A widespread drought, the recent dry winter and an increasing number of rural homes together raise the chance that wildfires will leave families homeless this year. While the weather that influences forest fire behavior is uncontrollable, experts say preventing flames from destroying homes is very much in the hands of people who live in wildland/urban interfaces.

A firefighter who works in the Coronado National Forest helps Arizona homeowners in her area protect their homes from flames -- and from becoming fuel for a spreading fire.

"I was in Alaska for 16 years and I was working near wilderness areas and fighting fires in undeveloped areas. When I was transferred here in 1997, I was rudely awakened by the pace of development in the Lower 48, due to the fact that more and more people want a natural environment for their home," said Mary Hannah Dalton, fire mitigation technician for the Sierra Vista Ranger District in the Coronado National Forest, Arizona.

"Fire is part of nature. If we want a natural environment and want to enjoy the beauty and serenity of a natural environment on our property and around our home, we have to accept that fire is part of nature and thereby reduce the risk from fire to our property."

Dalton created the Homeowner Fire Risk Reduction Survey shortly after moving to Arizona. She takes it to homes and businesses in wildland/urban interfaces, free of charge, when residents and business owners want to get an idea of how vulnerable their homes are to wildfires.

"The survey is a checklist which I fill out onsite. Then, I discuss with the homeowner what the risks I see are. Then I make a series of recommendations, not orders, of how risks could be reduced by the homeowner."

Dalton looks for things like clutter, dense shrubbery and flammable building materials located near a home or business. These can all fuel flames racing in the direction of a house.

"You'd be surprised how many flammable lawn ornaments I see," remarked Dalton.

She also checks out the road to a home, to make sure that firefighters can get to the front door to fight flames or save lives.

"If firefighters cannot safely access your home in a fire incident or cannot safely operate around your home, if there are a lot of other homes involved, you could be triaged as indefensible," Dalton warned.

She added, "After September 11 and fatalities -- with wildland fires, we're very concerned about firefighter safety. Firefighters are the kind of people who don't always have a lot of time to consider all angles of their own safety."

Preventative measures can prevent a new fire or slow a racing fire, as well as save a home in the path of flames. The potential for homes to turn into wildfire fuel was demonstrated during the devastating Los Alamos fire, which burned 43,000 acres in 2000.

"The intensity of the fires at Los Alamos was increased when it hit private property. In many areas it turned from a surface fire burning close to the ground to a crown fire when it reached private property."

Such intensification happens when a fire that is burning primarily on the ground spreads by way of so-called ladder fuels -- things around a home that allow flames to literally climb from the ground to treetop level. Ladder fuels include pine needles on top of roofs and high or flammable vegetation. These are some of the hazards that experts like Dalton tell homeowners to beware of.

To help keep fires at bay, Dalton follows up on her survey findings and recommendations with phone calls to homeowners. "One hundred percent of people who've had the service have reported that they did at least one thing that I recommended in the survey," Dalton said.

While the steps to protect a home from a wildfire may seem overwhelming, Dalton and other experts remind homeowners that action is not necessary on every square foot of property, but it is crucial near a home. Experts also say that one strong preparation could outweigh another, weaker one.