UCCE Helps Homeowners Be Fire Safe

CONTACT:  Sabrina Drill at (323) 260-3404, sldrill@ucdavis.edu

UC Cooperative Extension helps homeowners be fire safe

UC Cooperative Extension’s “Sustainable and Fire SaFE (SAFE) Landscapes” program helps homeowners prepare their own property to withstand fire, and protect the health of neighboring wildlands.  The agency’s Web site, fact sheets and free downloadable guidebook show Los Angeles County residents how to choose, arrange, and maintain plants, structures and other landscape features to create defensible space and increase fire safety.

Many places in Southern California are at high risk of wildfire. Los AngelesCounty residents in the wildland-urban interface areas just received their annual notices from the fire department.  Understanding the basic fire ecology of this region and how to safeguard homes and landscapes against ember driven wildfire damage can help residents decrease their risk.  “Residents can improve their fire safety and help the environment at the same time by choosing native or California-friendly plants.  Maintaining vegetation properly throughout the year is one of the most important step they can take,” says Sabrina Drill, natural resources advisor.

To learn more about Southern California’s fire ecology, defensible space and invasive plants, please click here for a seasonal guide to increasing the fire-resistance of your home and garden year round.  For more information on Cooperative Extension’s natural resources program, visit http://celosangeles.ucdavis.edu/Natural_Resources/.

As part of the University of California, Cooperative Extension was established in 1914 to connect local communities to their state’s land grant university.  An office in each county in California responds to the changing needs of its local populations, designing and carrying out research-based programs in the areas of food, health, agriculture and the environment.