How to prevent wildfires from reaching your house

"Preventing wildfires" usually means two very different things: stopping ignitions in the wildland (the job of utilities, land managers, and careful campers), and stopping a wildland fire from igniting your home (your job).

This guide is about the second one. The first is a policy and behavior question — keep chains off the ground when towing, no fireworks, no mowing dry grass mid-afternoon, report sparking power lines.

Direct flame contact: a continuous fuel path (dry grass, shrubs, wood fence) leads flame right to the wall. Solved by defensible space and a noncombustible Zone 0.

Radiant heat: a large nearby fuel (a tree, a neighbor's deck) heats your siding or window to ignition without touching it. Solved by spacing and tempered glass.

Embers: 60–90% of home losses. Wind-blown embers travel up to a mile and land on roofs, in gutters, against siding, and through vents. Solved by hardening every opening and clearing every horizontal surface.

Embers need fuel to ignite something. Remove the fuel and the ember dies harmlessly.

On the roof: Class A covering plus clean gutters means embers land on a non-fuel and burn out.

At the vents: 1/8-inch mesh means embers can't get inside to find insulation and stored boxes.

At the walls: noncombustible Zone 0 means an ember on the ground next to your house lands on gravel, not bark mulch.

Move patio cushions, doormats, and firewood away from the house.

Close all windows and pet doors. Shut interior doors to slow internal spread if embers do get in.

Charge phones, fill cars, pack go-bags, and know your evacuation route. Hardening buys time; it doesn't replace leaving.