Distances are measured from the outside edge of the structure, and should be widened on steep slopes.
Zone 1
0–5 ft from the house (and 0–30 ft overall)
- Keep the first five feet around the foundation, deck, and stairs free of anything that burns: no bark mulch, no firewood stacks, no stored lumber, no propane tanks.
- Use gravel, stone, hardscape, or bare mineral soil right against the structure.
- Remove branches overhanging the roof and keep tree limbs at least 10 feet from the chimney.
- Clear pine needles and leaves from the roof, gutters, and deck edges — that's where most embers land.
- Out to roughly 30 feet, keep grass mowed short and irrigated where possible, and keep shrubs isolated rather than continuous.
Zone 2
roughly 30–100 ft from the house
- This is the fuel-reduction zone: thin trees so the crowns are separated rather than touching, breaking the path a crown fire uses to reach the house.
- Aim for about 10 feet of spacing between tree crowns on flat ground, and widen that spacing on slopes — fire moves uphill fast.
- Prune lower limbs up to about 10 feet above the ground (or a third of the tree's height on smaller trees) to remove ladder fuels.
- Break up shrub thickets and remove dead-and-down material, slash piles, and heavy needle litter.
- Keep firewood stacks, sheds, and trailers in this zone rather than against the house.
Zone 3
100 ft to the property line
- This zone isn't about clearing — it's about forest health and slowing fire behavior before it arrives.
- Thin dense stands of lodgepole, ponderosa, and Douglas-fir to healthy spacing and favor larger, fire-resistant trees.
- Remove beetle-killed and dead standing trees that can throw embers.
- Manage slash so it doesn't become a continuous fuel bed; chip, haul, or pile-burn per county rules.
- Coordinate with neighbors — mitigation works best when it's continuous across property lines.
Where Front Range properties usually fall short
- Bark mulch and junipers planted directly against the siding — the single most common ignition path we see.
- Firewood stacked on the deck or against the garage instead of 30+ feet out.
- Continuous, unthinned stands running right up to the downhill side of the house.
- Slash piles left over from a previous "cleanup" that never got hauled or chipped.
Zone widths and vegetation standards follow Colorado State Forest Service defensible space guidance. Some counties and insurers have stricter requirements — check locally before you cut.
Not sure which zone your property needs work in?
Josh and Garrick will walk your land with you, point out the fuels that matter, and put together a plan that fits your risk and budget. The walk-through is free.