Landscape Architect Articles

Zone 0 and Fire Safe Landscapes 202501-31-23 | 10

Rebuilding For Fire Safety Webinar August 14

by Rebecca Radtke, LCMP

TLE-Anaheim-2025

Register for the upcoming LandscapeWebinars.org session titled, "Rebuilding For Fire Safety" with Research Director of the Institute for Urban and Regional Development at UC Berkeley. The course will be recorded and available OnDemand.

Click here to register: https://landscapewebinars.org/landscape-webinars/webinar/rebuilding-for-fire-safety

Learn about recent fire research by the Insurance Institute for Building and Home Safety to best design in a way that reduces fire danger.

Webinar Description:
Recent research from the Institute for Building and Home Safety (IBHS) shows that putting any vegetation in Zone 0, within 5 feet of a structure, can ignite a building if the plants catch fire. Wooden fences can also carry fire to a building. What kinds of designs can limit these risks, while creating spaces that a homeowner enjoys and that add curb appeal to a property? This session will present IBHS research using demonstration videos, then introduce strategies for planting and fences that respect and reduce the risk of fire. Examples will be provided from California. Neighborhood scale interventions will also be discussed, but the focus will be on site-scale interventions to reduce fire risk. Helpful online resources from California counties that have experience with fire will also be included.

Learning Objectives:
1. Become familiar with recent fire research by the Insurance Institute for Building and Home Safety
2. Understand what types of plants and patterns of planting can be used to reduce fire danger around a home.
3. See examples of how to design Zone 0 (within 5 feet of a structure) without plants.

Kristina Hill
Kristina Hill develops research on design strategies for urban adaptation to fires and flooding. Her work identifies synergies between infrastructure investments, biodiversity and environmental justice. She recently organized a design competition with the Institute for Building and Home Safety, to design fire-safe residential landscapes. Hill has contributed to adaptation plans for a diverse group of US cities, federal agencies, and the Rockefeller Foundation; she lectures internationally about her research, and her ideas have been featured in US and international media (PBS's Sinking Cities, the podcast Hidden Brain, and the Guardian). Her PhD is from Harvard University, and she is Research Director of the Institute for Urban and Regional Development at UC Berkeley.