Follow four simple gardening practices to increase the odds of your home surviving a wildfire.
(1) Select fire-resistant plants and materials such as those identified here. Fire-resistant plants have:
moist, supple leaves
minimal accumulated dead vegetation
water-like sap with little odour
low amount of sap or resin material
(2) Remove highly flammable plants and dry woody debris from your yard (especially within 10 metres of your house), including:
plants with aromatic leaves or needles (pine, spruce, ground cedar and juniper)
plants that accumulate fine, dry, dead material
plants containing resin or oils
plants with papery, flakey bark
bark mulch (use gravel or crushed rock)
dead and dry plants, leaves, needles and branches
(3) Create a 1.5 metre non-flammable perimeter along the outer walls of your house.
(4) Mow lawns to keep grass shorter than 10cm.
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