Spring is almost here and time to get out and start doing some yard work. As I stand in front of all of the different types of mulch at my local home repair store, I can't decide which one to use. Which one will be the safest? Which one will last the longest? Which one will look the best the longest? Which one will be the safest? I know, I already mentioned that one but being a firefighter by trade, these things cross my mind -- a lot! There are many choices to use to beautify your landscaping. There are wood chips, pine bark, pine needles, shredded rubber and more. But which one is the safest? I asked an employee in the garden section if he knew of any fire spread ratings of any of the mulches in the store and he looked at me with a blank, faraway, confused look. So, I decided to look into this myself. Mulch has many positive attributes. It reduces the water requirements of plants, cools the soil temperature, controls weeds and soil erosion, and visually enhances the landscape. But a major drawback is that many are combustible, which presents a huge problem in fire prone areas. Embers from an approaching wildfire can ignite areas where mulch is used. If these areas are adjacent to the home, it could be wind up to be a disastrous mix. An evaluation of mulch combustibility was performed in 2008 by the Carson City Fire Department, the Nevada Tahoe Conservation District, the University of California Cooperative Extension, and the University of Nevada Cooperation Extension. The results from this project offer recommendations for uses of mulches in wildfire hazard areas. Mulch can be defined as any material that is used to cover the soil surface for a variety of purposes. They can be classified as organic or inorganic. Organic mulches usually come from plant materials and include pine needles, pine bark nuggets, shredded western cedar and even ground or shredded rubber. Inorganic mulches consist of rock, gravel and brick chips. These inorganic mulches tend not to burn and are safe to use in any setting. Eight mulch treatments were evaluated for three characteristics: flame height, rate of fire spread and temperature. On the test day, the National Fire Danger Rating System value was Extreme. All eight mulches were found to be combustible but varied considerably in the three areas measured. Shredded rubber, pine needles and shredded western red cedar showed the greatest potential for all three characteristics.  Shredded rubber burned at the hottest average temperature (in excess of 630 degrees F at a height of 4 inches) and produced the greatest flame length at over 3 feet. Shredded western red cedar had the most rapid rate of spread, traveling at an average rate of 47.9 feet per minute. It also produced embers that moved beyond the plot perimeter and ignited adjacent mulch plots. Composted wood chips showed the slowest spread rate and the shortest average flame length, usually smoldering. So what does all of this mean? We have a variety of mulch choices in our landscaping – and we need to know the best uses for each choice. Immediately next to your home out to five feet, the best mulch to use is an inorganic one (rock, brick, pavers) or fire resistant plant materials that are well watered and maintained. Composted wood chips are the best choice of the materials tested for residential landscape use. However, they are organic and will still burn. They do tend to burn at the lowest speed and lowest flame length. If this material is ignited, it could still ignite siding, plant debris and other combustible materials. The smoldering of this product could also go undetected by firefighters during a wildland fire event. Shredded rubber, pine needles and shredded western red cedar can have their place in your landscaping design, just further from your home. These materials could be used selectively for landscaping at least 30' from your home. So, with this new information that I have now learned about mulch, I think I'll use some nice gravel with a few larger stones for some accent close to my house and save the other stuff to use away from the house. You never know when a fire is going to approach your home and I don't want to lose the biggest investment I'll ever make. Photo: A home in Rockland County, NY, damaged by fire starting in mulch in flower beds, from a white paper, "Mulch Fires: What Should the Label Say," by Thomas Williams and Michael Lane, at Vermont Chapter of International Association of Arson Investigators

On USDA's blog, a recent report on USDA Forest Service plant research caught my eye. “Black Fingers of Death Fungus May Lessen the Intensity of Wildland Fires,” says the headline. Wow! They had me at "Black Fingers of Death!” As humor writer Dave Barry might say, wouldn't that be a great name for a band? All kidding aside, this is exciting news for areas of the U.S. that are plagued with an invasive species known as cheatgrass. This highly flammable and hard-to-eliminate species was introduced from Europe and presents serious fire risks in the western U.S. The fungus, Pyrenophora semeniperda, is what Forest Service researchers are investigating. So far, they have found it does a number on cheatgrass seeds and prevents them from repopulating in areas where the plants have been removed. The fungus gets its heavy-metal-rock name from the appearance of finger-like, black fruiting bodies that protrude from seeds it has killed. I'll keep a lookout for more news on this bio-control method and hope to see progress in its application. Look on the Firewise website for more about plants you can use around your home that are fire-resistant and non-invasive. They might not have quite as cool names as our friendly fungus, but they'll help keep your property beautiful and safer from fire.

Albert Schweitzer once said, “Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing.” In that spirit, let me share with you some of the wonderful examples I observed from South African communities applying Firewise. From the affluent Western Cape coast to the poorest of villages in the central part of the country, South Africans are overcoming language and cultural differences, extreme poverty, high unemployment and high fire risks to use Firewise principles to their advantage. The government-sponsored Working on Fire program has used Firewise principles from the U.S. to help community residents take ownership of their fire risks, to train people on the safe use of fire, and to turn both fire problems and some of the economic problems around. Working on Fire piloted Firewise concepts in a handful of communities and were provided with seed funding last year for wage incentive programs to train wildland firefighters. This year, the government has seen the results and tripled their investment these successful, community-based programs.  Thankfully, Working on Fire has documented these pilot efforts in a series of short and powerful videos available on the Firewise South Africa website as well as on their YouTube channel, WoFAfriFireNet. Watch and learn what these folks have done in a country with far fewer financial resources than the United States. Hear from community “sparkplugs,” like Levy  Majikijela of Queen's Mercy, and from Working on Fire outreach staff like Zanele Nxumalo from KwaZulu Natal.  I hope the good examples in these videos can inspire communities in the U.S. to work together to become safer from wildfire threats.