Wildfire Spreads In Three Ways

When neighbors grasp how creating their defensible space and hardening their homes helps protect people next door, the whole community becomes more resistant to wildfire.

The Fire Department is curating information so all residents understand the “why” behind the FireSafe Berkeley campaign. At the bottom of each page are recommended links for neighbors ready to take a deeper dive.

Ember Storm

Embers are small pieces of burning material that can travel more than a mile ahead of a wildfire. Embers could start spot fires when they land on combustible materials, such as leaves in your gutter or plants under your windows.

Radiant Heat

Radiant heat generated from burning fences, an adjacent home, or plants within 5’ of a home can ignite a house without flames ever making contact. This is particularly challenging in densely populated areas with structures positioned within 30 feet of one another, where the heat from one burning home can ignite the next.

Direct Flame

While the flaming front of a wildfire is often not hot enough to ignite a house, plants or other combustibles within 5’ ignited by direct flame can ignite a home.

More Wildfire Spread Resources for a Deeper Dive

  • [Download Here] The goal to learn and increase preparedness for future incidents. This study focuses on the life safety aspects of the Camp Fire incident: notification, evacuation, traffic, temporary refuge areas, rescues, and fatalities. A total of 31 temporary refuge areas were implemented during the incident, involving more than 1200 civilians. Further, 198 specific evacuation assistance / rescue events were identified, involving at least 1000 civilians.

  • [Download Here] The purpose of this report is to use the lessons learned from the NIST Camp Fire case study to present a methodology and other considerations about WUI fire incidents that can be used by small and intermediate-sized WUI communities to help develop notification and evacuation plans.

  • [Download] A CWPP is a strategic plan typically developed by a local fire department, federal and state land managers, local governments, and communities. The CWPP will provide a roadmap to mitigate the risks posed by wildfires including goals for improving wildfire response, community preparedness, fuel management, infrastructure, ignition reduction, home hardening, and more. Input from the public and other stakeholders will help inform priorities.

  • {Click Here] During a bushfire, embers will reach your home long before the flames do. Ember attacks are the most common way that houses catch fire.

    This short animation explains what embers are and how they are able to travel long distances and start new fires.

    You will get a sense for what it feels like to be caught in an ember attack and understand some of the reasons fire services recommend that you leave a bushfire risk area early, before a fire starts.

    Leaving early is always your safest option.

  • [Download Here] Structural losses in wildfires have been attributed to exposures from embers (firebrands) and fire (radiation and/or convection). As structural losses continue to increase, there is need for a comprehensive hazard assessment and mitigation methodology to harden appropriate structures and parcels effectively and efficiently against ember and fire exposures.

    The science-based methodology in this report uses the knowledge collected from post-fire field observations spanning over a dozen years and tens of thousands of hours of field data integration and analysis, and utilizes the latest technical knowledge gained from laboratory and large-scale research in fire propagation and hazard mitigation in the WUI.

    The study is the result of a sixteen-month collaborative effort between NIST, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE), and the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS).

  • [Click Here] On a brisk November morning in 2018, a fire sparked in a remote stretch of canyon in Butte County, California, a region nestled against the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountains. Fueled by a sea of tinder created by drought, and propelled by powerful gusts, the flames grew and traveled rapidly. In less than 24 hours, the fire had swept through the town of Paradise and other communities, leaving a charred ruin in its wake.