FIRE RESISTANT LANDSCAPING Additional brochures Although there is no landscape that is totally available fire-proof, some landscaping methods are more fire-resistant than others. In event of a at wildfire, preventive landscaping can be an Monterey County RMA - Planning important factor in protecting your home. The 168 W. Alisal St., 2nd Floor following are elements to consider in Salinas, CA 93901 designing a fire-resistant landscape: (831)755-5025 FAX(831)757-9516

or 1. Prevention can begin with choosing an http://www.co.monterey.ca.us/planning appropriate building site. Avoid sites that are in fire-prone ecosystems; ones that contain large amounts of fuel (flammable life). Rolling hills or steep mountainous terrain as well as south or west facing slopes are more fire prone. Canyons intensify heat and have limited access. * Deer Resistant * * Erosion Control Planting * 2. Create a defensible space around your * How to Submit a Landscape Plan * home – a managed area with limited fuel * Invasive Exotic Plants * availability will slow a fire down. * Landscape Screening * * Preserving Oak Trees * 3. Choose appropriate plants. The amount of * Suggested Species for North Co. * fuel-volume (combustible material) a plant has, and its kindling point (temperature at which it combusts) are factors. Broad-leafed and succulent plants burn less easily than plants with fine-textured leaves or needles. Low growing, compact or trailing plants have less potential fuel than upright, bushy types.

4. Avoid using plants which are highly flammable: those which generate a lot of dry underbrush or contain flammable oils.

5. Arrange the plants in a manner that will slow or stop a wildfire. This is done by planting For specific information contact in four distinct zones which are explained RMA – PLANNING herein. or consult the Monterey County Zoning Ordinance 6. Install a good irrigation system. or Coastal Implementation Plan.

7. Use fire resistant materials for constructing outdoor structures.

8. Properly maintain all of the above by thinning, pruning and irrigating.

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Create a defensible space around your home, one which is cleared and one in which the plants offer little fuel for fire and greatest resistance to combustion. A fire resistant landscape should be planted in three zones. Zone 1 is the area right around the home, 5 to 10 feet from the walls of the house. Use succulents, lawn, gravel mulches and walkways. If water supply is limited, concentrate its use here to keep plants most fire resistant. Zone 2 is an area extending 30 feet from the home, known as the "green belt". This is planted with ground covers and low shrubs with high moisture content and trees spaced apart from each other so they do not provide a means for transmitting fire from vegetation to structures. The objective is to slow the fire. Zone 3 is the area from Zone 2 to 1 00 feet from the home or to the property line, whichever is closer. This is a managed area, with all brush, flammable vegetation,

combustible growth and dead plant materials cleared and trees thinned and pruned on a regular basis.

ILLUSTRATION OF FIRE RESISTANT LANDSCAPING

MAINTENANCE CHECKLIST FOR A “FIRE-SAFER” LANDSCAPE

 -Clean up fallen leaves and plant litter  -Trim tree limbs up off ground to 15  -Work with neighbors to clear feet but no more than 1/3 of tree’s common areas and prune heavy  -Mow grass while still green and less height vegetation between houses. combustible. Dry clippings may ignite  from mower engine or exhaust system.  -Prune out dead branches, remove -Periodically (every few years or as needed) cut back native chaparral Cut to 4” or less. dead plants. and brush severely.  -Clear brush from 30 to 100 feet around  -Maintain driveway by clearing  home. overhanging tree branches and -Maintain a water supply in tanks, crowding bushes for better fire truck pools, ponds or cisterns on site to  -Clean vegetation from roof. access protect home before fire fighters  -Keep plants near the house watered, arrive. Have fire-fighting  -Plant shrubs in small groups, spaced within your water budget. equipment on site. Contact your at a distance of at least five times local fire prevention agency for  -Thin or prune back canopies of their height. recommendations. clustered trees, keep them 10-15 feet  -Keep tree canopies at least 10-15  -In case electric power lines burn, apart. feet apart have a water pump with alternative power source in ready 2 condition FIRE RESISTANT BUILDING SUCCULENTS: HIGHLY FIRE PERENNIALS TECHNIQUES RETARDANT Common Name

