03
Jan

Safety Space and Defensible Space, Colorado Springs

Creating a safety zone close to your home is important. Firefighters often need to pull back when there is a fire. They need to allow the front to pass, and then they will go in and douse the fires where they can.
If you have a safety zone a long way away from your home, it’s going to take longer for firefighters to get to it. In fact, you may find that firefighters can’t save your home at all. Here’s what you can do to create a safety zone that’s useful.

What Is a Safety Zone?

A safety zone is a space for firefighters to pull back. Firefighters need to retreat to save their own lives, and they’ll find a spot that is as close as possible but where the fire is less likely to spread to.

The zone will need enough space for the crew to be protected from the radiant heat of the flames. It needs to be four times the height of the flames surrounding them. This means a 10-foot high fire will need 40 feet of land as a safety zone. If that fire reaches 200 feet in height, you’re looking at 800 feet of land as a safety zone.

That’s just if there’s no wind and it’s a small fire. If more people are required to fight back the fire, the land is going to be bigger.

Escape Roots Are Necessary

Something to consider is escaping from the fire. A safety zone will need at least two escape roots.

Likewise, you’ll want to avoid hills. Fires spread up hills quickly, but it takes too long for people to get up them. At the same time, you’ll want to avoid narrow canyons as that creates a funnel wind to spread the fire.

Trying to find the perfect land takes time. Talk to your local fire department to discuss options in your area. They’ll thank you for thinking of them, and they’ll be more than willing to work with you to create this safety zone if they can.

If you have a safety zone that you can create defensible space in, firefighters will then be able to mark it on their map. This tells other firefighters where they will go should a fire get out of control and they need to retreat to the safety zone.