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What it means when almost nothing is rated for your state
It means no state Firewise table, not no fuel. Delaware Forest Service’s Wildland Fire Program is prevention, suppression, volunteer grants, phragmites hazard-mitigation grants, and prescribed fire. It is not a species list. The 2020 Statewide Forest Strategy says wildland fire is not a substantial threat, then names coastal phragmites and young loblolly as the exceptions. This site’s Delaware plant evidence currently holds 755 USDA-distribution records. Those rows are not Delaware ratings.
You are in a small eastern state, opening the plant catalog, seeing hundreds of names, and either treating that as a Delaware Firewise list or treating “not a major threat” as a skip. The opened DFS pages do neither.
This is not a Delaware doorway.
Why it matters
Absence of a state list is an honest gap. Filling it with USDA range invents a palette DFS did not publish. Ignoring the reed DFS does name skips the fuel they actually spend grants on. Limited-evidence on a national row is still not a Delaware test.
Zone 0 is still not a planting list.
How it works
DFS Wildland Fire Program (opened HTML):
- Minimize damage through prevention and suppression. Blackbird and Redden caches. About 380,000 forested acres inside one million acres of undeveloped land.
- 60 volunteer fire companies. In 2025: training for 134 people; eight wildfires, 29 acres; standby for over 1,000 outdoor fires.
- Hazard Mitigation grants: control phragmites in high-priority areas by mechanical and chemical treatment; combined assistance has helped treat 5,200 acres statewide.
- Prescribed fire 2025: 24 burns, at least 566 acres. Existing fuel loads are eliminated, which the page says negates a later high-intensity wildfire.
- No plant table on the opened page.
2020 Statewide Forest Strategy (opened PDF):
- “While wildland fire is not a substantial threat in Delaware, it is a concern in certain landscapes and forest types.”
- Urban sprawl increased the WUI, particularly coastal areas where invasive common reed, phragmites, is abundant.
- Criterion 3: “while wildland fire is not a major threat,” damaging fires remain possible in young loblolly pine stands and in coastal WUI because of incendiary phragmites.
- Two cover types susceptible to incendiary fires: Phragmites australis (Fuel Model 3), and to a much lesser extent young loblolly plantations.
- “Delaware does not often experience intense wildfires.”
This directory:
- No
plant-sourcesfile for Delaware. Nothing here is a Delaware Firewise rating. - Delaware count as of this writing: 755 stored rows with DE in USDA distribution (411 on-list, 135 avoid, 40 conflict, 169 candidate). Occurrence, not a state grade.
- Phragmites australis currently computes as avoid, limited-evidence (FPS NOT Firewise (4)). USDA includes DE. That matches the reed DFS names.
- Pinus taeda currently computes as avoid and includes DE. The strategy names young loblolly plantations as a lesser incendiary cover type. That is a stand condition, not a mature-tree planting-list row. Do not collapse them.
See how to read a plant page. See Connecticut for the neighboring low-acres story. This page is the missing-list story.
The paths
| What you opened | What it is | What it is not |
|---|---|---|
| DFS Wildland Fire Program | Suppression, 29 acres in eight 2025 fires, phragmites grants | A Firewise plant list |
| 2020 Forest Strategy | Not a substantial/major threat, except phragmites and young loblolly | A skip for coastal WUI |
| 755 Delaware plant records | USDA distribution | 755 Delaware ratings |
| Phragmites australis avoid | FPS row plus DFS naming the reed as Fuel Model 3 | A Delaware lab |
| On-list oak on the DE catalog | Other states’ lists that happen to include DE in range | DFS approval |
What people mix up
- “Not a major threat” with no fuel. DFS still names incendiary phragmites and young loblolly.
- USDA range with a state Firewise list.
- The urban recommended-trees conversation (not opened here) with a flammability table.
- Eight wildfires / 29 acres as proof plants do not matter at the house.
- This page as a CWPP. The strategy wants CWPPs for seven WUI communities; that work is not this article.
How to check
- Open the Wildland Fire Program. Look for a plant table. There is not one. Read the phragmites grant paragraph and the 2025 eight-fire / 29-acre sentence.
- Open the 2020 strategy PDF. Search “phragmites” and “not a substantial threat.”
- Open Delaware plant evidence. Distribution is not a recommendation.
- Open Phragmites australis. Read every evidence row.
- Do not plant in Zone 0.
Limits
This page quotes the opened DFS HTML and the opened 2020 strategy PDF. The Recommended Trees urban PDF was not opened and is not cited as a fire list. FY25 annual-report acreage figures were not opened; 2025 numbers used here are from the program HTML. 755 is a stored USDA-distribution count as of this writing. Zone 0 is not a planting list.
Related records
- Phragmites australis
- Pinus taeda
- Delaware plant evidence
- Fire risk is low here. Why does plant choice still matter
- What limited-evidence means
- Glossary: limited-evidence
- Glossary: WUI
Questions
What does it mean when almost nothing is rated for your state?
It means the state did not publish a Firewise plant table, not that plants cannot burn. Delaware Forest Service’s Wildland Fire Program page opened here is prevention, suppression, volunteer grants, phragmites hazard-mitigation grants, and prescribed fire. It is not a species list. This site’s Delaware catalog is USDA distribution. No Delaware plant-source file exists in the directory.
Does Delaware say fire is not a problem?
The 2020 Statewide Forest Strategy says wildland fire is not a substantial threat in Delaware, and later that it is not a major threat, then names the exceptions: certain forest types such as young loblolly pine stands, and the coastal wildland-urban interface because of an abundance of incendiary phragmites. Phragmites australis is named as Fuel Model 3.
Why does this site show hundreds of Delaware plants then?
Because USDA distribution includes DE on those records. Counted for this page: 755 stored rows (411 on-list, 135 avoid, 40 conflict, 169 candidate). That is occurrence. It is not 755 Delaware Firewise ratings. Do not inflate the catalog.
What plant does Delaware actually name as fuel?
Common reed, phragmites. The strategy calls it invasive, abundant in coastal WUI, and incendiary. The Wildland Fire Program spends hazard-mitigation grants on mechanical and chemical phragmites control. This directory’s Phragmites australis currently computes as avoid, limited-evidence, and includes DE.
Is this a Delaware doorway page?
No. The object is absence of a state plant list versus USDA range and a named reed. Place claims sit on whereThisDiffers. The Delaware plant evidence list is the catalog, not this article.