Defensible space is area around a home that is landscaped and maintained to reduce fire risk to the home. Experts encourage prioritizing the space within five feet of a building. There should be no combustible plants or other materials in this zone.
BOISE, Idaho — Wildfire risk is growing across the West, and more people are building homes in the places where urban development meets the wild — what’s known as the wildland/urban interface (WUI). So it’s more important than ever to maintain space around homes that helps protect your property from fire.
Idaho Firewise, the Boise Fire Department, U.S. Forest Service, and Idaho Power are teaming up this fire season to encourage anyone who owns or spends time in homes in wildfire-prone areas to clear and keep up defensible space around their properties.
Wildfires don’t just happen in forests or on rangelands. Many homes inside city limits, especially on the outskirts, are vulnerable to wildfire.
“Protecting homes from wildfire is a team effort, and the first line of defense begins with homeowners,” Boise Fire Department Wildfire Captain Garrett Kirpach said. “By creating survivable space and taking steps to reduce fire risk, especially in the foothills and other wildland-urban interface areas, we can work together to protect lives, property, and our community.”
Defensible space is area around a home that is landscaped and maintained to reduce fire risk to the home. The guiding principle is reducing fuels to slow fire down and stop it before it reaches the structure.
“We’ve really seen the value of defensible space in these catastrophic fires the last several years,” said Andrea Dorman, Southwest Idaho Program Manager for Idaho Firewise. “We’ve seen homes that were spared, in some cases in the most intense areas of the fire, just because their owners had cleared excess fuels around their homes, put in fire-resistant landscaping, and maintained that defensible space.”
Firewise experts recommend at least 100 feet of defensible space around homes and other buildings on flat ground and 200 feet or more on sloped ground. This space is divided into three zones. Experts encourage prioritizing the immediate zone, or the space within five feet of a building. There should be no combustible plants or other materials in this zone.
The intermediate zone is between five and 30 feet from buildings. This is a critical area that should be regularly maintained with fire-resistant landscaping to slow fires and allow firefighters the space they need to do their jobs safely and effectively. The extended zone, between 30 and 100 feet from a building, should be thinned and pruned of dead or dying plants and irrigated or fertilized as needed.
“Safety is our first priority always, one we strive for in every community we serve across our vastly diverse landscape,” Idaho Power President and CEO Lisa Grow said. “When our customers maintain defensible space around their homes, it makes them safer and can even slow the spread of wildfires, which can in turn protect the grid to help keep our customers’ energy reliable and affordable.”
Visit idahofirewise.org/firewise-landscapes for more details on maintaining defensible space. Visit idahopower.com/wildfire for more information on how the company prevents wildfires, how you can help, and outage preparedness tips.
About Idaho Power
Idaho Power, headquartered in vibrant and fast-growing Boise, Idaho, has been a locally operated energy company since 1916. Today, it serves a 24,000-square-mile area in Idaho and Oregon. The company has a long history of safely providing reliable, affordable, clean energy. With 17 low-cost hydroelectric projects at the core of its diverse energy mix, Idaho Power’s residential, business, and agricultural customers pay among the nation’s lowest prices for electricity. Its 2,100 employees proudly serve more than 650,000 customers with a culture of safety first, integrity always, and respect for all.
IDACORP Inc. (NYSE: IDA), Idaho Power’s independent publicly traded parent company, is also headquartered in Boise, Idaho. To learn more, visit idahopower.com or idacorpinc.com.
Contact:
Sven Berg
Communications Specialist
208-388-2905
sberg@idahopower.com