Preparing Property for Wildfire
You are responsible for keeping your property fire safe. Use these tools and resources to manage spaces around your home, clear vegetation and flammable materials, and create buffer zones that increase wildfire resilience.
Remove fire-prone materials within at least five feet of your home, or 100 feet if you live in the Grizzly Peak and Panoramic Mitigation Areas. Access City programs to help you dispose of vegetation and address issues found in your defensible space inspection. Make a plan for when and how to leave your home during times of high fire risk.
Follow specific guidelines to create defensible space
Create buffer zones, or defensible space – at least 5 feet around a home anywhere in Berkeley – to help stop wildfires from spreading and give firefighters space to defend your property.
Limit the amount of flammable materials within the first 5 feet around your home, including:
- Dead plants
- Leaves
- Woodpiles
- Propane tanks
- Wooden fences
- Live plants and bushes
- Combustible furniture
If you live in Grizzly Peak and Panoramic Mitigation Areas – which extend from Piedmont east to the city boundary and from Grizzly Peak east to the city boundary – state and local mandates require you to keep 100 feet of buffer space around your home. If your 100-foot buffer zone extends into a neighbor’s yard, work together to coordinate actions to better protect your neighborhood.
Grizzly Peak and Panoramic mitigation area residents can create 100 feet of buffer space by dividing their property into three zones: The Ember-Resistant Zone, the Lean, Clean, and Green Zone and the Fuel Reduction Zone, each with specific guidelines to keep your property safe:
0-5 feet around your home (Ignition Zone 0)
The first 5 feet around your home is the most important area to clear of vegetation and combustible materials since it is closest to buildings, structures, and decks.
In the Ember-Resistant Zone, dead vegetation creates the highest risk for ignition, but even living vegetation can pose a threat in Ignition Zone 0, especially for properties in the hills.
Create a non-combustible 5-foot border around your home by:
- Removing vines on buildings, fences, or within 5 feet of buildings
- Using gravel, pavers, or concrete instead of combustible bark or mulch
- Limiting flammable items (like outdoor furniture and planters) on top of decks
5 to 30 feet from your home (Ignition Zone 1)
Also called the “Lean, Clean, and Green Zone,” this area should be kept healthy and maintained. You should regularly clear dead or dry vegetation and create space between trees and individual plants, adding to the buffer between structures. Keep large hedges or bushes to less than 10 feet in diameter where possible.
Keep your home lean, clean, and green by:
- Removing all dead plants, grass, weeds, dry leaves, pine needles, and eucalyptus trees' underlying layer of vegetation (or understory)
- trimming trees regularly to keep branches a minimum of 10 feet from other trees
creating a separation between trees, shrubs, and items that could catch fire, such as patio furniture, wood piles, swing sets, etc.
30 to 100 feet from your home (Ignition Zone 2)
This Fuel Reduction zone is the last buffer in defensible space. Manage vegetation in this zone to reduce the risk of fire spreading to your home.
Slow wildfires from spreading by:
- choosing low-growing native vegetation with leaves that are drought-resistant and water-efficient, like those on our recommended plant list
- cutting or mowing grass down to a maximum height of four inches
- creating proper spacing between grass, shrubs, and trees
Following specific guidelines for each buffer zone and using City resources will help you create and maintain defensible space, which is essential for reducing loss from wildfire and protecting lives and property.
For visual help, download a diagram that illustrates defensible space on a typical Berkeley-sized lot.
USE CITY RESOURCES TO PROTECT YOUR HOME
Use City programs and resources to help reduce your property’s wildfire risk and ensure your property follows fire safety codes and Berkeley Fire Department recommendations.
Start with our self-inspection checklist to help identify the first steps you can make to your property to make it wildfire resilient.
Understand your local risk by looking at detailed information on factors creating wildfire risk in the hills.
Get help disposing of excess vegetation
To prepare for wildfires, the easiest first step is to dispose of excess vegetation around your home. You can do this in several ways:
Schedule an appointment with the Chipper Day program for curbside pickup of vegetation such as: shrubs, brush, tree limbs, wood and bushes from residential properties.
Order a vegetation debris bin if you live in a higher-risk neighborhood that qualifies for this service funded by your property tax surcharge.
Rent a dumpster for yourself or your neighborhood for a one-time pick up of large amounts of waste.
Drop off various forms of trash at the Transfer Station or purchase pre-paid trash bags to dispose of trash next to your home bins on your trash pickup day.
Team up with neighbors to create a Firewise neighborhood
Increase your neighborhood’s wildfire resistance by organizing a Firewise community of at least eight single-family dwelling units, focusing on vegetation management and home hardening practices that may help you qualify for lower insurance rates.
To get started, contact the Berkeley Fire Department’s Firewise Coordinator:
(510) 981-5620
wildfire@berkeleyca.gov.
Access home inspection programs
Homeowners who have completed a Defensible Space Inspection can check your inspection report to see areas where you can improve. If your property was inspected, you’ll receive a door hanger with a code to access your report. This report is private—only you and the Berkeley Fire Department can see it. We do not share it with anyone else.
Visit Berkeley Fire's website and enter your address to view FireSafe information for your area.
You can access these programs before or after your inspection:
The Home Hardening Mesh Program provides free metal mesh and gutter guards to Berkeley hill residents in Zone 2 and 3—the areas closest to wildfires—to help protect their homes from wildfire embers. Apply to the mesh program to receive free materials.
Properties with Eucalyptus trees can use our Eucalyptus Understudy Cleanup Program for a one-time cleanup of the understory of your eucalyptus trees. We’ll clear the understory of your tree by pruning limbs, removing the dead and dried leaves, and the bark litter from around the tree and trunk.
Request financial or logistical support from the Residence Assistance Program to help with defensible space updates.
KNOW WHEN AND HOW TO GO
Protecting your home is one step to wildfire resilience. Making a plan for when to leave your home is equally important. Fires that spread under Extreme Fire Weather conditions, when humidity is low and winds are high, can quickly become catastrophic.
Learn more about extreme fire weather and make a household fire weather plan.
By combining home protection strategies with timely evacuations, you can protect your life, family, and home during a wildfire emergency.
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