Road Clearance Is Well Underway

With over 2 miles complete, this years vegetation road clearance program is well underway. This year we are specifically targeting low, overhanging canopies and flammable vegetation such as juniper and cypress trees. If there is a road you feel needs attention, give us a call!

ANNUAL ROAD CLEARANCE STARTS MONDAY

The City of Santa Barbara's Fire Department will be implementing the High Fire Hazard Vegetation Road Clearance Project starting on September 12, 2011. The work will continue through mid-December, 2011.

This year 15.5 miles of roads in the Extreme Foothill and Foothill Zone of the high fire hazard area will be cleared through funds established by the Wildland Fire Suppression Assessment District.

The purpose of vegetation road clearance is to reduce the total amount of vegetation along roadways, enhance evacuation during a wildland fire and allow greater access for fire engines and equipment to respond during a wildfire.

It is very important to maintain and keep up the work that has been completed. Maintaining roadways is not only important for your safety but the safety of the community.

Since the Fire Department is not able to complete every mile of road in the high fire hazard area on an annual basis, the maintenance of the road clearance work is the responsibility of each property owner. Santa Barbara Municipal Code requires homeowners to make sure that vegetation on their property does not encroach onto adjacent roadways. This effort includes keeping evacuation routes clear of flammable vegetation and thinning vegetation along the roadways.

In years past we have been able to recycle 97% of the chipped material. If you have questions related to the project or have questions related to City property requirements you can call the Fire Department at 564-5700.

GRANT PROJECT AREA CHIPPING STARTS MONDAY

For those homeowners who are within our California Fire Safe Council Grant project areas chipping services will be available next week.

If you intend to use these services to help you create/improve your defensible space, please call us so that we can add your property to the list.

***For this project only, we will allow you to stack your cut vegetation in your driveway. However, we need to know it is there. That is why we are requesting a call-in***

FUNDING

Our current four Vegetation Management Projects are funded by two sources:

1. Wildland Fire Suppression Assessment District Funds
2. Funding provided by a National Fire Plan grant from the Cooperative Fire program of the U.S. Forest Service, Department of Agriculture, Pacific Southwest Region, through the California Fire Safe Council.

IS IT REALLY THE SAME PLACE?

Well, here we are, 6 working days since work began. Our crews are making fast progress.

Here is a quick glimpse into the work that is in progress. (This picture was taken "inside" of the area shown in the previous blog post pictures.)

LAS TUNAS PROJECT BREAKS GROUND THIS WEEK!

Over a year in the making, the Las Tunas/Mountain Drive vegetation management project finally broke ground this week. The 10 acre project involves cooperative agreements between private property owners and the Fire Department.

Through this project, the Fire Department, in conjunction with a USFS grant, funded through the California Fire Safe Council, will assist over 30 homeowners to complete additional defensible space work. This project will target the removal of dead, flammable, overgrown, invasive and unmaintained vegetation that makes the neighborhood prone to an increased risk from wildfires.

You can check out the early stages of this project in the location of Mountain Drive (just above Santa Barbara Tennis Club). Stay tuned for further pictures and information about this and future projects occuring this fall.

The pictures below show snapshots from the first day on the project. With the exception of the stacked vegetation, all other pictures were taken before any work was done. You can see we have our work cut out for us!

Defensible Space Chipping Hits New Record!

In an effort to comply with the City Fire Department defensible space clearance requirement deadline of June 15, 2011, homeowners in the high fire hazard area have been busier than ever preparing for the upcoming fire season.

Each year, chipping services are offered to those homeowners who reside within the Wildland Fire Suppression Assessment District located in portions of the Foothill and Extreme Foothill High Fire Hazard Areas of Santa Barbara’s foothills.

Chipping services are provided to encourage property owners to create defensible space and provide a cost effective way to dispose of cut material. This year we removed a record 500 tons of chipped material. That is higher than any other previous year since the district was formed in 2006.

The Fire Department would like to thank all of the property owners who took advantage of this service in order to create a more fire safe home, neighborhood and city.

Making Your Community Safe. One Project At A Time.

Last month we concluded our 2010 North Ontare Vegetation Management Project. This project took place in the extreme foohill zone of the high fire hazard area. This project was also part of the Community Fuels Treatment Network.

