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MISSOULA- The Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation is sharing tip son how to protect your family from fire to help mark Fire Prevention Week.

The DNRC is joining all of Montana's fire departments in urging everyone to guard against the leading causes of home fires, cooking, heating and electrical equipment, as well as candles and smoking materials.

The DNRC, along with your local fire departments, are also asking you to do everything you can to create a defensible space around your home.

Creating a "defensible space" can help prevent wild fires from starting while also providing a protective buffer to keep fire from spreading to your home. This defensible space creates a firebreak and gives firefighters room to work when battling to protect your home and property.

"Creating defensible space and using firewise landscaping techniques is an easy and cost effective way to protect your home. In most of the rural areas in Montana it's not a matter of "if " but "when" wildfire will strike, so it's best to take defensive action now," DNRC Fire Prevention Coordinator Cindy Super advised.

She also has some easy steps you can take protect your home in case wildfire strikes. Thin the trees around your home so there is 15 feet between crowns will reduce the chance of fire spreading from tree-to-tree, eliminating brush and small trees will keep fire from climbing into tree tops and dispose of slash and other fuels around your home.

Super advises homeowners should also e it will have less fuel to burn keep brush and other fuels cut back from your driveway so emergency vehicles can enter and leave, create at least a 30 foot safety zone around your home by watering and mowing your lawn and landscaping with fire resistant plants and clean debris from your roof and gutters

Finally, Super points out that residents should display names and house numbers in front of property so that emergency crews have an easier time locating homes.

For more information, contact your local fire agency or click here.