Be FireSmart This Fall: 10 Things to Do Before You Close the Cottage
Fall is one of the best times to prepare your cottage for wildfire.
The leaves are coming down. Dead branches are easy to spot. The gardens are being put to bed. Firewood is being stacked. Outdoor furniture is being moved.
Before you lock the door and head south for the winter (or just leave for a couple of weeks), take one last look around your property and think, what could catch an ember?
Wildfire doesn't necessarily arrive as a wall of flames. FireSmart Canada notes that embers can travel ahead of a wildfire and ignite combustible materials on or around a home. That means some of the simplest things you can do this fall are also some of the most important. (FireSmart Canada)
1. Clean the eavestroughs
Those beautiful fall leaves can become a very different problem when they accumulate in your eavestroughs.
Remove leaves, pine needles and other dry debris from your eavestroughs and roof valleys before you close up. FireSmart specifically recommends keeping gutters clear of combustible debris. (Ontario Government)
Don't forget: check the area around downspouts and roof edges too.
2. Clear the first 1.5 metres around your cottage
FireSmart calls the area immediately surrounding your home the Immediate Zone.
The goal is to create a non-combustible area around the building and reduce places where wind-blown embers can land and ignite.
Look around your cottage for:
Dry leaves and pine needles
Firewood
Mulch
Dead vegetation
Patio furniture
Planters
Stored building materials
Other combustible items
Move what you can away from the structure and clean up accumulated debris. (FireSmart Canada)
3. Don't leave a blanket of leaves under the deck
Your deck can look perfectly clean from above while leaves, pine needles, and other combustible material collect underneath.
Take a flashlight and look underneath decks, porches and stairs.
Remove the debris.
FireSmart specifically recommends clearing combustible material from beneath decks and porches and considering screening to reduce ember intrusion. (FireSmart Canada)
4. Look up
Walk your property looking from the ground up.
Are there dead branches hanging over the cottage?
Are evergreen branches touching the roof? Are they hanging close to chimneys, decks or other structures?
FireSmart recommends pruning trees within the Home Ignition Zone and removing lower branches from trees where appropriate. (FireSmart Canada)
The goal is to reduce the pathways that can allow fire to move toward your home.
5. Deal with dead branches and woody debris
Fall is a great time to remove accumulated branches, dead vegetation and other surface fuels.
Pay particular attention to the area around the cottage, garage, sauna, boathouse and other structures.
FireSmart recommends regularly removing accumulations of downed branches, dry grass and needles in the area extending around the home. (FireSmart Canada)
6. Check where you're storing firewood
Firewood is essential at many Ontario cottages, but where you store it matters.
FireSmart recommends keeping wood piles away from structures, rather than directly against the cottage.
So before you close up, take a look at that winter woodpile.
Could you move it farther away from the cottage?
Even a small change can reduce the amount of combustible material immediately beside your home. (FireSmart Canada)
7. Take a walk through the 10–30 metre zone
Now step farther back.
FireSmart's Extended Zone extends from approximately 10 to 30 metres from the home. Here, the goal isn't to eliminate vegetation; it is to reduce the intensity of a potential wildfire and interrupt pathways that could carry fire toward the structure. (FireSmart Canada)
Look for:
Dense evergreen growth
Dead trees
Fallen branches
Dry grass
Accumulations of needles
Trees with branches touching or overlapping
Selective pruning, thinning and cleanup can make a difference.
8. Think about your roof
Your roof is one of the most important surfaces on your cottage when it comes to ember exposure.
This fall, look for damaged shingles, accumulated debris, combustible material around roof edges and areas where branches overhang the roof.
If you're planning a roof replacement, consider FireSmart guidance when choosing your materials. FireSmart recommends fire-rated roofing materials that meet or exceed local requirements. (FireSmart Canada)
9. Check your access and your water
This one is particularly important for a waterfront property.
Imagine there is a wildfire nearby and emergency crews need to reach your property.
Can someone easily find your driveway?
Is the access route clear?
Could a fire truck get where it needs to go?
And if your property relies on the lake as a potential water source, do you know exactly how you would get water from the lake to your property?
Where would the pump sit?
Where would the hose run?
Could you actually deploy the system quickly?
Having water beside your property is a huge advantage, but it only helps if you have a reliable way to move it.
10. Make a plan before you leave
Finally, don't close the cottage without thinking about what happens if a wildfire breaks out while you're away.
Make sure you know:
How you will receive emergency alerts
Where important documents and medications are stored
Who might check on the property if you're away?
Ontario also recommends that cottages have working smoke and carbon monoxide alarms and a practiced fire escape plan. (Ontario Government)
Your cottage doesn't need to be perfect. It needs to be prepared.
FireSmart isn't about clearing your waterfront property of every tree or turning your Muskoka landscape to a parking lot. It's about understanding where your vulnerabilities are and making smart, practical changes.
Fall is a great time to start.
Before you close the door for the season, walk around your property one more time.
Look at the roof, under the deck, in the eavestroughs, at the firewood.
Look at the trees.
And then look at the lake.
Your lake is one of your property's greatest natural resources. Do you have a plan for using it if you need it?
That's where wildfire preparedness becomes more than cleanup.
It becomes a system.
Wildfire Emergency Technologies is a FireSmart partner. We install and monitor wildfire pump & sprinkler systems fed by your water source.