Through this project we treated over 20 acres of vegetation. We focused on removing dead material, limbing up trees, removing fire ladders, protecting sensitive habitat and species and removal of exotic/non-native vegetation. The remaining portion of this project included an abandoned avocado orchard that had also been burned in the 2009 Jesusita Fire. Due to the location of work, gaining access to chip the cut vegetation would have been difficult. The Fire Department worked in cooperation with the local homeowners and felt that a pile burn project would be the best method of removing the dead and down fuel.

Pile burning is still a very viable method of reducing hazardous vegetation and it worked well for this project. On Monday, April 18th, the Fire Department, with the help of both the CCC and CAL FIRE hand crews (based out of the Ventura Youth Conservation Camp), completed the burning of 12 large piles.

If you are interested in learning more about reducing vegetation through pile burning or any of our vegetation management projects, please contact us at 965-5254

Chipping Continues

It's that time of year again. We are a few weeks into our spring time chipping program and have seen more brush put out by homeowners than ever before.

Brush Pile Along Hillcrest Road

We are wrapping up chipping in the LAS TUNAS area this week and will begin the SAN ROQUE/ONTARE area on Monday, April 11th.

Great job folks and keep up the good work. Know that you are doing your part to take responsibility for keeping your home, your neighborhood and community more fire safe.

For a complete schedule click the following link: CHIPPING SCHEDULE

A map of the chip areas can be found here: CHIPPING MAP

Hang Tight.

Due to the rain and the large amount of brush that was put out this year in the Eucalyptus Hill chip area, our contractors will be out today and tomorrow finishing the area.

Chipping in the Las Tunas area was scheduled to start today. If you have put any brush out in the Las Tunas area, hang tight, we will be there shortly. We haven't forgotten about you, it just may take us a couple of days to get there. On a plus side, if we haven't come by yet, you are more than welcome to continue putting brush out.

And That's A Wrap

Work on our Las Canoas project area was officially finished last week. Just on time for the upcoming bird nesting season. Our crews worked endlessly to accomplish the project. When all was said and done, 10 acres had been cleared in 7 weeks.

This project was made possible through the coordination and cooperation of homeowners within the Wildland Fire Suppression Assessment District. We look forward to future successful projects, such as this one, and the increased fire safety that it will not only bring those homeowners who are directly involved, but the fire safety it will bring to the neighborhood and community.

Out next projects are slated to begin this summer and are a part of the 2010 Fire Safe Council Grant that was awarded to the City. Through the grant project, we will work (through the Wildland Fire Plan and the WFSAD) to complete 4 project areas. These project will assist homeowners in maintaining defensible space around their property, as well as assist in accomplishing the work set out through the City's Wildland Fire Plan. More information will be released about these project areas in the next few months.

LAS CANOAS/SKOFIELD PARK "BEFORE" AND "AFTER"

Below are some before and after pictures from the 1st half of the Las Canoas Road project (located in Skofield Park). Enjoy!

MORE WORK AHEAD

Today I did a project walk (aka - climb) to mark the border of the remaining 3 acres of the Las Canoas project area. I am pretty amazed, especially after looking at yesterday's "after" pictures, of just how dense and how much dead is in this area.

Here are a few of the "before" pictures that were taken at about 10am today. Remember these pictures....at the rate our contractor is going and with the cooperative weather we have been having it won't belong before we post some stunning "after" pictures.

5 ACRES COMPLETE

We are now rapping up the 3rd week of our Las Canoas vegetation management/fuels reduction project. Our crews have successfully completed the first 5 (of 8) acres worth of work. This work took place on park property located at the back of Skofield Park (Off Las Canoas Road). If you have time, please stop by, take a look at what we have done, and let us know what you think.

Here are some pictures that were taken last week. Since that time, the crews have put the finishing touches on the project to make it really shine. The final "after" pictures of this side of the project should be up next week.

A Lot Of Work Ahead Of Us!

We broke ground this week on our next Vegetation Management Project located off Las Canoas Road. Through this project we will be completing over 10 acres worth of brush clearance/fuel modification. This project is completed in cooperation with the WFSAD, City Parks & Rec and numerous private property owners.

The area of this project was not only overgrown and full of dead vegetation, it was also hit by the Jesusita Fire. There is a lot more existing burn vegetation than there was when this project was scheduled. We have a lot of work cut out for us over the next few months. We have scheduled the work to be completed by a private contractor and hopes to have all work done by March.

I have attached a few pictures that show just how much density there is in this project area.