Department wants to clear excessive fire fuel prior to fire season start
With plenty of rainfall this past winter, weeds, brush and plants burst into bloom this spring creating small jungles of brush in backyards, private properties and open space preserves.
And if you haven’t started yet, you might want to get out your weed whacker and lawn mower as the Healdsburg Fire Department has started its annual weed abatement program in an effort to reduce fire fuels ahead of fire season.
“We have a really aggressive weed abatement program,” said Healdsburg Fire Marshal Linda Collister. “In the city of Healdsburg we have an ordinance, so we start in April and go around and look at all of the properties and mark every parcel that needs weed abatement.”
Collister, who is at the helm of the weed abatement program, uses software called the Collector App to register and create a list of all of the properties that require weed reduction work.
The list of properties is then sent to the city council and the property is declared a nuisance and a date is set for a public hearing.
Collister then sends a letter to each property, explaining the nuisance and stating that they have 30 days to get rid of the weeds.
The weed abatement team then completes a follow-up inspection of all of the properties listed during the first week of June. The hearing is then held, followed by a second inspection.
“During those reinsertions … for people who haven’t abated their properties, we send them another letter and give them another 30 days,” Collister said.
If the brush still isn’t abated, her team will force abate it and the property owner will be billed for their services and if the owners do not make the payment, a lien is placed on the property.
“Over the years what we found out is when we first started the program there were a lot of people that ended up getting a force abatement, probably about eight to 10. The next year it became less and now people don’t even want to get their name on the list,” Collister said,
Lance Macdonald, a reserve firefighter and fire inspector, said that it’s better to make sure excess weeds and brush are gone early in the spring months as fire season seems to be starting earlier every year.
“What I’ve learned with working with Linda is if you haven’t started the process really early in the season, then you are way behind. If you don’t start until April or May, then you are at the risk of starting a big fire when you are cutting grass,” Macdonald said.
“I think the early start is the key to the success of this program,” he said.
So why is brush overgrowth so dangerous?
Collister said when the old grass dries out and new grass grows on top of it, the grass is still able to burn, creating the perfect tinderbox.
To help reduce the risk of fire, Collister and Macdonald, with aid from CalFire, spent the last several months clearing brush, trees and invasive species from three large open space areas in town.
In February, they worked on Fitch Mountain. In March, they focused on the Healdsburg Ridge Open Space Preserve off of Arabian Way. Most recently, they finished work on the 147-acre Callinan Property, a private open space preserve.
They also concentrated on cleaning up underbrush and clearing trees and branches that may have fallen during the winter storm. They did controlled burns over a span of three weeks and collected the burn piles, and used a demasticator, a machine that chews up trees in a matter of seconds.
Additionally, they used goats as a natural means for getting rid of grass and weeds.
At the Callinan Property, the team focused on creating defensible space and making sure the fire roads, water tanks and communications towers at the top of the property were clear.
In addition to making sure pesky plant overgrowth is cleared away at individuals’ properties, Macdonald said there are a few other steps homeowners can take to further safeguard their home.
He said it’s a good idea to make sure roofs and gutters are free of debris, such as dried out pine needles.
Adding gutter guards, fire resistant plants like ice plant, rock rose, sage and French lavender, and flame resistant siding is also advised.
It’s also important to create a defensible space and to not place shrubs and trees right up against your home, as flames could easily travel from the branch of a tree to the top of a roof or eave.
Macdonald said of taking smart, preventative steps, “With the Tubbs Fire we saw homes that kind of had no chance and some really didn’t have a chance because it (plants and brush) was right up against their home and others were given a chance because they either had that defensible space break or they had the right type of vegetation planted, it was irrigated properly or the roofs were clean … it makes a big difference.”
