This thread hits home, as we have been busy all spring and summer, working to fire-proof our home and the surrounding property.
We had almost no moisture in Colorado over the winter. The fire season did not wait for summer: before winter was over, we rushed to a friend's home to help evacuate horses that were threatened by an approaching fire. The fire started inside a garbage truck. Tthe driver dumped his load onto a gravel patch alongside the road, to avoid losing his truck. Unfortunately, high winds quickly drove the fire into the nearby grasslands.
As we sped to our friend's property pulling an empty horsetrailer, we passed the fire on the way, and watched an airplane flying low, dumping water on the raging grass fire, which was being driven across the landscape by fierce winds. Happily, fire crews extinguished the fire before it reached our friend's property.
Since that experience, we have been working to prevent a similar grass fire from reaching our home. Our property consists of a scattered grove of 150 trees, surrounded by many acres of grassland. Our home, as well as a barn and shop sit in the center, surrounded by the pine trees. While there is heavy forest nearby, it is likely that a grass fire is the primary threat to our property.
The trees mostly sit back from the house. Only a couple stand within thirty feet. We are not inclined to cut down the trees, but we've been working to prevent a grass fire from climbing into the trees. We've removed the lower tree branches, from all the trees, so that most of the branches are at least five feet above the ground. We've also raked up the thick layer of pine needles and pine cones that have collected on the ground through the years.
Since most of us are gardeners on this site, you will be glad to know that the pine needles have been repurposed as garden pathways, where they will be watered frequently, reducing the likelihood of catching fire. The pine cones have been added to our compost piles, where their acid content will be a welcome addition. Our compost, consisting of horse manure and pine shavings is slightly basic, and has caused stunting in some acid-loving garden plants.
We've removed several shrubs that were close to the house, and we will landscape the areas near the house with rock gardens, planted with columbine and similar small flowering plants that will not create much fire hazard. Much of the rock gardens will consist of fossilized wood, which is abundant in our horse pastures. Thankfully our home has brick-veneer on the lower portions of the exterior walls, which will reduce the chances of the walls catching fire.
We are fortunate that our existing driveways create a natural fire line around three sides of our buildings. I've been mowing a wide path in the grass on the remaining side, hoping to prevent, or at least slow down, any grass fire that approaches us. I've continued that idea out into our pastures, mowing several concentric rings around our property to slow an approaching fire.
Here's hoping that everyone here will prepare their homes, and never have our preparations tested!
