Get It Growing: Firewise Landscaping can help protect your home and property

Published 4:30 am Wednesday, March 18, 2026

In a world of climate change, growing populations, and development of the urban-wildland interface, wildfires are becoming a major concern.

Climate projections for the North Olympic Peninsula predict higher annual average temperatures, less rainfall, and more days with temperatures over 86 degrees (noprcd.org). Population increases throughout the Olympic Peninsula push our communities further toward heavily forested areas and cause an increased threat to our beloved homes.

However, there is much that can be done to decrease the risk to individual homes or neighborhoods. This is where firewise landscaping comes into play.

Zone your landscape

The first step in planning a firewise landscape, whether creating a new landscape or improving an existing area, is to define your defensible space. This is the area, with your house in the center, that you will defend against an incoming wildfire. This space is divided into three zones.

Zone 1 is your immediate zone. This is the area where there should be no flammable material at all. This area, up to 5 feet from the structure, is intended to create a completely noncombustible barrier to protect the structure from direct contact with flames.

Zone 2 is the intermediate zone. This area is a reduced fuel area which extends from 5 to 30 feet from your home. The purpose of this zone is to reduce the spread of the main body of the fire by removing dead plant material, pruning low tree limbs, and removing small trees. This will eliminate a “ladder” by which a fire can climb from the ground level to the tree canopy.

The outermost area, Zone 3, is the extended zone. This zone is between 30 and 100 feet from the home and is the interface with the wildland area surrounding the defensible space. The focus of this zone is the maintenance of roads, paths, and escape routes as well as access points for fire crews.

Once we understand our defensible space, we can begin to make changes to greatly improve the safety of our home.

Make improvements

After identifying your defensible space, it’s time to take a look at those individual zones and think about specific improvements that can be made.

One misconception is that creating a firewise landscape is expensive and time consuming.

While it’s true that some of the big changes can be major projects and costly, there is much that can be done that is quick, easy, and inexpensive or free.

Spending just a few minutes sweeping, raking, and removing dead branches and leaves can make a difference. Pruning up tree limbs or moving a wood pile further from the house can be done in an afternoon and will make a drastic difference in fuel load and fire safety.

For more information on firewise landscaping, refer to the National Fire Protection Association at nfpa.org.

Learn more

If you would like to learn more about how to make your home and neighborhood more fire resistant, Master Gardeners Andrea Daines and Tricia Bachmeier will be teaching “Landscaping through Firewise Eyes” at the Soroptimist Spring Gala Garden event on Saturday, March 21 at 11:30 a.m.

This one-hour class will give you a new perspective on landscaping and fire safety and you will come away with an understanding of basic fire science, knowledge about how to choose fire resistant plants, and some great ideas to keep your home and community safer from wildfire.

Other Master Gardener presentations at Gala Garden include Landscape Do’s and Don’ts with Keith Dekker and A Cook’s Garden with Pam Pace.

______________

Tricia Bachmeier is a 23-year veteran of the Seattle Fire Department and has worked as a wildland firefighter in both Oregon and Washington. She is part of the Master Gardener Class of 2025.