Most homes are lost to embers.
Protect your Legacy
Killflare is a field guide to the equipment that keeps a house standing when the forest burns: what works, what's marketing, and what order to buy it in. Written for homeowners, organised around the Home Ignition Zone that FireSmart Canada and NFPA Firewise both use.
Hero photo Matt Palmer / Unsplash
Everything here maps to a zone
FireSmart Canada and NFPA Firewise both work outward from the house: the closer to the walls, the stricter the rule. Zone 0 is the 1.5 m that must not burn, Zone 1 the 10 m that decides the outcome, Zone 2 the thinning beyond it. Every product on this site is filed by the zone it defends.
Read the zone guideHarden the structure
Vents, gutters, sprinklers, gel — what stops embers from getting in or igniting the walls.
Clear the zones
The tools for Zone 0 and Zone 1: the 10 metres that decide whether the house survives.
Protect the people
Alerts, go-bags, respirators and clean indoor air for the weeks of smoke either side of a fire.
Our top picks
The six products we'd buy first, in roughly this order.
WASP Wildfire Protection Full Kit
Canadian-designed gutter-clip sprinkler heads that install in minutes without tools and run off a standard garden hose. The full kit covers a typical roofline and includes hoses and splitters.
Phos-Chek Wildfire Home Defense
The consumer version of the red retardant dropped from air tankers. Applied days or weeks ahead to fences, decks, mulch and siding; stays effective until rinsed by heavy rain. Dries clear.
Vulcan Ember-Resistant Vents
WUI-listed vents with an intumescent honeycomb that expands and seals at roughly 350°F, plus 1/8 in mesh. Available in soffit, gable, foundation and dormer formats in standard sizes.
Portable Gas Fire Pump (1.5 in)
A high-pressure 1.5 in gas pump moves water from a pool, pond or tank at enough pressure to run a roof sprinkler kit plus a hose line. The Honda-engine models are the reliability benchmark; buy the high-pressure variant, not the trash-pump variant.
N95 / P100 Respirators (family pack)
NIOSH-approved N95 or P100 masks for every person in the house, including during evacuation drives through smoke. Fit is everything; a valved P100 half-mask is far more comfortable for extended wear.
Barricade Fire Blocking Gel
A superabsorbent polymer gel that clings to vertical surfaces and holds a water barrier for hours. Used by fire departments; the home kit includes a hose-end applicator. Apply when evacuation is ordered.
A note on water. Almost every product in the "structure" zone depends on water pressure that municipal systems lose during a major fire. If you buy one expensive thing, make it a pump and a tank, not a fancier sprinkler head.
Where you live changes the answer
Fire season, fuel and provincial programs, province by province.
- BC BC
- AB Alberta
- SK Saskatchewan
- MB Manitoba
- ON Ontario
- QC Québec
- NB New Brunswick
- NS Nova Scotia
- PE PEI
- NL Nfld & Labrador
- YT Yukon
- NT NWT
- NU Nunavut
Or get a nudge when risk rises near you — Priority Alerts, $1/month. A supplement to your provincial alerts, never a replacement.
Guides
Longer reads on the decisions behind the shopping list.
The Home Ignition Zone, Explained
FireSmart Canada and NFPA Firewise divide the space around your home into zones. Here's what each one means and what to buy for it.
7 min readSprinklers vs. Gel vs. Retardant: Which Active Defense Should You Buy First?
Three product categories claim to protect your house when the fire arrives. They work in different ways, on different timelines, and at very different prices.
5 min readThe Wildfire Go-Bag Checklist
A 72-hour kit is the base. Here's what to add so you're not scrambling with 30 minutes' notice.
5 min readSurviving Smoke Season: Indoor Air Quality
Wildfire smoke reaches cities hundreds of kilometres from any fire. Here's how to keep the air inside your home breathable for weeks at a time.