It is HIGHLY recommended that trees in your
“Defensible Space” be thinned out.

The area beyond the “Defensible Space” should also be thinned especially if it’s your property.

Thinning allows the remaining trees to regain their space along the crown. It allows the stands to recover from the stress of overcrowding, making them less succeptible to insects and disease and accelerating their growth. Reducing stand density becomes obvious in the event of a fire.

Thinned stands carry less “fuel load” for a fire to sustain itself and the healthier trees are more able to resist fire damage. To reduce the amount of fuel available to burn, reduces fire temperatures and generally less damage to trees that are involved. One of the ways small fires tend to get larger is to get into the canopy. Once there, the fire temperatures soar. One method is to reduce “ladder-fuels” to the fire by removing dead branches in the lower sections of the tree’s trunk and eliminating saplings and small dense growth.