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.