Having a property in dry and hot Andalusia requires a little bit more thought on how to protect your house in case of a fire than if you were living in wet Northern Europe! If you live on the country side you are obliged by law to have a fire prevention plan and a self protection plan in place.
We know, it looks scary, however a bushfire is nothing to be afraid of as long as you are informed and have taken the necesary measures to protect yourself. Spanish families who have lived on the countryside all their lives have learned from their parents and grand parents how to protect themselves. We foreigners, mostly coming from wet Northern countries, are not familiar with these subjects at all!
Checklist for self protection
The main purpose of the self protection plan is to assure that your house is a safe harbour in case of a wildfire and the fire brigade can get to you. We will list here the most important measures.
1. Keep your land clear of wild growing bushes and low hanging branches.
You need to clear at least a circle of 15 m around your house, a strip of 10 m of the borders of your plot and 10 m on both sides of entrance and exit roads. Trimm the trees up, make sure there are no branches overhanging your house and strimm all dry bushes down. If you have a large plot you should create a few 30 m wide fire breaks.
2. Check the area around your house
Check the area around your house and try to keep a circle of at least 10 m free of highly flamable items. For example, pile up logs away from the house, use non-flamable pergola covers, water the garden around the house and store gas tanks inside or at a reasonable distance of the house. Make sure the roof is clean of dead leaves and other inflammable material.
3. Know what to do in case of a fire and know your exit routes
If there is a fire heading your way, know what to do. Close all door and windows, close gasbottles, put inflammable materials inside (for example garden cushions), put on your sprinkler system. If you have to leave a car behind, park it at at least 20 m from the house. Know where the emergency exit routes are and leave if you can. If you can’t leave, stay in the house on the groundfloor, as low as possible and let the authorities know how many people are in the house.
If you’ve taken measures to protect your house it will be a safe harbour and the firemen will be able to reach the house to get to you. That is the main purpose. Please note that in this blog we’ve given a first view on the most important measures you can take. There is many more you can do. Especially of you live on the countryside it might be worthwhile to take a course on how to put down a starting fire and to purchase special equipment. More information on this subject you can find on a the very informative Californian website FireWise. The info leaflet self protection against wildfires provided by the town hall of Casares is also very informative. And you can download the form for self protection plan to fill out in order to present your own self protection plan in your local town hall.
Anita Schmidt | 1st July 2013