Reducing Your Wildfire Risk
Just like it can flood anywhere it rains or snows, there can be a fire anywhere there is something flammable. The good news is that there are clear, research-backed methods to reduce wildfire risk around homes, on properties, and across communities.
While Moab’s wildfire risk might seem insignificant compared to that of mountain towns, parts of the Moab Valley have the nexus of dense vegetation, neighborhoods, and limited vehicular access that heighten the risk of a large, destructive wildfire. These “hot spots” are the Mill and Pack creek corridors and the Matheson Wetlands — the focus areas of FireBREAK.
Everyone, whether they live in these areas or not, can take steps to reduce the risk of wildfire on their properties and around their homes. It isn’t possible to entirely prevent fires from happening, but it is possible to ensure that if and when a wildfire does start it will be smaller, slower, and easier to extinguish. It’s also possible to make homes more likely to survive if a wildfire does ignite nearby.
Some of this work (called wildfire mitigation) is best done in the winter, but there are important steps that can be taken year-round to reduce wildfire risk. Check out the resources and information below to learn more.
“Often, people think there isn’t anything they can do to help protect their property, but there are in fact steps that can be taken to increase wildfire safety for homes and properties.”
Defensible space & the home ignition zone
The major principles behind wildfire home protection are defensible space and the home ignition zone.
Defensible space is an area, either natural or manmade, where fire fuels have been treated, thinned, or removed around a structure and can act as a buffer for an advancing wildfire. When you establish defensible space, you’re giving firefighters a safe place to defend a structure from wildfire.
The home ignition zone refers to three different “zones” around a house with specific recommendations of how to reduce or alter vegetation to establish defensible space. It was first developed by fire researchers in the 1990s.
The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has excellent resources describing these concepts and low-tech, accessible ways to implement them on your own property.
One important thing to note is that many properties in Moab lack the home ignition zones’ “Extended Zone” (described as 30-100 feet away from a house). However, everyone has an Immediate Zone (0-5 feet around the house) and usually at least part of the Intermediate Zone (5-30 feet around a house). Understanding the recommendations of all three zones can help homeowners reduce wildfire risk on their own property.
The Home Ignition Zone, courtesy of NFPA. FireBREAK is working to build Home Ignition Zone diagrams that resemble the Moab environment.
Last updated May 22, 2026