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Yes, Saskatoon serviceberry is consistently treated as fire resistant, although the recommendations remain regional and conditional.
Six firewise recommendations point the same way. The University of Arizona lists it above 3,000 feet, while Michigan State University considers it wildfire-resistant for Michigan’s climate. Fremont County Firewise, NFPA Firewise Communities, and New Mexico’s Forestry Division also recommend it. Alaska’s forestry program includes it only when it is placed and maintained appropriately.
This agreement spans the Great Lakes, Alaska, the Black Hills, Wyoming, and the interior Southwest. New Mexico marks it suitable from 4,000 through 9,000-plus feet, with low-to-moderate water needs. Fremont County describes its listed Firewise plants generally as relatively moist and low in debris, but that is a description of the list rather than a measurement made specifically on Saskatoon serviceberry.
The main limitation is that these are compiled or expert-curated plant lists, not comparative burn tests. They support choosing Saskatoon serviceberry as a fire-resistant landscaping shrub, but they do not promise that it will not ignite. Its mature size of about 15 feet and moderate water needs still matter when deciding where it belongs and how it will be maintained.
Form
shrub
Mature height
~15 ft
Water need
moderate
Rated in
Alaska; Arizona above 3,000 feet / interior Southwest; Black Hills, South Dakota; Colorado / Rocky Mountain Front Range +6
On this lot
1. Fire evidence and conditions
Fire evidence
Fire-resistant — location does not change the cited classification.
Alaska; Arizona above 3,000 feet / interior Southwest; Black Hills, South Dakota; Colorado / Rocky Mountain Front Range; Colorado, California, and northeastern United States; Fremont County, Wyoming; Global; Michigan / Great Lakes; New Mexico; southern Idaho / Intermountain
Maintenance
Typed publication scope: 8 scopes across 8 cited fire sources
Alaska Division of Forestry opens with the wildfire threat to Alaskans and publishes Alaska firewise-landscape examples. FireApproved publishes 58 exact source owners from its 60 taxon entries and holds the taxon-free fern label. State publication scope does not establish suitability for every Alaska climate, site, or home-ignition-zone placement.
Colorado State University Extension and the Colorado State Forest Service publish Fact Sheet 6.305 for Colorado's WUI and varied ecosystems. FireApproved exposes all 114 exact source owners at Colorado publication scope while retaining score, elevation, water, and Idaho-carrier lineage. Publication scope is not suitability for every Colorado site or zone.
Black Hills (SD footprint); partial normalized coverage
The page explicitly limits itself to the Black Hills, and NFPA Firewise's archived 2006 plant-list index files it under South Dakota. FireApproved publishes 47 exact genus or species owners from 48 printed rows. This is bounded Black Hills context, not statewide South Dakota coverage or a finding that a plant suits a particular site.
Fremont County (WY footprint); partial normalized coverage · 2011-02-25
The source identifies itself as the Fremont County Firewise Plant List. FireApproved publishes its 92 exact source owners as Fremont County regional context. No methodology, current county endorsement, statewide Wyoming scope, or site-specific suitability is inferred.
Southern Idaho (ID footprint); partial normalized coverage · 2013-11-08
The official database labels itself "For Southern Idaho" and describes Idaho residents at the urban-rangeland interface. FireApproved publishes 419 existing plant owners that cite its scored rows. This bounded Southern Idaho scope is regional context, not statewide coverage or a conclusion that the score transfers unchanged to every Idaho site.
Michigan State University Extension Bulletin E2948 is explicitly a list of wildfire-resistant landscape plants for Michigan and includes a Michigan-native field. FireApproved publishes 221 exact GBIF owners from 226 represented source rows and holds 15 complex or non-exact rows. This dated publication scope is not a current site-suitability determination.
New Mexico Forestry Division publishes this as its FireWise Plant List for New Mexico. FireApproved accounts for all 140 printed rows and publishes 95 exact same-rank owners already represented in the directory; 29 exact taxa without an existing record, 14 unresolved spellings or higher-rank matches, one compound taxon cell, and one species row whose only apparent owner has an infraspecific printed identity remain held. Every published row retains the source's Y, N, ?, or blank elevation cells. Publication scope does not erase those elevation limits or establish suitability for every New Mexico site.
