As climate change makes wildfire disasters more common in California, particularly in wildland/urban interfaces, it is more important than ever to mitigate fire danger in your landscape. With bamboo, proper placement and maintenance are key to fire safety. There is a lot of misinformation being spread about the flammability of bamboo, and we would like to dispel the myth that bamboo is a fire hazard.

As experts in our field, we would like to clarify that bamboo itself is not a fire hazard. Live bamboo canes are made up of cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, unusually high amounts of silica, and water.¹ In addition, bamboo contains very few volatile oils. In fact, live bamboo is very hard to ignite, even with direct flame. While it is true that even well-maintained bamboo will burn eventually if engulfed in hot flames, it is no worse than many other landscape plants (and better than most)! So it is instead improper placement and maintenance, not the plant itself, that we should be concerned about.

Proper maintenance consists of regularly removing dead canes, clearing out dead leaves and culm sheaths, and properly watering so that bamboo doesn’t dry out and die. As you know, bamboo is a natural approach to privacy screening and is a wonderful living alternative to wood fencing. Dry wood will burn easily during a natural fire disaster. Contrarily, live bamboo, which lacks volatile oils and has a high silica and water content, is much harder to ignite.

Because each individual culm can live for up to 10 years, there is not a big turnover of culms, unless you have neglected to regularly dead-cane your bamboo. If done once per year, the work is minimal. However, if your clump, hedge or grove has not been maintained for many years, the first time can indeed be a chore! Thinning dead or crowded canes will not only reduce fire danger, but will maintain your access and greatly beautify your bamboo.

You will need a sharp pruning saw or sawzall with a pruning blade. For safety, take care to cut straight across and as close to the ground as possible, and consider wearing protective eye gear when you are working within a hedge or grove to prevent eye injuries. Generally, the best time to prune is the fall and winter, or after new shoots have hardened, branched and leafed out.

In some situations it is advisable to prune the bottom branches off of each culm so that they do not become a “fire ladder”, carrying flames up into the tree canopy or any nearby structures. This also exposes the beautiful structural quality of bamboo. How high you prune the branches depends on the size of your bamboo, aesthetics and screening needs, and proximity of other flammable items.

While you are pruning, it is a good time to pull out and rake away any accumulated dead material around the base of your bamboo, or alternatively, cover dead leaves with a thick layer of nutritious compost or decomposed mulch. This will conserve water, improve your soil quality, and add nutrients to your bamboo, while making the dead leaves less available to embers. This is also the time to check your root barrier edge (if you have one) to be sure it is not buried or otherwise compromised.

Regarding the placement of bamboo, and all landscaping plants for that matter, fire-safe organizations recommend planting only succulents in the zone 3-5 feet, or in some situations 10 feet, from the walls of your house. This makes sense, since you don’t want a fire ladder of any kind tucked under your eaves.

Outside of that inner zone, the appropriateness of bamboo should be considered on a case by case basis, as there are so many factors to consider, such as species selection, topography, evacuation routes, and nearby structures or forest canopy. We are eager to work with homeowners and fire officials to further develop sound placement and maintenance guidelines.

Ironically, given the recent climate change driven fire danger in California and the emergence of local vegetation management ordinances, bamboo sequesters carbon from the atmosphere and produces 35% more oxygen and consumes 4 times more carbon than an equivalent stand of trees. It is highly effective for erosion control and can be used to quickly replenish damaged landscapes after fire, flood, earthquake or other disasters. In short, in the event of a natural disaster, bamboo can greatly help to restore the landscape.

In closing, we ask that if you hear of any rumors about new vegetation management ordinances that ban bamboo in your community, please let us know. Instead of bans that require the entire removal of bamboo, we are advocating for proper maintenance and placement. In addition, we are willing to lend our expertise to educate the public, policymakers, and fire officials about how to keep bamboo fire safe.

1. http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.553.9762&rep=rep1&type=pdf