Wildfire Awareness: Suburban Areas

Few Texans realize that homes in suburban areas can be at risk from wildfires. But whether you live in the forested areas of edge of an East Texas city or in suburbs on the outskirts of relatively treeless areas in other parts of the state, houses are at risk every year when wildfires sweep across the land.

• Keep your lawn watered, with grass and weeds mowed to no more than two inches in height.
• Remove ladders, trellises or any other object that might serve as a path for fire to travel from ground level to the roof of a building, or from the ground into canopies of trees.
• Avoid planting shrubs and trees that catch fire easily, for example: juniper, yaupon holly, pine, evergreen, eucalyptus and fir trees. Instead, plant hardwoods, crepe myrtle, red yucca, forsythia, China rose and Texas sage.
• Remove any tree limbs located within ten feet of your chimney and roof.
• Prune tree limbs from ground level to six feet up.
• Regularly rake up leaves, dead limbs and other dead vegetation.
• Remove branches, twigs and leaves from roof and gutter areas.
• Prune limbs of trees and shrubs that are near the ground.
• Ask power companies to clear branches away from power lines.
• Stack firewood at least 100 feet away and uphill from the house.
• Store gasoline, oily rags and other flammable materials in approved safety containers.

For more information on fire danger and advisories visit the Texas Forest Service website.