From the May 2010 Battle Mountain News

Post date: Jul 1, 2014 8:04:23 PM

What To Do After Burn Season

Last year around this time, we had had our first heat wave and many of us were thinking back with dread to the Summit Fire just a year before. This year, we've had a wet winter and a cold damp spring so the grass is knee-high. With burn season over, it's time to turn our attention to the ground.

CAL FIRE Chief Rob Sherman warns that “grass is fast, flashy fuel”; when you see the wind-blown waves of grass in your yard, contemplate that a grass fire moves just that fast. On a warm day, the mid-day ground temperatures can be 10 to 15 degrees hotter than the air and the blade of your grass-cutter can strike a spark and send a wave of fire through the dry grass nad into low shrubs.

The time is now to cut the still-green grass to a few inches in the “lean, clean, and green” zone around your home and to less than a foot further out on you fuel reduction zone.

LE100 Inspections Beginning

If that isn't enough incentive, County Fire is beginning its annual LE100 inspections for defensible space around homes in the Bonny Doon. Two things to keep in mind are: make certain that your home has a street number, at least 3" high on a contrasting background, visible from the street, and make sure that all driveways and private roads has adequate clearance to pass a fire truck - 10' on each side of a 12' driveway or an 18' private road with 14' vertical clearance. A driveway, by definition, serves two or less homes; more homes make it a private road.

Fire Safe Workshop May 15

Please join us on Saturday Morning, May 15th, beginning at 10am, when we will hold a Fire Safe Workshop. We'll begin with presentations at the Martin Road Fire Station: by Angela Bernheisel on principles of defensible space, including ladder fuels, mosaic firescaping & the 30' and 100' zones; Joe Issel on the Resource Conservation District's chipping program; Rob Sherman and a member of our Volunteer Fire Team on County Fire's LE100 inspections; and Val Hayley on working in sensitive habitats. We will continue with a walking tour and discussion of the Martin Road shaded fuel break, environmentally sensitive defensible space on Quail Drive, and roadside Fire Safe activities of the Vineyard Road Association.

Space will be limited, so if you are interested in attending please email bdfsc-board@eshu.net or call Joe Christy at 423-7151 by May 8.