Arizona at or above 3,000 feet (AZ footprint); partial normalized coverage · 2011-12-01
AZ1289 is explicitly limited to Arizona elevations of 3,000 feet and higher. FireApproved publishes 69 exact owners as regional Arizona context, retaining every water and elevation condition. It is never promoted to statewide low-desert guidance or an independent Tier 1 vote.
2. Why this plant is relevant here
State distribution
Documented in AK, CA, CO, IA, ID, MN, MT, ND, NE, NM, NV, OR, SD, UT, WA, WY.
Native range
Current cited native range in AK, AZ, CA, CO, IA, ID, KS, MN, MT, ND, NE, NM, NV, NY, OR, SD, TX, UT, WA, WY.
Introduced / established
USDA hardiness
2 applicable cited hardiness statements overlap but have different boundaries; compare each complete source row.
3. Legal, ecological, and broader status
Legal-list status
Seed-list status
Reported invasive here
Broader regional context
Federal context
How to read this page
The status above is computed from the cited rows below: independent recommendations can support a fire-resistant result, an avoid row can produce keep-away, and disagreement stays visible as conflict. Placement notes preserve each source’s own scheme rather than translating unlike rules into one scale. This is evidence about a plant, not permission to plant it in every part of the defensible space; Zone 0 remains noncombustible.
Native and introduced range evidence
These are exact U.S. botanical-area records from the cited range source. Native and
introduced describe biogeographic relationship, not fire performance or planting approval.
Doubtful and extinct rows stay visible but do not count as current presence.
The lossless worldwide derivative is retained once in the research corpus; object pages repeat only exact U.S. areas needed by the local lens. The JSON twin carries the same page assertions.
Plant hardiness evidence
These values describe the plant source. Your ZIP zone comes from the separate 2023 USDA
Plant Hardiness Zone Map. Whole-zone values stay whole-zone, and a single unresolved value
is not treated as a tolerance range. Different source boundaries stay separate: overlapping
statements are compared independently, while only ranges with no shared zone are called a conflict.
Placement rules below use each source's own distances or named zones, tied to its rating.
They are not interchangeable with the directory's current Zone 0 guidance.
Fire Resistance of Plants Master Database: plantable at 50' from home [Idaho minimum planting distance] (mid-scale rating)
Ignition-Resistant Landscape Plants: below the source's score-8 threshold for zones 1-2 [CSU defensible-space zone] (mid-scale rating)
Protect Your Home from Wildfire: Shrubs [Alaska DNR brochure sections] (with its recommendation)
Firewise Plant Material for the Black Hills: Large shrubs & trees [black-hills-plant-form-table] (with its recommendation)
FireWise Plant List for New Mexico: PDF page 3, Trees and Large Shrubs, p3-r05 [nm-emnrd-firewise-table-row] (with its recommendation)
The evidence
Grouped by what each source concluded. Primary evidence rated the plant itself
(a lab, field program, or original curation); corroboration compiled or
republished another source's rating and resolves to its root lineage.
“Fremont County Firewise Plant List — Amelanchier alnifolia — Saskatoon Alder-Leaf Serviceberry”
Listed in the source's Large Shrubs and Trees section; the page describes its listed Firewise plants as generally low-growing, low-debris, and relatively moist.
The introduction describes all table entries as fire-resistive plants that can be used in landscaping.
FireWise Plant List for New Mexico — New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department, Forestry Division · 2003 Forestry Division PDF · original sourceCorroborationCompilationlineage: csu-nmsu-firewise
“FireWise Plant List for New Mexico”
Listed as Amelanchier alnifolia (Saskatoon alder-leaf serviceberry) in Trees and Large Shrubs. Printed elevation cells: 4,000 ft=Y, 5,000 ft=Y, 6,000 ft=Y, 7,000 ft=Y, 8,000 ft=Y, 9,000+ ft=Y. Water need: L-M; sun/shade: S; mature height: 6-15’; approximate bloom: Apr- May.
3 cited rows from this source; its identity, lineage and tier are stated once.
Primary study White2002: White, R. H., Weise, D. R., Mackes, K., & Dibble, A. C. (2002). Cone calorimeter testing of vegetation--an update. Ninth International Conference on Electrical and Electronic Products. Columbus, Ohio, USA.
Shared row context: Combustibility measurement; plant part leaves; fuel live; device calorimeter; site White2002-2; sampling ND.
