Fire season is over for most of us in Central Oregon, and that makes this the best time of year to cut brush. The ground is damp, the days are cool, and burn piles are often legal with a permit. I spent years as a firefighter and cutting firewood, and I can tell you the work goes faster and safer now than it ever does in July.
Here is how I would spend the next few weekends on my own place.
Start with the first 30 feet
Defensible space is built in zones, and the zone closest to the house matters most. Work from the house outward.
- 0 to 5 feet: No bark mulch, no juniper, no stacked firewood, no doormats made of coconut fiber. Gravel, pavers, or bare dirt is best.
- 5 to 30 feet: Keep grass short, and keep shrubs small and spaced apart. Remove dead material under and around everything.
- Under decks: Rake out the needles and leaves, and don't store anything flammable there.
Embers are what burn most houses, not the flame front. Anything that can catch an ember next to your siding or under your deck is what you are clearing out.
Break up the ladder fuels
Fire climbs. Grass lights the brush, brush lights the low branches, and low branches carry fire into the crown of a tree. I call these ladder fuels, and cutting them is the most useful thing you can do with a chainsaw.
- Prune lower branches on conifers up to about 6 to 10 feet, or a third of the tree height on smaller trees. Don't take more than that.
- Cut out brush growing under trees. Bitterbrush, manzanita, and young junipers burn hot.
- Thin trees so crowns don't touch. A gap between crowns slows a fire down.
- Keep limbs away from the roof and chimney, at least 10 feet.
Don't try to clear every tree. You want a place that still looks like home. Thinning and spacing do more than a bare lot does.
Deal with the debris
Cutting is half the job. A pile of slash next to the house is worse than the brush you cut.
- Chip it, haul it to the transfer station, or burn it under a permit when your county allows it. Check with your local fire district or ODF office first, because burn rules change with conditions.
- Don't leave slash piles near the house or the barn. If you have to stage them, keep them well away and burn or haul them before spring.
- Pick up the dead branches and pine needles on the roof and in the gutters while you are at it.
If you burn, keep a charged hose, a shovel, and water on hand, and stay until the pile is cold. Winter burns still escape on windy days.
Check your water while you work
Brush clearing gives you a good excuse to walk the property and look at your water setup. Where would you pull water from if a fire came across the ridge? How far is the tank from the house? Can your hose reach the outbuildings?
This is where our Dry Lightning 3000 fits in. It is a remote-start wildfire pump with a Honda iGX390 engine, up to 150 GPM and up to 140 PSI. You start and stop it from your phone over WiFi or SMS, from anywhere, and it alerts you if the pump stops (say it ran out of gas) or the water tank runs low. That matters when you are away from the property and fire is close.
A pump is only as good as the clearing around what it protects, though. Do the brush work first.
Do this week
Pick one side of your house and clear the first 30 feet on it, working out from the wall. Rake and remove the dead stuff, prune the low limbs, and haul or chip what you cut. One side done well is better than four sides half done. Then do the next side next weekend.