I think that if you asked most people across the nation when the most dangerous time of year is for wildfire they would say the summer. Which seems to be a logical since that is when it is the hottest.
Here in Washington State and other western states fall can also be a danger point for wildfire, especially here on the western side of the mountains. All it takes is a hot wind from the east blowing through the mountain passes to turn things crispy from an already dry summer. I keep saying that eventually we'll have a huge and catastrophic fire in Western Washington or Western Oregon and it will likely come in the fall.
Did you know that California has been experiencing a 100-year fire every five years? To me this is but another example of the hazards being amplified by climate change. The bark beetle is another example of what warmer winters have done. The bug is not killed off by the intense cold of winters and now is creating vast areas of tinder dry timber. At present, Canada is especially vulnerable.
Sunset Magazine has a good article Living with the new wave of wildfire It goes into how to fire proof your home and has some good links to web sites that can provide even more information on techniques that can save your most valuable asset.
Check out www.firewise.org and www.readyforwildfire.org the latter being a California Fire site.
One last note. My neighbors made me replace my wood shake roof with another shake roof about five years ago. Hopefully I'll be gone from this house when they realize the error of their ways. The one best wildland fire protection thing you can do for your home is have a fire retardant roof and not one made out of kindling.
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Here in Washington State and other western states fall can also be a danger point for wildfire, especially here on the western side of the mountains. All it takes is a hot wind from the east blowing through the mountain passes to turn things crispy from an already dry summer. I keep saying that eventually we'll have a huge and catastrophic fire in Western Washington or Western Oregon and it will likely come in the fall.
Did you know that California has been experiencing a 100-year fire every five years? To me this is but another example of the hazards being amplified by climate change. The bark beetle is another example of what warmer winters have done. The bug is not killed off by the intense cold of winters and now is creating vast areas of tinder dry timber. At present, Canada is especially vulnerable.
Sunset Magazine has a good article Living with the new wave of wildfire It goes into how to fire proof your home and has some good links to web sites that can provide even more information on techniques that can save your most valuable asset.
Check out www.firewise.org and www.readyforwildfire.org the latter being a California Fire site.
One last note. My neighbors made me replace my wood shake roof with another shake roof about five years ago. Hopefully I'll be gone from this house when they realize the error of their ways. The one best wildland fire protection thing you can do for your home is have a fire retardant roof and not one made out of kindling.
