports or start thinking, just do!

We were in the house. We smelled smoke so went to look outside. Our neighbour appeared instantaneously as he too had noticed smoke and wanted to warn us. Austin, my partner, went off to investigate in the direction it was coming from as my son's place was closer to where it seemed to be coming from and we wanted to check the guy who's living there in his motorhome. I went back inside to see if I could figure out where it was based by looking from my bedroom window. I couldn't tell so went back outside, by which time (about 30 seconds later, if that) the puff of white smoked had been joined by a giant plume of rocketing black smoke and flame. I totally scrapped my vague promise to Austin of 'Don't worry about me, I'll be good and stay indoors...', phoned the emergency services, grabbed my bug-out bag, flung it in the van and went to grab the hose pipe to start damping down around the house.

Before I reached the far end of the garden where the end of the hose pipe was, there was a patch of fire by one of the fruit trees. As I looked out towards my son's place, there were about a dozen fires scattered all over the place on the land between the houses. Apparently what happened was the next neighbour along had been up a ladder, alone, cutting metal with an angle-grinder. Sparks had landed on some dry grass, which had caught fire and send the first white smoke up. He had noticed the fire, jumped down the ladder to put it out, and injured his leg. Then the fire spread to his winter fuel supply and it went up like a rocket, spewing hot embers into the air to an incredible height. The wind was strong that day and blowing exactly in our direction.

By this time, Austin had reached my son's place (he was out at work) and the guy staying there took this photo.



Note two plumes of smoke - one relatively small and pale, and the other (which the photo does absolutely no justice to) was a towering inferno.

Also note my cute little blue tractor...

I spent a couple of minutes spraying water over the little fire in our garden and as I'd decided it was safe to start dragging the hose closer to the house, an exceedingly worried Austin reappeared trying to find where I'd disappeared to. I triumphantly told him I'd put our fire out but he said he thought there was smoke coming from the terrace up behind the house so he took the hose pipe off me and attempted to drag it up there.

Meanwhile, our friend next door thought it would be a good idea to move my little blue tractor away from those trees, but unfortunately the keys weren't in it so he went to fetch them. Which took a minute. By which time embers had landed on or near the tractor and it now looked like this...



Some burning embers blasted off and burned the top of his left arm, which was doubly unfortunate as he lost his right arm in an accident many years ago so he couldn't brush them off. Another ember landed just next to our truck, which he put out with a hose pipe. And yet another on the wooden bed of the truck, which he also put out.

Meanwhile we'd dragged our hose pipe up behind the house to find our new roof sheets, which were due to be put up the next day, were burning. And there wasn't enough water pressure for the hose pipe to reach, so they were kind of doomed. There wasn't much I could do there so I left Austin in charge. Firemen began to arrive. More embers had hit my vegetable garden so I got busy with a watering can, which was surprisingly effective. I looked for five seconds at the dog in his run next to the house and figured that if I let him go, he'd disappear into the forest which was likely to catch fire, and that he'd be safer where he was so that I could put a lead on him and stay attached to him if we bugged out. We didn't realise at that point that the tractor and trees next to the track were burning so we couldn't have got out in a vehicle anyway - escape would have to be on foot by crossing the railway line.

It might seem bad luck that an ember landed right next to the new roof sheets, but if it had landed a few yards lower down, it would have set fire to our roof-less house. Our neighbour's house, and water supply, is higher up than ours and the firemen tapped into that and spent hours battling the fires on that terrace and in particular an abandoned area between our house and our neighbours' house which was very difficult to get under control.

My son had been sent to talk to a new client about a renovation job in our village, saw the smoke, was physically prevented by the firemen from returning home, and had parked his car somewhere else and come home the back way to make sure we were all ok. He also informed us about the tractor, which now looked like this...



The firemen taught our friend how to duck and cover your head with your arm(s) and he was pretty shaken up by the whole experience.

I didn't take photos as I was busy doing stuff any time I had any energy to be on my feet, and was hiding indoors in the shade any time I didn't.

The fire spread to us within a couple of minutes. But it then spread uphill, into the forest, fast. Our house could easily have burned. My son's place, which was closer and had even more falling embers around it, was a bit singed at the edges but basically ok. He did have a lot of help from this fella though...



And here's a drone photo of the aftermath - wind direction shown in blue, origin of fire in red, my son's place in orange, ours in yellow.



OK that's enough waffle. What to learn.

Don't cut anything outside involving metal during summer.

Don't cut anything outside without an extra pair of eyes to spot sparks and problems. And have a hose pipe and fire extinguisher ready to go.

No big stacks of firewood around the place.

Keep a fully charged phone on you at all times.

Make sure you have an adequate water supply that reaches right around your house - we have since installed a water tank on the next terrace up, on our neighbour's land, filled with his water, as an emergency fire-fighting system.

