Wildfire Preparedness

Fire is a part of Poway's natural ecology and history has demonstrated that fire will periodically affect the region. The City's climate, vegetation, topography, and large amount of open space puts the community at risk for wildfires. The state has designated more than 75% of the City's geography as a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone and other parts of the City have a high risk of wildfire due to the surrounding open space. This risk grows in the summer and fall seasons when Santa Ana winds are typically present.

Our Poway firefighters constantly train and prepare to best protect our community during a wildfire. And we are ready to go at a moment's notice. But no matter how prepared we are to protect and assist our community during a wildfire, we can't do it alone. There are things you can do to understand the threat and prepare for it. Every step you take in advance reduces risk to you, your family, and your home whether firefighters are available to help protect you or not. Through planning and preparation before a fire event, you can be ready for wildfire.

Use the Ready, Set, Go action plan framework to prepare yourself, your family, and your home for wildfire. Watch the short videos prepared by the Poway Fire Department for quick tips on wildfire preparedness and review the below information to be better prepared for wildfire. Want to learn more about what you can do to prepare for wildfire? The City of Poway Fire Department offers an educational Wildfire Safety and Evacuation Awareness Workshop each year in May and August, learn more on our Community Education page.

Get Ready

There are three ways your home can be exposed to wildfire: through flying embers, by radiant heat exposure, and from direct flame contact. Research has shown that embers and small flames are the primary cause of home ignitions during a wildfire. Embers are burning pieces of wood or vegetation that can be carried more than a mile on the wind to cause spot fires and ignite homes, debris, and other objects. 

Get ready for wildfire by taking steps to create an ignition-resistant home. To reduce the chance of home ignition from an approaching wildfire, reduce flammable items within the first five feet of your home. Learn more about the Home Ignition Zone and steps that you can take to harden your home and manage your vegetation for improved fire resistance.

Get Your Family Set

Be prepared to act before a wildfire threatens your home. Get set by creating an evacuation plan that considers all members of your household. Put together an emergency supply kit in case of immediate evacuation. Be sure to register for Alert San Diego to receive reverse-911 evacuation notifications. Visit our Disaster Preparedness page to learn more about steps you can take to be prepared.

Be Prepared to Go

Give your household the best chance of surviving a wildfire by being ready to go and evacuating early. When a wildfire threatens, if time allows take important steps to prepare for an evacuation. Visit our Disaster Preparedness page for more information on evacuations.

Understanding Wildfire

Understanding how a wildfire grows in size and intensity can help you to understand how a wildfire might spread to your property and home. Fire behavior is affected by fuel, weather, and topography. The alignment of these three features is what leads to the extreme wildfire behavior that can overwhelm first responders and lead to destruction in the community.

Fuel

Fuel is a requirement for any fire to burn, in a wildfire the surrounding vegetation is the primary fuel. Light fuels, such as grass or pine needles, will ignite quickly but will not sustain fire for a long period of time. Heavier fuels, like shrubs, logs, and building components will require more heat to ignite but will sustain fire longer.

Dead or dying plants and trees are more vulnerable to fire because of their low moisture content. Dry fuels will ignite and burn more easily than the same fuels when they have a higher moisture content.

Dense vegetation that is planted close together will burn hotter, adding intensity to the wildfire and increasing the speed with which it spreads. Continuous vegetation, with little or no spacing, will act as a wick to carry fire from group of vegetation to the next. This can occur both horizontally and vertically.

Fuel is the only component of fire behavior that we can influence. It is possible to reduce the risk of wildfire spreading to your property by choosing to fire resistant plantings, removing dead or dying vegetation, and creating space between your ornamental landscape and your home.

Weather

Hot, dry, and windy weather increases the potential of a wildfire with extreme behavior. Temperatures greater than 85 degrees and humidity less than 25% can begin to pre-heat and dehydrate vegetation to bring plants and trees closer to their ignition point. Strong winds can intensify a wildfire and push the flames into adjacent fuel causing the fire to spread rapidly. Embers can be carried on the wind up to one mile ahead of the main fire to start small fires in your ornamental landscaping and on your home.

Santa Ana season routinely brings higher temperatures, low humidity, and strong winds to our community. When dangerous fire weather is anticipated, the National Weather Service will issue a red flag warning to the community. When a red flag warning is issued, it should prompt you and your family to take additional precautions.

Topography (Terrain)

Unless pushed by wind, the topography where a fire is burning will directly influence how the fire spreads and grows. Fire will typically burn uphill with the heat and flames from the origin pre-heating and dehydrating the fuels on the uphill slope. The steeper the slope, the faster the fire will move uphill.

The aspect of slope, or the orientation of slope to the sun's direct exposure, is another important factor of topography. Slopes facing the south and southwest receive more sun causing the vegetation to pre-heat and lose moisture. North facing slopes will typically have denser vegetation that may ignite more slowly but burn with greater intensity once started.

When steep slopes come together to form canyons or drainages, the topography will amplify the fire behavior. These features will funnel the winds and amplify the heat of a fire leading to more dangerous fire behavior.