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What Firescapes rated that lists guess at
The rating is H, M, or L. The brochure is a common-name list. Virginia Firescapes 430-300 (2015 reprint, reviewed by David Close): listed plants get a general flammability rating. There are no fireproof plants. Under extreme fire conditions, all plants will burn. Zone 1 is the house to 5 feet: nothing flammable, including bark mulch. Every evergreen tree and shrub in those tables is H. VDOF Firewise Communities for Virginia (P00111, July 2013) names Azalea among less-flammable plants and tells readers to remove ornamental junipers, hollies, red cedar, and young pine. Kalmia latifolia currently computes as avoid, cites 430-300 as H, and includes VA. This directory stores 306 plant owners with a va-firescapes row, including one source row whose printed rating cell is blank and remains not-rated.
You are on a Blue Ridge lot treating the VDOF pamphlet as the rating and the 430-300 table as optional. Cindy L. Frenzel of VDOF sat on the Task Force that produced the table. The pamphlet is outreach. It is not a second Steward vote.
This is not a Virginia doorway. Live dof.virginia.gov Building Firewise HTML returned CloudFront 403 this session and is not quoted.
Why it matters
430-300 cites VDOF for 16 houses damaged or destroyed a year and 1,200 wildfires a year. That is frequency, not a planting permit. Zone 0 in Firescapes language is already 5 feet empty. A list that says “Azalea” without deciduous versus evergreen is guessing. 430-300 rated Pinxterbloom L, flame azalea M, and hybrid azaleas H. Mountain laurel is H on the same table.
The Virginia plant evidence page now separates 675 USDA-distribution records from 306 dated Firescapes source owners. One answers documented occurrence; the other answers what this Virginia publication rated. This guide explains the zone systems and shared Steward lineage without collapsing either layer into site suitability.
How it works
What 430-300 actually rates:
- Virginia Cooperative Extension publication 430-300, Virginia Firescapes. 2015 reprint (VT/0615/HORT-136P). Reviewed by David Close.
- Task Force: Bonnie Lee Appleton; Cindy L. Frenzel, Virginia Department of Forestry; Julie B. Hillegass; Robert E. Lyons; Larry G. Steward. Steward also rated OSU B921 and the Fire Performance Plant Selector. One rater, one Steward lineage (
ufifas-srs-tree). UT SP685 reprints this table. Do not count three votes. - H / M / L. Expert-curated. Not a calorimeter.
- No fireproof plants. Arrangement, spacing, and density can matter more than species. Maintenance keeps the rating; neglect raises flammability.
- Zone 1: house to 5 feet, nothing flammable.
- Zone 2: 5 to 10 feet, avoid evergreens that catch fire easily; 10–15 feet between crowns.
- Zone 3: thin to at least 30 feet, and to 100 feet downhill.
- Deciduous examples: Acer rubrum L, Cornus florida L, Cercis canadensis L, Rhododendron periclymenoides L, R. calendulaceum M, R. prinophyllum M.
- Evergreen trees: Ilex opaca H, Juniperus virginiana H, pines H.
- Evergreen shrubs: Kalmia latifolia H, Rhododendron maximum H, R. catawbiense H, Kurume and hybrid azaleas H.
- Groundcover junipers H.
What the VDOF brochure actually prints (P00111, July 2013):
- Fuel modification. Four zones. Zone 1 at least 30 feet, irrigated. Not the 430-300 5-foot empty band.
- Prune 6 to 12 feet. Clear dead wood within 30 feet. Dry mulch can become flammable.
- Remove ornamental junipers, hollies, red cedar, and young pine (resins, oils, waxes).
- Less-flammable plants, unrated: Azalea, Viburnum, Crepe Myrtle, Spirea, Hydrangea, annual and perennial flowers, ferns, Dogwood, Redbud, Red Maple, Oak.
Some of those names match L rows (dogwood, redbud, red maple, hydrangea, crapemyrtle). Azalea does not, unless you already know 430-300’s deciduous/evergreen split.
This directory:
- 306 plant owners currently cite
va-firescapes; one has a source-blank rating and remains not-rated. - Kalmia latifolia avoid, VA.
