Fire is an intrinsic part of the California landscape that is both a force of destruction and awe. In many communities the threat of fire has created city or county codes dictating how one builds their house and what can be planted around it. San Marcos Growers has long been concerned with this issue and in 1984 was involved with other Santa Barbara landscape professionals in starting Firescape.

Firescape is a demonstration garden of fire resistant plants, planting concepts and landscape alternatives appropriate to the gardens where fire is a threat an approach that more recently has been called Firescaping. In 1990, after the nursery and much of Santa Barbara was threatened by the disastrous Painted Cave Fire, San Marcos Growers drew on the plant lists developed in the Firescape project to help our customers replant the blackened landscapes in our foothills. To help with those working under similar conditions after the terrible fires in Semi Valley, Malibu, San Diego County and more recently in the foothills of Goleta (Gap Fire) and Montecito (Tea Fire) we have updated this Firescape page to include links to other resources.

Sycamore Canyon Fire		Lessons learned from the historic 1977 Sycamore canyon fire as reported by the Santa Barbara News Press.
Firescape		Santa Barbara City Fire Department and local horticulturists develop a fire resistant demonstration garden.
S.B. County Firesafe Guidelines		Defending Your Home and Hazard Reduction - Recomendations from the Santa Barbara County Fire Department
Firesafe Council Links		Founded in 1993 the Fire Safe Council has united its diverse membership to speak with one voice about fire safety.
Australian Information on Fire		An Australian site that gives insight into how they handle similar fire danger down under.
Australian Native Plants For Fire Protection		A List of Australian plants that are fires resistant and retardant from the Australian Native Plant Society.
Rockrose in the Landscape		Are Rockroses (Cistus) good candidates for a fire safe landscape? - some likely are.
Firescaping in Sonoma County		An excellent guide, titled Living with Fire in Sonoma County, has fire safe procedures and plant lists.
FireSafe Marin		Great recomendations, links and plant lists from Marin County master gardeners.
East Bay MUD Firescape		Great recomendations from the East Bay Municipal Utilities District.

For more information connect with:

Santa Barbra City Fire Department

Fire Safe Council

CA Department of Forestry

Owen Dell on Firescape