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Bigflower cinquefoil has firewise support, but its ratings do not establish it as clearly fire resistant.
Two organizations recommend Potentilla fissa for firewise landscaping. Fremont County Firewise includes it among ground covers on a list whose selections are described as generally low-growing, low-debris, and relatively moist. NFPA Firewise Communities likewise names leafy potentilla among flowers and ground covers considered fire-resistive for landscaping. These are compiled recommendations, so they support using the plant but do not place it in comparative resistance classes.
Idaho Firewise supplies the counterweight: a fire-resistance score of 7 out of 10 from its field-trial database. Its scale connects higher scores with shorter minimum planting distances. Under Colorado State University’s published interpretation of that scale, scores from 4 through 7 are mixed, while recommendation begins at 8. The score therefore falls just below the recommended band.
Bigflower cinquefoil is a perennial in the rose family. The practical reading is cautious: regional firewise lists favor it, while the numerical assessment stops short of a clear recommendation. It is reasonable to treat the plant as a possible firewise choice, but not as one whose resistance has been settled across the available sources.
Form
perennial
Rated in
Black Hills, South Dakota; Fremont County, Wyoming; southern Idaho / Intermountain
On this lot
1. Fire evidence and conditions
Fire evidence
Mixed evidence — location does not change the cited classification.
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.
2. Why this plant is relevant here
State distribution
Documented in CO, ID, MT, NM, OR, SD, UT, WY.
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.
Fire Resistance of Plants Master Database: plantable at 40' from home [Idaho minimum planting distance] (mid-scale rating)
Firewise Plant Material for the Black Hills: Flowers & groundcovers [black-hills-plant-form-table] (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 — Potentilla fissa — Leafy Potentilla”
Listed in the source's Ground Covers section; the page describes its listed Firewise plants as generally low-growing, low-debris, and relatively moist.
