Home Hardening Basics: 6 Steps That Help Your Home Survive a Wildfire

Most people picture a wildfire reaching their home as a wall of flame. In reality, that's not usually how houses burn. Research cited by the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) found that the vast majority of homes lost in wildfires ignite without ever touching direct flame — they're set alight by wind-blown embers that land on the roof, slip through a vent, or pile up against a wooden fence and catch.

That's actually good news. It means the things that save a home are mostly small, specific, and within your control. You don't have to fireproof a forest. You have to make your house and the few feet around it a place where an ember has nothing to ignite.

Here are six of the highest-impact steps, drawn from IBHS's research on what actually matters. Several cost little or nothing — just time and attention.

1. Clear the first five feet around your house (this is "Zone 0")

The five feet immediately around your foundation is the single most important area to get right. Embers ride the wind, lose energy when they hit your house, and settle right at the base of the walls. If they land on something that burns, the fire starts there.

So the rule for this zone is simple: nothing combustible. That means:

• No wood mulch or bark chips against the house. IBHS testing found that nearly all mulch types showed active flaming when exposed to embers, with shredded rubber, pine needles, and shredded cedar among the worst. Swap mulch in this band for gravel, rock, or bare mineral soil.
• No firewood stacked against the wall. A woodpile is a perfect ember catch and a sustained fuel source. Move it well away from the house.
• No shrubs or plants touching the siding. Even small plants can carry flame to the wall. Post-fire investigations repeatedly found vegetation in this zone acting as the pathway that brought fire to an otherwise-defended home.
• No stored combustibles — door mats, propane tanks, patio cushions, recycling bins — tucked against the house.

The payoff is real: in the 2007 Witch Creek Fire in California, 67% of homes with unmaintained vegetation were destroyed, compared with just 32% of homes that maintained their defensible space.

2. Don't let a wooden fence carry fire to your house

A combustible fence is essentially a fuse leading straight to your home. It catches an ember, ignites, and walks the flame down its length until it reaches your siding, eaves, or a nearby window — even if the house itself is built from noncombustible materials.

You don't have to replace the whole fence. The fix IBHS recommends is to make the last section — where the fence meets the house — noncombustible. A few feet of metal fencing or a masonry gate post breaks the path of fire before it arrives. The same logic applies to wooden gates and trellises attached to the structure.

3. Screen your vents with 1/8-inch metal mesh

Vents are one of the most overlooked vulnerabilities. Your attic and crawlspace have to breathe, but those same openings let embers inside — and a fire that starts inside your attic is one firefighters often can't see until it's too late.

The accepted fix is to cover vent openings with corrosion-resistant metal mesh, 1/8-inch or finer, which blocks larger embers from getting through. Newer ember- and flame-resistant vents (tested to the ASTM E2886 standard) do this even better. Don't forget the dryer vent — it should have a noncombustible flap or louver.

4. Keep your roof and gutters clean

Your roof is the largest surface exposed to falling embers, and its valleys and edges collect debris. Gutters full of dry leaves and pine needles are a ready-made fuel bed right at the roofline — IBHS documented cases where ignited gutter debris burned the roof edge.

Two things help most here: a Class A fire-rated roof covering (the most fire-resistant rating, and what most asphalt shingles, metal, and tile already provide), and keeping gutters and the roof surface clear of debris, especially heading into fire season. Noncombustible gutter covers reduce how much debris can accumulate in the first place.

5. Mind your deck

An attached deck is a structural fuel sitting right against your home. Embers fall between the boards and collect on the joists and ground underneath; once that ignites, the flames can reach your siding, windows, and the underside of your eaves.

You don't necessarily need to rebuild it. The practical move is to keep the area under and on the deck clear of combustibles — no stored firewood, no bins, no dry leaves between the boards or piled beneath. If you're replacing or building a deck, noncombustible materials for the surface and structure are the most resilient choice.

6. Create a six-inch noncombustible base at your walls

Wind-blown debris and embers pile up exactly where the wall meets the ground. If your siding is combustible and runs all the way down to the dirt, that's where small flames get their start.

IBHS recommends a vertical noncombustible clearance of at least six inches at the base of exterior walls — a strip of the foundation, masonry, or noncombustible material between the ground and where the siding begins. It's a small detail that removes a common ignition point, and it pairs naturally with clearing Zone 0 (step 1).

What to do next

You don't have to do all six at once. A sensible order:

1. Walk your Zone 0 today. Move the firewood, pull the mulch and plants back from the walls, clear anything combustible in the first five feet. This is free and the highest-impact.
2. Clean the roof and gutters before fire season peaks.
3. Screen your vents — an afternoon project with materials from any hardware store.
4. Plan the bigger items (fence section, deck cleanup, wall base) as budget and time allow.

And one step most homeowners skip: document the work as you go. Take dated before-and-after photos, keep receipts, and note what you did in each zone. Under Colorado's new wildfire insurance law (HB25-1182, effective July 1, 2026), insurers must factor your mitigation into your risk score — but only if you can prove it. The work you do today is also leverage on your insurance tomorrow.

Emberly helps Colorado homeowners and contractors turn wildfire mitigation work into organized, standards-aligned, insurance-ready proof. To be ready before the law takes effect, join the waitlist at emberly.tech.

This article summarizes general guidance from IBHS's "Home Mitigations That Matter" research. For requirements specific to your property, consult your local fire authority and the IBHS Wildfire Prepared Home standard.