Make your home FireSmart, zone by zone.
The Home Ignition Zone is the area within about 30 metres of your home where most wildfire damage starts. Reducing the ignition risk here is the single highest-impact thing a homeowner can do.
What is the Home Ignition Zone?
Research from FireSmart Canada and FireSmart BC is clear: most homes lost in a wildfire are not overrun by a wall of flame. They are ignited by wind-blown embers that land on a dry roof, in a packed gutter, on a woodpile against the wall, or in dead vegetation right next to the house. That means the most important place to reduce your risk is the area immediately around your home, not the forest in the distance.
FireSmart divides this Home Ignition Zone (HIZ) into three zones, each with its own guidance:
- Immediate Zone (0 to 1.5 m): the home and everything touching it.
- Intermediate Zone (1.5 to 10 m): the landscaped area around the home.
- Extended Zone (10 to 30 m): property-scale fuel management.
Use this page as a self-assessment: walk each zone around your own property and check off the actions you have already done. The items at the top of each zone (especially the Immediate Zone) give you the most protection for the least cost, so start there.
Immediate Zone
0 to 1.5 m from the home
This is the home itself and everything touching it: the roof, gutters, vents, windows, siding, deck, and the ground right against the walls. Most homes that burn in a wildfire are ignited here, by wind-blown embers landing on dry debris or combustible material against the building. The goal is simple: nothing that burns within 1.5 metres of the house.
- Clear dry leaves, pine needles, and debris off the roof and out of the gutters, and repeat through the season.
- When you re-roof, choose a fire-resistant Class A, B, or C material (metal, asphalt, clay, or composite tile). Untreated wood shakes are the highest ember risk.
- Screen every roof, eave, and foundation vent with fine non-combustible metal mesh (around 3 mm) so embers cannot enter the attic or crawlspace.
- Replace single-pane windows with tempered or double-paned glass when you renovate; single-pane glass can shatter from radiant heat and let fire inside.
- Choose fire-resistant siding (stucco, metal, brick, concrete, or fibre cement) over wood or vinyl when you re-side.
- Remove anything combustible stored under decks, porches, and balconies (firewood, cushions, propane), and sheath the base with fire-resistant material.
- Keep the first 1.5 metres around the entire home a non-combustible surface (gravel, stone, bare soil, or concrete) with no plants, bark mulch, or debris.
Intermediate Zone
1.5 to 10 m from the home
This is the landscaped area around your home: vegetation spacing, plant choice, mulch, firewood, fencing, and outbuildings. The goal is to break up the paths that flames or embers could follow toward the house.
- Replace bark or pine-needle mulch within 10 metres of the home with gravel or another non-combustible ground cover.
- Keep grass shorter than 10 cm and watered where restrictions allow, to limit flame intensity and spread.
- Store firewood at least 10 metres from the home and any outbuildings; a woodpile against a wall is a major ember trap.
- Remove or relocate coniferous trees and shrubs (spruce, fir, pine, cedar, juniper) from this zone, and favour fire-resistant deciduous species such as poplar, birch, aspen, and maple.
- Keep shrubs and plants low-growing, well-spaced, and separated from the home; continuous shrub lines create fire pathways.
- Break any wooden fence or gate that connects directly to the home with a 1.5 metre non-combustible gap or a metal section where it meets the wall.
- Apply the same FireSmart measures (roof, vents, siding, clearance) to sheds, garages, and other outbuildings within 10 metres, since a burning shed can ignite the house.
Extended Zone
10 to 30 m from the home
This is the property-scale fuel management zone. The goal is to reduce the amount of fuel available so a wildfire slows down and drops to the ground before it reaches your home, and so fire crews can reach and defend your property.
- Space coniferous trees at least 3 metres apart crown-to-crown to reduce tree-to-tree fire spread.
- Remove ladder fuels: smaller trees, shrubs, and branches beneath bigger trees that could carry fire from the ground into the canopy.
- Prune tree branches within 2 metres of the ground, ideally in late winter while trees are dormant, and remove no more than one-third of the canopy.
- Rake and remove accumulated woody debris, dead branches, and deep needle litter each spring and fall.
- Post a reflective, clearly visible address marker at the road so emergency services can find you quickly, day or night.
- Keep the driveway wide and clear with vegetation pruned back, and provide a turnaround (ideally two access routes) so fire trucks can get in and out.
Sources
This guide paraphrases public Home Ignition Zone guidance from FireSmart. Always confirm current recommendations with the source before you make changes that affect safety.
Keep going
Pair your Home Ignition Zone work with our wildfire preparedness checklists: harden your home and property, pack a 72-hour go-bag, make a family plan, and know what to do when an evacuation alert comes.