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Yes, fleabane is generally rated fire resistant by western extension and fire-safety programs.
Utah State University Extension lists Erigeron hybrids as firewise when properly used and maintained, while flagging them as potentially weedy or legally restricted. Montana State University Extension lists Erigeron species among fire-resistant plants adapted to Montana, and FireSmart BC approves fleabane as fire resistant. University of Nevada Cooperative Extension’s compilation also draws on the Montana and Utah recommendations for fleabane. These judgments span the Intermountain West, Northern Rockies, Great Basin, and British Columbia, so the conclusion does not rest on one local list.
The most useful qualification comes from the Lake Tahoe landscaping guide. It gives daisy or fleabane cultivars a low fire-hazard rating, but calls that rating a rough estimate of potential flammability rather than the result of scientific trials. The start of browning is the guide’s signal to mow grasses and forbs; plants that turn brown, it warns, often become high fire hazards. Fleabane is a perennial in the aster family, and its overall rating is favorable, but “fire resistant” describes a better landscape choice, not a plant that cannot burn.
Form
perennial
Rated in
British Columbia; Lake Tahoe Basin, Nevada and California; Montana / Northern Rockies; Nevada / Great Basin +2
On this lot
1. Fire evidence and conditions
Fire evidence
Fire-resistant — location does not change the cited classification.
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.
The April 2022 MontGuide explicitly presents fire-resistant species adapted to Montana. FireApproved publishes 92 exact plant records from the source while retaining excluded genus, family, and unresolved rows; the guide itself says not every listed species grows in every part of the state.
Nevada Division of Forestry and University of Nevada Cooperative Extension publish Bulletin 06-01 for the Lake Tahoe Basin and vicinity. FireApproved publishes 83 exact rated owners as basin context across Nevada and California. Rough estimates are not statewide or site ratings.
University of Nevada Cooperative Extension compiled plants suited to Nevada climate zones and reported favorably by at least two upstream firewise lists. FireApproved publishes 126 exact source owners at Nevada publication scope. The source explicitly makes no independent flammability determination, so these rows remain corroborative.
Utah State University Extension states that this fact sheet selects examples for Utah landscapes and that they require proper placement and maintenance. FireApproved publishes 83 exact source owners at Utah publication scope. The table is not a site-specific planting clearance.
2. Why this plant is relevant here
State distribution
Documented in UT.
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.
Where its sources say to plant it
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.
FireSmart BC Plant Program: suitable for HIZ extended zone (30-100 m) [FireSmart BC Home Ignition Zone] (with its recommendation)
Fire Resistance of Plants Master Database: 40 ft minimum planting distance on flat terrain [Idaho minimum planting distance] (mid-scale rating)
Home Landscaping Guide for Lake Tahoe and Vicinity: Fire Hazard column: low [tahoe-guide-2006] (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.
Source says the plant can be firewise when properly used and maintained. The source marks this row as potentially weedy or legally restricted. Source table name: Erigeron hybrids.
“low — Daisy or Fleabane cultivars — Erigeron spp.”
Table 1's Fire Hazard column prints “low” for this taxon. The guide calls the rating a rough estimate of potential flammability, not a result of scientific trials. Its footnote says plants that turn brown often become high fire hazards and tells readers to mow grasses and forbs when they begin to turn brown.
