The Basics About Defensible Space | SERVPRO® of Reno Southwest

7/22/2021 (Permalink)

If your home is damaged by fire or any other reason, SERVPRO of Reno Southwest is ready and able to repair any damage.

Imagine you see your home in flames! Sadly, for some this is a serious threat.

Wildfires happen and create or cause property damage for many people all over the United States. Your home is the safest place you can be, so it’s important to take safety measures in protecting it.

Because our world is made up of so many combustible materials, wildfires are becoming quite common. But we can take steps to lower the risk of harm to our properties. One key way is by simply being more careful.

But defensible space is another important strategy that can be effective.

What Defensible Space Means

“Defensible space” is a barrier that you can create around your home. While we often don’t realize it, there are many things around our homes that can help fuel wildfires. So it’s important to use responsible planting and pruning practices and to incorporate things such as flame-resistant gravel to help lower your chances.

This space is needed to help stop or slow the spread of wildfire as it lurches toward your property. By creating a defensible space, you give firefighters their best chance of stopping a wildfire before it reaches your home.

Defensible space is so effective that many areas, like here in Reno, encourage or even require it as a way of preventing wildfires.

The Rising Numbers of Wildfire

We often think of wildfires as being a “California” problem, but they can happen anywhere and everywhere. There were over 59,000 wildfires across the United States in 2020.

And while California did account for 10,000+ of that number, the average number of wildfires per state in 2020 was right under 1,000. Here in Nevada, we experienced 770 wildfires last year, burning 259,275 acres of land.

Any precautions that we can take to help prevent or quell the spread of wildfire, we must do so. Defensible space is one more way that we can do our part.

If your home is damaged by fire of any sort, wild or not, SERVPRO is ready and able to repair the damage caused. Get in touch today to get the pros on your team.