[stevehull]

I am in central Oklahoma and we too have severe fire risks. Our bad time is late winter (March), before the rainy season and when there is a lot of wind.

First is removing ALL combustible materials and vegetation around house. The wood deck had to go and I used aluminum "planks".

All soffit wood went and replaced with non combustible planking. Oh and the metal roof was a must also.

We also renovated and expanded a pond which is a reservoir for fire engine pumper water.

We also put in a perimeter sprinkler system about 200 feet from house that we can turn on. Yes, the obvious issue is what do we do when we are out of power. For that we have generators (always plugged in and ready to go with a flip of the transfer switch).

We cut down all those nasty invasive eastern cedar trees that burn like a bomb as well.

Having seen both, I fear fire FAR more than tornadoes.

The bonus is that my home owners insurance went down by almost 40% doing the above. The big reduction was the metal roof.

Steve