Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Removing The Hazard

While our road clearance crews have been busy battling the extreme temperatures this week, they are still hard at work making our neighborhoods more fire safe.

This week we would like to highlight one of the target hazards we aim to remove through our road clearance program. Working in conjunction with the City Arborist's certain trees are marked for removal for multiple reasons. While it is our goal to maintain existing trees, and avoid complete removal, sometimes that is our only option.

The pictures showcase one of the scenarios where we did remove the entire tree. In the center median of Marilyn Way there were three very large, dying and diseased Italian Cypress trees. As you can see from the pictures, not only are they a more flammable tree to begin with, but these three were diseased and dying. Our road clearance crews tackled the problem and quickly removed the hazard.

 


If you know of a location near a public roadway that you feel is a fire hazard to you and your neighbors please contact us. We would be more than happy to come out and take a look. We can be reached at 965-5254

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Why are you cutting that???

Often times when our crews are out performing Vegetation Road Clearance, homeowners come out and ask, "Why are you cutting that? It's not dead. It doesn't burn."

The picture below is a great example of a fire-resistant plant that can cause a hazard when it is not property maintained.

While, yes, oleander is a fire-resistant plant that is often recommended in a high fire hazard area and is a plant that provides a lot of screening and privacy, if unmaintained it can cause a hazard. As you can see by the above picture, the unmaintained oleander "hedge" was extending beyond the curb, part of a larger mass of vegetation 15+feet deep, had years of fall out, pine needles (from the neighboring pine), and dead material. If an ember were to land in this hedge made up of oleander, juniper, and ivy it would have an easier ability to spread fire towards the structure and make it more difficult for firefighters to do their job.

When perform clearance we take a number of issues into consideration:
Is it dead?
Is it a flammable plant material?
Does it hinder the flow of traffic in the drivable roadway?
Does it cause a "fire ladder"?
Is it maintained?
Does it block hydrant access?
Does it block the ability for engine crews to open compartment doors to access firefighting tools?
If we can answer yes to any of the above questions we look at how we can reasonably trim or remove certain plants to make the area more fire safe while doing our best to maintain homeowner privacy.

Please feel free to stop us anytime and ask us "Why are you cutting that?" We are more than happy to explain why we do what we do.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Road Clearance Project is Underway

So far, so good. We are off to a great start this year and everything is running smoothly. We are still on Northridge Lane and expect to start work on Santa Teresita Drive tomorrow.

Friday, September 10, 2010

Annual Road Clearance Project Starts Monday

With a little delay and much better timing, our annual Vegetation Road Clearance project is scheduled to start Monday, September 13.
Conejo Rd - BEFORE

The roads we will be focusing on next week are:
Northridge Road
Santa Teresita
Marilyn Way

The following week (9/20):
Las Canoas Road
Rockwood Drive
El Cielito Road

Please be courteous and patient with our crews as they work. At times traffic may be slowed to 1 lane. Delays are not expected to be over 5 minutes.

Every effort is made to communicate with homeowners with regards to work that will occur on properties so that they are more prepared, informed and education about wildfire and the need for road clearance throughout the City's high fire hazard areas.

Conejo Rd - AFTER
If you have any questions, comments or concerns please feel free to contact us by phone (805) 965-5254 or email aanderson@santabarbaraca.gov