Developing Land in Florida with Fire in Mind: Recommendations for Designers, Developers, and Decision Makers1
Fire in Florida
Florida's valuable natural landscape provides us with clean air and water, a diversity of wildlife, and beautiful surroundings. As more homes are built in Florida, it will be increasingly important to protect and enhance as much natural land as possible. Because fire is an essential ingredient in maintaining Florida's natural landscapes, it is critical to design developments that enable prescribed burning of natural areas while protecting the community from wildfire.
In 1998, fire destroyed or damaged 330 homes and businesses in Florida. Losses totaled more than $800 million. In some places, homes were saved by fire fighting crews, or where the right decisions were made by builders or designers (Figure 1). With advance planning, architects and developers can do a great deal to reduce wildfire risk for those living and working in Florida.
Developments can be designed to help residents live safely with fire in Florida. This home is protected by breaks in the ground-level vegetation between the yard and neighboring undeveloped land.
Are You Building in a Fire-Prone Area?
There are several factors that will help you determine if you are building in a fire-prone area: (1) land use in and around your development, and (2) the vegetation of the ecosystem in which you are building. Follow these guidelines to assess your development's risk of fire.
Assessing Risk From Wildfire:
Step 1: Land Use
If the new development is in an urban area or in a suburban area surrounded by other developments, it is probably at low risk.
If the new development is in or near an area of undeveloped or wooded land, it could be at some risk for wildfire. Go to the next step to further assess the risk.
Step 2: Vegetation
Walk or drive around the property that is being developed. What kinds of vegetation are on the property? Will the open spaces have thick woods? Will there be undeveloped land next to buildings? Consider both the internal and external natural areas as you further assess the risk from wildfire.
Vegetation/Ecosystem Type
Hardwood Hammocks -- These ecosystems with leafy trees rarely burn. They generally make shady, fire-safe home sites.
Longleaf Pine/Turkey Oak Sandhills -- Natural fire frequencies of 2 to 4 years lead to relatively cool fires, maintain the pine forest, and promote flowering of grasses and herbs. This ecosystem thrives with frequent fires, and is ideal for prescribed burning compatible with development.
Pine/Palmetto Flatwoods -- Natural fire frequencies of 2 to 4 years maintain grasses and herbs and prevent shrubs from dominating the forest. Flatwoods fires are of medium intensity and can move quickly if not maintained with periodic fire.
Pine Rocklands -- Natural fire frequencies of 3 to 7 years maintain this South Florida flatwoods-like ecosystem, and keep hardwood hammock species from crowding out rare plants.
Sand Pine/Oak Scrub -- Longer natural fire frequencies of 10 to 60 years result in high-intensity, replacement fires required to maintain this unique ecosystem. The hot fires in scrub are less compatible with development.
Wetlands -- Natural fire frequencies for wetlands vary from 10 to 100 years, promoting flowering of grasses and herbs while reducing shrub competition. Development can successfully border periodically burned wetlands.
If you are building in an undeveloped ecosystem that experiences frequent fire, you can adapt the design to facilitate the use of prescribed fire as a management tool and defend the development more easily from wildfire.
Fire Behavior
To protect developments from wildfire, it helps to understand how fire behaves. Two main facets of fire behavior in Florida are fuels and weather; they determine whether the result is a damaging wildfire.
Ground-level fuels are the primary means by which wildfire spreads through a forest. These fuels include dead materials such as dried grasses, weeds, and pine needles. Ground-level fuels in Florida also include living green vegetation like palmettos, shrubs, grasses, plants and small trees. Many of these plants are adapted to fire: they burn easily and they resprout quickly after fire. When periodic fire occurs, vegetation stays at manageable levels. Without periodic fire, plants grow more densely and dead material accumulates. Under certain conditions, these built-up fuels support the rapid spread of dangerous wildfire. If a fire starts in a forest with heavy ground-level fuels, the fire can climb up vines or small trees, called ladder fuels, and get into the tops, or crowns, of tall pine trees. In windy conditions, a fire spreads quickly through a forest with dense vegetation. The worst wildfires of 1998 were crown fires or intensely hot ground fires in heavy accumulations of palmetto shrubs and pine needles.