1. Choose a defensible home site. Avoid Botanical Name Common Name Achillea tomentosa Wooly Yarrow slopes, hillsides, and deep canyons. Ability to Aeonium species Succulents Agapanthus africanus Lily of the Nile clear and manage vegetation 100 feet on all sides is safest. Avoid sites adjacent to open Agave species Agave Artemesia caucasia Caucasian Sagebrush space that cannot be managed due to Aloe species Aloe Coreopsis species Coreopsis environmentally protected habitats. Carpobrotus edulis Hottentot Fig Dietes vegeta Fortnight Lily

Crassula argentea Jade Plant Diplacus species Monkeyflower 2. Use fire resistive roofing materials. Eschscholzia californica* California Poppy Delosperma alba White Trailing Ice Plant Hemerocallis varieties Day Lily 3. Enclose under sides of decks and balconies Drosanthemum Ice Plant with fire resistive materials. floribundum Kniphofia uvaria Red Hot Poker Echeverla species Hen and Chicks Iris species Iris 4. Cover all vents with 1/4 inch mesh screen. Lampranthus Trailing Ice Plant Lavandula species Lavender spectabilis Limonium perezii Statice 5. Seal roof edges so embers and sparks can't Malephora crocea Ice Plant Lotus scoparius Deerweed catch. Portulacaria afra Elephant's Food Lupinus species Lupine

Sedum species Stonecrop, etc. Pelargonium peltatum Ivy Geranium

Penstemon varieties Penstemon ADDITIONAL TIPS FOR FIRE Note: Iceplant, while fire resistant due to Its high Salvia sonomensis* Sonoma Sage moisture content, is not considered a good erosion RESISTANT LANDSCAPING Santolina species Santolina control plant on slopes-due to its heavy weight which Trichostema lanatum Wooly Blue Curls can destabilize soil Thymus species Thymus

1. Clear brush within 30 feet of the home, or to Tulbaghia violacea Society Garlic the property line if closer, this area .can be FIRE RESISTANT PLANT LIST Zauschneria californica* California Fuchsia seeded with "native grasses" and wildflowers or planted in low growing ground covers or VINES perennials. Before the grasses dry out in Botanical Name Common Name summer, cut or mow it short. Solanum jasminoides Potato Vine SHRUBS Tecomaria capensis Cape Honeysuckle 2. Eliminate "fire-ladders" -an arrangement of plants that provide fuel for a fire to climb from * California Native Species Atriplex semibaccata Australian Saltbush ground covers or grasses to shrubs and up into tree tops or structures. Buxus microphylla Japanese Boxwood

japonlca 3. Separate shrub and tree plantings into Carissa grandiflora Natal Plum Ceanothus griseus Wild Lilac islands or individuals at a distance from one HIGHLY FLAMMABLE PLANTS another, and thin and shape plants so that fire horizontalis cannot move easily from one canopy edge to Cistus salvifolius Rockrose (NOT ACCEPTABLE) another. Shrub spacing in Zones 2 and 3 Convolvulus cneorum Bush Morning Glory Abies species Fir should be at least 5 times the height of the Coprosma kirkii Coprosma Acacia species+ Acacia shrub. Escallonia species Escallonia Adenostema species+ Chamise Feijoa sellowiana Pineapple Guava Arborvitae species Thuja 4. Spacing of plants on slopes is as follows: Garrya species* Silktassel Slope Spacing Helianthemum Sunrose Arctostaphylos species Manzanita 0-20% 10 feet nummularium Artemesia californica Coast Sagebrush 20-40% 20 feet laetum Myoporum Baccharis species+ Coyote Bush 40% and steeper 30 feet Nerium oleander Oleander Bamboo species Bamboo Pittosporum species Pittosporum Bougainvillea species Bougainvillea Prunus ilicifolia Holly-Leaved Cherry 5. Prune out dead foliage and branches of a Chamaecyparis species False Cypress plant. Dead foliage is more flammable and Prunus Iyonii Catalina Cherry Cedrus species Cedar buildup of dry twigs under or inside a plant can Punica granatum Pomegranate be a fire hazard. Pyracantha varieties Pyracantha Cortaderia species Pampas Grass Rhamnus alaternus Italian Buckthorn Cryptomeria japonica Japanese Cryptomeria

