Speaker 1: Let's say good morning now to the Wildfire Division director
Speaker 1: at the National Fire Protection Association, Michelle Steinberg. Good morning, Michelle,
Speaker 1: Good morning Amy. So we're not really thinking about fires
Speaker 1: right now because it's raining and people in the burn
Speaker 1: areas are worried about mudd and debrief flows. But watching
Speaker 1: the aftermath of the fires may be the perfect time
Speaker 1: to start preparing for the next wildfire. And one of
Speaker 1: the best ways to get ready for wildfire get your
Speaker 1: home ready. So give us some tips and tricks on
Speaker 1: what we should be thinking about and start doing now.
Speaker 2: Thanks Amy. What we can be doing now is to
Speaker 2: look around our home and look for anything that an
Speaker 2: ember could catch. So we know that a lot of
Speaker 2: the fire impact on homes is driven by wind driven
Speaker 2: embers when they land on roofs, in gutters in the
Speaker 2: near spaces to the home within that first five feet.
Speaker 2: So what we can do right now is take a
Speaker 2: look around to make sure or from the roof down
Speaker 2: to the eaves, the siding down to the foundation and
Speaker 2: then out into that five foot space, is there anything
Speaker 2: that could ignite. So if there's a flammable mult for example,
Speaker 2: if you've got loose shingles, maybe you've got a ripped screen.
Speaker 2: These are some sort of DIY things that people can
Speaker 2: do that actually are very effective at limiting the impact
Speaker 2: of an ember should it reach the home.
Speaker 1: Okay, and you mentioned mulch, which I think is really
Speaker 1: a good thing to mention because you don't think of
Speaker 1: that as something that's flammable. You think of like a
Speaker 1: brush or something leaning up against the house, or's just
Speaker 1: stuff too close to the house and that's just down
Speaker 1: on the ground.
Speaker 2: But it's wood, right, So if you have something that's combustible,
Speaker 2: and many mulches are that needs you can still use
Speaker 2: multinneal landscape, but that really needs to be planned out.
Speaker 2: You need to rake it away from that first five feet,
Speaker 2: replaced maybe with some gravel or stone. Think about different designs.
Speaker 2: There's lots of different options that people have for making
Speaker 2: something that's pleasing and aesthetically beautiful but does not present
Speaker 2: that hazard. But yeah, embers can get that into that moulton.
Speaker 2: If it's right up against the siding of your home,
Speaker 2: that can really be an issue because it will smolder
Speaker 2: and then start to flame.
Speaker 1: Okay, and then we're speaking of the embers as well.
Speaker 1: We were talking to you our home guy Dean Sharp,
Speaker 1: who is a designer and contractor, and he was telling
Speaker 1: us that a lot of the fires start not because
Speaker 1: of embers landing on a roof, but the embers get
Speaker 1: underneath and get into the attics through those through the vents.
Speaker 2: Correct, So particularly gable end vents which are on the
Speaker 2: side of the house, those can if a position with
Speaker 2: the wind, you're going to get that straight line win.
Speaker 2: So we want to make sure that any kind of
Speaker 2: vent openings are screened with metal mash. Our recommendation is
Speaker 2: one eighth inch or smaller. You still get allowed for ventilation,
Speaker 2: but you want to minimize the likelihood embers are going
Speaker 2: to get in there. The other thing I noticed, you know,
Speaker 2: visiting in Los Angeles at the end of January, a
Speaker 2: lot of the beautiful Spanish tower roofs. To make sure
Speaker 2: that the end camps are sealed. Usually you think of
Speaker 2: them as bird stops. Well, if a bird can get in,
Speaker 2: an ember can definitely get in. So we want people
Speaker 2: to make sure that those those openings are either sealed
Speaker 2: or screened, and that you're paying attention to those little
Speaker 2: entry ways.
Speaker 1: Okay, and Michelle Steinberg is with us with the National
Speaker 1: Fire Protection Association. For those who did suffer some damage
Speaker 1: in the wildfires, maybe their homes are still standing, they've
Speaker 1: got repairs to do, or people who were near what
Speaker 1: are some ways to rebuild in what your organization calls firewise.
Speaker 2: Ways right so Farways is our program to organize communities
Speaker 2: and help educate across the neighborhood. And the concepts are really,
Speaker 2: you know, supported by science. So it's any place again
Speaker 2: that an ember can enter or a smolder, that's where
Speaker 2: you want to pay attention to the immediate house. But
Speaker 2: in rebuilding, choosing the products that are noncombustible or rated
Speaker 2: to be ignition resistant is critical and happily California has
Speaker 2: excellent guidance in their building code around wildfire. It's some
Speaker 2: of the best in the country. So those are they
Speaker 2: actually list the different products that are considered to be
Speaker 2: non combustible or ignition resistant, so they don't make it
Speaker 2: difficult for you to find out what you need to
Speaker 2: do in terms of choosing those different building materials and
Speaker 2: the different techniques. But they're very basic and it gives
Speaker 2: consumers a lot of choice on what they can use.
Speaker 1: Okay, and then Michelle, if you're not technically in a
Speaker 1: wildfire zone. What can you say to convince people to
Speaker 1: take percuestions anyway?
Speaker 2: Well, you know, I live in New England and I
Speaker 2: would walk around with friends of family and point out, gee,
Speaker 2: it's great that they put some of that rock or
Speaker 2: gravel near the foundation and oh look their foundation wall
Speaker 2: goes up more than six inches where there's nothing flammable.
Speaker 2: And people say, oh, why is that important? So I explain,
Speaker 2: you know, even if there was a barbecue grill on
Speaker 2: a windy day, if there was a cigarette into the mulch,
Speaker 2: that's going to protect you from that exterior ignition. You
Speaker 2: don't need to have a welfire to have a risk.
Speaker 2: And so I've been able to educate people that way
Speaker 2: that these are simple precautions that really everybody can follow
Speaker 2: and reduce that likelihood of having flames outside the house
Speaker 2: that could cause problems.
Speaker 1: Okay, Michelle Steinberg, the Wildlife Division or Wildfire Division director
Speaker 1: with the National Fire Protection Association, thank you so much
Speaker 1: for taking some time with wakeup Call this morning.
Speaker 2: It's my pleasure. Amy, Thank you.
Speaker 1: Take care