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Your Home Can Survive a Wildfire

National Fire Protection Association · 164.4K views · 2015-11-09 · 13:20

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Overview

NFPA video in which wildfire researcher Jack Cohen explains that embers (firebrands), not the flame front, are the main cause of homes igniting in wildfires. He shows how landscaping and removing debris around the home reduce risk.

On Hacker News

HN commenters cite it as a source for the research showing that simple home-ignition-zone measures raise a house's chance of surviving a wildfire.

Discussed on HN; no positive recommendation is recorded in this export · HN mentions 2019–2025

Topics

Home, DIY & practical skillsGeology & earth scienceEnvironment, agriculture & food systems
Search by tags
wildfireembershome ignition zonefire sciencelandscaping

What people said

throw0101c · 2025-01 · Reference

Greg Chasen, the architect interviewed, also mentioned in this Matt Risinger video, "Lessons From Two Surviving LA Fire Homes": * [LINK] Some video sources in the description: * "CAL FIRE / IBHS Demonstration Burn Timelapse": [LINK] * "Your Home Can Survive a Wildfire" (from NFPA): [VIDEO] It's fairly well-known how to deal with wildfires: * [LINK] We just have decades-old housing stock that can kind of be viewed as kindling. So new builds are probably better, but old ones can be renovated to improved methods. There are also things as a homeowner one can do to improve your odds (e.g., cleaning gutters, clearing dry brush, for vented attics have better screens).

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throw0101a · 2020-10 · Reference

The trees were alive and had moisture, whereas the buildings had dead leaves and pine needles that were dry, so when fire brands/embers landed on them they had lots of kindling. I'm not sure why firefighters would be shocked as the fire scientists at (e.g.) the USDA Forest Service have been doing research on this for many years: * [VIDEO]

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smileypete · 2020-08 · Reference

Protection of housing from wildfires is somewhat a solved problem thanks to the pioneering research of Jack Cohen, and this excellent episode of the 99% Invisible podcast is well worth a listen: [LINK] There's plenty of youtube vidoes featuring his research too: [VIDEO] [LINK] Perhaps a good way to encourage the work to be done is through the offering of lower insurance premiums for housing so protected.

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Sources

Video by National Fire Protection Association, played through YouTube.

Data and selection notes

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