How to Protect Your House From Wildfires:

I remember playing outside nonstop during the summer when I was a kid. That’s a luxury my kids can no longer afford. Between heatwaves being a regular occurrence, and the increased prevalence of wildfires across the U.S. and Canada dragging down air quality, outdoors is no longer as “safe” as it used to be. Nor, for that matter, is indoors, if you’re in one of countless communities across North America that has been devastated by wildfires in recent years. Which is why making your house more fire resistant is a smart move for ANY parent looking to protect property from fire – not to mention a good way to help keep insurance premiums in check.

For many families, their home is their biggest investment. Losing that investment to a freak fire is not only emotionally devastating for parents and children alike, but recovering and rebuilding after a wildfire can take more years and money than you could ever imagine. Why on earth wouldn’t you want to spare your family from that trauma if at all possible?

Even if you don’t live in a particularly fire-prone area, all it takes is one unusual dry spell, or an uncharacteristic season or two of drought, to put your family’s home at risk. This is especially true if you live in an area where wildfires are less common. Fortunately, there are plenty of things you CAN do to make your home more fire resistant. Wildfire home hardening can be a cost-effective part of routine home maintenance and upgrades. Whether you’re wondering how to build a fireproof house, or want pointers on wildfire home hardening for future wildfire home protection, these tips will get you started.

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Wildfire Home Hardening 101

When thinking about protecting your home from burning during a wildfire, you need to think about all the possible ways fire can come into contact with your home, then harden those access points so they’re more fire resistant:

1. Make your exterior walls fireproof

One of the easiest and most affordable ways to do this is by replacing your wooden clapboards or vinyl siding with a fireproof surface, such as stone veneer. Whether you’re choosing stone veneer for modern houses in Canada or looking to upgrade your classic wood-frame house in the U.S., you can’t go wrong with stone veneer.

Although the composition of stone veneer surfaces varies – some are actual thin slices of stone, while others are composites of crushed stone, cement, and/or concrete – they are generally all much more “ignition-resistant” than more traditional building materials. Stone veneer exteriors are also considered an eco-friendly building choice, whether you’re renovating your home or building a new one from scratch.

And besides their fire resistance, properly-installed stone veneer requires very little maintenance. Plus, the timeless beauty of stone exteriors can really boost your home’s curb appeal and overall value. According to a 2024 trade report, refinishing one’s home with stone veneer was the home improvement project with the third highest return on investment in the U.S., boosting home values by 153% of the project’s overall cost.

When looking to install a stone veneer exterior, it’s critical to hire professionals with experience in this area rather than trying to DIY it. How fire resistant and durable your new stone facing is depends heavily on proper installation, including the appropriate fire-resistant sublayer.

2. Fireproof your roof

Another super-easy way to make your home more fire resistant is installing an ignition-resistant roof. Given how much winds help wildfires spread over long distances by distributing sparks, this makes total sense.

Just like the exterior walls of your home, more traditional options for roofing materials – especially wooden shingles, but also asphalt shingles – may not protect your home from fire as well as you’d like. While some asphalt shingles are classified as highly fire resistant (Class A), many others are less so (Class B and C), just like other building materials.

Next time it’s time to replace your roof, look for either asphalt fiberglass shingles, which carry a Class A rating, or else other fire-resistant options like metal sheeting or cement shingles. Also make sure your roof and gutters remain free of debris; there are no gaps in your roof or where roof meets walls that could allow sparks to enter; and any wood around the edges of windows or skylights is covered with metal flashing. (Installing gutter guards to keep debris from building up in your gutters can help with this.)

3. Create a fire perimeter around your home

This one may be the hardest for some of us, especially those of us in non-fire-prone areas with lots of large, old trees. But especially if you live in a drier region that has seen increasing fire risk in recent years, this should be a no-brainer.

It’s really quite simple: Trees and shrubs are like giant would-be torches, waiting to catch those sparks and embers from fires and transmit them to your house. If you live in the middle of a heavily wooded area surrounded by trees on all sides, and a wildfire passes through, those trees are likely going to catch fire – and are all the more likely to pass that fire on to your dwelling.

Or what about that external fuel tank? If your heating oil or propane tank is right outside – and right up against – your home, that’s another great big fuel source just sitting there waiting to ignite.

This is why you want to think about having what fire experts call a defensible perimeter around your home. Part of this is just common-sense keeping your home’s yard and garden in good shape. Keep your lawn mowed, your bushes and trees trimmed (especially if the latter overhang your home), and avoid having piles of brush, wood, or trash up against your home. Part of it is thinking carefully about outbuildings (are they also fire-hardened? and how close are they to the main dwelling?), considering fire-resistant landscaping (for example, having noncombustible materials like crushed stone under decks and stairs), and making sure your property has easy access to fire companies (and they can find you on the map!).

Also don’t forget about those larger maintenance projects we sometimes avoid because they are such a hassle. If you’ve got a sick or dead tree on your property, just get it removed already.

4. Check the smaller openings where fire can enter

A fireproof roof and siding aren’t going to do you any good if sparks fly into your attic through a vent, or enter your house at the eaves. That’s why it’s important to remember these areas in your fire-hardening plan.

Did you know that a spark can enter your attic through a vent opening as small as 1/8 inch? And attics aren’t the only places where our homes vent to the exterior. To block embers from entering vents, cover all vents with fire-resistant mesh guards; the same goes for soffits and under the eaves of your house, and for areas around windows.

And what about windows? If you’ve got older windows, this is yet another reason to upgrade them to more energy-efficient ones already. Double- and triple-pane windows, especially those made with tempered glass, are much less likely to shatter in the heat of a fire than older single pane windows; and if a window remains intact, it can continue to serve as a barrier between the fire outside your home and your home’s interior. Likewise, that clearing away all brush includes large shrubs and bushes that grow right up against your house’s windows; consider trimming them back or replacing them with more fire-resistant vegetation.

5. Screen your chimney and check the flue

If you have a wood-burning fireplace or stove, the chimney where smoke exits can just as easily let wildfire sparks into your home during a fire. Just like with other vents, make sure the openings are covered with mesh to prevent sparks from coming in (or embers from escaping out your chimney and onto your roof, your neighbor’s roof, or the nearby forest!).

And during the off-season, be sure to close the flue so sparks can’t come in. (Just remember to open it again before it’s time to start that first fire of the cooler weather. Or even better, just get a heat-radiating gas fireplace installed, like we did.)

Finally, once you’ve taken all these home hardening steps to make your home more fire resistant, don’t forget to tell your insurance company! Especially if you live in an area considered higher risk for wildfires, your efforts may earn you a nice discount on your homeowner’s insurance.

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