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| Tri-County Fuel Reduction Program General Guidelines: 1. Maintain a firebreak by removing and clearing away all flammable vegetation and other combustible growth within 30 feet of each building or structure, with certain exceptions Single specimens of trees or other vegetation may be retained provided they are well-spaced, well-pruned, and create a condition that avoids spread of fire to other vegetation or to a building or structure. 2. Dead and dying woody surface fuels and aerial fuels within the Reduced Fuel Zone should be removed. Loose surface litter, normally consisting of fallen leaves or needles, twigs, bark, cones, and small branches, should be at a depth of 3 inches. This guideline is primarily intended to eliminate trees, bushes, shrubs and surface debris that are completely dead or with substantial amounts of dead branches or leaves/needles that would readily burn. 3. Down logs or stumps anywhere within 100 feet from the building or structure, when embedded in the soil, can be retained when isolated from other vegetation. Occasional (approximately one per acre) standing dead trees (snags) that are well-spaced from other vegetation and which will not fall on buildings or structures or on roadways/driveways can be retained. 4. Properties with greater fire hazards will require greater clearing treatments. Combinations of the methods can be acceptable as long as the intent of these guidelines is met. 4a. Reduced Fuel Zone: Fuel Separation In conjunction with General Guidelines 1., 2., and 3., above, minimum clearance between fuels surrounding each building or structure should range from 4 feet to 40 feet in all directions, both horizontally and vertically. Clearance distances between vegetation will depend on the slope, vegetation size, vegetation type (brush, grass, trees), and other fuel characteristics (fuel compaction, chemical content etc.). Properties with greater fire hazards will require greater separation between fuels. For example, properties on steep slopes having large sized vegetation will require greater spacing between individual trees and bushes Groups of vegetation (numerous plants growing together less than 10 feet in total foliage width) can be treated as a single plant. For example, three individual manzanita plants growing together with a total foliage width of eight feet can be "grouped" and considered as one plant and spaced according to the Plant Spacing Guidelines in this document. .Defensible Space: Reduced Fuel Zone30 ft.Reduced Fuel Zone: 30 ft. to 100 ft. General Guidelines for Creating Defensible Space 4 February 8, 2006 Grass generally should not exceed 4 inches in height. However, homeowners may keep grass and other forbs less than 18 inches in height above the ground when these grasses are isolated from other fuels or where necessary to stabilize the soil and prevent erosion. Clearance requirements include: • Horizontal clearance between aerial fuels, such as the outside edge of the tree crowns or high brush. Horizontal clearance helps stop the spread of fire from one fuel to the next. Trees Shrubs Horizontal clearance between aerial fuels • Vertical clearance between lower limbs of aerial fuels and the nearest surface fuels and grass/weeds. Vertical clearance removes ladder fuels and helps prevent a fire from moving from the shorter fuels to the taller fuels. 10 ft. to 30 ft. depending on slope and vegetation type and size 4 ft. to 40 ft depending on slope and vegetation type and size | |
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