How Landscaping Can Protect Your Candlewood Lake Home Against Fire

How Landscaping Can Protect Your Candlewood Lake Home Against Fire

Beautiful and well-maintained landscaping gives your home more than just curb appeal and value - it can also be the first line of defense between your Candlewood Lake Danbury CT home and natural disasters like fire, wind, and flooding.

The most important things to remember when designing your home’s landscaping to protect it from natural disasters are:

• Choose the right plants (like low-growing plants).

• Place plants in the right areas.

• Keep your plants healthy with proper maintenance.

• Use pavers and gravel for your patio.

• Keep grass short and irrigated and remove weeds. Leaves and grass taller than 6 inches can fuel flames.

• Regularly remove and clean up leaves, branches, and dead plants which burn quickly.

• Prune dead tree branches.

Choose Fire-Resistant Plants

Some plants, grasses, and mulches are highly flammable, while others are slower to burn, which buys you more time to save your home in case of a fire.

Consider fire-resistant foundation plants for your landscaping like azaleas, hydrangeas, boxwoods, and burning bushes. Succulents have high water content and are less flammable.

Avoid using plants that contain wax, oils, or terpenes, which are highly flammable.

If you are using bark mulch, which is super flammable, make sure to keep it moist or you can choose less flammable mulch such as decorative rock, gravel, or bark-and-rock combinations.

In areas with lots of trees, wildfires are a possibility. In case of a fire, you can make it easier for firefighters to put out the blaze by setting up “fire defense zones” near your Candlewood Lake home.

Zone 1: This is the area within 30 feet of your Candlewood Lake property that gives firefighters room to put out a blaze. Putting hardscape in the first 4 feet from your home like flagstone, gravel, and pavers. For plants, choose low growing and less dense foundation shrubs such as azaleas. Keep trees away from your home. If this 30-foot zone has burning trees and shrubs during a wildfire, firefighters might decide that it is not safe to enter your home. 

Zone 2: This is the area extending 100 feet away from your home, probably more if your Candlewood Lake property is sloped. In Zone 2, all trees and shrubs should be thinned out and opened up by removing branches close to the ground. This zone is a good place for putting wide paths which can act as a firebreak.

With proper landscaping and by taking necessary precautions, you can ensure the safety of your Candlewood Lake home against fire.

Call me, Deborah Laemmerhirt now at 203-994-4297 and let me assist you with everything you need to know about selling Candlewood Lake homes. My years of experience as a preeminent real estate professional in Ridgefield, Redding, Wilton, New Fairfield, Brookfield, Bridgewater, Roxbury, Washington, Weston, Westport, Southbury, Kent, Sherman, Easton, and Bethel, CT, combined with my dedication to providing the finest service will make it easier for you to find your dream home in Connecticut.