> But wrapping the family cabin in protective foil isn’t something that can be easily accomplished as the fire nears. Even if a homeowner has rolls of the wrap on hand, the biggest obstacle is time. Covering a typical cabin in foil takes four to five people six to seven hours and thousands of staples.

I question this estimate. I recently covered about 1/3 of my 1700 ft^2 house in plastic to prepare for painting, using staples. That took two of us under three hours, and each piece had to be cut to size, and the placement was crucial. Neither of us are particularly fast or skillful at it. With a big roll of foil that just needs to overlap, I bet we could do the whole house in just a few hours more.

The estimate is important, because if it can get done that fast, in my high fire risk area it makes sense to have the foil on hand just in case.