A Colorado couple invested in wildfire protection for their home. It paid off
Months before a wildfire, a couple had taken steps to prevent fires from reaching their house.
When the Stone Canyon Fire raged near Lyons, Colorado, last year, Nick Schneider and his wife saw most of their property go up in flames.
But the couple’s home itself was spared – thanks to efforts they had taken to prevent fires from reaching the house.
Schneider: “There was a pretty clear line, and everything outside that line was totally burned. And then there was a zone where, by design, the fire ran out of fuel.”
Just months before the fire, the couple had contacted a group called Wildfire Partners, which helps Colorado homeowners prepare for wildfires.
Schneider says the organization sent an expert to inspect their property and worked with them to identify steps they could take to help protect their home.
Their plan included trimming tall grass and bushes that would fuel a fire, installing ground cover like stone and gravel, and moving flammable items like firewood away from the house.
Schneider says those efforts paid off.
Schneider: “I’m 100% sure that if we had not made those steps with wildfire partners that our house would have burned down.”
As the climate warms, the risk of wildfires is growing. But as Schneider’s experience shows, people can take action to help protect their homes.