Tree Pruning For Fire Prevention In Seattle, WA
Tree Pruning For Fire Prevention
In Seattle, WA
9 Expert Tips To Reduce The Risk Of Fire With Proper Tree Care
Did you know that 80 percent of homes lost to wild land fire may have been saved if they had cleared away any brush and deadwood around the houses and created a defensible space?
Seattle summers are hot, and the risk of forest fires comes with that blistering sun. Couple that with drought and carelessness, and we experience a wildfire season on the west coast that lasts for months.
With proper tree care and regular maintenance, you can reduce the risk of fire spreading onto your property and engulfing your home.
As SeaTac and the Seattle area’s tree care specialists, we help homeowners care for their trees, shrubs, and hedges to keep their properties safe.
Here are some expert tips to help prevent a fire at your home, even if your property butts up to a forest.
9 Ways To Prevent Fire With Proper Tree Care In Seattle, WA
1. Get Rid Of The Deadwood
Prune the dead branches from your trees, hedges, and shrubs. Deadwood does not hold water and easily catches fire.
Remove all dead branches that hang over your roof or other structures. Clear away leaves, brush, needles, and other dead vegetation from your roof, gutters, and grounds.
If you have diseased or dead trees on your property, have an arborist or certified tree care company inspect them and remove them.
2. Create A 5-foot Barrier Around The Perimeter Of Your Home
Instead of putting mulch or other flammable materials around the perimeter of your house, create a 3 to 5-foot barrier using gravel or stone.
Ensure adequate space between your home and any hedges, shrubs, and trees in the 30 feet around your home to prevent your home from catching fire even if they do.
3. Keep the 30 feet around any structures clear of trees
Completely clear the land within 30 feet of your home and other structures. There should be no large trees close to or overhanging any structures. Small, well-spaced trees are okay.
4. Thin The Tree Canopy To Inhibit The Spread Of Fire
Beyond the 30-foot defensible space you created around your home, thin the trees in the next 70 feet surrounding your property.
Selectively pruning live branches thins out the canopy and makes the crown of the trees less dense. Tree thinning inhibits the spread of fire.
5. Tree Pruning To Prevent Fire
Trimming your trees is essential for removing deadwood and prevents trees from crowding one another, enabling fire to spread from tree to tree quickly.
Prune branches back that touch neighboring trees. Remove branches that hang over or are close to structures. There should be at least 10 feet of space between each of your trees and between your trees and your home.
If your property is on a slope, the distance between branches and structures increases as follows:
- Mild to Medium Slope: 10 feet
- Medium to Moderate Slope: 20 feet
- Moderate to Steep Slope: 30 feet
To learn how the proper techniques for pruning trees, read our tree pruning guide.
6. Remove “Ladder Fuels.”
Prune away branches that provide a link between the ground and the tree tops. If your trees are in isolation, remove the branches to at least 6 feet from the ground. For trees near shrubs or bushes, prune branches lower than 3 times the height of the bushes and shrubs around them.
7. Rake Up And Remove Tree Debris And Dry Vegetation
Keep the area around your trees and home clear of dead leaves, brush, deadwood, pine needles, and dry vegetation. Dead and dry vegetation serves as an excellent fuel source for wildfires. Routine raking dramatically reduces the risk of fire from spreading onto your property.
8. Keep Your Grass Trimmed To 4 Inches in Height
Regularly cutting your grass to a maximum height of 4 inches limit the fuel sources a wildfire has around your home.
9. Plant Fire-Resilient Trees To Help Create A Defensible Space
When choosing trees to plant on your Seattle area property, consider planting species that:
- Are slow growing (require less frequent pruning)
- Have high water content in their leaves (slower to ignite)
- Have open branching habits (less fuel)
- Produce fewer branches and leaves (again, less fuel for a fire)
- Do not have resinous (oily or waxy) leaves, bark, or needles (trees with oily or waxy needles like fur, juniper, pines, and spruces are highly flammable)
A tree care specialist can help you choose fire-resilient trees for your property.
Following these tree care and property maintenance tips can help keep your home safe during wildfire season.
In addition to pruning, tree removal, and maintenance, a professional tree care specialist can help you select fire-resistant plants and make recommendations for fertilization, soil management, disease treatment, and pest control to ensure your trees stay healthy and strong.
Additional Fire Prevention Resources
NFPA.org provides grants to homeowners for the fire prevention tree care services we provide as part of county-wide efforts to prevent wildfires and keep citizens safe.
You can learn more and apply here. http://www.nfpa.org/Public-Education/Fire-causes-and-risks/Wildfire/Firewise-USA/Become-a-Firewise-USA-site
To learn more about
Washington’s Firewise initiatives and how to protect your home and your loved ones during wildfire season,
go to https://kingcounty.gov/services/environment/water-and-land/forestry/forestfire.aspx
For more helpful tips on keeping your King County property safe, download and read King County's 2022 Wildfire Risk Reduction Strategy: https://your.kingcounty.gov/dnrp/climate/documents/king-county-wildfire-strategy-report.pdf
Sound Tree Care provides residential and commercial tree services in SeaTac and the greater Seattle area. We have a certified arborist on staff, and our tree care specialists are ISA certified. We are happy to help you create a defensible zone around your home and provide tree care services to keep your trees healthy and your home safe.
