RE: Is water-wise fire foolish?

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From: owner-medit-plants@ucdavis.edu [mailto:owner-medit-plants@ucdavis.edu] On Behalf Of Ben Wiswall
Sent: Tuesday, November 20, 2007 12:11 PM
To: medit-plants@ucdavis.edu
Subject: Is water-wise fire foolish?

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