Sheriff vs. Police vs. Firefighters: who does what in an emergency?
Which Local Authorities Are in Charge During a Wildfire Event? During an active wildfire situation, a lot of people may be shouting what sound like commands and orders. If the shouting is coming from a well-meaning HOA president or the pushiest neighbor on your block, please ignore them and consult one of these three sources: […]
Know the Evacuation Plan and Route for Your Community
There are plenty of very positive and effective things you can do to be ready for a wildfire, such as home hardening and creating defensible space. Just keep in mind, there can come a time during a fire event when those precautions reach the limit of their effectiveness. Sometimes a fire is just too strong, […]
Home Hardening Includes Strengthening Exterior Doors
In our previous blog, we talked about how the heat from a fire can break window glass, creating an ember-inviting hole in your home. Another place to be careful about not creating holes is anywhere you have a door leading outside. Doors can have common ground with windows Some doors are a bit like windows […]
Hardening Your Home Means Hardening Windows, Too
If you’ve ever seen a glass-blowing demonstration, you know what the heat in a glass blower’s furnace does to glass. It breaks it down. The same goes for the extreme heat of wildfires. When it comes into contact with glass, it goes right to work on weakening it. So, when hardening your home against fire, […]
It’s summer! Get your FREE Seasonal Disaster Checklist
In Butte County, we’ve experienced wildfire at many different times of the year—late fall, the middle of summer, and even in winter. Since we never know when an emergency may come, it’s important to keep your home prepared year-round. To help your family get ready for these summer months ahead, we’ve created a FREE Summer […]
How to Landscape for Fire Safety in Butte County
Learn from the experts! Local landscape architecture and planning firm Melton Design Group shares their tips for landscaping in a way that protects your property as best as possible from wildfire! California plants have always been prone to fire, but many have evolved over time to survive the consistent yearly fire cycles. You can properly […]
Do you know 2 ways out of your house?
During an active emergency, it’s important to know multiple ways out of your home and community. How to Get Away During an Active Wildfire Getting out of the way when wildfire is heading toward you seems like a simple concept, but it’s not necessarily as easy as it sounds. For instance: 1) fire is unpredictable […]
Defensible Space Spotlight: Non-combustible Fencing
When Robert Frost wrote a poem about a guy saying, “Good fences make good neighbors,” that guy probably never had wildfire for a neighbor. Fire gets past fences. And if you have a standard wood fence, spreading fire can turn that fence into a fuse for igniting your home. In places like Butte County, you […]
Defensible Space Spotlight: What to Put in Those First Five Feet
Being told what you should and shouldn’t do on your own property is a pain. We get it. One of the more puzzling things for a lot of people who live in places like Butte County, where defensible space is required to discourage the spread of wildfire, is being told to maintain an empty, 5-foot, […]
What are Burn Permits? And where do I get one?
What are burn permits? To help residents keep up with the removal of burnable debris on their properties, the State of California allows open burning piles in some areas. A burn permit is a document stating you’ve obtained permission to have an open fire on your property and that you understand the rules and responsibilities […]
