Jane, here are some tips to help you out and to also help out any fire fighters that may need to work in your area.
This may get kind of long.
First some of the things that you can do or have done.
Clear out from around your house, thin the trees to where the upper limbs are not touching each other.
Anything flamable around your house needs to be moved away, stacks of firewood on the deck, gas cans, etc.
Cut ladder fuels, this can be brush that can catch fire and start the limbs on an overhead tree on fire or may just be the limbs from the tree itself. The rule of thumb on tree limbs is cut them flush with the trunk of the tree up to around 8 to 10 feet off the ground.
Clean out underbrush from around the house.
Do this for an area about 100 feet in all directions from your house
Rake leaves, pine needles etc down to bare ground.
If you have a deck or porch make sure that the bottom is enclosed. Embers from a wildland fire can blow up under a deck/porch and catch it on fire.
Same thing with open eaves and vents, they can allow embers into the interior of a house.
The state forestry department has grant money avaliable to pay a percentage of the thining projects.
Their are alot of folks that have them come in and look your land over.
Problem is they want ALOT of trees cut and most folks on the mountain don't want to live on a bare hillside. So they either go their own route and do it them selves or in most cases hire a professional cutter who does it for them.
A good professional sawyer should be able to thin the area, leave you plenty of trees and make it fire safe at the same time AND not cut to the depth that state forestry does. Their are alot of good sawyers that are also fire fighters and can do you a good job.
The one problem is in Timberon it is a LONG way for one of these folks to drive daily to do the job. That equals $$ but again, what is your home worth.
In the event that things start to really look bad as far as fire danger there are some things that you can do that will help fire personnel in case of a fire.
A big one is to make sure that your address is displayed where it can be seen from the main road.
Make sure that a big truck can get into your house, overhead limbs cut etc.
Pre-lay garden hoses around your house. If you have a ladder that will reach your roof leave it out where it can be seen (we would rather not have to pull a ladder from a truck to access your roof and most brush trucks don't have ladders anyway)
Mark with flags where your septic tank is. A brush truck is not a problem but if a full size pumper drives over a septic it is possible to put it IN the tank!
If you have to leave your home. Leave a note on the door with contact information as to where you are going and how you can be contacted.
Close all interior and exterior doors as well as all windows.
If you have items against the walls inside the house that are flammable move them to the center of the room. You can have the cement board siding but if it gets hot enough on the wall the radiant heat can start fires on the inside.
If you have to leave, drive carefuly, smoke can make for very dangerous driving conditions. Watch for your neighbors who are also leaving and watch for fire equipment coming into the area.
I think I have hit the highlights and that is about it.
It may be worth the time, dollars and effort to contact someone and just have them come out and do an evaluation on your place to give you an idea on the work that needs to be done.
If I can answer any specific questions please, and this goes for all the folks on the mountain, e-mail me at
mtncat@tularosa.net
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Right up through the center of the house, they had tar that they packed around it so it would not leak.