Weather factors that influence fire behavior include wind, relative humidity, temperature, rainfall, and atmospheric stability. An unstable atmosphere, gusty or down drafting winds, low humidity, high temperatures, and drought conditions can contribute to fast-moving fires. Generally, wildfires burn out of control when there is a combination of heavy fuels and several dangerous weather conditions. In 1998, drought, low humidity, and gusty winds combined with high temperatures and heavy fuels to generate devastating wildfires.
Recommendations for Designers, Developers, and Decision Makers
People enjoy living close to nature in Florida. The natural ecosystems of Florida provide many valuable services, including clean air and water, soil stabilization, wildlife habitat, flood control, crop pollination, and a beautiful and inspiring places to live. People highly value these natural surroundings. As a result, many new developments include green spaces, trails, and natural vegetation.
The trick for new developments will be to help people safely live or conduct business within a natural landscape that includes periodic fire, to generate homeowner support for the use of prescribed fire, and to reduce wildfire risk. Designers and developers can use a three-pronged approach to accomplish these goals:
Design developments that are easy to defend against wildfire;
Design "fire-wise" structures and landscapes; and,
Design developments to accommodate prescribed fire to mimic natural fire and reduce fuels.
Assessing Wildfire Risk
First, be sure that you have assessed the risk of wildfire for your development. Regions and ecosystems of Florida are being rated for their wildfire danger based on a number of criteria, including vegetation community (fuels) and rainfall patterns. The Florida Division of Forestry (DOF) began this effort in 1999 with a pilot project in North Florida. Check with the DOF or a local fire department if you need help assessing wildfire risk.
The following recommendations apply to subdivisions, businesses, and individual homes being built in or adjacent to high-risk, fire-prone ecosystems. Developments being built in low-risk areas should continue to be designed for aesthetic appeal, water and energy savings, and nature conservation.
Planning and Designing Defensible Developments in Fire-Prone Areas
Design community scale defensible space to include buffer zones or fuel breaks around and within the development. Ponds, wetlands, streets, golf courses, utility corridors, and mowed areas may serve as fuel breaks. There should be a 50-foot-wide area of shrub islands and thinned trees along any edges of the subdivision adjacent to fire-prone undeveloped land. Although walls or solid fences may provide some fire protection, they prevent the free movement of wildlife.
Design green space so that fuels can be periodically removed by prescribed fire or mechanical means. Include ongoing fuel reduction measures (burning, mowing, thinning) in green space and rights-of-way management plans. Conduct a pre-construction prescribed burn and thinning of pine trees (DOF can assist). Maintaining one larger green space (rather than scattered small areas) provides for more efficient fuel management, better wildlife habitat, and development of a recreational area for residents.
Provide, develop, or identify a water source for fighting wildfires. Strategically placed storm-water drainage and retention features can be used by fire fighting crews. Equip water features with dry hydrants. Provide 16-foot clearance on access paths to within 10 feet of water features for heavy fire-fighting equipment.
Provide at least two access routes in and out of a development, preferably on opposite sides.
Provide noncombustible metal street signs, sign posts, and house numbers visible from 100 feet.
Request review of development plans by DOF or local fire departments in order to provide the most appropriate levels of fire safety. Include projected fire protection needs in plans.
Have an emergency wildfire management plan for your development. Contact the DOF or local fire department to discuss the elements of a wildfire management plan, which might include maps of fuel breaks and water sources, evacuation plans, and designated safety zones.
Consider placing your development in a low-risk ecosystem.
Building Fire-Wise Structures
Construct large developments in phases to avoid prolonged exposure of homes to vacant or overgrown neighboring lots.
For lots adjacent to undeveloped areas, design a 30-foot-wide and 10-foot-tall space around buildings free of intervening fences, pools, and septic systems for fire fighting equipment access. Tall trees and fire-resistant landscape plants can be maintained in this zone, especially on the east and west sides of buildings to conserve energy.
