Lawn Sprinklers On Your Roof ???

Sept. 2, 2010 - PRLog -- LAWN SPRINKLERS ON YOUR ROOF  ? ? ?
The fire season is in full bloom and the winds are hauling – are you prepared?


For three days in late October, 2003, my wife and I sat on our rear deck watching what was once a small signal fire from a lost hunter turn into a roaring thousand-foot wall of black smoke and flames consuming everything within its path.  Fueled by seventy miles per hour gusts and overgrown dry brush, the Cedar Fire – the largest recorded forest fire (at the time) in the State of California - quickly raced forty miles to the coast and spread as far to the north and to the south as we could see.  With the flames a hundred yards from our rear door, we decided it was time to evacuate.  

Two days after the Cedar Fire my wife and I returned to our property to discover that our home had turned into six inches of gray ash.  The only thing standing was a blackened stone chimney – a headstone marking the grave of a deceased home . . . our home.
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While sitting on our rear deck for those three days, we had a clear view of the approaching flames and saw up-close which fire prevention methods worked, which slowed the flames, and which had no effect at all.  The following is a list of what we observed while sitting on our rear deck: maybe it will help you.

These observations were of a forest fire, not a city fire, and pertain to houses located within areas (forests, dirt roads, etc.) that were difficult for the fire crews or aircraft to protect.  At the time of the Cedar Fire there were no ground crews or aircraft available to help protect our community.  On the other hand I see no reason why these observations would not also apply to city homes.  

1.   Winds:  The biggest factor in controlling or not controlling the Cedar Fire were the winds.  If you have seventy miles per hour winds howling through thick walls of smoke and flames quickly consuming everything within its path . . . my recommendation is to get the heck out of there!  Your life is more valuable than your possessions.  As far as we could see the ground crews and aircraft (flame retardant dropping planes and helicopters with water buckets) had absolutely zero effect on the fire.  The overwhelming force and heat of the smoke and flames were just too powerful.  It was so hot that we saw pine trees explode into flames a hundred feet in front of the actual fire.  It reminded me of just how powerful Mother Nature is and how inefficient we humans can be at times.  (It may be different in the city where there are fewer combustibles – trees, shrubs, ground cover.)

2.   Fire Gel:  We noticed that two neighbors used a spray-on fire gel - covering their roof, walls, and windows - just before evacuating their homes.  One of the homes burned, one survived.  Fire gel is effective for eight to twelve hours (depending on the manufacturer), after that the gel begins to dry out.  The house that burned had the gel on for a good forty-eight hours before the fire arrived.  The house that survived had the gel on for under twenty-four hours.  I would highly recommend using fire gel and waiting as long as possible to spray it on - but don’t but yourself in danger.  In some areas if you leave the fire gel by your house the fire crews will spray it on when they arrive.  However, what happens if the fire crews don’t arrive?

3.   Defensible Space:  A definite must.  From our view on the rear deck of our house we could see that the neighbors who had created a defensible space around their home had a much better chance of surviving the Cedar Fire than those that hadn’t.  Defensible space is a space around your house that is free of combustibles or as free as practical - cut dry grasses, remove all brush, trim all low hanging branches of trees (you don’t want to give the fire a path to the tree tops) and/or plant fire resistive landscaping – red apple, ice plant, gravel, etc.  The fire department recommends a minimum of one hundred feet of defensible space.  I would say, the bigger the better.

Defensible space doesn’t stop at the edge of the house or deck.  Don’t forget to remove deck furniture, or plants, or firewood stacked next to the house, or anything else that may catch fire and then spread to the walls.  Using a pair of binoculars, I saw a fence post about a hundred feet from a neighbor’s house catch fire.  The fire then moved from the post to the horizontal top rail of the fence, then to the next post, then to the next top rail, then to the next post and it kept moving in this fashion along the fence until the fire reached the house where it caught the deck on fire.  Try to remove or at least interrupt any path the fire can use to cross over your defensible space.

4.   House Construction:  House construction is another major factor on whether your house will survive a forest fire.  It is common sense that a house built with wood siding, a wood shingle roof, large wooden overhangs, and single pane windows is more apt to catch fire than a house built with fire recessive siding, a Class A fire rated roof, protected overhangs, and multiple-pane windows.  Most new residential construction located within a high fire zone (the forest) is required by current codes to use fire resistive construction and from what I saw during the Cedar Fire these methods for the most part worked.  Over seventy percent of the homes in our community burned to the ground and of the few that survived, the majority used current fire resistant construction.  But not all of the homes that used fire resistant construction survived.  Maybe a burning tree fell on the house, maybe the heat and wind were just too intense, I don’t know.  Using current fire resistant construction methods is not a guarantee that your house will survive a forest fire but it certainly increases your chances.

Another thing I noticed after the fire when I checked out some of the houses that had survived (built with the current fire resistive methods), was that the heat from the fire had cracked the outer pane of glass on the multiple-pane windows while the inner pane of glass remained intact, keeping the fire from spreading to the inside of the house.  Multiple pane windows definitely work.  

5.   Lawn Sprinklers:  One of our close neighbors installed two rotating lawn sprinklers on their roof before they evacuated.  Their house survived.  If you plan on fighting a forest fire with a garden hose - forget it!  The volume of water from a garden hose is almost nothing compared to the force of the heat, flames, and smoke of a forest fire.  But if you want to wet down your roof and walls or set up lawn sprinklers . . . what’s the harm?  Be careful not to drain your water tank in case fire fighters make it to your home and need water to fight the fire.  Consider leaving the well running.

6.   Vehicles:  The gasoline tank of your motor vehicle is considered hazardous material.  If you can’t take your cars with you, park them in the middle of an open area away from your house (possibly in a driveway or turn-around), but make sure not to block access to the fire trucks.

7.   Evacuation:  If you evacuate your home, don’t forget to shut off the gas at the house - and at the tank if you are using propane - and close and lock your windows. The multiple panes of glass aren’t going to work unless the windows are closed.  I would also recommend shutting off the water at the house but not at the tank (or street) and make sure the fire sprinklers if you have any are still operational.  If one wall of your house catches fire and melts a copper water line, the water tank will quickly drain, leaving fire fighters who may arrive without any water.


By Scott Stevenson

Scott Stevenson is the author of LOOKS EASY ENOUGH, A Joyful Memoir of Overcoming Disease, Divorce, and Disaster.  The book is an inspirational tale of having your house, but not your spirit, destroyed in the Cedar Fire. http://www.lookseasyenough.com

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