“You provide the defense and we will provide the offense.”
- CAL FIRE North Division Chief Jim Mathias
Dear neighbors:
As if we needed more to worry about, fire officials warn that we are heading into a very dangerous and early fire season. There’s much we can do as a neighborhood and as property owners:
Look down: Clear the perimeter of your home of anything combustible - firewood piles, needles, weeds, lawn furniture, flammable decorations … The National Fire Protection Association recommends creating a no-fuel or low-fuel zone around the first 5 feet of your home.
"Wind-blown embers generated during wildfires are the single biggest hazard wildfires pose to homes.”
- NFPA
Look up: Are branches hanging over your roof or within 10 feet of it? Are there leaves and pine needles in your gutters? Notice where the leaves and debris pile up on your roof (and elsewhere) from the wind.
In a fire, these areas are where embers will collect and ignite.
Walk your driveway and along the street that borders your property. Get rid of weeds, undergrowth and overhanging limbs at least 10 feet horizontally from the edge of the road and 15 feet vertically. If you can clear more, do it. For maximum risk reduction and to avoid lethal radiant heat in an evacuation, fire officials suggest clearing a minimum of 20-30 feet from the side of roads.
Sometimes all the recommendations and codes can seem like a lot. Simply put, it boils down to this: Vsualize how a fire truck would make it up your driveway if there are flames on either side. Make it as easy as possible for firefighters to get to your home and save it. Visualize what it would be like for you and your neighbors to evacuate with flames on one or both sides of the road.
Do your part to ensure we can all make it to safety.
Schedule a Defensible Space Advisory visit. A trained advisor can help you prioritize fire protection tasks that need to be done on your property. It’s free. Call 530-373-1122 or fill out the form here. Participate in a work day we are planning for your area. In addition to the road work day organized annually for Thoroughbred Loop and connecting streets, we are also planning work days for the South Ponderosa area and the Scotts Drive/Goose Pond area. Duties range from directing traffic and weed whacking, to providing water to volunteers and taking debris to the dump. Stand by for more information.
Other news
This year’s free Green Waste Program ends June 27. Disposal days are Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays. No blackberries, poison oak, scotch broom, items bigger than 6 inches, tree stumps or root balls will be accepted. Take your green waste to one of the following locations:
Alta Sierra NID Site 12057 & 12079 Francis Dr., Grass Valley
Penn Valley Rodeo Grounds 10513 Spenceville Rd, Grass Valley
Rise Gold Site 12625 Brunswick Rd, Grass Valley,
Free wood chips are available at Rise Gold and Penn Valley locations on Fridays and Saturdays during the program. These should not be used within 30 feet of your home, but can be used in other areas of your property to enrich soil, prevent soil erosion and help with weed suppression.
To maintain our Firewise Community status we are required to submit a report annually with hours and money spent on fire protection work in our neighborhood - including on private properties. We do not need exact numbers, just rough estimates. We do not need receipts.
Did you rake pine needles? Fix your irrigation system? Take landscape waste to the dump? Limb up some trees? Keep a simple list and email it to Karen Pridemore, karenvpridemore@gmail.com. For a work sheet to log your hours and expenses that includes examples of eligible activities, click here. Neighborhood evacuation routes: We have created suggested evacuation routes for our neighborhood. You can find them on our website here. Remember that the correct evacuation route you should take during an emergency depends entirely on weather, time of day and other conditions, so take the time to drive these routes and become familiar with them in advance. Preparing ahead can make all the difference if you are evacuating on a dark and smoky night.
Be well, be safe!
Your Firewise Committee,
Lauren Drutz, Lynn Forbes, Karen Pridemore, Trent Pridemore, Emily Sweeney, Jim Walters