Yard & Landscaping
How to landscape a yard that resists embers, from fire-resistant plants to rock mulch and spacing that breaks up fuel.
Choose plants with moist, supple leaves and watery sap
Plants with moist, supple leaves and watery sap resist ignition from drifting embers — native broadleaf species like saskatoon and Oregon grape are far harder to ignite than resinous conifers.
Read more →Keep coniferous trees and shrubs away from your house
A single ember in a juniper or cedar hedge can burn hot enough to break a window or ignite siding — FireSmart treats spruce, pine, fir and cedar as too flammable to plant within 10 metres of a house.
Read more →Use rock or gravel mulch within 1.5 metres of the house
Bark mulch can smoulder for hours after catching an ember — and the smouldering often goes unnoticed until flames reach siding or a deck post.
Read more →Keep grass and plants well watered through fire season
A short, green, well-watered lawn in the first 10 metres around your house is one of the cheapest ember-resistant buffers you can have — dry grass cut taller than 10 cm becomes a fine fuel that ignites instantly.
Read more →Space trees and shrubs to break up fuel continuity
Three metres of clear space between tree crowns and two metres of pruned-up trunk is enough to drop a crown fire back to the ground, where crews can actually fight it.
Read more →These articles are the same wildfire safety library that lives inside our free app. Browse every category in the safety library, or open the live map to see current fires and alerts across Western Canada and 18 western US states.