On Sunday August 30, I made a very emotional phone call to my family informing them that I had just watched my home burn to the ground in Auburn CA, which was exactly four years to the day that I had lost my home in Hurricane Katrina. I couldn't believe that this could happen to me TWICE in a lifetime.
As the plumes of black smoke dissipated I was able to see a chimney through the haze. Then, as the wind shifted and the curtain of smoke lifted, I saw my home. However, only my home and no one else's! While the flames still raged all around, I knew it would only be a matter of time before my home would be consumed by this beast of a fire. Yet, it didn't happen. We were spared and our home was safe!
After the flames died down and it was safe to return we saw a scene of total devastation. Although our home did catch on fire, the firefighters were able to extinguish the blaze quickly and prevent further damage.
I spoke at length with one of the firefighters and asked HOW they were able to save our home in the midst of all this devastation. His answer was, "DEFENSIBLE SPACE!"
My home is situated on 1.3 acres and the yard gets very dry during the hot summer months around Auburn. Although the green is lovely in the spring, weeds eventually sprout high and become very dry and brittle.
I hired a pest control company to come out and spray our entire lot to manage the weeds and to also spray fire retardant. As a result, fire engines were able to park on our property since it was free of debris that might add fuel to the fire. The fire fighters were not only able to protect themselves but at the same time they were able to fight the fire and protect our home.
There's no doubt that the defensible space around our home was our saving grace. As you walk the property line you can see that the fire raged right up to the sprayed yard and stopped.
We hire this pest control company every spring to spray the weeds and to spray the fire retardant so that we may have peace of mind that our home may be safer. The cost for this service is determined by the size of the lot and most pest control companies can provide this service. Our cost was $350 for our 1.3 acres.
When we hired the pest control company, it was mainly to keep the yard maintenance to a minimum, but in the back of my mind I knew that if a fire did occur, it would at least give us a fighting chance to protect our home! I guess the old saying is true: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure! In our case, it saved our home!
And YES, I am beginning to think that I do have a natural disaster magnet stuck on my back! If you missed my Hurricane Katrina story, please click the link below to read it.
http://www.propertyid.com/platinum/ArticleView.asp?id=307
Hopefully now things will be quiet on the home front for many, many years to come. As for now, I can only pray for those who lost everything and send my heartfelt thanks to all of the brave firefighters that put themselves in harms way everyday to protect us all.