- Rhododendron maximum conflict, VA.
- Acer rubrum on-list, VA.
- Juniperus virginiana avoid, VA.
- Ilex opaca avoid, VA.
See how to read a plant page. Direct lab evidence, when it exists, is never silently outvoted. A pamphlet common-name list does not outvote an H cell on the Task Force table either.
The paths
| Claim | Opened source | What it is not |
|---|---|---|
| H / M / L on named taxa | 430-300 tables | A cone-calorimeter measurement |
| No fireproof plants | 430-300 | A zero-risk native |
| 5 feet empty | 430-300 Zone 1 | The brochure’s 30-foot Zone 1 |
| Every evergreen tree/shrub H | 430-300 evergreen tables | Azalea as a safe generic |
| Azalea on a less-flammable list | VDOF P00111 | Pinxterbloom and Kurume as the same plant |
| Remove juniper, holly, red cedar, young pine | VDOF P00111 | A disagreement with 430-300’s H rows |
| 306 scoped va-firescapes owners | Typed Virginia source coverage | Current site suitability |
| 16 houses / 1,200 fires | 430-300 citing VDOF | A current-year count from this session |
What people mix up
- Expert ratings with lab measurements. 430-300 is curated H/M/L.
- “Azalea” with Rhododendron maximum and with Pinxterbloom.
- VDOF’s 30-foot Zone 1 with Firescapes’ 5-foot empty band.
- Frenzel’s pamphlet with a second lineage beside Frenzel’s Task Force table.
- SP685 or B921 as extra Virginia votes. Steward rule.
- 675 USDA rows as VDOF’s planting list.
- Live dof.virginia.gov HTML (403 this session) as quoted.
- Zone 0 as a place to put the L-rated maple.
How to check
- Open 430-300. Read no fireproof plants, Zone 1 5 feet, and one H row and one L row.
- Open P00111. Read Azalea and junipers, hollies, red cedar, young pine.
- Open Kalmia latifolia and Acer rubrum.
- Open the Steward rule before counting B921 or SP685.
- Open Virginia plant evidence.
- Do not plant in Zone 0.
Limits
This page quotes the opened 2015 430-300 PDF and the opened July 2013 VDOF P00111 PDF. Live VDOF Building Firewise HTML returned 403 and is not quoted. 16 / 1,200 / $126 million are 430-300’s citation of VDOF, not a table this session re-opened at VDOF. 306 and 675 are stored owner and occurrence counts as of this writing. 430-300 is expert-curated, not lab-tested. FEIS was not opened. Zone 0 is not a planting list.
Related records
Questions
Did Virginia Firescapes measure plants in a lab?
No. Publication 430-300 is expert-curated. The Virginia Firewise Landscaping Task Force assigned each listed tree, shrub, groundcover, and vine a general flammability rating of H, M, or L. That is a three-point rating, not a cone-calorimeter number. The same page says there are no fireproof plants and that arrangement, spacing, and density can be more crucial than which species are planted.
Why does a VDOF brochure list Azalea as less-flammable?
VDOF Firewise Communities for Virginia (P00111, July 2013) prints an unrated common-name list: Azalea, Viburnum, Crepe Myrtle, Spirea, Hydrangea, annual and perennial flowers, ferns, Dogwood, Redbud, Red Maple, and Oak. 430-300 rates deciduous azaleas as L or M (Pinxterbloom L; flame and roseshell M) and evergreen rhododendrons and hybrid azaleas as H. Kalmia latifolia is H. The brochure does not make that split. Cindy L. Frenzel of VDOF sat on the Task Force that produced 430-300. The brochure is not a second Steward vote.
Is Firescapes Zone 1 the same as the VDOF brochure’s Zone 1?
No. 430-300 Zone 1 is the house to 5 feet: nothing flammable, including bark mulch. The VDOF brochure’s Zone 1 is a well-irrigated area of at least 30 feet. Do not merge the zone books.
Is this a Virginia doorway page?
No. The object is a rated H/M/L table versus an unrated common-name list. Its Virginia relationship is source-backed. The state surface keeps 675 USDA occurrence records separate from 306 scoped Firescapes owners and this article’s zone and source-lineage explanation.