“Shelter in place made the difference,” Rancho Santa Fe Fire Marshall Cliff Hunter told the San Diego Union Tribune. “If… the landscaping and vegetation are appropriate, the home should still be there.”
There’s a long way to go when it comes to implementing the best landscaping practices, however.
In a study released on Oct. 23, the nonprofit Natural Resources Defense Council looked at fire preparedness of the Love Creek neighborhood in Avery, a typical town in rural California.
“Not one home . . . complied with all the basic standards necessary to ensure survival from a forest fire,” the report’s authors wrote.
It would cost an average of $4,500 to clear vegetation around a single home, the study noted.
Nursery Survives Fire
Fires raging in California surrounded the perimeter of El Modeno Gardens headquarters in Irvine, but little damage occurred.
All four corners of El Modeno Gardens headquarters, which contain over 90 acres of greenhouses, shadehouses and field production were surrounded by fire, and several structures burned.
Jo-Anne Newton, Vice President of El Modeno Gardens Inc. says considering the circumstances, very little damage occurred.
“We were extremely fortunate,” said Newton. “There has been much less damage than we could have had.”
Sources: Los Angeles Times, San Diego Union Tribune, with reporting by Annalise Klingbeil
