We have fruit and nut trees on drip irrigation as our 'edible landscaping', so that's how we take care of vegetation within 100 feet of the house. The rest is open pasture out to around 1000'. And we are in the northern tip of Virginia, so we are not as hard pressed (yet) for precipitation as the US West. It's another story entirely, however, south of us; most of the rest of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida are in various categories of drought (or at least unusually dry), even in the middle of winter. See the Drought Monitor for details.

FD is < 1mi away here too, I'm not worried about their responding if it is just my place. The scenario that worries me is a forest fire sweeping through the mountains and into town - they would just be overwhelmed with that. We're not near the periphery of town, so we'll probably be OK. Still, I am hoping to be able to afford to do some remodeling in a few years, and I might want to go ahead and replace the siding anyway (and use that as an opportunity to beef up the insulation while it is accessible).