Prepare your property. Protect what matters.

Here in Umatilla, dry grass, brush, and strong winds can bring wildfire danger close to our homes and businesses. Preparing your property before fire season gives your home a better chance and helps protect the neighbors around you.

Umatilla Rural Fire Protection District encourages residents to start at the structure and work outward. Removing combustible debris, maintaining vegetation, and addressing places where embers can collect are practical steps you can take today.

The work you do before a wildfire matters long before our engines arrive.

What Is Defensible Space?

Defensible space is the area around a structure where vegetation and other combustible materials are managed to reduce the rate and intensity of wildfire spread. It also provides space for potential fire suppression operations.

It does not mean removing every tree or stripping your property to bare ground. The goal is a maintained landscape that reduces opportunities for fire to reach your home.

These are preparation recommendations. Contact the District with questions about requirements that apply to your property.

Start With the First Five Feet

Keep the area closest to your home noncombustible.

Create and maintain a noncombustible buffer extending at least five feet from exterior walls and the outside edges of attached decks and other attachments.

• Remove combustible vegetation, weeds, leaves, needles, and accumulated debris.
• Replace bark mulch with rock, gravel, concrete, or pavers.
• Keep firewood, lumber, and other combustible storage outside this area.
• Clear combustible materials from beneath decks, porches, and stairs.
• Remove vegetation growing directly beneath eaves.
• Consider a metal gate or other noncombustible connection where a fence meets the home.

Start here first. Do not give embers an easy place to ignite beside your house.

Five to Thirty Feet: Maintain Your Landscape

Reduce the connections that allow fire to spread.

Beyond the first five feet, maintain healthy vegetation with separation between plants, trees, and structures.

• Remove dead plants, dry weeds, fallen branches, and accumulated debris.
• Keep grass mowed to less than four inches, using equipment only when conditions and restrictions allow.
• Separate shrubs and other plants so they do not create a continuous path toward the home.
• Remove ladder fuels—low vegetation and branches that can carry flames into tree canopies.
• Keep combustible vegetation at least ten feet from permanent propane tanks.
• Maintain irrigation where used and remove dead growth regularly.

A green landscape still needs maintenance. Plant selection, placement, and condition all matter.

Thirty to One Hundred Feet: Reduce Fuel Buildup

Continue outward where your property allows.

Manage vegetation and combustible materials within 100 feet of structures or to your property line, whichever is closer. The appropriate treatment depends on the property’s slope, vegetation, and other conditions.

• Remove concentrations of dead vegetation, fallen limbs, and heavy ground litter.
• Break up dense brush and continuous vegetation.
• Maintain separation between tree canopies and remove ladder fuels.
• Store firewood and lumber at least 30 feet from structures.
• Avoid creating new debris piles while clearing other areas.

Work within your property boundaries. Coordinate with neighboring owners where shared hazards need attention, and seek guidance for steep slopes or complex sites.

Trees: Keep Them Healthy and Properly Spaced

Well-maintained trees can remain part of a prepared landscape.

• Aim for at least ten feet of separation between adjacent tree crowns.
• Maintain ten feet of clearance between tree crowns and structures.
• Keep branches at least ten feet from chimney outlets.
• For established trees taller than 18 feet, remove lower limbs within six feet of the ground.
• For established trees 18 feet tall or shorter, prune lower limbs only up to one-third of the tree’s total height. Young or immature trees need different treatment.
• Remove deadwood regularly.

Use a qualified tree professional when needed. Contact the utility before planning work near power lines; do not attempt that work yourself.

Prepare the Building, Too

Defensible space and home maintenance work together.

Include these items in your property walkaround:

• Roofs and gutters: Remove leaves, needles, and debris. Repair loose or missing roofing and consider noncombustible gutter covers.
• Vents: Inspect attic, soffit, and crawlspace openings for ember entry. Appropriate ⅛-inch metal mesh or suitable ember-resistant vent products can improve protection. Preserve required airflow and follow applicable installation requirements.
• Siding and skirting: Repair damage and openings where embers could enter.
• Decks and fences: Remove debris from surfaces, beneath decks, and along fence lines.

When replacing building materials, consider noncombustible or ignition-resistant options appropriate for the project.

Help Us Find and Reach Your Property

Keep your address clearly visible from the road, preferably with reflective numbers readable from both directions.

Maintain driveways, gates, and access routes. Keep vegetation and stored materials from obstructing access, and make sure gates function properly.

Contact Umatilla Fire for questions about access dimensions, overhead clearance, or apparatus access to your property.

Keep It Ready Throughout the Year

Defensible space requires ongoing care. Wind moves leaves and debris. Grass grows back. Plants develop dead material.

Check your property before fire season, after windstorms, and regularly during dry weather. Complete vegetation work early, and follow current restrictions when using equipment.

A little maintenance throughout the year is more manageable than a major cleanup during dangerous conditions.

Start With One Improvement Today

Walk around your home and look closely at the first five feet. Then check beneath the deck, along the fence, and around your storage areas.

Choose one task. Finish it. Build from there.

For help identifying priorities or finding assessment resources, contact Umatilla Rural Fire Protection District.

Give Your Home a Better Chance

Defensible space can improve a structure’s chances of surviving wildfire, but it cannot eliminate the threat. It does not guarantee that firefighters can safely defend a property.

Prepare your household to evacuate and follow emergency instructions promptly.

Our goal is to help you protect the place you call home—and the people who make it home.

Prepare now. Maintain it together. Help us keep Umatilla safe.