Brush fire safety tips from O’Connor Insurance
100’s of Brush fires occurs every year across the Commonwealth. You do not have to live in dry, mountain regions of the West to be threatened by Brush Fires. A Brush Fire only needs the right conditions and fuel to become a wild fire. Dry weather, high winds, and trees or brush substantially increase the chances of an uncontrolled fire. Even areas like ours in Central Massachusetts can be at risk for Brush Fire, especially during dry, windy periods.
The time to protect your family from a brush fire is before a fire starts. O’Connor & Co. Insurance Agency from Dudley MA, offers some Brush Fire safety tips for residents of Massachusetts. These tips can help those with a house in or near wooded areas or brush to make their homes less susceptible to damage from a Brush Fire or wildfire.
Prevention Measures
Preventing a Brush Fire from reaching your home may not be foolproof, but it can dramatically reduce the chances that your home will be destroyed from a Brush Fire. These tips also help to keep home fires from becoming Brush or Wild Fires by creating a barrier between the woods and your home.
Remove large areas of brush, leaf piles, and woodpiles from a 30 to 100-foot radius around your home. Keep matches away from children and teach them about fire danger. Use only roofing and siding material on your home which is fire-resistant. Keep trees and bushes on your lot trimmed, and have dead trees removed immediately. Do not store flammable materials within 15 feet of chimneys, barbecue grills, or propane tanks.
Plan for a Brush Fire
A little bit of planning before you burn brush could help firefighters battle a Brush Fire near your home. It may never be needed, but you will be glad you took the time to put these measures into place if it is.
Make sure your driveway is free of impediments so that a firetruck can reach your property if necessary. Keep a shovel, rake, bucket, and an ax or saw on hand while you are burning.Have a ladder to reach the roof ready and accessible. Make sure your hose is long enough to reach the immediate area where you are burning. Only burn during the legal time period established by your local fire department and obtain all the necessary burning permits required in your town. Make sure you have smoke detectors in every bedroom and floor of your home, and test them prior to burning and monthly thereafter. Take photographs of all your valuables and keep a record of them in a fireproof safe to make filing a claim with your insurance company easier.
When a Brush Fire is in the Area
Sometimes, no matter how much planning you do, brush and wildfires may still appear in the area and threaten your home. If you are told to wait in place until an evacuation order is given, do it. If you try to evacuate too soon, you could get in the way of firetrucks on the road.
While waiting to be told to leave prepare your home. Wet the roof and landscape plants around your home to make them less likely to catch fire. Shut off the power and gas to your home and turn off any propane tanks outside. Push wood furniture inside your home to the center of each room, as far from exterior walls and windows as possible. Gather your family and pets together with a disaster kit into a single room to make finding everyone easier when the evacuation order is given. All your family members should know how to contact each other if you become separated.
Living near the tranquility of nature comes at the price of being in proximity to Brush and wild Fires, but if you prepare your home and family with these Massachusetts wild and brush fire tips, you can substantially reduce the potential for damage to your house or harm to your family members.