15
Feb

Urban living is described as having more than one house occupying half an acre. It can be a tough situation without many people realizing it. Sure, you have paved streets and easier access to amenities, but you have a problem with a built-up area close together.

Don’t find yourself complacent because of the benefits of an urban area. This is a high-risk area when it comes to wildfires. How is that possible when there aren’t the forests around you?

More Houses Create a Higher Risk of Fire

While forests are certainly a problem for wildfires, built-up areas can also be a major risk. It’s all about the houses in the area. There are a lot of different ways to build houses, and you can’t control how your neighbors manage their homes. They may not clear the gutters, and they may not worry about leaves in the yard or the trees close to their home.

This leads to problems out of your control. There is a risk of their houses catching fire, and then the trees in their garden will pass the fire to your home.

Too many people think that city living is safe, but it’s usually the city houses where thousands of homes end up consumed by fires. Just look at the Slave Lake Fire in Alberta, Canada back in 2011. An entire town of 7,000 people was evacuated as 433 homes burned. Colorado Springs has also faced something similar. 32,000 residents were evacuated from Waldo Canyon due to fire in 2012. That fire destroyed 346 homes.

Mitigating Fires in Urban Areas

What do you do when you can’t control everything? It’s important for the entire community to work together to fully mitigate the risk of fire. You can turn to your local fire department to see what you can do, and it’s worth encouraging the fire department to talk to local residents about what they can do. With everyone working together, it’s possible to keep an area safer from the fire risk.

You don’t need to clear out a whole area of the trees. You just need a clear area between the tree canopy and the houses, which is great for creating a playground for kids. Make that playground designed with materials that prevent the spread of fire and you have something that’s great for multiple reasons.

Even if your neighbors don’t do something, you’ll want to take steps to protect your own home. You can add a fireproof buffer between your home and other areas. This could be sometime as simple as a metal fence instead of a wooden fence. And you don’t need to get rid of all the trees. Replace spruces and junipers for aspens or oaks. The latter are less flammable for fires.