6. When clearing brush, do not clear cut on Rhamnus californica* Coffeeberry Cupressus species Cypress slopes. Retain deep rooted plants to stabilize Rhus integrifolia* Lemonadeberry Cytisus scoparius Scotch Broom slopes. A few well maintained (pruned of dead Ribes viburnifolium Evergreen Currant Dodonea species+ Hopseed Bush Simmondsia chinensis Jojoba dry foliage and watered) plants spaced apart Eriogonum fasciculatum California Buckwheat are not a great fire hazard. Xylosma congestum Xylosma Eucalyptus species+ Eucalyptus 7. Choose plants that are known to be fire TREES Gelsemium sempervirens Carolina Jessamine resistant. Avoid and remove plants known to Genista species Spanish Broom be highly flammable. (See list this page) Hakea suaveolens Hakea Alnus rhombifolia* White Alder

Arbutus unedo Strawberry Tree Hedera canariensis Algerian Ivy 8. Remove tree limbs to 15 feet from ground, Ceratonia siliqua Carob Tree Heteromeles arbutifolia Toyon but not more than 1/3 of tree's height. Cercis occidentalis Western Redbud Juniperus species+ Juniper

Citrus varieties Orange, Lemon, etc. 9. On slopes that need stabilization, use plants Larix species Larch Ligustrum lucidum Texas Privet and trees that will resprout after a fire. Miscanthus species Grasses Metrosideros excelsus Christmas Muehlenbergia species Deer Grass Tree 10. Use drip irrigation systems instead of Palms (If fronds not trimmed) Olea europa Olive spray irrigation to maximize water delivered Platanus racemosa* Western Sycamore Pennisetum species Fountain Grass where the plants need it - at the root zone. Quercus agrifolia* Coast Live Oak Phormium tenax New Zealand Flax

Picea species Spruce Pinus species+ Pine GROUND COVERS (except dwarf P. mugo) Pseudotsuga menziesii Douglas Fir

Ajuga reptans Carpet Bugle Quercus dumosa Scrub Oak Arctotheca calendula Capeweed Rhus laurina Laurel Sumac Armeria species Sea Pink Rhus ovata Sugar Bush Bergenia species Bergenia Rosmarinus species Rosemary Erigeron karvinskianus* Santa Barbara Daisy Fragaria chiloensis Wild Strawberry Salvia melilifera Black Sage Gazania leucoleana Trailing Gazania Schinus molle California Pepper Spartium species Spanish Broom Hypericum calycinum St. Johnswort Lantana montevidensis Trailing Lantana Tamarix Tamarisk Liriope gigantea Liriope gigantea Taxus specis Yew Myoporum parvifolium Myoporum (except dwarf) Oenothera berlandieri Mexican Evening Taxodium species Cypress Primrose Osteospermum African Daisy Tsuga species Hemlock fruticosum Umbellularia californica Laurel Bay Phyla nodiflora Lippia Also: all ornamental grasses and berry vines Scaevola Fan Flower 'Mauve Clusters’ +PYROPHYTES: ESPECIALLY FLAMMABLE Trachelospermum Star Jasmine Jasminoides Trifolium fragiferum O'Connors Legume Sources: California Wildfire Landscaping by Vinca minor Periwinkle Maureen Gilmer, Sunset Magazine Created: 5/97, Revised 11/02 3