Love's Real Stories

It seems when I bring up the Camp Fire in these little articles, the result is a heightened interest from you, the readers. Your communications come pouring in. And I do love receiving the emails, texts, and phone calls.

Last column, I mentioned the Camp Fire stories and personal experiences you have related to me over the last two years. You responded with even more. I heard from you in Paradise, Concow, Butte Valley, and my home territory, Butte Creek Canyon. Many of you are displaced and moved away, many of you are rebuilding or planning on it. 

In that last column I also told you of the reader, RW, who sent me her methods of Fire Preparation and Fire Evacuation, hand-written on yellow lined paper, full of great advice for all of us. A few of you have asked about it. If you want a copy of her handiwork, let me know and I will shoot it your way.

One guy left a message: 

“Hey, good morning, Doug, this is Paul in the Care Center here in Chico. I’m a patient here. I’m dealing with a bad hip, of course. I wanted to let you know I was in Paradise the day the fire started. I was in a Care Home up there and they had to evacuate all of us. I’ll never forget that fire, the memory is always with me. We weren’t sure we were going to make it out. Paradise is a beautiful town and will never die. It will come back again. I guarantee it! Thanks for your time. You have a great day. Bye-bye.” Paul sounds to me like a kindly Uncle, concerned for my stress, never mind his problems.

A guy from Paradise called me. “Joe here,” he said. “I have spent the last two years designing and planning my rebuild. I’m coming back leaner and meaner, and fire-PROOF!” He paused, expecting a reaction, I supposed.

“Wow,” I offered.

“Yeah. Any building material that will burn is off my list. The trees are gone, so I don’t have to worry about them anymore. The view is better now, anyway. Here’s the key: my groundcover will be no-burn. Concrete and asphalt.”

I was pondering that visual, when Joe said, “Don’t get me wrong. It will be Sunset Magazine beautiful. The concrete will be exposed aggregate flatwork with asphalt borders. Shrubbery will be inset in boxes. Benches and tables made of light-weight concrete will be placed here and there. Umbrellas for shade. A couple of trellises with flowery vines. I’m on over an acre, so everything will be spread out and totally defensible. You’ll have to come see it when we’re done!”

“That would be great,” I said. “Thanks for the information.”

“Here’s the other key,” said Joe. “And everybody should consider this. My front fence will be green or grey grid-wire and will be a series of 12-foot rolling gates on wheels. That way, the fire crews can access my place quickly and easily and post up with any size equipment they need.”

“Wow!” I said.

“Yeah,” said Joe, “when I told my CDF buddy that, he said he would pin a medal on me!”

The stories and Fire Tips from you readers keep on coming. Keep it up!

Meanwhile, we have a Town to build. Remember Paul in the Care Center, who says, ‘Paradise is a beautiful town and will never die’.

He guarantees it.

When the Camp Fire burned through Butte Creek Canyon last November, we lucked out and still have our house. I say we lucked out, because it wasn’t our fire prevention methods that kept our structures intact, it was our on-the-ball neighbors and dedicated firefighters that saved us. 

After the fire, we swore we would dedicate ourselves to home fire prevention by creating the defensible space we need to have a better chance of making it through the next fire without relying on neighbors and firefighters. Many of our neighbors who made it through the fire for the same reasons we did, swore the same dedication.

Here we are a year later, and I can’t brag about our fire prevention efforts. I can’t brag about many of my neighbors, either. We do have professional tree trimmers lined up to come out to our place to remove the dangerous branches, trees, and shrubs hanging around our structures, but a lot more needs to be done.

The Butte Fire Safe Council has good advice for me and my neighbors. Please take note of the directions below, and take their advice, or pass it on to those who need it:

Your “defensible space” is the area that is a minimum of 100 feet from your home (as required under State Public Resources Code 4291 and other local ordinances). 

This is the area where you need to modify the landscape to allow your house to survive on its own –greatly improving the odds for firefighters defending your home. 

If your home is on a slope or subject to high winds, extend the distance of this zone based upon the “X-Factor.”  for instance, this zone may increase to 150 feet .

The three R’s of defensible space.

Remove – dead and dying grass, shrubs and trees.

Reduce – the density of vegetation (fuel) and ladder fuels, those fuels extending from the ground to the tree canopies.

Replace – hazardous vegetation with less flammable, irrigated landscape vegetation, including lawn or other low-growing groundcovers and flowering plants.

The Home Ignition Zone (the home plus 10 ft distance)

It’s the ‘little things’ that will endanger your home. Just one little ember landing on one pile of flammable material will start the fire that burns a house down.  Spend a morning searching out and getting rid of those flammable little things outside. Your home will be much safer!

1. Keep your rain gutters and roof clean of all flammable material. 

2. Get rid of dry grass, brush, and other flammable materials around your home –and don’t forget leaves, pine needles and bark walkways.  Replace with well-maintained or watered landscape vegetation, green lawn and landscape rocks.

3. Clear all flammable materials from your deck.  This includes brooms, stacked wood, and easily ignitable patio furniture. Also enclose or board up the area under your deck to keep it from becoming a fuel bed for hot embers. 

4. Move woodpiles and garbage cans away from your home.  Keep woodpiles away from the home, a distance of two times the height of the pile –more if your lot size allows.

5. Use fine mesh metal screen to cover eaves, roof and foundation vents to prevent windblown embers from entering. 

6. Inspect and clean your chimney every year.  Trim away branches within 10 feet.  Install a spark arrester with 1/2″ or smaller mesh screen.

The Butte County Fire Safe Council website has all this advice and much more. Check it out and pass it on!