Do whatever you can to be on exceedingly good terms with your neighbours - you never know when your life, or theirs, may depend on it.

Have a bug-out bag packed and ready to go.

Keep vegetation as short as possible around the house.

Trees near the house should be well watered and pruned and not of especially flammable varieties. A sprinkler to put on to dampen the area would have been good if we'd had time to implement it, and I think the fact that we'd watered the fruit trees in front of the house that morning likely helped.

In fire country, one aspect often overlooked is rather than just working at preventing/ mitigating actually adapting/ preparing for fire to come through routinely + beneficially.  

Obviously personal safety & possession protection come first, but we do spend a lot of our precious lives stressing & a lot of Earth's precious resources when it'll be coming & having its way no matter what.  

Looking to: what was there in the natural landscape before human impacts, nearby eco-types that are on the move/ climate conditions that have been shifting, even the aftermaths of burns days-months-decades later, the intricate & unique but insightful dynamics, working a fire line, mitigating & regenerating afterwards, playing safely with fire at small scale, joining prescribed burn projects, etc.

r ranson wrote:They say 100 yards away from the house is a good distance for easily flammable vegetation as this is the distance plastic siding begins to melt from wildfire.

100 feet, not yards - I'm pretty sure is the conservative rule of thumb there! Big difference...and would depend more specifically on the vegetation type/volume at that distance. A hot crown fire in thick forest is quite a different story to a spotty brush/scrub blaze.

Ben Brownell wrote:

r ranson wrote:They say 100 yards away from the house is a good distance for easily flammable vegetation as this is the distance plastic siding begins to melt from wildfire.

100 feet, not yards - I'm pretty sure is the conservative rule of thumb there! Big difference...and would depend more specifically on the vegetation type/volume at that distance. A hot crown fire in thick forest is quite a different story to a spotty brush/scrub blaze.

Sorry, the brochure is in meters.  I said yards by mistake.

But it also makes a difference between different types of vegetation and fuel sources.  It's an interesting read.  The brochure has us concerned with the three zones upto 30m from the house as that's the area that makes the most difference.   But warns about the damage wildfire here can do in our area as it's common to have a mix of forest and wild fires in the same fire due to a multitude of factors.  

I suppose it could have been a misprint,  but... our insurance company uses the 100m mark as well in the clause (aka, won't pay out unless we do all in our power to ensure the 100m around the house are up to current recommendations)

Patrik Schumann wrote:In fire country, one aspect often overlooked is rather than just working at preventing/ mitigating actually adapting/ preparing for fire to come through routinely + beneficially.

Yup! If you live in a susceptible environment, you owe it to yourself to befriend or at least acquaint with one of the dominant forces/elements in the landscape, and study how it can be one more tool in the kit - plus a respected 'advisor' on key design decisions.

Two key areas of learning to build confidence, which already overlap with good observation and land stewardship: knowledge of (micro)climate and hydrology. Those two things really shape and guide the movement of fire when it arrives more than anything. Having that comprehension will help you make lots more sense of the somewhat technical conditions reports - fuel moisture, RH, winds etc - that professionals use to gauge risk and inform suppression/mitigation strategy, which you can factor into your own long term planning, prep, seasonal upkeep, and prevention (and propagate to neighbors where appropriate!).

This article popped up on my computer today and I thought it may be of use to some on this thread: regenerative agriculture and future proofing the farm. There is a little about 'regenerative' farming in Eastern Portugal and the work the farmers Herberto Brunk and Ruben George are doing

Much of the work Brunk is doing is aimed at improving the soil — the foundation for a healthy bottom line. “Our main goal is to actually recover the soil, get our organic matter up, get our nutrients recycled and reduce as much as possible the erosion,” Brunk says. He’s already beginning to see some positive results: “At the moment, we don’t have any erosion at all due to water.”

a polyculture between trees to increase soil carbon

Brunk says his farm is likely to be more resilient during wildfires. In August, as fires burnt across Portugal, he helped his neighbour, a cattle grower, to put out a fire. If it had reached Brunk’s property, he says, it probably wouldn’t have done much damage because the fields are green and well hydrated.

Unfortunately the end of the article is behind a paywall making it a bit less useful, but I thought the bit about groundcover and retaining moisture in the soil through groundcover may be worth investigating further. Maybe a scorched earth policy before a fire isn't necessary.
edit: to the OP this seems to imply that EU support may be available to farmers who wish to practice these techniques. I don't know if you have agricultural advisors in your area, but they may actually be of use!

My Electric Co-op Magazine recently had a article with some good Tips to Stay Ready and Prepare Your Farm or Ranch:

https://texascooppower.com/every-part-of-texas-is-at-risk/