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

8 Acres Finished

Our crews have been very busy this winter completing the 1st of 2 fuels management projects. The project is being ran in conjunction with the City, WFSBAD and private property owners. The goal of the project is to reduce the overall fuel/vegetation load in key areas throughout the City that were identified in the 2004 Wildland Fire Plan. These projects will effectively change the fire behavior making it easier for firefighters to fight the fire the next time the residents of the City are threatened.

This first project is a cooperative effort between 5 homeowners who are located in the Extreme Foothill area of the high fire hazard area. We have completed 8 of the 18 acres, to date.