Farmington wildfire preparedness guidance

How it works

The City of Farmington’s Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) page explains wildfire risk in and around the city and provides a WUI map to help residents understand where homes and vegetation overlap. The map was put together by the City of Farmington Planning Division with help from the Farmington Fire Department, San Juan County, and the Bureau of Land Management Farmington Field Office.

The page says homeowners can reduce wildfire risk by strengthening the home itself and by managing the area around the house, especially the Home Ignition Zone (HIZ), which the National Fire Protection Association describes as the area up to 200 feet from the foundation. It emphasizes that embers are a primary cause of WUI home fires and can travel more than a mile.

What the page recommends

Farmington says a home’s roofing material and the defensible space around it are the primary determinants of whether it survives wildfire. It recommends using fire-resistive materials, preferably Class A, and a fire-resistant roof rather than wood or shake shingles.

The page gives concrete homeowner actions for three zones:

• Immediate zone: clean roofs and gutters, repair loose or missing shingles, fix damaged window screens, install 1/8-inch metal mesh screening on vents, move flammables away from walls, remove materials stored under decks or porches, keep flammable debris at least 50 feet from the house, and use fire-resistant building materials when possible.
• Intermediate zone: clear vegetation from under propane tanks, create fuel breaks with driveways, paths, patios, and decks, keep lawns and native grasses to four inches, remove ladder fuels, prune trees six to ten feet from the ground, space tree crowns at least eighteen feet apart, and keep mature canopy no closer than ten feet to a structure.
• Extended zone: dispose of heavy ground litter and debris, remove dead plant material, remove vegetation next to sheds and outbuildings, and thin trees so those 30-60 feet from the home have at least 12 feet between canopy tops and those 60-100 feet from the home have at least 6 feet.

Landscaping and training resources

The page also explains Firewise landscaping principles, such as using high-moisture, low-resin, slow-growing plants, planting in small clusters, breaking up fuel continuity with rock or gravel, and maintaining plants so they retain Firewise qualities. It links to free NFPA online training and an augmented reality wildfire risk simulator.

What this is not

This page is informational only. It does not state any grant amount, rebate, matching funds, deadline, or city-performed mitigation service.