Natalie....
I live in wildfire area. Wildfires are started naturally by lightening every year and cannot always be controlled. They allow the fires in the back country to just burn. The small communities up here work to get their communities fire safe, but each homeowner has to do the work to make their property fire safe. Thank God, they've recognized that those of us that are getting older and working in older bodies cannot do that kind of work any more and in the off season, the fire crews do fire reduction work for homeowners who qualify for the program.
The rule of thumb about fire is that if a plant is 1' tall, it will send flames UP 4'. That's why you need to plant low growing plants near your house and more importantly on that slope, if it is close to a structure. The cliff across the road from my home, drops down about 7' and is covered with blackberries. The head of the fire reduction crew told me that if fire hit that cliff, the flames would be up around 30'. Embers would get under the eves of the roof and there would be no way to save my home, even tho' I can look down from my front lawn and see the fire station on Main Street below me. So even if you only had low growing plants on the slope, if they provide good fire fuel like the blackberries. the slope itself will contribute to the height of the flames. Yeah, they took out the blackberries and had 9 burn piles. Fire moves up the slope.
When you have time to look at the trees, near your home, you want to make sure they are limbed up by about 8'. That way the ladder fuels, lower growing plants, will not make the tree a fire hazard.
Check in your community to see if they have a program like this.
Chelle, I like your ideas. I was thinking last night that some terracing of some sort was in Natalie's future. Her slope appears to be much wider than mine, but when I had the fire crew out here, they pruned the junipers to make them more fire safe.
Smiles,
Lyn
