Re: Is water-wise fire foolish?

Hi Ben

You ask many specific questions that could be responded to individually but I have to say that overall, after witnessing last months firestorms in San Diego, one has to say that there is NO place in California that is fire "safe."  There is no such thing as fire safety and no plants that are safe from fire under all conditions.

I just returned from driving through one of the burn areas just east of my home in northern SD county.  I took photos of the burn, both in native habitat and in dense communities.  I looked for patterns of what burned and what didn't.  

Granted this was not a scientific study but I can tell you that there was no obvious pattern.  I (gleefully) took photos of burned and crispy ice plant (whose mythology is that it doesn't burn) along side the hulking black skeletons of pampass grass - some of which was resprouting despite the fact that it was no longer rooted in the ground.  

Palm trees, oaks, dudleya (a succulent), ceanothus, sod, flowering pear, eucalyptus, pussy willows, were among the many plants that I either knew once existed in the burnscape or whose skeletons were recognizable. 

The areas that burned included native habitat, homes in rural areas, populated hillsides (like the hillsides of Encino) and densely populated suburban neighborhoods (like the flatlands of Encino).

For more technical information - you might check out the Chaparral Institute.  http://www.californiachaparral.org/.  Rick Halsey, who is the director of the Chaparral Institute is one of the most knowledgeable people around when it comes to fire and fire safety in Southern California.

There has been much discussion on this topic on the list serv of the SD chapter of CNPS.  If you are interested, please take a look at the archives which I would expect are posted on the CNPS website.

Best

Nan



On Nov 20, 2007, at 12:11 PM, Ben Wiswall wrote:

Hey All,
I'm new to this site, and have lots of questions; hopefully we can generate some good discussions on this subject.
 
First, is water-wise landscaping fire foolish: is a dry garden inherently flammable?
 
Second, where in California are we safe from wildfire?
     Are flat suburbs safe?
     Are falt suburbs safe if they're thick with pine, cedar, cypress, and eucalyptus?
 
Are modern, fire-precautious housing subdivisions safe if:
     slope is 10 degrees?  20 degrees?  30 degrees?
     subdivision is below chaparral?
     subdivision is above chaparral?
     slope faces SW (very dry, low fuel)?
     slope faces NE (moister, denser fuel)?
 
Are hills ever safe?  Is Encino an Oakland fire waiting to happen?
 
And lastly, plants and plant communities.  Conifers are generally bad for fire safety,
     but what about clean, moderately irrigated fire-surviving conifers such as Coast
     Redwood or Canary Island Pine? Still no good?
 
And on the subject of plants and plant communities, what about Habitat Gardening?
     As our subdivisions march across the land, it makes sense to create habitat in our
     own backyards for at least some of the creatures we displace.  But this generally means
     creating a semi-dry, thickety garden dense with fuel and lots of fire ladders.  Or does it?
 
So what do you all think?  Let me know!
 
-Ben Wiswall



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