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Home Hardening

Direct flames, radiant heat, and flying embers can threaten your home in dry, hot, and flammable conditions. With Big Sky's hot, dry summers, it's important to understand the risks and be proactive about preparing (hardening) your home for a wildfire. 

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Home Hardening is the process of modifying your home and its surroundings to reduce its vulnerability and risk that oncoming wildfires will damage it.  This includes upgrading materials, design alterations, and integrating electrification to limit ignition sources. 

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During the home hardening process, you should also create defensible space. Defensible space is the buffer area between a structure and the surrounding area that, when properly implemented, can stop or slow a wildfire from spreading to your home. It also protects firefighters when defending your home.

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Home hardening and defensible space both improve your insurance rate and ensure continued insurance. Since 2020 in Big Sky, many property owners have lost insurance coverage due to conditions that are not fire-adapted. Preparing your property for wildfire with home hardening and defensible space will increase the probability of continued insurance. 

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Creating Defensible Space

• Zone 1 (Immediate Zone): Keep this area (0-5) feet from your home) free from all flammable materials, including dead leaves, debris, and flammable plants. Use hardscaping like gravel or stone in this zone and transfer firewood to zone 2 for storage.
• Zone 2 (Intermediate Zone): Reduce the density of trees and plants, prune branches to keep the ground clear, and create breaks in vegetation to prevent fire spread. 
• Zone 3 (Extended Zone): Reduce fuel potential like outbuildings and propane tanks. Manage trees to maintain wide spacing, remove any dead wood or leaf litter, and ensure that lower branches are pruned to prevent ground fires from climbing into the tree canopy. 

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According to Headwaters Economics’ Community Planning Assistance for Wildfire, these are the top priorities for home hardening:

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Best Practices for Different Components

Roofing: 

Use metal, clay, or tile roofing and ensure gaps are properly sealed to prevent embers from entering the roof. It’s important that you also clear flammable materials, such as leaves and other debris, from your roof to prevent easy ignition. 

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Siding: 

Use non-flammable siding like stone, stucco, fiber, cement board, or treated wood with fire-resistant properties. 

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Vents: 

Incorporate non-combustible mesh screens (⅛”) over vents to block embers. Verify that your ventilation is working correctly and that there’s enough airflow through your home to promote good indoor air quality.

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Windows: 

Implement dual-pane windows with a layer of tempered glass to prevent shattering upon contact with flames, and add screens to all opening windows to defend against embers. Additionally, avoiding large or many windows near vegetation can help reduce vulnerabilities to radiant heat. 

Decks and Patios: 

Build decks with fire-resistant materials and remove all flammable material from beneath the deck.

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Garage: 

Weather stripping should be applied around the garage door to seal areas where embers could enter through.

For more information on specific home-hardening elements, visit Ready for Wildlife .

Priorities

1. Fire-resistant roofing (Metal, tile, Class-A rated shingles)
2. Seal gaps and install ember-resistant vents
3. Create defensible space 
4. Tempered or double-pane windows and fire-resistant doors
5. Fire-resistant siding

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Electrify for Safety 

As you harden your home against wildfires, consider the role of electrification in enhancing your safety. Transitioning from gas to electric systems, such as induction cooktops and electric heating, eliminates the risks associated with gas leaks and open flames during wildfire events. Electrification also enables easier integration with solar-powered backup systems, ensuring continuous power when utility grids are compromised. 

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Want to learn more about wildfire risks and preventative actions in Big Sky? Check out the links below. Big Sky Wildfire Hub from Fire Adapted Big Sky Wildfire Hub Creating a Fire Adapted Montana from the Department of Natural Resources, and Conservation Home Retrofit Guide from Ready For Wildfire 

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Stay in the know during wildfire season by signing up for notifications through Everbridge.

Additional Resources: 

WildfireRisk.org Ignition Resistant Homes

How to Prepare for a Wildfire

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