Recommended Wildland Fire Mitigation Practices for Property Owners and Guidelines for Use of Private Resources

The IAFC adopts the position which encourages homeowners to take proper steps to defend their home prior to a wildland fire event. It additionally provides guidance for local fire departments that may find themselves working with private resources during a significant wildland fire incident.

The IAFC encourages property owners to:

• Protect their homes before they are threatened by wildfires and recommends they follow the tenets of the Ready, Set, Go! Program and like wildland fire prevention and preparedness programs (defensible space)
• Retrofit their homes to modern wildland building standards
• Install fixed fire-protection systems (internal and external)

These proactive measures can help communities become more fire-adapted and have proven to be highly effective in protecting homes in the wildland urban interface areas.

Private fire-protection resources engaged to prepare homes threatened by wildland fires must adhere to evacuation orders if and when issued.  Many homes are destroyed during the early stages of a wildfire when fire resources, including public and private, are limited. Homes and communities located in the wildland urban interface zones should be designed to withstand fire without any fire resources assigned to them. 

ADOPTED BY: IAFC Board of Directors on July 9, 2015