The first 1.5 metres around your house matters most
FireSmart and Firewise USA both call the first 1.5 metres (about five feet) around your home the immediate zone — and treat it as the...
FireSmart and Firewise USA both call the first 1.5 metres (about five feet) around your home the immediate zone — and treat it as the highest-priority area for ignition prevention. The Home Ignition Zone standard is shared on both sides of the border. Clear all vegetation and combustible material down to mineral soil and replace it with non-combustible cover such as gravel, brick or concrete. Move firewood piles, propane tanks, patio cushions, plastic doormats and recycling bins out of this strip and store them at least 10 metres away. Do not stack anything against siding, even seasonally. Hanging baskets, wooden trellises and bark mulch all act as ignition points if an ember lands on them. The reason this zone gets the strictest treatment is simple: anything that catches fire here is touching your house. A small flame in a dry juniper bush at the foundation can break a window and bring fire indoors before any crew has time to react. Treating the immediate zone well is one of the cheapest, most effective things a homeowner can do, and it does not require landscaping a forest — just a metre and a half of clear, hardened buffer all the way around.
Anything that catches fire in the first 1.5 metres around your house is already touching it — which is why FireSmart wants firewood, propane tanks and even doormats moved at least 10 metres back.
Source: FireSmart BC — Home Ignition Zone
Last reviewed 2026-05-02.
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