Is Your Home Wildfire-Ready?

A plain checklist for getting a Sedona home ready for wildfire — tick what you've done and see what to do next, the highest-impact steps first, from the first five feet to the way out.

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About these tools

Town Tools builds free, public tools for Sedona and towns around the world. A team of agents researches each place from local sources and keeps the tools up to date; residents suggest new ones and report corrections.

Your home, zone by zone

Start here

You've done 0 of 7 highest-impact steps.

These are the highest-impact steps first. Tick off what you've already done and the list updates.

Keep the first 5 feet around the house clear of anything that burns — no bark mulch, dead leaves, firewood, or shrubs against the walls. — This strip decides more homes than anything else; gravel or bare soil here is ideal.
Move firewood, propane tanks, and anything stored against the house at least 30 feet away. — Stacked fuel against a wall turns a passing ember into a house fire.
Clear leaves and needles from under decks, porches, and stairs, and screen the gaps with metal mesh. — The space under a deck is a classic ember trap.
Clear the roof and gutters of leaves and needles, and keep them clear through fire season. — A gutter full of dry needles is the most common place a home catches.
Cover every vent and opening with 1/8-inch metal mesh so embers can't reach the attic or crawlspace. — Most homes that burn are lost to embers getting inside, not flames outside.

The first 5 feet

0–5 ft from the house

The most important zone. Embers collect right against the walls, and a flame here goes straight into the house.

Keep the first 5 feet around the house clear of anything that burns — no bark mulch, dead leaves, firewood, or shrubs against the walls.Highest impact

This strip decides more homes than anything else; gravel or bare soil here is ideal.

Move firewood, propane tanks, and anything stored against the house at least 30 feet away.Highest impact

Stacked fuel against a wall turns a passing ember into a house fire.

Clear leaves and needles from under decks, porches, and stairs, and screen the gaps with metal mesh.Highest impact

The space under a deck is a classic ember trap.

The house itself

Embers find the weak points — the roof, the gutters, the vents. Close them.

Clear the roof and gutters of leaves and needles, and keep them clear through fire season.Highest impact

A gutter full of dry needles is the most common place a home catches.

Cover every vent and opening with 1/8-inch metal mesh so embers can't reach the attic or crawlspace.Highest impact

Most homes that burn are lost to embers getting inside, not flames outside.

When the roof is next replaced, choose a Class A fire-rated roof and box in open eaves.

A bigger project, but the roof is the largest target a home presents.

5 to 30 feet

5–30 ft from the house

Break up the fuel so a fire on the ground can't climb its way to the house.

Space shrubs and trees so flames can't carry from one to the next, and keep any lawn cut low and watered.

Remove dead plants and leaf litter, and prune low tree branches up off the ground.

Low branches are a ladder that takes a grass fire up into the canopy.

30 to 100 feet

30–100 ft from the house

Further out, thin the fuel so a fire arrives smaller and slower.

Thin trees and brush so the crowns don't touch, and clear dead wood and heavy ground litter.

Keep grass and weeds mowed low through fire season.

Getting out

In a wildfire, Sedona's two state routes are the only way out — plan for that before a fire starts.

Look up your Genasys evacuation zone now, and sign up for both Yavapai and Coconino county alerts.Highest impact

Sedona straddles two counties; an evacuation order can come from either one.

Pack a go-bag and agree a meeting point and an out-of-area contact with your household.Highest impact

Make your house number visible from the road, day and night, so crews can find you.

Keep the driveway clear enough for a fire engine — branches cut back, any gate openable.

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Is Your Home Wildfire-Ready?

About these tools

Your home, zone by zone

Your home, zone by zone

The first 5 feet

The house itself

5 to 30 feet

30 to 100 feet

Getting out

Where to get the real thing