Avoid using combustible or heat-sensitive building materials such as vinyl or wood siding and soffits, vinyl soffit vents, or wood shingles. Brick, concrete, rock, stucco, or metal (roofing or screen soffit vents) are preferred building materials for homes adjacent to fire-prone undeveloped areas.
Put spark-arresting screens on chimneys.
Provide hose bibs on all sides of the structure.
Provide a fire-safe area for combustible items -- propane tanks, woodpiles, or flammable materials -- at least 30 feet from each building.
Managing Developments for Maximum Natural Areas and Minimum Wildfire Risk
To protect both developments and natural resources, cooperate with adjoining land owners to promote the use of prescribed fire for reducing fuels within your development and on adjacent undeveloped lands.
Design the development to accommodate fuel management or prescribed fire on a regular basis, before times of high fire danger. Work with DOF or a professional forester to perform a risk assessment and write a fuel management plan.
In community covenants and restrictions, include wildfire prevention measures governing the appropriate placement of structures, management of vegetation, maintenance of defensible space, burning of yard waste, and storage of combustible materials.
Inform and prepare residents and businesses for the steps that are being taken to manage fuels and prevent wildfire, such as prescribed burning.
Before spring wildfire season, take extra precautions such as burning or mowing fuel breaks, clearing accumulated vegetation from around developments, and ensuring clear access to water sources.
Seek insurance credits for wildfire risk reduction.
Assign long-term fire prevention and management responsibilities for the community to guarantee benefits into the future.
Keys to Fire-Safe Development
Fuels and weather are major influences on fire in Florida. We can't control the weather, so management of vegetative fuels and building of fire-safe neighborhoods are important keys to wildfire prevention in fire-prone areas. Planners, developers, designers, architects, builders, wildfire specialists, fire fighters, and regulators should cooperate to establish guidelines for fire-safe communities in Florida.
Another key to wildfire prevention is cooperation between owners of neighboring parcels of land. Wildfire prevention is bigger than any single property. If both your company and neighboring landowners manage vegetative fuels with prescribed fire, both your development and the neighboring natural resources will be better protected from fire risk. If only one of you manages vegetative fuels, both of you may still be at risk of wildfire. Just as wildfires can come from undeveloped areas to threaten homes and businesses, fires often start from carelessness in human developments and spread to threaten valuable natural resources on neighboring lands.
Balancing the Risks with the Costs
Some wildfire prevention measures may result in increased energy or water costs, loss of privacy, or reduced aesthetic values for potential homeowners. For developments in fire-prone areas, these additional costs are insignificant compared to the potential loss of lives and property. Recent trends show that buyers are willing to pay more for a home near a natural area or open space. The cost of preventing wildfire is another form of insurance that should be included in the purchase price of a fire-safe home or business.
Other wildfire protection measures may be free or nearly free of cost. There are many low- or no-cost alternatives for achieving wildfire prevention objectives that also may enhance the value of a development. Planning for defensible space around a development can still allow for trees and shrubs that provide shade and attract wildlife. Rather than removing all vegetation, developers can maintain a canopy of large trees while reducing the ground-level vegetative fuels that can carry a fire. Landscape architects and designers can substitute less-flammable native plants to gain fire prevention, water conservation, and wildlife habitat benefits. Designing the development to allow necessary features (roads, parking, water retention ponds, etc.) to double as fire breaks will reduce wildfire vulnerability at little or no cost.
With these guidelines in mind, you will invent other creative ways to achieve the many goals that homeowners value: wildfire prevention, energy and water conservation, native plants and wildlife habitat, and a beautiful place to work and live.
For more information, contact the nearest county Cooperative Extension or Florida Division of Forestry office.
Footnotes
This document is FOR 63, one of a series of the School of Forest Resources and Conservation, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida. First published November 1999. Minor Revision: April 2002. Reviewed August 2006: Please visit the EDIS Web site at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu.
Martha C. Monroe is Assistant Professor, School of Forest Resources and Conservation; and Susan Marynowski, Program Coordinator. School of Forest Resources and Conservation, Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, 32611. This publication was produced by the University of Florida with assistance from a grant from the Advisory Council on Environmental Education of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
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