Hear From Your Local Fire Safe Councils

These are 5 tips to start preparing now for wildfire season.

Share these tips with your family and community members and start getting ready for wildfire season, now!

Graphic: People joined together. Description: 5 TIPS TO PREPARE FOR A WILDFIRE FROM YOUR LOCAL FIRE SAFE COUNCILS Residents of California are coming together by joining local Fire Safe Councils to ready their communities and homes against the threat of wildfire and assist first responders during an emergency Fire Safe Councils play a critical role in keeping their communities safe-from implementing homeowner training on defensible space to working to reduce the amount of potential fuel in local neighborhoods. Here are tips from our partners at local Fire Safe Councils on how they are working to keep communities prepared for wildfire.Graphics of defensible space and person cleaning gutter. Description: Diablo Fire Safe Council. Being a good community member means doing your part to keep your neighbors safe! That means making sure that you prepare early, even before fire season starts, and create at least 100 feet of defensible space around your home. One way to do this is by: Cleaning your porch, decks and gutters of the "little things" which consists of dead pine needles, dead leaves, and any other vegetation that can catch fire from traveling embers. The more we create a lean, clean and green zone - the better we prevent fire from spreading throughout our community.Graphic of a roof. Description: FireSafe Santa Cruz. Hardening your home in an effective way to ensure your property can better withstand embers. The most vulnerable part of your property is your roof: Take the time to inspect your roof or hire someone. Make sure that gaps and cracks have been properly patched. And if you can afford it, install a Class A roof that ensures that it is made of fire-resistant material.

Graphic of Caulking gun and ember-resistant vent. Description: Napa Firewise. Now more than ever, every dollar matters. And while hardening your home can seem daunting and slightly expensive-there are several low-cost options to keep embers out should a wildfire occur and even save you some money on the electricity bill. 1. Weatherstripping is one way for you to seal gaps in your home that embers could potentially enter through. For example, if your garage door has a slight gap that is at least 1/16th of an inch or more between the door and the framework, you can seal it up by applying weatherstripping. Caulking is another great alternative for harder-to-fill gaps and cracks in walls and windows. 2. Think about installing ember- resistant vents that are constructed with tighter meshing which helps prevent embers from entering your home and are fairly low-cost.Graphics of emergency plan and emergency pack. Description: Butte County Fire Safe Council. Emergency preparedness is not just for adults-get everyone involved, including your kids. The folks at Butte County Fire Safe Council, encourage families to prepare with their kids by making an emergency plan. Identify two potential exits to leave your home in case of an emergency Practice your emergency plan with your entire family, including your pets Make sure that every member of your household has an emergency kit with critical essentials like 72 hours worth of food and water, flashlights with fresh batteries, a change of clothes and important medications.Graphic of a senior woman in a wheelchair being helped by a neighbor Description: Get to know your neighbors! Some of your community members may be elderly or rely on wheelchairs and walkers. Check in on them and ask if they have an evacuation plan and work together to make 100 feet of defensible space around your properties. Should you be warned to evacuate and have ample time, make sure you alert these neighbors and ask if they need any support on getting to a safe location. Being a good neighbor goes a long way! Together we are all working together to make our communities more resilient to the impacts of wildfire.Description: To learn how to make your community more resilient during an emergency and to learn how to start your own community Fire Safe Council. visit cafiresafecouncil.org