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Hackberry is rated fire resistant, though the support is limited and does not mean the tree is fireproof.
The University of Arizona Cooperative Extension explicitly places hackberry, Celtis sp., among its fire-resistant plants. Its guidance says such plants tend to resist ignition when irrigated and maintained, while warning that they can still burn. Florida’s extension service and Division of Forestry also put sugarberry in a less-flammable group for defensible-space landscaping, supporting the genus-level identification without establishing a finding for every Celtis species.
Turkey’s General Directorate of Forestry adds a different kind of support. Its fire-management circular identifies çitlembik as experienced in resisting fire and directs managers to preserve, encourage, or use it in fire-resistant, slow-burning, and fire-prevention plantings. This is operational forestry guidance rather than the same two-list system used in Arizona.
All three institutions point in the favorable direction, but through expert plant lists and forestry rules rather than one shared test scale. For a homeowner, the sensible reading is that hackberry, a tree in the Cannabaceae family, is a reasonable fire-resistant selection, provided the Arizona finding keeps its stated conditions of irrigation and maintenance. It should not be treated as incapable of burning.
Form
tree
Rated in
Florida; Turkey; Yavapai County, Arizona
On this lot
1. Fire evidence and conditions
Fire evidence
Fire-resistant — location does not change the cited classification.
Yavapai County (AZ footprint); partial normalized coverage · 2025-03-14
University of Arizona Cooperative Extension authors Bulletin 34 for Yavapai County. FireApproved publishes 198 exact source owners from its resistant and prone tables and keeps the county boundary visible. County publication scope is regional Arizona context, never statewide scope.
2. Why this plant is relevant here
State distribution
Documented in AZ.
Native range
Introduced / established
USDA hardiness
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.
Conditions in the fire evidence
These describe tested or rated plant material. They are not horticultural maintenance instructions.
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.
Landscaping in Florida with Fire in Mind: inside defensible space [ufifas-for71-defensible-space] (with its recommendation)
Yanan Orman Alanlarının Rehabilitasyonu ve Yangına Direnç…: Temel prensipler [yardop-6976-operational-fire-resistant-planting] (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.
Listed as Hackberry — Celtis sp.. The bulletin says fire-resistant plants tend to resist ignition when irrigated and maintained, while fire-prone plants may ignite readily and burn intensely.
“yangına dirençli olduğu tecrübe edilmiş çitlembik”
The YARDOP circular directs managers to preserve, encourage, or use this named taxon in fire-resistant or slow-burning forest and fire-prevention plantings.
