Wildfire advice for people living in rural areas

Advice for people in rural areas or living on farms on how to prepare for a wildfire and keep your home safe.

Creating a safety zone

If you have land around your property, you may wish to create a safety zone around your home.

A safety zone creates space between a building on your property and the grass, trees, shrubs, or any wild area that surround it. This space is needed to slow or stop the spread of fire and it helps protect your home from catching fire - either from embers, direct flame contact or radiant heat. A safety space also provides firefighters with a safe area to work in, to defend your home.

  • Make a 10-metre safety zone around your home. Remove combustible materials, wood piles, felled trees, and other debris around your home. Talk to your neighbour if you are concerned about their property.
  • Keep grass mowed short (75mm or less). Short, green grass will not readily carry fire. Long or dry grass is not a fire hazard, it needs an ignition source to start a fire.
  • Clear at least a three-metre space around any fuel tanks. Tanks should be stored on non-combustible material such as gravel or concrete.
  • Keep trees, shrubs, and vegetation clear of power lines, communication cables or equipment. If you are concerned, seek advice from your communications and/or power supplier.

Help us to find your property

  • Make sure your home number or name is clearly visible from the road or main access point – so the firefighters can easily locate your address in the event of a fire.
  • Keep access clear for firefighters to easily get to your property (including side gates).
  • If your property is spread over a large area, use an app such as Ordnance Survey Locate or What3words to give us the exact location.
  • Download the What3words app or Ordnance Survey Locate to give a specific location to the emergency services.

Preventing a wildfire

Read our wildfire advice for more information on how to prevent wildfires and their main causes.

If you are concerned about someone's behaviour, read our advice on how to report this.